Getting your laundry cleaner is always a priority for all. Also, for a better cleaning experience, many uses and try different chemicals and cleaning agents and use them in combination.
If you find borax and baking soda good for the cleaning experience, you may get confused about which one to use. Or you can be a little experimental and use both of them.
Let’s explore whether borax and baking soda can be a good choice!
Can you mix borax and baking soda?
Borax can be mixed with baking soda. In fact, combining both can give better results in the laundry. Borax is sodium borate, and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. And both are safe to be mixed. As no detergent powder comes with both borax and baking soda, many prefer to mix, increasing efficiency.
Both borax and baking soda are alkaline and abrasive. However, borax has a higher pH of 9.5 than 8 for baking soda and is slightly harsh to cloths, the mixture of borax and baking soda results in a better and more effective cleaning agent.
Individually, they both have several benefits.
For instance, both can easily remove stains, as the alkaline pH helps break down the acidic bond of stains. They also work effectively on oil greases. Borax acts as a water softener disinfectant of the laundry as it inhibits bacteria, fungi, and mold.
Besides, baking soda also acts as a mild disinfectant and neutralizes the odors.
For laundry:
Borax and baking soda have their benefits individually, but as a mixture, they can facilitate in a diverse way resulting in better output. Therefore, borax and baking soda can easily be mixed for cleaning laundry.
In Pool:
However, in a swimming pool, pH level and alkalinity of water play a crucial role. The pH level of water cannot be too low as it may harm skin and eyes and damage the pool property. And the presence of alkaline helps to generate a buffer against changes in PH.
To maintain such quality, certain ingredients are added to the pool water, among which a mixture of borax and baking soda seems popular for many reasons.
Borax and baking soda act as PH level raisers and can easily stabilize the alkalinity of the water and balance the PH level creating a buffer against changes.
As mentioned before, borax inhibits fungi, algae, bacteria; it can keep the water germs free and baking soda clarifies the water in the swimming pool.
So, to stabilize the alkalinity of the water and raise the PH level to the desired extent, a mixture of borax and baking soda may work as a better ingredient.
Is it safe to mix borax and baking soda?
Borax and baking soda are pretty similar in some perspectives and can be differentiated by some essential characteristics and activities.
Borax and baking soda both are alkaline and abrasive. They are reactive to acidic bonds and bases, can disinfectant algae, fungi, and bacteria, can raise the PH level, and create a buffer against changes in PH.
Borax acts as a harsh cleaning agent, strongly effective in some cases, as it has higher PH; on the other hand, baking soda is also a cleaning agent but acts mildly. Borax is considered more alkaline than baking soda.
Baking soda is also reactive to smelly things and neutralizes the odors.
With the differences, rest assured the mixture of borax and baking soda is safe if they don’t react to each other and do not minimize the benefits; instead, they facilitate from both ends.
4 reasons why you can mix borax and baking soda
There are many reasons behind mixing borax and baking soda, as explained below-
Both borax and baking soda are alkaline:
Borax is stronger than baking soda for having higher PH levels. Being both alkalines, they don’t react to each other rather complement each other’s benefits.
For this reason, borax and baking soda can easily be mixed.
Both borax and baking soda are abrasive elements:
Borax is stronger and harsh in cleaning, and baking is a mild one. Mixing them creates an ingredient that can clean the hard stain without being harsh.
For this very reason, borax and baking soda are mixed in the laundry for better cleaning.
Capacity of prohibiting the growth of algae, fungi, and bacteria:
Both borax and baking soda have the capacity of prohibiting the growth of algae, fungi, and bacteria alongside neutralizing bad smells. As they complement each other, they can be mixed.
Both borax and baking soda act as a PH level raiser in water:
This mixture is mostly used in the swimming pool. The acidic condition of pool water is harmful to skin, eyes, and pool properties. So, the PH level is required to rise.
Alongside, the alkalinity is required to be balanced for stabilization. In this regard, the mixture of borax and baking soda serves to stabilize both alkalinity and PH levels. Besides, it clarifies the water. The mixture has slightly different PH levels and can serve the best result.
This is one of the reasons to mix borax and baking soda.
What happens if you mix baking soda and borax?
Borax and baking soda have distinctive similarities and dissimilarities in both characteristics and activities. Both are alkaline, but borax has a higher PH, making it more alkaline than baking soda.
Borax is an abrasive and harsh cleaning agent, effective for hard stains, whereas baking soda is mild.
Both can get disinfectant germs and remove odors. When borax and baking soda are mixed, it works as a better cleaning agent because the mixture can easily react on acidic stains without being harsh. The benefits of disinfection and neutralization of odors remain.
This mixture is also used in the swimming pool to stabilize the alkalinity and generate a buffer reacting to changes in PH. Baking soda clarifies the water, and borax stabilizes it. Both as a mixture can act as a strong ingredient with diverse benefits.
Disinfectant criteria work here as well.
How to make borax with baking soda?
If you want a better cleaning experience, you may find mixing baking soda and borax gives a better outcome. Although they are proficient individually, they can show more efficiency combinedly.
You can find either borax or baking soda in many detergents. So, if you want to have both of these chemicals in your laundry, check with your detergent to know which one you should mix additionally.
Wear safety gloves:
Borax is high in alkaline, and it is very abrasive. Also, baking soda is very alkaline. As a result, to save your skin from high alkalinity, you should wear a glove before mixing them.
Use warm water:
Lukewarm water creates the best environment for both chemicals to get mixed. Borax is sodium borate, and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.
Mix them in precise quantity:
Take half a teaspoon of borax and one teaspoon of baking soda to mix together. This means borax and baking soda should be of a ratio of 1:2.
Also, mix a half glass of Luke warm water should be mixed with every 1.5 teaspoons of borax and baking soda mix.
Dip a sponge and scrub: To remove a specific stain, you can dip a sponge or a cloth in the mixture and take the mix to scrub it on the spot that you want to clean.
Gentle scrubbing can remove the strains as most stains are acidic, and a high alkaline mix is very reactive to acids.
Which is stronger borax or baking soda?
Many people prefer mixing borax with baking soda in their laundry for better cleaning. Although only borax or baking soda can be a good cleaning agent, mixing them together may result better.
The chemical name of borax is sodium borate. This has a pH level of 9.5. On the other hand, Sodium bicarbonate is known as baking soda and has a pH level of 8.
That means, Sodium borate or borax is significantly more alkaline. More alkalinity of borax makes it stronger during cleaning. However, higher alkalinity is not always a good thing, as it turns clothes harsher and can damage skin contact.
Moreover, baking soda is edible and used in cooking. But borax cannot be consumed in any way. So, it can be said borax is more potent than baking soda.
Final Thoughts
To enhance the effectiveness of a laundry, borax and baking soda can be mixed. As both are safe to use, combining them together causes no damage. Also, mixing them together creates a powerful cleaning solution. So, it can be said that you can mix borax with baking soda for better cleaning results.