Homemade OxiClean Recipe (2024)

Learn how to make homemade OxiClean. You can make this magical laundry booster and stain fighter yourself with household items like washing soda and hydrogen peroxide. OxiCleanis great asapre-treatment for stains and a great laundry booster but it’s expensive! I’ll show you how to make your own for just pennies a load.

Homemade OxiClean

I remember when OxiClean first came out on the market. I was 12 and liked to watch the infomercials with my sister. I was captivated when the people in the advertisem*nts added scoop of white powder to a big tub of stained linens and they transformed back to bright white before my eyes like magic.

OxiClean is nowavailable everywhere and in many different formulations. You can buy theclassic laundry detergent booster but they also make stain treatments, liquidlaundry soap, carpet and pet stain removers and so much more.

But what if I told you that you can make this all yourself?

Yes, you can make your own homemade OxiClean and it works just like the original product.

How do you make your own OxiClean?

Before we begin it’s good to know that oxygen cleaners like OxiClean work well on organic stains, like grass, red wine or blood, but not so good on things like grease or petroleum based products like Vaseline.

If you have a grease stain on your clothing try rubbing a little Dawn Dish Soap on it as a laundry pretreatment and check out 20 secret uses for Dawn Dish Soap here.

Because there are no harsh or caustic chemical ingredients in OxiClean, and because it breaks down into oxygen and water, it is considered a very environmentally friendly product.

Is OxiClean Safe for Fabric?

When dissolved in water, the pH of OxiClean can be as high as 11. (Chlorine bleach can be up to 13)

Since the pH of the water is raised significantly there is the potential to damage the fibers in the clothing and other items you are washing, so even though it’s not as damaging as chlorine bleach, oxygen bleach will still wear your clothes down faster than just regular laundry soap.

Save the homemade OxiClean for the times that you really need it instead of every single load.

What is OxiClean made out of?

OK, this is about to get very scientific. It’s time for a chemistry lesson. It took me a long time to research this and translate it into layman’s terms. I wish I paid more attention in high school chemistry class. Now that I think of it, did I even take chemistry in high school? I’m pretty sure I didn’t…Let us begin:

The four main ingredients in OxiClean are:

• Sodium Carbonate
• Sodium Percarbonate
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Surfactants

Sodium Carbonate

Sodium carbonateis a salt made fromsodiumand carbonic acid. It appears as a white crystalline powder. It's a naturally occurring mineral.

Sodium carbonate is also known as soda ash, and is sold separately as washing soda. It’s like baking soda’s cousin that you sometimes hear about and is often used as an ingredient in all natural cleaning recipes and as a laundry booster on it’s own.

Some DIY OxiClean recipes call for baking soda but you need to use washing soda. It won't be nearly as effective with baking soda.

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In fact you can actually make washing soda by heating bakingsoda, but that’s a different blog post for a different day. There is only somuch chemistry I can handle at one time.

Sodium carbonate is one component of activated sodium percarbonate (we’ll go over sodium percarbonate in a moment) another ingredient in OxiClean.

Sodium carbonate boosts the water’s pH, making it more alkaline, which neutralizes acids that may be produced during the cleaning process so the stain molecules can be rinsed away easily.

Sodium Percarbonate

According to research by Laundry Alternative, OxiClean consists of 50 to 60 percent sodium percarbonate.

When you mix sodium carbonate (washing soda) with 3% hydrogen peroxide you get sodium percarbonate (the main ingredient in OxiClean)

Sodium percarbonate must be added to hot water to be activated. When activated, it breaks down back into hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate. The release of oxygen molecules creates bubbles and loosens stain molecules from fibers so they can be rinsed away.

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You still with me?

So to break this down in simple terms OxiClean is mostlymade of sodium percarbonate. Sodium percarbonate is made when you mix sodiumcarbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide.

When the sodium percarbonate is mixed with hot water itseparates back into sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide.

The hydrogen peroxide component works as a bleach andsanitizer. It breaks down into oxygen and water.

The sodium carbonate raises the PH of the water to help the hydrogen peroxide lift the stains and clean better.

OxiClean also contains low-sudsing surfactants (soap) to complete the cleaning process.

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Is OxiClean toxic?

Hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate are not carcinogenic, nor a neurotoxin. However, bothsodiumcarbonate andsodium percarbonatecan be caustic to the body. The amount of sodium percarbonatein household products usually does not cause problems. However, exposure to the pure chemical can cause burns, skin irritation, eye irritations and even blindness. Inhalation can cause throat irritation and coughing.

DIY OxiClean Recipe Tips

This recipe can be used as a laundry pre-treatment for stains or as a laundry booster with your regular detergent.

To make a stain pre-treatment mix the ingredients into a spray bottle and spritz directly onto the stains.

To use as a laundry booster pour the ingredients directly into the washing machine with a full load.

What I like to do is mix the ingredients into a spray bottle, spray it on the stains and let them sit and then when it's time to start the washer pour the contents of the bottle into the machine with the clothes and hot water. The full recipe is at the bottom of this post.

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How to use homemade OxiClean on hard surfaces like floors

• Apply using a cloth, sponge, brush, or by pouring solution directly onto surface.
• Let Stand5–30 min. Scrub as needed. For large surfaces, work with small areas, so solution does not dry on the surface.
• Rinse with clean water and blot until dry.

How to use homemade OxiClean on carpet

• Apply only enough solution to saturate stain. Allow solution to stand 1-5 minutes. Do not allow solution to dry on fabrics.
• Blot with white towel.
• Repeat until stain is not visible. Rinse carpet with clean water and blot until dry.

How to use homemade OxiClean on upholstery

• Applywith clean white towel and use to blot out stain.
• Apply solution directly on stain.
• Repeat until stain is not visible.
• Then, dampen a clean white towel with water and blot area to rinse.

Is Homemade OxiClean color safe?

Yes, but you should still do a spot test to make sure the colors in the fabric won't bleed.

Is Homemade OxiClean really cheaper?

It depends. You need to shop around and buy the washing soda and hydrogen peroxide at the cheapest price and compare it it the OxiClean prices.

In general, yes it will be cheaper but not if you are buying really expensive washing soda. If you already have the supplies in your laundry room for other homemade cleaners then it's great to whip up in a pinch but if you are going through the stuff fast then it's worth buying the supplies in large bulk quantities.

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