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 also have mini washing machines which are the cutest thing EVER.

OK. So where can I get one of these? I don't need one but they sound v cute- How mini exactly?

Please could you say which brand you would recommend (or which you buy) as the best in the following categories
Powder for whites
Liquid detergent for whites (which is the best given its limitations)*
Liquid detergent for colours
Hand washing detergent
Separate stain removing product

I agree about the unpleasant fragrance of most of them, it's hard finding any that don't leave your clothes smelling of it. I was really pleased to find a new unfragranced one in Sainsburys recently but it's £6 for a tiny box, ridiculous. I might try the Lidl one if it's not too strong.

I don’t want to endorse any brands or products however if you look at Which? Reviews you will get an accurate picture of the best ones

Great AMA!
I like your idea of using powder for whites and liquid for colours. How do you dose it though? I have one of those Siemens maxhines with a resevoir for detergeny and conditioner where you can only put liquid. I can turn them off though. Where would I put the powder? In the third non-resevoir tray? In a ball in with the washing?

I currently use Fairy non bio detergent and fairy conditioner for everything. I do sheets and towels at 70/80. Whites at 60, sometimes with a splash of bleach in the third tray or vanish, Colours and Darks at 50 with colour catcher sheets. Seems to work well for me.. Only issue I have is blacks fading quickly so I sometimes do darks at 40.

Thanks for this!!

Two questions:

Can you use bio products with a septic pit then?

What are the best products for eczema?

I absolutely love this thread. Always find it funny when the op gets 10 questions in the time it takes them to post a reply so gets shirty responses that they’re being ignored

Would love to know best way to get yellow armpit stains out

Great thread, following with interest.

reel not the op obviously but I just put powder straight in the drum before a load, using a scoop-a kitchen measuring spoon would work.

Use bio liquid for colours and wash on a lower temp-you won't get as much fading!

so maybe i should have bio for blacks, non bio for co6loyrs, powder for whites! Excuse to buy more laundry products which I do enjoy, saddo that i am 😁

Yellow armpit stains are complex and they are generally caused by an interaction between the lipids in sweat, aluminium and other ingredients in deodorants and the detergent itself.
You can buy deodorants now which claim not to leave yellow marks, you could try those.
Otherwise you can give the lemon juice as pretreater a try, wash with bio powder and dry in the sun where possible.

OP,

Do you work with your APDO colleagues on armpit stains?

Also the mini washing machines are small enough to put on your desk. You can wash one item in them.

@Furrycushion Powders are very bad for the machine! They clump up in nooks and crannies! I don't see how liquid could damage them?

@LapinR0se My daughter has a beautiful, purple dress but it has a white collar which has become stained! I cannot get it out at all! I obviously don't want to put bleach on it for fear of bleaching the rest of the dress. Any advice?

Thanks! X

You’d probably need to take that dress to the dry cleaner so that they can have a look and advise. Otherwise if you are handy with a needle you can unpick the collar, turn it over and sew it back on again.

Fascinating thread! OP fabric softener gunks up our washing machine, so we use water softener tablets (hard water area) but no conditioner. Is that enough do you think?

Also, I was telling DH about the powder having bleach In and he wanted to know if there was still a hint of blue dye too?

Blue dye means optical brighteners but they have evolved a bit and are more sophisticated than they used to be. They are present in liquids too.
If you buy shampoo for blonde hair, it’s isually purple in colour and the that bluey-purple counteracts brassy yellow tones in blonde hair. It’s the same principle.

Also I am not sure why softener gunks up your machine, so you mean the drawer or the pipes?

Yes the drawer - it doesn't ever seem to leave!! Softener tablets are fine but conditioner just sits in the drawer and leads to a growth in mildew.

I wash dog beds (in zoflora) On a hot wash once a month and then do an empty hot wash. It just seems to be fabric conditioner that causes the problem.

I don’t want to endorse any brands or products however if you look at Which? Reviews you will get an accurate picture of the best ones

"Endorse"? Well which ones do you use personally then?
I don't subcribe to Which? and I rather thought the point of AMA was to er... AYA!!!

This is a key piece of information!!

My friends fresh washing consistently smells absolutely gorgeous and very strongly so. Mine does not, no matter what combination of products I use. What am I doing wrong?

Great thread...

But if an odd one here but why do I want to eat the washing powder? I never have but it smells so good. Obviously I am low in iron what chemical is in it that makes me crave it.

Could we have a picture of a mini machine please?!

I’m intrigued, the washing routine you set out is almost exactly the same as mine but you mentioned earlier that anything that had been in contact with bodily fluids should be washed at 60 to kill bacteria, this would include things like underwear which currently go in my dark load on a 30 or 40, I’m pretty sure that washing them at 60 would ruin them. Do you actually wash underwear and baby clothes at 60 and do they survive?
Alternatively are the products like the Dettol laundry treatment any use for killing bacteria at lower temperatures?

I have loyalty to the brands I worked with and so I use those. It would be a very biased recommendation!