But back to vinegar! Vinegar is a natural stain remover and odor remover. The vinegar scent dissipates as it dries, so no worries on your clothes smelling like you dyed Easter eggs all weekend. Vinegar prevents scale from settling in your clothes and removes any of the leftover soap or detergent in the fibers of your clothing. The more hard your water is, however, the more vinegar you would need to use. A high acidity level allows the soap and detergent to mix with water, and less likely for it to cling to the fabrics themselves which as we talked about above is why clothes feel stiff and may smell funky.
In fact, leaving an alkaline substance on your clothing as opposed to an acidic substance can weaken the fibers of the clothing and make the texture feel rough. If you have a front load washer with the rubber that seals in your door, you may see a problem more quickly than a top load washer. Salt: Another go-to for fabric softening is salt, either table or epsom. Water softeners have a completely separate brine tank and works with special beads to replace the calcium and magnesium ions in the water.
In fact, the salt you put in your washing machine could be causing rust on the inside of the washer as it comes into contact with the metals inside. Salt can also cause more minerals to be deposited on your clothing at the end of the cycle.
The truth is, homemade laundry detergent DOES work, just in the right circumstances. First , if you have somewhat hard water or worse, really hard water, your homemade laundry detergent is going to be really ineffective.
Second , is the water temperature. You have to use hot or warm water for these products to work effectively. Third : Rinse, rinse, rinse. Most washing machines have an extra rinse cycle that you can add to your wash.
Finally, agitation makes the list. May I remind you that my great-grandma used a washing board and scrubbed those clothes by hand? When using soap rather than detergent, you need to scrub much more than the simple agitation our washing machine provides.
And more food for thought: What kind of fabric are you washing? Some of these fabrics have very specific cleaning protocols they suggest you follow.
This is for a good reason as detergents, vinegar and salt work very differently. I am so thankful that Rachel emailed me to ask these questions. I not only learned SO much, but I really realized I needed to change my own habits. Personally, I had stopped making laundry detergent on my own about six months ago, just due to the fact I ran out of time.
It may not seem like laundry detergent should get such a lengthy, dedicated blog post, but for those of us that are doing laundry practically every day , it really does make a difference. Short answer, yes. The ingredients within the powder mixes are completely safe for your machine.
However, vinegar as a softener and salt as a softener can cause damage to both the metal and rubber seals within your washing machine. What a unique idea. I should totally look into trying this out! We have hard water here, and I always wash on cold. I think the hard water would be the biggest problem here. I may still give it a try now that I know a bit more about the science behind it all. But it sounds like a great idea, especially being able to know what is in each load. Thanks for breaking it all down for us.
Awesome information…i think for anyone who wants to diy on home products knowing the facts is important. I agree! This is great insight! Probably what shocked both my husband and I the most was that the commercial laundry detergents did exactly the opposite of what they claimed. Wisk claimed to be the best at fighting odors but in the end it was the Wisk shirt that came out smelling the worst.
And then Tide, who claims amazing stain fighting action, actually did the worst on the terry cloth stains. Even more surprisingly, the homemade version competed very well against these two commercial power houses both in the odor and stain fighting categories.
Knowing that it is hard to rank which shirts are the smelliest to start with, I decided to try one more experiment before calling the homemade liquid laundry detergent the best. For a final wash I took all three terry clothes smeared a little bit of homemade liquid laundry detergent directly on the stains and placed them in the washer along with all three formerly smelly shirts.
The result was actually quite astonishing. As you can tell from the picture, the laundry detergent had a major impact on the mustard stain the second time around. In addition, all three sweaty shirts came out smelling clean. It was the first time those shirts had smelled that clean in months.
It was upon smelling the shirts that I was sold. My conclusion from this laundry detergent comparison—if you can put up with a laundry detergent that occasionally has to be shaken or appears a little clumpy, the homemade version is by far the best way to go cost-wise, smell-wise, and stain-wise.
There is something about the chemical reaction from the cooking and combining of the homemade liquid laundry detergent ingredients that gives it its stain and odor fighting action. So, from now on I will stop second-guessing myself, stick with what works, and enjoy the savings in the process. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm This was interesting! Very thorough experiment, however, I recently read some things about borax that made me wary of ever using it.
This opened my eyes and I just wanted to share! Very interesting read. Thanks for the heads up. Thanks again for the info. We never tried an experiment like this, so thank you for this post. This is really great! I use Costco brand detergent and they way I use it I use less than the recommended amount it comes to about. I think it does a great job cleaning and I have been very happy with it for years.
Making your own is extra work too. But, I think I will consider making my own now. Thank you so much for doing this experiment. I must say, the thing that surprised me most was that mustard leaves the darkest stain.
Must be the tumeric! You are welcome! As I said, we were quite amazed at the results and pretty excited too. Many people with mild to moderate hard water find that a scoop of Oxiclean in addition to your homemade product does a great job of softening the water sufficiently to get the laundry truly clean. Like borax, Oxiclean forms hydrogen peroxide and contains sodium to soften water and remove tough stains.
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Skip to content. By Rich in Soap Making. You just need to make some modifications. What Is Hard Water? Film left on glasses and dishes. Hands feel as if they have a residue after washing with soap. Soap scum frequently appears in your bathtub, shower, and sinks. White residue is often apparent on shower heads, faucets, tea kettles, and coffee makers. Frequently clogged plumbing or decreased water pressure. Electric water heater is not efficient or has a short life span.
Overall poor performance over time of any appliance that uses water. White fabric becomes gray or yellow. Mineral buildup or scum coats the inner tub of washing machine. How to Fix the Problem of Hard Water Ruining Laundry While you can invest in a whole-house water softening system to treat all incoming water to your home or purchase either an electronic water softener or a mineral magnet to attach to an intake water line, if laundry is your main concern, there are several steps you can take to resolve just this issue.
Why It Works The potassium and sodium in vinegar dissolve calcium so that it will be harmlessly rinsed away. Why It Works Salt, a natural water softener, contains sodium, which reacts with the troublesome magnesium and calcium ions, suspending them in the water so that they can be washed away.
Solution: Borax Your homemade detergent likely contains borax already. Borax is made up of boron, oxygen, and sodium. Why It Works Citric acid binds the magnesium and calcium ions to prevent them from clinging to your laundry. Solution: Washing Soda Washing soda is another easy way to soften water. Why It Works Washing soda is sodium carbonate. Solution: Oxiclean Many people with mild to moderate hard water find that a scoop of Oxiclean in addition to your homemade product does a great job of softening the water sufficiently to get the laundry truly clean.
Why It Works Like borax, Oxiclean forms hydrogen peroxide and contains sodium to soften water and remove tough stains.
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