You can wash clothes with baking soda, white vinegar, washing soda, borax, or soap nuts, and each one handles different cleaning tasks with varying effectiveness. Some work well as standalone washes for lightly soiled clothes, while others perform best in combination. The right choice depends on what you’re washing, how dirty it is, and whether you’re using a machine or washing by hand.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is the most accessible detergent substitute in most kitchens. It raises wash water to a pH of roughly 8.3 to 8.6, which is alkaline enough to help lift body oils and fatty acids from fabric, especially cotton. It also neutralizes acidic odor compounds like those in sweat, making it particularly useful for gym clothes and musty towels.
Add half a cup directly to the drum before loading your clothes. In high-efficiency (HE) machines, don’t exceed that amount. Low water volumes in HE washers mean the baking soda is more concentrated, and overdosing can leave undissolved crystals that scratch the drum interior and deposit gritty residue on fabrics. For heavily soiled loads, baking soda alone won’t match real detergent, but it handles everyday light loads and odor problems reasonably well.
White Vinegar
White vinegar (the standard 5% acetic acid variety) is better at dissolving soap buildup and softening fabric than it is at actual cleaning. It won’t remove odors from clothes on its own, but it breaks down residue left by previous detergent cycles, which is often the real source of lingering smells in towels and heavy fabrics. For towels that still smell after washing, soaking them in undiluted vinegar can dissolve those deposits and restore absorbency.
The catch: vinegar can damage your washing machine over time. Both Whirlpool and Consumer Reports caution against adding it directly to the drum. The acidity weakens rubber seals and hoses with repeated exposure, potentially leading to leaks or costly repairs. If you use it occasionally in the rinse cycle as a fabric softener substitute, the risk is minimal. Making it a regular habit is where problems develop. Hand-washing with vinegar carries no equipment risk at all.
Washing Soda
Washing soda (sodium carbonate) is a stronger alkaline cleaner than baking soda, with a pH around 11. That makes it significantly more effective at cutting grease and deep cleaning heavily soiled clothes. It also softens hard water, which helps any cleaning agent you pair it with work better. You can find it in the laundry aisle of most grocery stores, often sold as a laundry booster.
Use about half a cup per load. Because it’s so alkaline, washing soda can irritate skin, so wear gloves when handling it and avoid using it on delicate fabrics like wool or silk, which break down in highly alkaline solutions. For sturdy cottons, work clothes, and greasy stains, it’s one of the most effective non-detergent options available.
Borax
Borax (sodium tetraborate) works similarly to washing soda but is slightly less alkaline and dissolves more easily in water. It softens hard water, helps lift stains, and has mild antifungal properties. The two products are often confused, but borax is gentler on fabrics while still effective enough for regular laundry loads.
A half cup per load is the standard amount. Borax works in both hot and warm water, though it dissolves best above room temperature. It pairs well with baking soda for a stronger DIY wash: half a cup of each gives you a broader cleaning range without any single ingredient being too harsh. Like washing soda, keep it away from delicates.
Soap Nuts
Soap nuts are dried fruit shells from the Sapindus tree, and they contain natural compounds called saponins that act as surfactants, the same type of molecule that makes detergent foam and lift dirt. The pericarp of the fruit contains about 10 to 11.5% saponins by weight, which is enough to produce a noticeable lather in warm water.
Research comparing soap nut solutions to synthetic detergents rates their cleaning ability as moderate. In lab tests, saponin solutions removed about 60% of skin oils from fabric, compared to roughly 90% for the strongest synthetic surfactants. They washed out 20 to 80% of general grime depending on concentration, which overlapped with some commercial detergent results (30 to 75%) but was less consistent. For lightly soiled everyday clothes, soap nuts work. For stained or heavily soiled loads, you’ll likely need to supplement with baking soda or pre-treat stains separately.
To use them, place four or five shells in a small cloth bag and toss it in the drum. They release saponins over the wash cycle and can typically be reused for three to four loads before they become soft and pale. They work best in warm or hot water, since cold water doesn’t extract saponins as efficiently.
Why Dish Soap Is a Bad Idea
Dish soap is formulated to produce heavy suds, and washing machines are built for low-sudsing formulas. Even a small amount of dish soap in a machine can trigger excess foam that leaks out of the drum during a cycle. To compensate, some machines automatically add extra water and extend the cycle, running up your utility bill without cleaning any better. In worse cases, suds overflow creates a genuine mess.
Consumer Reports notes that a few drops of dish soap rubbed directly into a grease stain as a pre-treatment is fine, but it should never go into the detergent dispenser as a substitute. Always run the load with an actual low-sudsing cleaner (or one of the alternatives above) in the machine itself. For hand-washing in a basin or sink, a small squirt of dish soap is perfectly effective since over-sudsing isn’t a mechanical concern.
What These Alternatives Won’t Do
None of these substitutes disinfect laundry. Oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate), which is sometimes suggested as a detergent alternative, does brighten and help with stains, but it lacks the disinfecting properties of chlorine bleach or dedicated laundry sanitizers. If you need to kill bacteria or viruses on fabric, such as after illness, you’ll need either chlorine bleach on whites or a laundry sanitizer product designed for colors.
For general soil and odor removal on everyday clothes, a combination of baking soda and washing soda (or borax) in warm water will handle most loads. Expect slightly less stain-fighting power than a commercial detergent, but for the situations where you’ve run out of detergent or prefer to avoid synthetic products, these alternatives get the job done on routine laundry without damaging your clothes.