I developed laundry detergents AMA

[LapinR0se]

For many years I was responsible for innovation for one of the biggest laundry brands in the UK.
Any questions you have on stains, wash cycles, laundry products etc you can ask me.

They do love a centrifuge.
They also have mini washing machines which are the cutest thing EVER.

Mini washing machines? I feel like I'm in the wrong job now...
DH doesn't believe me that drying clothes on the line in the sunshine gets rid of stains. Now I can show him this thread and feel smug.

@LapinROse my question is, can whites that have gone a bit grey ever be truly white again? If so, how?! DH has a white work shirt with an embroidered logo that ran on the first few washes so now there are grey splodges all over it. Only faint, and you can only see them when you hold it up to the light, but they bother me no end!

Seconding the question about colour catcher sheets (worth using?) and how to wash e.g. a Breton stripe

For stripy or multicoloured clothes it’s best to treat them as colours.

Why do people think powder is better for a machine than liquid? I’ve seen quite a few people on here saying that their plumber told them that liquid causes the machine to break and powder is much better. Is that just a myth?

How did you get into this field? What else could you have done?

Not strictly about laundry but do you use Calegon or similar to stop line scale? Mine must be covered in a hard water area but not sure if I can start using them now or it’s doomed!

Very practical, thank you for this thread. I will be putting on a service wash tomorrow!! And buying some powder☺️

Liquids seem to leave a gunk behind which can block pipes. Powder (so long as you don’t use too much of it) doesn’t. Powder also contains water softeners so will stop your machine from scaling and bleaches which will keep the inside of your machine clean.

Thanks for this thread it's very interesting.
Is vanish a waste of money if it's basically bleach ?
Could I use bleach on my whites instead ?

What do you think about the length of laundry cycles? My machine defaults to about 3 hrs but it also has 2 hrs, 1 hr, 30 mins and 20 mins. I usually use the 1 hr one but would one of the others be better for any reason?

Given earlier comments on non Bio being a UK thing created by a manufacturing problem, I'm surprised to see you say you'd still use it for baby clothes in your helpful list. I don't find Ariel/Persil to be that scented so why not just use them with a white fabric conditioner and get the better clean?

Some of my cotton jeans and t shirts have gone hard after washing. Why not they feel nice any more?!

I don’t have any questions. But great thread.

I am wondering if we used to work in the same location, OP!

@Zhx3 send me a PM

Great thread.

Is it better to use a separate power and conditioner or a 2 in 1 tablet/pod/thing.

@RoadToRivendell scrub it with dishwasher soap til it goes purple. Soak in boiling water and half a bottle of prose I for a day, scrub again. Vanish stain remover and wash twice.

Red wine gone from a white linen dress^

I'm allergic to biological detergent so I'm glad there's a split!

There is currently no technology that delivers the benefits of a detergent and conditioner in one product. You need separate products if you want to get top clean + softness + freshness

Why don’t they make complementary scented powder and softener? I love the smell of Ariel but if I use fabric conditioner as well I can’t smell it anymore! Would love to buy a matching set!

That’s what I thought with the 2 in 1. If I d use them I always use extra fab conditioner

why are the smells so overpowering, vile and longlasting?
I recently had real trouble removing a laundry product smell from a scarf and it was stinking the place out, plus transferring the smell to anythin it touched (charity shop purchase)

@barleysugar if you call the Ariel careline they will advise

I find the Lidl formil powders have a level of fragrance which we find acceptable, one of our family has eczema so I prefer to avoid heavily fragranced powders or liquids, they are , in my opinion , as good as persil.