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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not use fabric conditioner?

123 replies

tobysmum77 · 14/12/2014 16:13

Seriously isn't it just a bit of a waste of money, well apart from a couple of dresses I have which go static without?

Is this just me (well and dm) ......... or not?

OP posts:
LST · 14/12/2014 20:30

I love the smell and feel of fabric conditioner. I can always tell which clothes have been washed at my mums when ds stops over. Each to their own though.

cardibach · 14/12/2014 20:39

I really dislike the smell of it - chemically and headache inducing. Apart from towels there is in difference in the way laundry feels, and, like others I prefer towels which actually dry me!
Expense for no gain.

MoreSnowPlease · 14/12/2014 22:09

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MinesAPintOfTea · 14/12/2014 22:17

I hate the smell. Love sunshine scentedwashing in the summer and tumble dry in winter.

I have nice perfume if I fancy extra scent. No need for something so neural that IRS fine for nee and dh

Original poster
tobysmum77 · 15/12/2014 19:46

I'm holding my head up high Thanks ladies Grin

OP posts:
BikketBikketBikket · 15/12/2014 20:22

The doctor told me never to use fabric conditioner when DD was a baby and developed eczema - he said that it was very, very bad for sensitive skins (i.e. babies). I've never used it since - don't miss it a bit Smile

Namechangeyetagaintohide · 15/12/2014 20:35

I've never used it. Don't get it. What it even for ?!

grobagsforever · 15/12/2014 20:38

YANBU

It's pointless chemicals for sillly people. And bad for environment.

drbonnieblossman · 15/12/2014 20:55

The new lenor pearls smell gorgeous and so does the house when I use them. I am very very silly.Wink

Bunbaker · 15/12/2014 20:58

Prompted by this thread I did a wash load today without conditioner today.

Rivercam · 15/12/2014 21:04

I read somewhere that you are supposed o dilute fc in your machine to prevent it clogging it. I always use, but don't recall my mum using it that much.

LST · 15/12/2014 21:17

No need to call people who use something you don't silly is there. Rather childish imho

Moln · 15/12/2014 21:30

Don't use it, soft water area, but not getting the 'money saving' aspect of not using it. It's not particularly expensive is it?

grobagsforever, "sillly people", not as silly as you it seems, there are much better things to be smug about than the non use of fabric conditioner

ToffeeCaramel · 15/12/2014 21:42

I didn't use it til I was in my thirties, but I tried it out and my clothes seemed less wrinkly with it, which is a benefit for me as I avoid ironing as much as poss.

CockBollocks · 15/12/2014 21:48

I stopped using it when my washing machine stopped taking it into the wash - made no difference.

Vinegar is good in hard water areas, especially for towels. You need white vinegar not the chip shop malt variety and only a capful.

My mum insists on using double doses of concentrated softener because she likes the smell - I had to tell her to please not wash my children clothes when they saw her as the smell was so overpowering!!!!

londonrach · 15/12/2014 21:55

Arent your towels stiff if you dont use it. I remember asking my mum as a child why our towels werent soft like other childrens. From. That day she used conditioner. My mil doesnt and if i touch her towels they remind me of those stiff towels.

FunkyBoldRibena · 15/12/2014 21:55

Arent your towels stiff if you dont use it

No.

Namechangeyetagaintohide · 15/12/2014 21:56

No not really. They feel like towels.

SanityClause · 15/12/2014 21:57

I have never used fabric conditioner. I don't even know what it's supposed to do.

londonrach · 15/12/2014 21:58

Maybe its me but i can tell if a towel not had conditioner. They feel hard and stiff. Also love the blue Lenor smell.

DramaAlpaca · 15/12/2014 22:00

I've never used it as I don't like the smell it leaves on laundry.

londonrach · 15/12/2014 22:00

Sanity from wikipedia....Fabric softener (also called fabric conditioner) is a conditioner used to prevent static cling and make fabric softer

mausmaus · 15/12/2014 22:07

a tumble dryer will make the towels soft without makeing them non-absorbent.
mil uses loads of softener for smell and softness but I prefer towls that actually get you dry.

foreverton · 15/12/2014 22:13

I love it to be honest, fairy mostly, smells fab but those pearl ball things are a pain, I dropped the bottle earlier and am still finding them, plus they're really expensive( and I got them on offer ) wouldn't buy them again.

wasabipeanut · 15/12/2014 22:20

I can't bear the smell of fabric conditioner. I use a slosh of white vinegar with a few drops of essential oil in - orange is my current favourite. The vinegar smell dissipates and you just get lovely nice essential oil smell left.
I tumble dry in Winter (and towels all year round Blush ) and do not have crispy linens.

Fabric conditioner makes fabrics sort of weird and bendy and the smell of the ones my mum and mil use gives me a headache.

A word of warning though - a couple of weeks after I started using vinegar my machine suddenly stopped mid cycle and the error message said blocked filter. We drained and investigated and huge clods of lime scale, presumably dislodged by vinegar, had blocked the filter. We cleaned it all out and it's been fine ever since.