Irritation and Yellowing

Lots of folks choose DIY detergents for skin irritation.  But then they’re skin is still irritated!  There are no additives, right?  And why are my clothes getting dingy and yellowing?

Amazingly, it’s NOT additives that get most people.  It’s the pH of the clothes when they come out.  Even with no additives, alkaline laundry can irritate skin.  Skin like a pH of about 6.5.  Laundry water is almost 11.  Professional laundry services have know this for ages.  They “sour” the laundry to get it back to an acid pH that you skin likes.  Acetic acid (vinegar) is generally the SOUR used by industrial services; it also removes rust yellowing and graying.

VINEGAR IN THE RINSE!

So, REGARDLESS OF WHAT DETERGENT YOU USE, help out sensitive skin by SOURING your laundry in the rinse.  1/2 cup in the rinse compartment is more than enough; you might be able to get away with 1/4 cup.  Just play with depending on how well your clothing was rinsed.

Hard Water, Harder Water

Vinegar in the rinse will also help remove hard water deposits on clothing. If you want to use it pre-emptively to keep those particles suspended in the wash water, you can use vinegar or citric acid in the wash. But, if you have any significant water hardness, it might take a lot more vinegar than you want to fool with. Lemi-shine citric acid at $4/72 tsp is cheaper for me than vinegar. 4 cups vinegar equals one tsp of citric acid in water-hardness-suspending-capabilities. The other problem is hard water starts eating away at your diy savings because you have to add so much more washing soda to the mix to keep up the pH. For every cup of vinegar you add to the wash water or for every tsp of citric acid you add, put in 4 extra tsp of washing soda.

So here are my hard water dry detergent mixes for you to try. Tell me how your experiments go!

I Think I Have Hard Water Mix
1/4 c citric acid
3/4 c finely ground soap
2 3/4 c washing soda

Mix in can. Shake a lot first day. Will try to clump. Use 3T per standard load. Vinegar in the rinse.

I Pretty Sure I Gots the Hard Water Mix
1/2 c citric acid
1/2 c plus 2T finely ground soap
2 cups plus 6T washing soda

Same mixing instructions as above, use a rounded quarter cup per standard load. Vinegar in the rinse.