Remember every Monday morning when your mother, (hehe)  and other ladies from the village would walk down to the river  to take part in the social ritual of washing the family clothes?

Well, most likely, the most popular detergent was either the best river current or a flat durable stone.

According to Wikipedia:

Agitation helps remove the dirt, so the laundry is often rubbed, twisted, or slapped against flat rocks. Wooden bats or clubs could be used to help with beating the dirt out. These were often called washing beetles or bats and could be used by the waterside on a rock (a beetling-stone), on a block (battling-block), or on a board.

You got the laundry detergent?

Some of our mothers, (another, hehe) didn’t have the luxury of a running stream. The task of boiling water in large metal cauldrons and using the hot water to remove the dirt from the clothes, was the alternative to agitating and rock pounding.  Also, according to Wikipedia,

. . .”wooden or stone scrubbing surfaces set up near a water supply or portable washboards, including factory-made corrugated metal ones, gradually replaced rocks as a surface for loosening soil.” 

 

"How did this stain get here??"

How thankful I am that the river and container method of washing clothes has been completely revolutionized and transformed!  With inventions like the washing machine, special cleaning products like . . .

Various chemicals may be used to increase the solvent power of water, such as the compounds in soaproot or yucca-root used by Native American tribes, or the ash lye once widely used for soaking laundry in Europe. Soap, a compound made from lye and fat, is an ancient and common laundry aid. Modern washing machines typically use powdered or liquid laundry detergent in place of more traditional soap. ~Wikipedia

I may not have rivers or rocks to launder the dirt out of my dirty clothes but something just as cool. Check it out! Your hippie-ness will dig it, man!

The HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP RECIPE!

4  Cups – hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

For the complete recipe, click on The Secret  Simple Recipe . . .

The Secret Simple Recipe: Homemade Laundry Soap!

Peace and love,

Sunshine xoxo