Safe and simple cleaning products and recipes

All Blog Posts (30)

Securing an acid spill

***NOTE: This article appeared in the UK and shows another interesting use for Dri-Pak Soda Crystals.*** Every company knows that when dealing with substances hazardous to health, it is essential to have control measures in place to deal with every eventuality. This is no more essential than in the case of companies’ dealing with battery acid, and as such, many companies have traditionally held a stock pile of Soda Ash in case of a spill. However, Soda Crystals, also know as Washing Soda, are f… Continue

Added by msodist on January 25, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Living with limescale

I came across the following blog post about a guy contending with limescale. Some people probably do not even know what limescale is. The following post by Dave Gorman, rather than being technical, gives a personal account of what it is like to live with limescale. (Hint: what helps him a bit is Soda Crystals!) http://gormano.blogspot.com/2009/05/limescale.html Continue

Added by msodist on May 4, 2009 at 9:05am — No Comments

Price increases

It's one of those facts of life things. Rising prices. We've just raised the price of Soap Flakes and have also passed along some recent shipping increases as well... Soap Flakes prices haven't changed since 2004. And believe me, costs for almost everything related to our business have gone up. In the past, we've passed along shipping cost increases to reflect higher postage and shipping rates, which as you may know, the carriers adjust each year. There is yet another postal rate incr… Continue

Added by msodist on January 18, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Cudi Soap Flakes

Kid Cudi has a new music video that uses a generic background of soap flakes boxes. It isn't the DP brand of Soap Flakes of course but it is very surprising to see soap flakes in a pop culture use...and featured so prominently... Not exactly a "work safe" video with girls dancing in bikinis and so on, but it's a fun song. Click here for the Cudi Soap Flakes video on Youtube watch it in high quality. Already over 430,000… Continue

Added by msodist on December 29, 2008 at 8:46pm — No Comments

The Joy of Green Cleaning

Leslie Reichert, author of The Joy of Green Cleaning, travels and teaches as a "cleaning coach". The following TV news item from Pittsburgh shows her using Soap Flakes and Soda Crystals this past weekend. Nice coverage... http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/17765191/index.html Continue

Added by msodist on October 21, 2008 at 6:51pm — No Comments

Getting rid of the soap scum by adding more washing soda

I'm making my own laundry soap, and information is hard to come by on formulas. The base formula is soap flakes, washing soda (known by many other names, disodium carbonate, soda ash), and borax. I thought soap scum was just what you had to suffer through, but no more. By increasing the washing soda, by a tablespoon or doubling it, until the scum disappears. It's the water hardness that determines how much you need to add. The water contains calcium and magnesium atoms, "hardness", and these po… Continue

Added by Peter on August 26, 2008 at 1:24am — 1 Comment

Bulk Soap Powder and Soap Flakes, and new temporary package sizes

Hi, Just posted a video yesterday on the MSO website explaining what we are doing now that we've sold out of both the 1 lb. bags and 1 lb. boxes of Soap Flakes. Don't worry, we still have plenty of soap in stock, just not in the 1 lb. packages... 1 lb. packages will be re-stocked as quickly as possible. The original webpage and video is here... http://www.msodistributing.com/shop/soap_flakes_special.html You can also… Continue

Added by msodist on July 18, 2008 at 1:06pm — 1 Comment

When are the new Soap Flakes in bags going to be available?

Have you ever had one problem lead to another? And then to another? That's kind of what's been going on around here. It's a long story so buckle yourself in. :) We actually placed an order--or at least tried to place an order--for more Soap Flakes in 1 lb. bags back in October 2007. To step back a little, all the way to January 2007, is probably where the story truly begins. With the exception of one or two of our Soap Flakes imports, every import has arrived damaged. This is no ones fault in… Continue

Added by msodist on July 2, 2008 at 6:00pm — 4 Comments

Washing Clothes in Cold Water

In most cases, washing clothes in cold water reduces the effectiveness of soap or detergent, although we've had one report where a dirty sailing jacket cleaned up just fine using cold water and Soap Flakes. Still, I'd avoid using cold, cold water unless that's all you have. This excerpt from a blog article describes cold water washing in a little more technical detail which I found interesting... http:… Continue

Added by msodist on June 16, 2008 at 10:50am — No Comments

Soap Flakes and Show Bird Preparation

From: Northern Tasmainia.... http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/printerFriendlyPage.asp?story_id=1245806 We've had people buy Soap Flakes to wash their chickens, but I never really knew the whole reason why. This article from Northern Tasmania covers what goes on at poultry shows...for those who are interested of course.... "....The look is everything. Patterson says washing a chook is "quite easy", the main thing is to make sure they are thoroughly dried. Many people used "good… Continue

Added by msodist on June 6, 2008 at 4:20pm — No Comments

Soda Crystals Information

Here are links to some excellent information and opinions on Soda Crystals. http://backtobasicsmagazine.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/tip-for-the-day-soda-crystals/ http://www.ciao.co.uk/Soda_Crystals__Review_5529596 http://www.elc.org.uk/pages/envirocleaninghtm.htm… Continue

Added by msodist on June 1, 2008 at 5:08pm — No Comments

Perhaps The Best Cleaning Aid Ever--An iPod?

I just realized how often my wife and I use an ipod while cleaning. You know, folding clothes, dusting, straightening things up... I don't use it all the time but it sure adds some extra zip to chores when you don't feel like doing them. Continue

Added by msodist on June 1, 2008 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Soap Flakes and Other "Green" Cleaning Products

The Project: Domestication blog has a detailed article on using simple ingredients as household cleaners. There is a link to us and a mention of Soap Flakes (Thank you!). Also there is a video of a lady cleaning her bathroom using simple household cleaners such as vinegar, baking soda, and a lemon. Seemed to work quite well. htt… Continue

Added by msodist on November 30, 2007 at 10:30am — No Comments

Video: It's Snowing In Honolulu

The following link contains a video news report about making snow with water, soap flakes, and special machines... "...Despite the warm wet weather snowflakes are falling at Ala Moana Shopping Center.

Even though it looks like traditional snow, actually it's 90 percent water and 10 percent soap flakes. It dissolving the second it touches your skin. Ten snowblowers are hooked up to the roof of the shopping center and that's the flakes fall.

It's all part of the finale of the "Christmas Gif… Continue

Added by msodist on November 30, 2007 at 10:30am — No Comments

Star's Hairdresser Used Soap Flakes

This doesn't sound pleasant and we wouldn't--probably couldn't--recommend it, however over the years, people have used Soap Flakes for all sorts of things... From the LA Daily News Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ava Garner and many of the biggest female stars of the golden age of Hollywood sat in Alfred Pagano's chair to let him work his magic on them.

"We didn't have the chemicals

… Continue

Added by msodist on November 30, 2007 at 10:00am — No Comments

Award Winning Furniture Design Uses Soap Flakes

The New Designers Peter Walker Award for innovation in furniture design 2007 "uses natural soap flakes as a finish creating very few environmental disadvantages." http://interiordeco.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/lounge-chair/ Some people have purchased Soap Flakes to maintain their Danish furniture and a few have purchased Soap Flakes to use in putting a soap finish on furniture they build. I say "a few" because I only know a… Continue

Added by msodist on November 23, 2007 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Laundry Detergent and Soap 101

Following is a link to a detailed explanation of how laundry detergent and soap works. Interesting. Understanding Your Laundry Detergent Continue

Added by msodist on October 15, 2007 at 12:00pm — No Comments

More On Using Soap Flakes On DWR - Durable Water Repellent Treated Fabrics

OUTDOORSmagic.com has a detailed Q & A on how to restore waterproofing on a waterproof shell jacket (raincoat)....using Soap Flakes as part of the process. Continue

Added by msodist on September 19, 2007 at 9:30am — No Comments

A "Recent" History Of Soap Flakes

Google has a new search service called News Archive Search For a fee, you can view news articles on Soap Flakes going back to the 1920s. Pretty neat. A history of Soda Crystals may also be found this way...with articles going back to 1868! Continue

Added by msodist on September 17, 2007 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Soda Crystals Used In Beekeeping

According to an e-mail we received from a gentleman looking to buy Soda Crystals, "no other product is able to penetrate bee propolis (bee glue)." He said Soda Crystals appeared to be ideal for cleaning bee suits and bee gloves. I contacted the manufacturer of Soda Crystals, Dri-Pak Ltd., to find out if they had heard of this use. In fact, one of their recently retired employees is now a beekeeper. Using Soda Crystals for this purpose was r… Continue

Added by msodist on September 17, 2007 at 6:30pm — No Comments