Is fabric softener really necessary?

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I ran out last week and nobody seemed to notice. I must get through a bottle a month - all that plastic and chemicals - what difference does it actually make apart from changing the smell?

I don’t use it on towels but I tumble dry them; I like them absorbent but not crunchy.

I use it, I love the fresh smell and how it makes clothes feel softer.

I hate crunchy clothes, and also towels.

I don”t as I have a really poncey tumble drier that I can add a fragrance unit to, if I want it to smell lovely. So I get the softness and nice smell, without the weird sliminess.

another one baffled by the "use it on fleeces" thing. how does that help?!

I have always lived in a hard water area and don't use it. Never had crunchy laundry!

My area is horribly hard watered so I do use it otherwise everything comes out like a rock

Fabric softener is pointless and counterproductive. Buy a really good quality laundry detergent.

My moth used it.

Damn those moths and their use of fabric conditioner!

Oriana

I was thinking how good it would be to have a housekeeper moth...!

My mother did, we still had moths though.

It set me wondering whether it affected moths one way the other, probably not. Now if you could get fabric conditioner with moth repellant in it that would be a good thing.

*repellent

Chardonnay

your mother had a housekeeper moth?

No, she had proper real moths.

I haven’t used it for years and don’t miss it. I’ve also stopped using conditioner on my hair recently and whilst I could tell at first after a couple of weeks my hair was back to being as soft as it was and could go longer between washes.

Don't use it, find the smell over powering, really dislike it.

And gallons of fabric conditioner.

No I don't use it. I bought a bottle when I washed all DD's newborn clothes and couldn't notice any difference

Re: using it for fleece items, even those lose their softness in our water, plus it seems to reduce static. I don't use it on anything else though, as I really don't like it.

Vinegar doesn't make any difference, neither does soda.

We didn’t use fabric softener for a year because I couldn’t find any that was allergen free. During that time we had hair stuck to our clothes all the time. I was pulling it off of ‘clean’ clothes constantly. Finding a fabric softener we could use was a huge relief.

Interesting what people are saying about fabric softener and microplastics, this article suggests that using softener makes the shedding of plastics from our clothes into the water system worse, not better...

helpwiththewashing.co.uk/blog/laundry-pollutes-environment/

I haven’t used it for decades. Nobody’s died.

I love the smell so I use it. I’m in a soft water area so don’t actually need it. Clothes smell musty if I haven’t used it though

I’ve never used it and never understood the point of it. Total waste of resources and money. You’ve been conned my marketing.

Stopped using it and haven't looked back!

We have a lot of laundry in this house. I use 1.5 bottles a week on average. I over use it. I know I do. Hard water means clothes are like cardboard and a pig to iron. So condition and hang. I stock up every so often of the large ones in Costco and decant it to smaller bottles.