We’ve been getting random orange stains on our whites. At first I thought it was iron in the water but we use softener salt that is supposed to be good for iron. How can I get rid of these and not get them in the future?

I use oxi clean and this liquid detergent. I want to stop using fabric softener so I just bought citric acid to use instead. I would value your opinion as to whether or not this detergent is any good, and can I use oxi clean in the wash while also using citric acid in my rinse dispenser or will that damage my clothes. Our water is very hard, is a tsp of citric acid enough?

Okay let me explain better!! I’m 21, so I buy a lot of clothes from various ranges of quality and price. I love clothes so much and love being able to keep them nice. I’m small, so a lot of my stuff is just smaller and seems to fall apart even easier. I have some things with terrible quality materials and then items that are nicer materials.

How do I keep up with the washing instructions of things?! Different brands say different things and it’s just a lot to keep up with when doing laundry. I hate having to do multiple loads with few things in each just to wash things differently. It’s just too much! Any tips? Sorry if this is a silly post!

Howdy, laundry nerd fam! Need y'all's help bc I am having extreme difficulty using the Lipase List spreadsheet on my phone.

I'm looking for an enzyme laundry booster that's unscented, no OBAs, and no oxygen bleach to go with my 365 powder.

In order of importance:

1. Unscented

2. No OBAs (to protect darks)

3. No (or very little) oxygen bleach (to protect darks)

Notes:

1. I have Dirty Labs for DNase.

2. I have Oxyclean Free

I'm neurodivergent and am trying to systematize laundry similar to:

1. Add detergent detergent

2. Add primary booster (the one I'm looking for above)

3. If whites, lights, or colors, add oxi

4. If load is unusually gross/stinky, add Dirty Labs

5. Add citric acid to rinse

6. Result: Clean clothes my nose will confirm are clean on wash day, while wearing (no odor rebloom), and from a drawer weeks later (no dirty washer smell that appears during storage, been there)

Bc I'll be asked: I wash on a hot/extra hot cotton cycle with an extra rinse in an LG front load that I clean every 2-3 weeks, swapping between citric acid and chlorine bleach cleanings. I keep that washer smelling and looking *fresh* y'all. I tumble dry most items, and I air dry delicates.I use 365 powder, 1 scoop, in very soft water.

So.... Back to that booster and the Lipase List I'm having no luck working on my phone: Do we know of an unscented enzyme booster w/o OBAs and no (or very little) oxygen bleach (to protect my darks)?

I wear hats all the time and realized I honestly don’t have a great way to clean them. What does everyone do to keep their favorite hats looking good?

I have tried dishwasher and washing machine but my hats tend to lose shape or get ruined.

I bought this beautiful sweater secondhand on the Vinted app. It arrived smelling so strongly of detergent that my hands smell after handling it. I am sensitive to strong perfumes to begin with. How do I get it out of this sweater?

[Truly fascinating why so many people get triggered by others being sensitive to VOCs? I am literally getting downvoted for asking this question. Looks like I am not the overly sensitive one…)

Hi all! Looking for help with sunscreen stains. I wear white undershirts for work and my sunscreen has badly stained a few shirts. I have sensitive skin and only a few kinds of sunscreen I’ve found don’t give me a rash. Sadly the best one I can find has the active ingredient that can stain clothes.

Any recs on getting my shirts back to a more acceptable state? I’d prefer not to soak the collars in oxyclean as it can make me breakout, but if that’s my only option, then I guess I’ll make do.

For reference, they’re organic cotton shirts from Pact.

(Sorry if the pic is hard to see, I didn’t have great lighting).

TIA!

I am wonding when we will get this Product this product one of the best products in the market. Kirkland shouldn’t stop makeing this detergent powder krikland is a big they should listen their customer i understand they dont make money out of this product but we buy other product almost everything as because we love krikland product now if i dont get this detergent i will not buy any krikland product at all.

Or would the stain removal leave a worse stain? I’ve always heard to treat the stain before putting it in the dryer, because the dryer sets the stain.

Please go easy on me. I struggle with cleaning and time management. I usually put off my laundry for a long time because of potential stains that I’d have to treat. Having to put clothes in the washer adds more stress because it sets a deadline (I have to put it in the dryer at some point) while constantly rewashing it and not knowing if the stain will come out. And it doesn’t help that I use an apartment washer that costs money every time I use it, so I have to organize a batch of clothes to wash with the stained shirt.

Just using a stain remover would help a lot. It’s a much smaller task which makes it easier to get started.

I have pictures of the stain removers that I currently have. Would they be able to do the trick? And do you have any recommendations that work well?

begging for help at this point because i'm completely at my wits' end. please save me from my utter misery as i've been non-stop breaking out in rashes!

my normal laundry routine is to do three washes for each load: (1) first wash with detergent + hot water + 3 rinse cycles, (2) one cold water rinse on normal with vinegar, and then (3) a last quick wash rinse with cold water. the machine is an LG front load washer and i make sure to do a tub clean before each wash to get rid of any possible residue.

the problem is that i've become allergic to not only the usual "fragrance-free" suspects (e.g. tide), but also all of the recommendations below that are often suggested as alternatives. i basically break out immediately in eczema and huge patches after using any of these detergents:

• nellie's laundry soda (regular & baby)
• attitude fragrance-free liquid detergent (both regular & baby)
• eco max hypoallergenic laundry wash (no sulfates)
• any major "free/clean/hypoallergic brands) e.g arm & hammer, purex, downy, etc.

i'm constantly itchy and bleeding all of the time, and we suspect it's the laundry because the locations of the rashes (e.g. in a ring around the neck, exactly in the same area as the edges of underwear, absolutely no rashes in the arms because i only wear t-shirts that cut off right above the elbows). willing to try anything at this point as i'm completely desperate!

I have a dug well, so very hard water. The water is filtered at various stages, and goes through a UV light treatment as well. I use a front loading washer.

I’ve noticed my clothes come out smelling funky. I’ve cleaned my washer, the black rubber icky seal, and the trap. I also use a laundry disinfectant in the rinse (which helped quite a bit). I stopped using fabric softener because I heard it can compound the issue (no change and I miss the fresh smell). Adding various combinations of vinegar or baking soda in the washer or dispenser has not been successful. However, even with hot water, oxyclean and HE detergent, on the heavy load setting, my towels are funky smelling.

I’ve read using washing soda for hard water enhances the enzyme cleaning capacity of laundry detergents. Is this true or woo woo from the “make your own detergent” folks.

Shoutout to this community for helping me dial-in my laundry approach. Super grateful for the help. While I'm still fathoms away from being proficient in laundry chemistry, I've learned enough to be dangerous :). After a year of half-baked tests and countless detergent experiences I've found package that I am happy with for the majority of my laundry needs

Products I've replaced (off the top of my head)

• Whole Foods 365 Sport 
• Febu (without DNAse) 
• Tide Liquids (multiple)
• Tide Mountain Spring Powder
• Tide Plus Bleach Powder
• Ariel 2x Double Powder
• Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean HE Laundry Detergent Pacs 
• Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Free & Clear Liquid 
• Kirkland Signature Oxi Powder
• Persil Pods 
• Persil Advanced Clean Liquids
• Arm & Hammer Liquid (multiple)
• Dropps
• Biz

Considerations for my Daily Driver detergent package 

1. Cleaning Power
2. Simplicity & Versatility
3. Fragrance
4. Ecosystem (easily enhanced without to much functional overlap with other products)
5. Simple purchase process

What I landed on

• German 🇩🇪 Formulation Persil Powder (Universal & Color)
• Downy Rinse and Refresh - Free & Gentle Unscented
• Garame Gear Guard 
• Whole Foods 365 Stain Remover (rarely needed)

Why I chose this as my daily laundry package 

• It's a powerful, versatile, and easy.
  • My partner can keep up with the routine without having to follow a chart or call me at work :)
  • It covers 95% of my day-to-day of my everyday laundry needs
• I have a personal connection to Persil's fragrance profile. Finishing it off with the unscented fabric rinse gives me nice hint of the fragrance without it being overpowering
• it’s predictable and reliable. Dosing is a breeze.
• Relatively easy to purchase online

The other 5%. Sensitive skin, sensitive Fabrics, misc, and a to-go solution

• Tide Free & Gentle Odor Refresh Liquid
• Whole Foods 365 Oxygen Whitening Powder
• Citric Acid
• Tide EVO (my favorite travel detergent) 
• Lysol Laundry Sanitizer 
• Miele WoolCare
• Whole Foods 365 Powder (retiring soon)
• Carbona Color Grabber

Wishlist

• Febu with DNase

Happy to share my personal experiences with everyone if at all helpful. Also, open to any thoughts and suggestions as I'm still learning myself

What settings would you use for wool that is machine washable?

and what detergent? I have eucalan and the laundress’s wool shampoo (as well as tide f&g powder and 365 concentrated liquid)

thank you!!

I have a cream colored knit style weighted blanket. It says spot clean only but like...how? There aren't any single stains or anything but the whole blanket is just getting kinda dingy and grey.

I use Dreft baby detergent.

I pour some Lysol sanitizer into the agitator.

I pour in 1 cap of Cloralen.

Occasionally, I will throw in a small amount of arm and hammer scent beads.

Then I put my clothes in.

Thoughts?

I have no complaints with the feel, color and scent of my clothes.

Which would you say is the best tide for this application? My daughter is going off to college in a section of Florida, U.S. that has hard water. My thought is to have her do separate loads for darks, mid-colors, white towels. Which variety of tide do you think I should get her? Should I get liquid or the pods? There are a few varieties, which specifically should I get her? She’ll be using a commercial washer. Also, will she need additional enzyme boosters? At home I have a more complex system but I have to be practical for her situation and appreciate your insight. Thank you in advance.

Hello! I’m a renter, and will be moving soon to a brand my new built apartment with a very nice and new front load HE laundry machine and dryer! I’ve had shared laundry, and standard top load machines for the past decade. So I’m a little unsure about what products (if any) I should buy and features to use and look forward to now with a brand new front load washer!

All machines I’ve had have been the most basic models, aka no extra bells and whistles.

I’m looking for any product recommendations or tips on how to get the most effective clean! I’ve never had “compartments” before to put things like detergent, bleach, softener (don’t use but still), prewash, etc. So I’m a little overwhelmed 😅

Most looking forward to cutting my washing time down by a lot! Currently takes me 2-3 cycles to clean one load of clothes, one with tide free and clear detergent (hoping to switch to powder), one with Lysol laundry disinfectant, and sometimes a final cycle to actually rinse things well enough, sometimes with vinegar.

Majority of my laundry concerns are with “human” items, eliminating body oils, sweat, odor, dust, allergens, etc. Then I also wash kitty beds and blankets weekly or 2x weekly to kill bacteria and dust mites (I’m allergic to cats and the cats are allergic to something environmental I like to joke and say it’s me lol) and then rinse many times to get all product out. Aside from the multiple cycles to finish one load, my other current annoyance is the cleaning of the machine after washing kitty items (maybe not needed but my preference for sure)

Any recommends, advice, or just any exciting things I have to look forward to I’d love to hear about!

My washing machine can't do 30 degrees for some dumb reason, it's either 20 or 40. I find that 20 is not enough for many things, so my default is 40. Most of my things are cotton, a few are polyester or blends. Some say to wash at 30 degrees but they've been surviving 40 just fine, so oh well.

I recently bought some 95% viscose 5% elastan clothes. They all said to wash at 30 degrees and I heard viscose is super finicky, so I've been washing it at 20. It's not great, I 1. have to keep them separate from the rest of the laundry and 2. end up running many loads with very few things in them (it's been literally just one item several times, I separate colors (from experience I need to, I've been told it's "outdated advice" but I own several proofs that it is still necessary) and several of the items are color that doesn't match any other of the viscose stuff). They also don't wash as well as on 30 degrees. Yesterday I got another 95% viscose 5% elastan thing, from a different place than before. This one says you can wash it at 40 degrees (photo in a comment, forgot to add it to post, sorry). So how is it? Can I wash that thing at 40? What about all the other ones? Is there a way to test it with minimum risk?

I use washing powder only, some generic Persil all-purpose one that claims to work at 20-95 degrees. Not really interested in switching to something else (I'm incredibly sensitive to scents and glad to have found this one I can tolerate).

I order "NELLIE'S Lamby Dryerballs" from: homehardware DOT ca/en/lamby-dryerballs-4-pack/p/4527770

When the arrived, they smell scented. Nellie's was kind enough to send a replacement, but they too smelled scented.

Has anyone else found this to be the case?

Ignore the outline stain

I’ve totally overhauled my laundry routines in the last year or so, and now I’m trying to optimize.

I’m currently working through my supply of Tide Clean + Gentle powder, boosting with GearGuard, which I use for all loads. I’m considering switching to Tide Free + Gentle liquid and boosting with FEBU. The major reason is that I’m in the US, and the price of GearGuard is steeper (about double the cost per load by my calculations).

Is there anything I’m missing by making this change? I know I won’t get optical brighteners anymore - will I notice a difference? On the other hand I’m too lazy to sort out darks so they will probably look better.

Based on the advertised cost per load, tide liquid is slightly cheaper than tide powder, but is this accurate with real world dosing? I use a laundromat style front loader in my apt shared laundry space, and our water isn’t too hard, I haven’t had to dose very high with the powder. Can I assume the liquid will stretch similarly far?

p.s. I’ll probably still keep some gearguard on hand for my silk and wool, I still love you Garame!

I was at Whole Foods, and they were out of the 365 Unscented Powder! I saw another comment in this sub from about 6mo ago saying it was being discontinued; I hope that’s not the case. They did have 365 sport, which I bought, and they also had this “Aunt Fannie’s Extra Strength laundry detergent powder,” in eucalyptus scent or fragrance free.

Here are the ingredients from their website: Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Borate, Sodium Percarbonate, Calcium Carbonate, Hydrated Silica, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Sulfate, Magnesium Carbonate, Cellulose, Sucrose, Magnesium Sulfate, Kaolin, Polyethylene Glycol, Deoxyribonuclease, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Thiosulfate, Protease, Amylase, Mannanase

Are all those minerals purely for water softening? Nothing on that list appears to me to be a surfactant. But it does have DNAse and is fragrance free, so seemed worth a mention. I don’t remember the in-store price but it’s 19.99 for 44oz (supposedly 70 loads) on Amazon.

I’m doing a massive spa day with all of the bed linens in our house.

The first batch was mostly white pillowcases and the resulting water was 🤮. It’s going to take me about 6 batches to do everything, and that’s using 8 gallons of hot water in a cooler with Biz + Gear Guard. The soaked linens are then washed with liquid Tide F&G Odor Refresh + FEBU + Ammonia with citrus acid in the rinse cycle.

Here’s my question: after this is done, I read that basic good laundry protocol going forward means I should never have to do a spa day on our sheets again, right? Does this mean that the “grandma’s house” smell should be permanently gone from our sheets?

And if we have sensitive skin in our house, is a standard cycle enough to get all the product out? We have an LG stacked front loader. I run it heavy duty, hot water, 3 rinses. Our water is 50-100 ppm. So moderately hard. The first spa day batch I did still smelled slightly soapy, so I ran it on another wash with zero soap.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I’ve really enjoyed getting into laundry science and this sub is a daily read for me now. I have made a lot of changes and added things to my laundry routine, but I still feel like I have a lot to learn.
I feel like everyone has one or two things that really make the difference for them, and I want to know what that is for everyone.
I want to share everything I learn with everyone I meet but have started asking people if they want some laundry science…unfortunately, the answer is almost always a variation of no thanks, so in case you need it, permission to nerd out granted!