We don’t need no steenking laundry detergent…
Frugal Scholar, who must read everything of value on the entire Internet, stumbled upon an amazing remark in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal. In one article, Seventh Generation founder Jeffrey Hollender remarks that it’s surprising most people use laundry detergent at all: “You don’t even need soap to wash most loads,” he says. The truth is, it’s the action of the agitator, not the chemicals, that gets most clothes clean.
Uhmmm… Say what, my Captain of Industry?
Most of us have figured out that we need only a fraction of the amount we were brought up to pour into the washer, partly because newer detergents are far more efficient and partly because you don’t really need even the recommended amount. But…no detergent at all?
Well, of course, the gantlet was down.
Straightaway to the garage, stately home of the washer and dryer! Mustering all my nerve, I laundered two small loads with zero detergent, one of whites and one of coloreds. The whites load included a few pieces of underwear; the colored, a shirt I’d worn for a day of gardening.
The result? Pretty interesting.
Everything came out looking clean. Minor stains that I thought would come through unscathed actually washed out. This pair of fluffy cotton socks, which I wear around the house and patio as slippers, was pretty grimy when I put them in the washer. They came out looking exactly the same as they do when they’re washed with detergent.
These socks, which are three or four years old, always have a little gray on the bottom—no amount of detergent or bleach gets it out. If anything, they actually look a little better than the last time I ran them through the washer.
Peeking into the machine during the “wash” cycle, I found the water looked exactly as dirty as it does when I’ve added detergent, only without the suds:
The “rinse” cycle ran clear as tapwater.
The Sniff Test: By and large, all of the freshly washed clothing came out with an odor: it smelled of clean water! Because I didn’t want to heat-set any residual stains into the whites, I line-dried those; the coloreds went into the dryer. When fully dry, most of the pieces were fresh-smelling and free of either body odor or yukky commercial factory perfume. I use a perfume-free detergent, anyway, so there was no way the clothes would have retained any scent from previous launderings.
A couple of pairs of undies retained a very slight odor. I ran one of these through again with the colored clothing, and after a second drubbing in the washer, it came out completely odor-free.
Isn’t that something!
Conclusion: Because I’m not willing to consume the amount of water needed to run my underwear through the wash twice each week, I would put a small amount of detergent in with those. But apparently most outer clothes that have not absorbed much B.O. and that are not excessively dirty can indeed be washed in plain, clean water, without benefit of factory chemicals.
Related posts:
- Use caution when making DIY laundry detergent
- The great no-’poo experiment!
- Help!! Frugal trick creates big mess
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10 Responses to “We don’t need no steenking laundry detergent…”
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I’m just going to experiment and not tell my husband. If he doesn’t notice, PASS with flying colors! What a great tip!
I don’t know that I am willing to make this leap anytime soon. I also use odor free detergent I just don’t think I could accept the fact that I hadn’t used soap on my laundry.
I agree…it is a little creepy. On the other hand, we’re so strongly socialized to believe we have to slap soap and disinfectant on everything — think of the 87 million detergent ads any American has been blitzed with between infancy and about age 21 — that one has to wonder how much of our craving to suds up the laundry is a cultural thing.
[...] We don’t need no steenking laundry detergent… – Funny about Money. [...]
[...] and consider Hair Guacamole posted at savvy brown. Vh explains how she washes without detergent in We don’t need no steenking laundry detergent… posted at Funny about Money. Such bravery, I say! RecycleCindy astound me with her Diagonal T-Shirt [...]
I halved my laundry detergent use per load and haven’t noticed any appreciable difference. I already use white vinegar in there as a fabric softener (works great!) and don’t know if that is picking up some of the slack. If the amount of detergent required on the bottle is anything like the amount of shampoo suggested on their bottles, half should be about right!
I have experimented with homemade and more natural soaps for laundry. I have cut down on the amount of soap I have used unless it’s like greasy work clothes. I too have used vinegar for rinse in my dishwasher and clothes washer. It works great.
Laundry detergents contain surfactants that help keep soil particles suspended in the water and out with the drain water.
I have severe allergies. Many years ago I stopped using detergents and used the ceramic gimic instead. At first your laundry will be fairly clean because the soap residue is released in plain water. Later….I found dingy, discoloration and icky smelling laundry. I ‘m back to detergent.
@ Anette: Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’ve come to suspect. IMHO you can probably do with lots less detergent than most of us have been taught to use, but dispensing with detergent altogether probably isn’t gunna work over the long term.