to be annoyed about the new Dettol ad?

[Ilovexmastime]

If you haven't seen it, it's for Dettol Antibacterial Laundry Cleaner. It's basically another scare-mongering ad, implying that if you don't use it in your wash then your clothes will be crawling with bacteria.

It's annoyed me because we are heading into an age where antibiotics don't work properly and in my view we should not be trying to kill 99.9% of bacteria as we need most of them.

Is there any genuine reason why anyone would need to use this? I'm sure most of the population don't.

"Are people actually getting ill from not washing their clothes properly? Is it some kind of epidemic?"

People do seem to be getting a lot stinkier despite furious showering.
I assume it is because the build up of bacteria on clothes reacts with the sweat?
(nobody died of it mind you)

I put a bit of washing soda or borax in with anything particularly icky. Gets things much cleaner and deodorises.
Costs pence, and I usually only do it every month or so, when there is something pooey or pukey.

I've never heard of anyone getting ill from inadequately laundered clothes either. The fact that we get our clothes thoroughly dry makes them poor breeding grounds and pretty safe.

YANBU, by the way.

How are people getting stinkier, exactly? Compared to what?

Riceburner...

So do you think it is healthier to only sterilise the actual soiled garments rather than the whole wash?

"How are people getting stinkier, exactly? Compared to what?"

Compared to when we hot washed our clothes I suppose? It is just my observation that low temperature washes might be great for the environment but lousy for armpits.

Using the original dettol product (or a cheap 27p disinfectant for that matter) you could probably get the same results. You just put a capful or two in with the pre wash washing powder. (In the days of a twintub you just poured it in), or you presoak then wash in the machine as normal.

I like the original dettol product but it has too much of a disinfectant smell. I don't want my gym clothes having a stale sweaty smell but I don't wNt them having a hospital sterile smell either.
For those who go to the gym / go running and don't use a laundry cleanser; how do you get the sweat smell out of your clothes without washing them so hot it ruins the fabric? I exercise until I am literally dripping with sweat and over time the clothing starts to smell stale, even after washing, if I don't use a laundry cleanser.

Sunshine the only studies of the 'pet' theory totally fail to control for existing allergies in the parent but only look at correlations between allergies in children and the ownership of furry animals (pets such as reptiles, fish etc not included).

So, adults with asthma or allergies to animal fur are less likely to own such animals than the population at large. Their children are more prone to allergies. This could be a) because of the lack of pets in the home or b) because they are genetically predisposed to allergies - until you control for b you can't test a and I've never seen a study tht does (but would be keen to read some).

Equally, children with severe eczema or asthma are more likely to need antibiotics (to keep them alive) than than the general population. Put with the other data you could conclude that antibiotic use disrupts the bodies immune system and contributes towards allergies - and I'm sure this is true. However, it may equally be true that the 'choices' for these children are alive and allergic or dead (same for SBCU babies and C-sections).

My dd is allergic to milk amongst other things - must be my fault for not having a pet cow .

Having stunk my whole house out with phenol during the foot and mouth outbreak and am now bathing in hibiscrub since contracting Mrsa . I am using it at the moment. Usually I'm not too bothered but I have noticed a big difference in some items eg horseshit jods. Chicken shit jumpers. Dog poo towels and gym stuff. It does smell a lot better and knocks out the ghastly smell of comfort

Why? I use it when we're ill or DS has soiled underwear, as normal wash powder doesn't remove the smell of urine.

gentlehoney, I don't sterilise any clothes. I just machine wash everything at 30-40C. (Never hotter than 40C.)

I might soak/hand wash if there was something really horrible eg dog poo/vomit. (Or a stubborn stain.) But this is rare.

I also only wash things when they are properly dirty/have been used more than once. (Sometimes used/worn over weeks/months eg jeans.). And there have been no obvious negative health consequences for me (or my family) ... so far!

I don't bath/shower daily either & I think that I don't smell too bad. (Tho I realise that I don't smell sweetly perfumed either!)

There's obviously a fine line between becoming a mouldy old tramp and being carried along with the current obsessive levels of personal hygiene, & I do worry about drifting into the tramp category, mainly in reaction to all the ppl who waste water and energy excessively! (Maybe I shd go live/hide in the countryside, where no-one will notice/smell me?)

Deep down, I do have a fear that we, (eg in the UK), will one day run out of clean water and/or the fuel to process 'dirty' water into 'clean' water, as we are a growing population who have come to expect/demand (cheap) unlimited clean water and the energy to heat it, without any care for the environmental cost.

If we lived in a small group on a desert island with limited fresh water, would we be happy to see it being used to shower and wash clothes all the time? (Or would we want to save it, mostly for essential drinking & cooking?)

We all need water to drink, cook with and to wash ourselves/our homes, but most ppl I know are VERY wasteful with it.

How did we possibly manage to survive when we had to all bathe in the same river or pond and carry water to our homes for cooking/drinking. And has anyone had to go a week with no water in their town ... as in none at all? (I have. But we were able to buy some bottled water at least ... just for drinking.) After that sort of a wake-up experience, you find that you can survive on a lot less water. (And you tend to stop caring about washing towels daily & whether your hair is a tad greasy!)

I love a deep/hot bath as much as the next person, but wars have been fought over access to clean water, and probably will be again one day. And I wonder what will priority we will assign to "personal hygiene" for the average person then?

I know I am probably being VERY unreasonable to use this thread as an opportunity to sound off, but I also feel someone has to try to stop the current "uber-hygiene" madness, before we forget how to live 'normally' and start to learn to use clean water more sparingly!

Rice burner
I had a hippy unbringing. No hot water, washing machine . It was hell.
I stank . My clothes were hand washed- when the weather was up to the task of drying.
I washed daily with the still warm water from the previous nights hot water bottle(actually a pottery antique one).
No way I want my kids going through that thanks .

I use it for my gym and riding clothes and any smelly tops. Only buy when it's on offer really or else I use napisan or zoflora

It annoys me too along with their no touch soap dispenser and the people in the advert who like to anti-bacterialise every surface of their homes.

My older children used to ride and it never occurred to me to do anything other than wash their clothes as per the care label. They made it to adult hood anyway.

Oh I couldn't care less about the germ factor, I muck out then eat and let the horses lick my face
It's the sweat smell I use it for, if I wash normally after a while they are clean but smell sweaty, this gets rid of it
Germs aren't really a priority when you're eating a sandwich after mucking out with a dog drooling on you and a cat licking your neck