IN THINKING THAT THIS WOMAN IS NUTS?

[Megatron]

At a gathering this afternoon and got chatting to a woman that i vaguely know.. Conversation turned to fabric conditioner of all things (don't ask) and this woman announces that she washes all her husband and sons clothes in a 'more manly' smelling fabric conditioner than she uses for her own and her daughters clothes. Because she doesn't want them smelling 'like girls'. I laughed heartily til i realised that she was serious then stepped swiftly away as I believed her to be a loon. AIBU?

I thought everybody did this...

I use separate washing powder too.... husband likes the lavender and oriental blossom one, I like Ylang Ylang and moonflower. Kids' stuff in Bold.

I only use fabric conditioner on my stuff and it's nearly all of the Lenor(?) perfumed range... the sapphire and violent, the red one (my fave), the black one (which might be diamond).

Surely a proper manly man would not have softener at all?

I don't use itat all anyway because I think they all smell gammy and make my nose itch - I one made my manly man get up at 2am and help me change the sheets because the smell of meadow flowers/ocean breeze/chemical horror was stopping me from sleeping.

Btw it's not lavender that makes them catch gay, it's chamomile tea. My Mam's friend says so. It has 'hormone changers in it'.

I buy expensive perfume. I want to smell of that perfume and not 'crushed moonflowers with unicorn'.

Any one else use white vinegar? One tbs and it gets rid of soap residue but doesn't smell.

(also is cheap)

We don't use it either, because of the smell, if anything I will use vinegar.

Whoever said Comfort Pure doesn't smell much, I bought a bottle of it to try recently, because I do have to use a lot of vinegar to get the softness, I did one wash with the Comfort Pure - never again! It stank. I went to bed in a shirt I had washed in it and had to get up and change after an hour, it was awful.

So, if there is a fragrance free conditioner out there I'd love to hear about it.

Actually, DH hates the smell of the liquid washing tablets I bought, which I like, so we now have those for my clothes and a box of powder for his clothes.
But I don't have to sort his stuff out from mine, as I don't wash his clothes he does them himself, from his own linen bin, so it's up to him which he uses....

Oh god, it's bad enough trying to choose between powder/liquid/tabs/low temp concentrate/all-in-one/bio/non-bio/ yadda yadda yadda without worrying if they smell butch enough for my family. What a loon.

YANBU. Mos def.

You know, I am a lazy slattern with most house stuff.

But I freakin' love fabric softener. I have about 5 different ones in the laundry.

Some for sheets (lavender), some for my clothes (vanilla), an unscented one for gym kit/uniforms etc. I also like to wash the baby's clothes in Lux so he smells like a baby.

This is mad though, I admit that, quite bonkers but it makes me happy.

Morloth what if you wash the gymkits in vanilla? Will they throw like girls?

I'm not sure what a manly smell one would smell like? WD40? Petrol?
I'm thinking that if they ever brought out "Freshly Mown Lawn" I would buy it.

Please tell me what the unscented one is Morloth?

Don't use any anyway. It all smells vile.

i am also a bit mental when it comes to washing (altho dont separate manly/feminine smells my DP actually likes the girly smells and will only use ladies toiletries ).

The other day i bought a new brand of liquid things and really noticed the brightness of the colours so called my DP into th utility room to show him.

I stood there beaming and proudly gushing on about how brilliant it was and he had a look on his face of utter disgust - i have honestly never seen him look so disappointed and unimpressed.

Oh wow! This story just made my day

OP....will you ever r-ECOVER from this ghastly experience?

"Btw it's not lavender that makes them catch gay, it's chamomile tea. My Mam's friend says so. It has 'hormone changers in it'"

Really?! I use to give DS manzanilla tea which is the Spanish camomile (lived there) as it is meant to be good for wind and was suggested to me.

He asked me the other week if men can marry men.

100years @ 20:59 'we have magic balls'. Is that from washing the Y-fronts in Fairy dust?

I knew it, I'm a slattern, our clothes are washed in whatever happens to be the cheapest at the time I am buying it.

Confession: As I do all the washing I bung dh & DC's clothes in together and add a lid full of which ever `industrial size' (i.e. cheapest ) fabric conditioner I can I find.

My own clothes, I wash alone with a lid and a half full of the prettiest fragrance I can find.

I have to `crack' their stiff clothing to fold them - my clothes hug me and smell like a meadow on a summers day!

Gym kit in unscented because most of it is mine and I don't like it to smell when I get all sweaty and manky.

I do throw like a girl. Hard and fast.

Planet Earth is the brand for the 'no smell' clothes.

Also mildly obsessed with Napisan. Got 3 different types of that as well.

Thank you. I didn't know there was more than one type of Napisan!

How do you us the white vinegar? I feel our clothes aren't getting cleaned properly and this may help

I'm allergic to fabric conditioner. It makes me itch.

Great thread. I don't use softener either. However I was going to start a thread asking AIBU to be slightly unsure what to make of the fact DH likes wearing the bergamot tea scented eau de toilette from L'Occitane which I bought for me and which is I think generally used by women ... but now I know I should have started in early with gender-coded washing power!

I grab washing liquid and run, the laundry aisle makes me sneeze. I'm certainly not going to hang around sniffing fabric conditioner!

Chaos - excellent post.

Megatron - YANBU - she is a loony tune all right!