“I want to buy your laundry products. I need to feel I can't get it wrong.”

You can't really! I completely understand the hesitation though. You're changing something familiar and you want to know it will work, that you won't ruin the washing and that you're not about to make an expensive mistake.

These are traditional, long-standing ways of washing simply and effectively. They aren't products designed to be scientific or complicated, with long lists of ingredients and precise instructions about how they must be used.

Different savonneries give slightly different instructions and I do something slightly different again. We'll give you a good place to start and, after a few washes, you'll find what works best for you. There is some trial and error, but that's part of their simplicity. Your water, washing machine and what you're washing will all make a difference!

First choose a format.

Soap Flakes

The most traditional, hypoallergenic and cost-effective option is flakes of Savon de Marseille that you make into a liquid at home.

I use a handful of flakes, roughly 25–30g, to about two litres of water. I start with one litre of boiling water, add the flakes and give them a really good stir, then keep stirring every so often until they've completely dissolved.

Once it's cooled, pour it into a container, add the rest of the water, give it a good shake and put the lid on. That's it, your laundry liquid is ready to use.

It may thicken or separate while it's sitting in the cupboard. That's completely normal, just give it a shake before you use it.

For an ordinary load I use a good glug. If you'd rather measure it, around 50ml is a good place to start. For something like a full hot wash of bedding, I'll probably use a little more.

You'll see slightly different quantities on our packets because the different savonneries all give slightly different instructions. I do something slightly different again! This isn't baking, you don't need to measure everything to the gram. Start here and after you've made it a couple of times you'll work out what works best for you.

Laundry Powder

You'll probably be familiar with laundry powder from the supermarket. Whilst ours looks much the same, what's inside it and what is doing the cleaning are very different.

Ours is soap in powder form, made from French organic sunflower oil, rather than the synthetic detergent formulation you'll generally find in your local store. There's nothing to dissolve or make up first; it goes straight into the washing machine.

For an ordinary load, start with one tablespoon. For a larger or dirtier load, use two. That's it.

For white laundry, you can add Percarbonate if you want some extra help with stains and keeping whites bright, but you don't need to add it to every wash.

Like the Soap Flakes, don't get too caught up in exact quantities. Start with one tablespoon and see how you get on. If your washing is clean, you've used enough.

Laundry Liquid

Don't want to make anything? Then go for one of the liquids.

Think of these as Marseille Soap ready formulated for you. Your homemade Soap Flake liquid will naturally thicken or separate and needs a shake before you use it. The ready-made liquids contain a few additional ingredients to keep them stable in liquid form, so they're ready to use straight from the bottle.

Mas du Roseau is the closest of our ready-made liquids to the traditional soap approach. It's soap-based with bicarbonate already included and is fragranced. It's also concentrated, so you only need around 30ml for an ordinary 6kg wash.

La Corvette is our fragrance-free option. It's Marseille Soap based and hypoallergenic, so a good choice if you want the convenience of a ready-made liquid without fragrance.

Fer à Cheval is also Marseille Soap based and fragranced, with a more modern laundry formulation. Around 50ml for an ordinary load is a good place to start.

What else might I need?

Not much.

For most washing, your Soap Flakes, Powder or Laundry Liquid will do the job perfectly well on its own. The other products are there for the times when you want them to do something else as well.

Percarbonate

This is the one I use most. Most of my bedding is white, so if I'm doing a full hot cotton wash I'll use a bit more of my usual soap solution and add a generous sprinkle of Percarbonate. It helps with stains and keeping whites bright.

You can use it on coloured laundry too. It is particularly useful for things like grubby denim, although I'd be a little more careful with something new or very strongly dyed.

Don't use Percarbonate on wool or silk.

I should probably admit that I very rarely look at care labels. I can't remember the last time I checked one before putting something in the washing machine. One of the things I like about washing this way is that I'm using a small number of very simple products and I understand what each of them does.

There are still a couple of things worth knowing — particularly with wool and silk — and I'll point those out as we go, but you don't need to stand over every wash worrying about whether you've got it right.

Soda Crystals

These are for the really dirty stuff, grease and hard water.

I don't routinely use Soda Crystals myself, but the recommendation of adding 2 tablespoons, around 30g, alongside your usual laundry product for a dirty load. They help the soap deal with grease and stubborn dirt and are particularly useful in hard-water areas.

You can also dissolve 2 tablespoons in a basin of lukewarm water and soak something particularly grubby for about 30 minutes before washing.

Don't use them on wool or silk.

What about fabric conditioner?

I use White Vinegar.

Put it in the fabric-conditioner compartment rather than in with the soap. I particularly like it for towels because it softens without coating the fibres in the way a conventional fabric conditioner does.

I use quite a lot. Probably around 200ml for a big load of towels, although you can start with less and see how you get on. This is one of the few occasions where less isn't necessarily more! Also - it will keep your machine clean, removing any residual soap scum as you wash. 

And no, your washing won't smell of vinegar once it's dry. But if that still sounds a bit scary, we also stock a fragranced, vinegar-based laundry rinse/fabric conditioner.

And that's really it

Hopefully by now you're thinking this is much easier than you expected.

Start with what we've suggested and change it as you go. You'll very quickly stop measuring everything and just know what works for you.

And if you're still not sure, ask us. Tell us what you're washing, what you're using now and what you're trying to change, and we'll help.  bonjour@frenchsoaps.co.uk or T. 01423 803080