The Difference Between Baking Soda And Washing Soda And Borax

I count washing soda, baking soda, and borax among my most-used cleaning ingredients, alongside the other usual suspects like hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and white vinegar. These ingredients come up again and again in the ingredient lists for my favorite homemade cleaning products, and they’re all useful in their own right when tackling various cleaning and laundry problems.

So what exactly is the difference between baking soda, washing soda, and borax? While they’re all salts that make great natural cleaners, they each have different pH levels. While more alkaline substances generally have more cleaning power, all three of these products have their own strengths — you’ll find out much more in this guide, and I hope this helps demystify these three cleaning powders once and for all!

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Note: While baking soda, washing soda, and borax are all different, they are safe to combine. In fact, I use all three in my favorite laundry detergent recipes, along with other ingredients.

Washing Soda vs Baking Soda vs Borax: What’s The Difference?

What Does Washing Soda Do?

What is washing soda? Washing soda is sodium carbonate, (sometimes called “soda ash”) and it is a naturally occurring compound with the chemical formula Na2CO3. With a pH of 11, washing soda is highly alkaline, similar to household ammonia and soapy water. (Highly alkaline substances like these can be caustic and irritating, so be sure to handle them with cleaning gloves and don’t inhale them.)

Washing soda and water create a basic solution, which makes it useful both as a laundry booster and in cleaning recipes. Basic solutions help break down and rinse out acidic, fatty, and oily substances, making it useful to use washing soda for laundry stains. It can also boost the performance of powdered and liquid laundry detergents (as well as laundry soap) by countering the effects of hard water in your washer.

Washing soda makes a great cleaning agent, too. One cup of washing soda added to a gallon of water makes an effective grease-cutting floor cleaner, and you can even use washing soda to remove labels from bottles and jars.

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You can buy washing soda in most grocery stores — look for Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda in the laundry aisle. (You can also make your own washing soda at home, if you prefer!) Another great thing about washing soda is that it doesn’t expire, as long as you store it in a dry place.

The Difference Between Washing Soda And Baking Soda

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a naturally occurring compound with the chemical formula NaHCO3. Baking soda is not the same as washing soda, and baking soda does not make a great substitute for washing soda in most cases. (However, one of the best uses of baking soda is that you can use it to make washing soda, just by cooking off carbon dioxide in your oven!)

With a less alkaline pH of 9, baking soda can be used in baking both as a browning and leavening agent, and it’s highly useful for cleaning too! There are dozens of uses for baking soda that will absorb moisture, neutralize odors, fix smelly towels, make your house smell good, and even remove carpet stains!

In laundry, you can use baking soda to help eliminate odors and break down residues by adding it to your washing machine along with your usual amount of laundry detergent. Baking soda won’t soften water as well as borax or washing soda (more on that shortly), but it’s also gentler on fabrics, and you’re more likely to buy baking soda for other purposes. (Can you wash laundry with baking soda alone? I wouldn’t recommend it, since baking soda doesn’t have the same cleaning properties as a detergent.)

When used one after another (or together, in certain situations), baking soda and vinegar can be useful for cleaning. Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide also make a powerful cleaning paste, especially for tackling stubborn kitchen and bathroom stains. (I wouldn’t recommend using baking soda with vinegar in laundry, as it would be less effective than using one or the other.)

The Difference Between Washing Soda And Borax

Borax is the common name for sodium tetraborate, a naturally occurring mineral with the chemical formula Na2B4O7⋅10H2O. Borax has a pH of 9.5, placing it somewhere between baking soda and washing soda on the pH scale.

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Unlike baking soda or washing soda, borax is typically mined, rather than manufactured — the majority of household borax comes from dry lake beds in California and Turkey. Popular borax brands, such as 20 Mule Team Borax, often advertise it as a laundry booster, but borax has many uses around the home (and it makes a pretty fantastic toilet cleaner too!)

Like washing soda, borax is alkaline and forms a basic solution in water, so it has similar benefits when used in laundry. I find borax particularly useful for whitening yellowed pillows and stripping oily residues from bed sheets. However, borax does perform best in hot water, so if you normally use cold or warm water when washing clothes, washing soda would probably yield better results.

If you’re looking for a substitute for borax, it depends on what you want to use it for. For repelling ants, you can use regular baking soda or diatomaceous earth instead of borax. For laundry, you can add hydrogen peroxide to the wash.

Baking Soda, Borax & Washing Soda Summary

Name and formulaOther namespH levelProperties and common uses

BONUS: What’s The Difference Between Washing Soda And Oxygen Bleach?

While oxygen bleach, like the popular OxiClean brand, is yet another white powder that can be useful in laundry, it is totally different than washing soda. Oxygen bleach helps to lift out laundry stains by releasing oxygen, and while it can be helpful as a way to whiten and brighten laundry, washing soda is still a better choice when dealing with stubborn or oily stains (and oxygen bleach doesn’t combat hard water, either).

You can make a DIY oxygen bleach at home using hydrogen peroxide and lemon essential oil, or you can find oxygen bleach in the laundry aisle at the store. Both are useful in laundry and household cleaning alike!

Do you use baking soda, washing soda, or borax in your laundry or for household cleaning?

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