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How to Finely Grate Fels-Naptha for Homemade Laundry Detergent

April 16, 2014 by Robin 27 Comments

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One of my favorite ways to save money is by making my own homemade laundry detergent. However there’s one thing that kinda Flusters me about it, the Fels-Naptha Soap is always so coarse. I use both of the blades in my food processor, but I can never get it chopped up fine enough.

The other day when I was perusing Pintrest, I came across the Microwave Ivory Soap experiment. I’ve seen the pin many times before as I’m sure you have, in fact, I even tried the experiment with my kids. It wasn’t until the other day that a light went off in my head, I wondered if microwaving a bar of Fels-Naptha soap would work as well as it does with the ivory soap.

Luckily, when I got this bright idea, I was beginning to run low on my laundry detergent and it was time to make a new batch.

I’m please to report that it worked pretty darn good. The only difference is that the Fels-Naptha doesn’t grow and become as flaky as the Ivory soap does.

Ideally I would have loved for it to be flaky, that way I could have eliminated having to use the food processor, but you can’t have everything.

*Bonus – my microwave smelled fresh after microwaving the soap.

Microwaving it really eliminated the density of the soap, see all of those lovely little air pockets?

Those air pockets are what made it really easy to get a fine grate on the bar of soap.

Before, I would have to use both blades of my food processor to break up the bar of Fels-Naptha and it sounded like I was trying to grind rocks. Now I only have to use the chopping blade and it so much easier on food processor.

*Bonus – I only have to clean the chopping blade now which is a lot easier to clean than the shredding blade is.

You can see the difference that microwaving the bar of soap before putting it in the food processor does from this photo. I’m really pleased with the results.

Yay! The Fels-Naptha for my homemade laundry detergent isn’t as course now and my Fluster has been Busted!!!!

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Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a commission. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my readers. All opinions stated are strictly my own. Read our full disclosure policy for more information. 

Filed Under: Cleaning, Homemaking Tagged With: how to, laundry, two cents'

Comments

  1. [email protected] says

    April 20, 2014 at 1:30 am

    Hi Robin, this is so interesting and love how you solved your dilemma. Thank you for stopping by for WWAW. So nice to meet you. Wishing you a Happy Easter.
    Hugs

    Reply
  2. Aimers says

    July 19, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Hmmmm I've used Zote soap for mine (same recipe otherwise) and it expands and makes a huge mess. So, Fels Nappa does not do that?

    Reply
    • Maggie Zoiss says

      February 10, 2021 at 8:37 pm

      All soap will expand, I put it on a paper plate, it doesn’t get bigger than that.

      Reply
    • Dana says

      September 11, 2021 at 4:04 pm

      My zote did not expand in microwave. It melted into a creamy mess. Any suggestions?

      Reply
      • Robin says

        September 14, 2021 at 8:01 am

        I’ve never tried putting zote in the microwave. Maybe use the microwave zote to make a liquid laundry detergent.

        Reply
  3. Cheryl says

    July 25, 2014 at 2:28 am

    How long did you microwave it for? A minute? I'd really like to try this since I HATE grating the Fels Naptha.

    Reply
    • Robin Buster says

      July 25, 2014 at 10:50 am

      I didn't do it for a set amount of time. I just watched it and when it stopped expanding I took it out.

      Reply
  4. carolyn baker says

    November 21, 2017 at 5:37 pm

    I just did this and it worked very good ground up so fine thank you

    Reply
    • Robin says

      November 28, 2017 at 10:53 am

      I love how fine it turns out doing it this way!

      Reply
  5. Nancy says

    July 12, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    Omg…thank you Robin, love making my own detergent but always had trouble grating the bar of soap…this method worked like a charm..your a God send. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful idea…Nancy B

    Reply
    • Robin says

      July 13, 2018 at 1:03 pm

      Grating soap is the worst, I’m so happy that this worked for you.

      Reply
  6. Julie says

    January 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU!!!!! I’ve been making my own detergent for years and have hated grating the Fels Naptha (my favorite). Arthritic hands are getting worse. And I’ve even microwaved soap as part of a Bible School lesson last summer. I never thought of it for this!! God’s love expanded a tad more….again in the microwave!!

    Reply
    • Robin says

      January 11, 2019 at 11:16 pm

      It’s definitely a knuckle saver!

      Reply
  7. Megan says

    August 29, 2019 at 12:12 pm

    Do you know if this would work with Kirk’s Castile soap?

    Reply
    • Robin says

      August 30, 2019 at 9:21 am

      I really don’t know, I’ve never tried it! If you try it, let me know if it works!

      Reply
    • Kate says

      July 10, 2021 at 11:38 pm

      That is my exact same question! Did you try it, and did it work with Kirk’s?

      Reply
  8. Holly says

    April 8, 2020 at 10:03 am

    What is your detergent recipe ? Want to k ow if it is similar to mine? This is my first time. Lol thanks

    Reply
    • Robin says

      April 10, 2020 at 3:34 pm

      Here is the link to our laundry detergent recipe: https://flusterbuster.com/homemade-laundry-detergent.html

      Reply
  9. Max Schaffer says

    November 19, 2020 at 6:09 pm

    That is so weird and repulsive lol, who grates soap for detergent.. in Australia you would be given mental health help

    Reply
    • Robin says

      November 21, 2020 at 6:13 pm

      I guess I need to be fitted with a straight jacket. LOL I’ve been making my own detergent for years and the finer it is grated the better it dissolves in the wash.

      Reply
    • itzdawnn says

      July 25, 2021 at 1:35 pm

      Why would you find it necessary to make such a rude comment? If you don’t want to make your own detergent, go to another page.

      Reply
  10. Maggie Zoiss says

    February 10, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    If you microwave it a little longer, like 2 minutes per bar it will be soft enough to crush by hand.

    Reply
  11. Laura says

    July 9, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    This is so funny, i have always microwaved my fels naphtha and always such a pain. It makes the microwave smell of fels naptha which isnt good for later when you cook food in there. I even bought a used microwave off of marketplace to use exclusively for soap cooking (lol). Today for first time i read about grating your soap and then running in food processor to make it fine. Well i grated it with the grating disc and then ran it with the regular blade and it seems pretty fine to me? We shall see!
    Enjoy the microwaving!, i used a rolling pin to break it up never thought of my food processor..sheesh. Regardless of how you do it, it’s good soap

    Reply
    • Robin says

      July 13, 2021 at 3:38 pm

      When I microwave the Fels Naptha I put a bowl over the top, it seems to cut down on the smell. It really is good soap!!

      Reply
  12. Louise says

    May 23, 2022 at 8:32 am

    Wow! Thank you for the microwave tip. I dreaded having to grate the bar. It made such a mess and I could never grate it fine enough. THIS METHOD IS PERFECT!

    Reply
    • Robin says

      May 23, 2022 at 11:05 pm

      It will leave your microwave smelling really fresh. I use a cheap microwave that I bought at a yard sale.

      Reply
  13. Gloria Billings says

    October 22, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    I use 4 bars of Kirk’s no-fragrance Castile soap in a batch of laundry detergent. I microwave each bar for 30 seconds, grate it with a box grater, then move on to the next bar of soap. This helps immensely to speed up the process.

    Reply

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