Where can I buy Borax?

[mumtomoley]

Does anyone know where I can buy borax? Boots no longer do it apparently and I haven't been able to find it in wilkinsons/morrions/pound shop which I thought might stock it. Does anyone know if any of the big supermarkets still sell it to save me driving all over town trying to find it? I've found some old threads that say Tesco do but they go back to 2009 and as it's getting harder to find I'm not sure whether this is still the case.

We don't really have a decent hardware store and I'd rather not buy it online as the cost of postage rather defeats the money saving object!

I went into Boots today - and you can order it in-store to arrive the next day. Saves on postage charges.

Use borax to make silly putty (for best results, involve some 10 year old children)...

Mix 100 ml PVA glue with 100 ml water. Add plenty of food colouring. Dissolve 1 tsp borax in 50 ml boiling water, then stir into the pva mixture. Fish out the revolting blob from the mixture and knead it till smooth on an impermeable surface (a tray would be perfect).

If your kids are doing gcse science, you can tell them it's polymerisation in action.

Try Amazon, the High Street is dead: www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=borax

you can't buy Borax, it has been discontinued as harmful. You can buy a substitute.

I bought it from a pharmacy. For slime making as detailed below.

see the last line under toxicity

but you can buy substitutes

You can use it in your laundry, as cleaning agent and fleas and eggs killer.
Look up on internet.
I want to use it on my cats. Dust them and put in pillow case with tie in top so they can't wiggle out. Leave them in for 10 mins, 1 in each pillowcase obviously. Then comb out.
It dries the fleas and eggs out.

Borax is used in jewellery making/silver smithing as a flux for soldering. You can buy borax cones online from jewellery making suppliers. You'd have to crush it up yourself as it is not in powder form.

Actually you can 1kg tubs of the powder - I've only actually used it in cone form myself www.cookson.com

Epic fail! www.cooksongold.com sorry about the previous incorrect web address.

Also read the last bit on PigletJohn's link regarding reproductive toxicity. I wouldn't go near it if I was pregnant.

Jeweller friend of mine has been using it for many years. She had a healthy baby boy last year.

Read the "full product description" for clues.

I have, and the link you posted. There must be many products which fall into the same bracket, depending on how they are used, exposure to them, etc.

Of course how it's used makes a big difference. It isn't easily absorbed through the skin, but using it as a powder for cat fleas would mean a high likelihood of breathing it in. As will other uses where you are tipping the powder out of a packet and mixing it into things. It isn't the toxicity that is the problem, many household products are toxic, but the teratogenicity, ie the ability to cause birth defects. I don't believe many other household cleaning products contain teratogens and there is a big difference in that liquid formulations only contain a small percentage of each ingredient.

If I was using it at work I would handle it in a fume cupboard, that isn't an option at home so if I were pregnant I would avoid it altogether. Someone using it professionally such as a jeweller should have carried out a risk assessment using safety data sheets and taken suitable precautions, we are far less likely to do that at home.

I am looking for it mix it with 4 parts sugar to 1 part borax mix to a paste with water. drill little holes I small plastic containers just big enough for ant to get through! Little blighters carry it home to her indoors. Little buggers all expire

Of you are buying it to make gloop... I've just bought laundry starch from Lakeland. The borax we ordered on the internet was called Borax substitute so therefore didn't work....

john I know it's an old thread, but to help you and anyone querying out.

Borax is banned in the EU now, the only thing you can get is Borax substitute, which I believe the main one in made by Dri-pak and comes in a green box (the same company make the soda crystals in the green bag).

I'm not sure if this helps but... Borax {sodium tetraborate decahydrate} is found in contact lens cleaner ~ I am also looking for Borax but for making slime with my daughter as it is the activator for turning the glue etc into slime. I have seen a number of videos on YouTube where people have tried out various makes of contact lens cleaner as the activator ~ Optrex eye bath being one of the ones that works well & ReNu is another brand that works well... Not much is needed so I'm wondering if it would work for what you what you need Borax for.... Kx

@FireFox2018

Don't know if you contact lens would work or not.

Liquid laundry detergent works too (but does vary by brand, some work, some don't).

One that does work is Tide de term for the USA, can get it Amazon for about £15. Upshot is you can use leftover for laundry.

De term? *Detergent

You can buy it on ebay. Bought some in december.