Making homemade detergent? A word of caution.

This advice is specifically for those who may be making homemade dishwasher detergent. I recently started dabbling in this myself for the last several months. My mix uses washing soda, baking soda and citric acid. I combine these ingredients in a bowl with a lid and use 2 tablespoons per load. The mix has been working well but now, several months in, we are noticing a film on several of our dishes, especially the silverware.

After looking into this further, we understand the film is limescale from a build up of hard water. This came as a surprise to me since we have a water softener and are using citric acid in our mix, but I learned several very important things through this discovery.

Citric acid contains water so it’s important to store it by itself vs mixed into the other ingredients. Mixing it with the other ingredients will cause your mix to harden and can therefore be tough to fully rinse out during each wash.

Using vinegar in your dishwasher can be harmful. I’ve seen some recipes call for vinegar instead of citric acid. Use vinegar with caution! Don’t just pour vinegar in your wash compartment. Vinegar is acidic and can damage certain parts of the dishwasher over time. Instead, fill a bowl with vinegar, secure it on the top rack and run a normal cycle every couple of months to help reduce hard water and soap build up. Many commercial products account for this but homemade recipes may not.

If you find yourself where I am with a film on your dishes that doesn’t easily come off with just soap and water, use a vinegar soak! Put the dishes that have the film in the soak and fill it with a water and vinegar solution. Let soak for 15 minutes. This should clear the film but if it’s been on there a while you may need to soak them for more time.

Have you tried homemade dishwasher detergent before? How was your experience?