Laundry stripping when borax is not borax

October 6, 2020 6:16 AM

I have some bedsheets that I'd like to get cleaner than the machine cleans them. I've heard about laundry stripping but I have a UK-specific question about the stripping mix, as over here it's not legal to sell true borax (sodium borate) and only "borax substitute" (sodium sesquicarbonate) is available.

In short, all the laundry stripping articles I've read suggest you need a mix of borax, washing soda (sodium carbonate) and laundry detergent. However, borax is banned here, and the alternative available is "borax substitute", sodium sesquicarbonate. Sodium sesquicarbonate, in turn, is made from a combo of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate...and it turns out that sodium carbonate and "washing soda" are basically the same thing.

So, with one ingredient technically unavailable and the substitute ingredient being partially made out of one of the other suggested ingredients, what ratio of borax substitute/washing soda/detergent do I want to aim for to get my sheets super clean?

posted by terretu to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

We keep OxiClean around exclusively to wash sheets & towels. Works well.
posted by terrapin at 7:36 AM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

If the bedsheets are white or light colored then even if you get your hands on some contraband Borax, you're not going to get that delightfully murky water they achieve in the laundrystripping videos unless, as they do in the videos with mostly whites/lights, you just happen to toss in a dark-colored item with the whites. Then the whites/lights will emerge dingier than before and the dark-colored item will be noticeably faded and the bathtub will be gratifyingly murky from all the removed... "soil." Where "soil" is fabric dye. Laundry stripping appears to work the same way ear-candling and those toxin-removing foot pad things work.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:37 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Actual borax is available on eBay in the UK, if that's any help. It was banned for sale as a laundry product, but it's still perfectly legal to sell it for a number of other purposes.
posted by pipeski at 11:15 AM on October 6, 2020

(Just a side note that I tried laundry stripping some sports bras/workout clothes that would just not get a “funk” out of them no matter what. I routinely wash my clothes with a bit of borax and/or oxiclean. Letting them sit in the washing soda did what nothing else has done thus far and finally removed the funk. I don’t think it would be the end of the world to try with just the washing soda.)
posted by raccoon409 at 11:43 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I do this, in the UK, with borax substitute (but had never heard the term). It works just fine with the same proportions.
posted by stinker at 1:09 PM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’m happy to have learned about the stripping thing because it introduced me to washing soda, a substance I had never heard of. Using that with detergent in the regular cycle has really improved my laundry outcome. I now feel like my towels get that really dry stripped feeling they have at hotels :) and gym clothes are much less funky. Borax in the laundry, meh. I guess the ph effect might be helpful to some dependent on water chemistry but doesn’t do much for us. Good on ants though! So in sum, just use the washing soda and detergent!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:36 PM on October 6, 2020