that fabric conditioner is VILE?

[BrazenlyDefying]

We are staying in a (very nice and modern) holiday let this week. No complaints apart from one. The entire house REEKS of fabric conditioner. The owners have obviously splashed out on nice white cotton bedding and thick, expensive towels, but it's all ruined by the stench. You get into bed and all you can smell is the chemical reek. You can't dry yourself with the chemical reeking towels because they're so "conditioned" that they slip all over you without actually absorbing anything.

Why do people do this? It doesn't smell clean, or laundered. It smells artificial and nasty. Just don't. At home we don't use conditioner at all, the water is soft and it's totally unnecessary. Laundry straight in off the line smells wonderfully fresh, the fab con stuff doesn't.

Should be banned!

I love it
I love the smell
I love the feel
I love the little pearls and add them to my towels and bedding

I love fabric conditioner

Is that the plot of your next book Mrs Hinch?

I don't like it but I moved to an incredibly hard water area in January & it's now a necessity. The first wash I did there, towels came out like corrugated cardboard. So fab-con it was. And iron water to show mercy to my poor iron.

I do try to buy whatever I think will be the least overpowering though, I can't abide many of the smells and get migraines. I was brought up not to use it or to tumble dry clothing- haven't sunk to that nadir yet at least.

Washing powder is a chemical too. Do you use it? Ewww

Yea I came on here to tell lies about things that haven't happened eh

@SmileyClare

Well they must have used too much, if it's so strong and feels "greasy". Either that or their rinse cycle on the washing machine isn't working properly.

I don't get the fabric conditioner hate on here though. If you use a small capfull, washing is soft and has a faint hint of fresh fragrance. All good in my eyes.

Saying the whole place "reeks" of a "nasty stench" makes you sound like a drama queen Op. I'm sure it's not that bad.

I know right.

Although the 'it sets off my ibs' is a new one on me and tickled me a bit.

I totally agree OP - there is no fabric conditioner used around here, and I only use low scent clothes washing stuff.

I can often smell fabric conditioner on peoples clothes when I pass them on the street - its nasty, not nice at all.

I hae seen it "recommended" on here to spray fabric condition onto radiators etc to "fresh up the house and make it smell nice"

I live in a hard water area and use a cupful of white vinegar in the final rinse. Leaves clothes beautifully soft and smelling just fresh and clean. The vinegar also keeps the drum and pipes squeaky clean. Wouldn’t use anything else. It’s really cheap in Aldi’s too.

I use the Ecover fabric softener- just on my work uniform and heavier stuff like jeans, which tend to go in to the same wash. My work tops are no longer as bobbly, which is good.

I never use it on towels because it reduces absorbency too much.

YABU to want it banned entirely but I totally get where you're coming from!

Mind you, in the UK it's not just the fabric conditioner, it's the soap powder as well - SO strongly perfumed! Whenever I go back there to stay at my Dad's and wash clothes there, our clothes smell SO strongly of the added scents, and it stays on the clothes for AGES after we've returned home, until the next wash.

The fabric conditioner I use in Australia has a very mild scent (powder has none) so I've got used to my clothes NOT stinking of artificial scent!

that ad for the balls that boost the fabcon - where people are in the bed outside hugging the duvet saying how nice it smells - it makes me want to burn the tv.

Hate the stuff. I cannot see the point of it - it does nothing. At best it reduces static, but it's so rubbish it barely does that job.
Other than that, it's stinky, smelly stuff, toxic to our environment and completely and utterly unnecessary. I surprised so many people spend hard earned cash on rubbish. I live in a hard water area.

We're trying to rid clothes of residues, not add them.

A lot of washing powders or liquid ones have fragrance and softeners in them, so no need for anything else in my opinion. Some people near me must use all these strong fabric softeners though, as I can often smell the strong sickly aromas outside,off peoples washing blowing on the washing line.

I used to love it (even used to wipe it on my radiators in winter so my house would smell of it), until I read about how bad it is for you, your clothes and the environment. Stopped using it for ages and now I'm not used to it, I find the smell horrid. I also notice how greasy the clothes seemed when my mum washed the kids clothes one day - hadn't noticed that before. Another smol fan here. Also like method (although very expensive, I love the smell).

From my perspective, fabric softener does achieve something, because I almost never tumble dry anything (apart from towels, which don't have fabric softener added to their wash anyway). You can tell the difference between knickers that have been washed with fabric softener and ones that haven't (because they went in with the towels).

The vast majority of my washing gets hung up to air dry, mostly inside (except in summer) - so the cardboardy feeling is very evident if no fabric conditioner used.

After Method discontiuned their super concetrated laundry wash (lightly scented, 5 pumps) and replace it with giant bottles of bright hightly scented stuff I decided to try powder again (I'd been reading for years how powder is better for machines ).

I took one for the team and sniffed all the boxes of washing powder looking for the one with fuck all scent - Readers, Morrisons Savers powder won hands down. It washes as good as anything, is very low scent and is less than £3 for 50 washes.

Its seems the more you pay the more "scent" you get.

Glad I’m not alone! Always wondered what fc is and why people use it!
Way too chemical-y smelling

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

From my perspective, fabric softener does achieve something, because I almost never tumble dry anything (apart from towels, which don't have fabric softener added to their wash anyway). You can tell the difference between knickers that have been washed with fabric softener and ones that haven't (because they went in with the towels).

The vast majority of my washing gets hung up to air dry, mostly inside (except in summer) - so the cardboardy feeling is very evident if no fabric conditioner used.

adding soda crystals to the wash helps reduce the crunch. I only air dry and I'm in a hard water area and nothing is crunchy. Towels are a little bit ruff rather than fluffy but I prefer them that way - free exfoliation :)

I use the cheap stuff from Lidl because the smell is much fainter. When my SIL lived with us she used Lenor and the whole house would be taken over by the smell. It was vile and I would never buy it myself.

YANBU. I suffer from migraines and those artificial overpowering chemical smells can bring one on, if I’m not careful. I also can’t understand why people use that awful Fabreeze stuff. It’s smells vile.

I think if you’re one of those people who like those smells, you’re probably already overdoing it. I challenge you to try not using any added chemical smells in your house for 2 weeks and see if you notice a difference?

It also worries me hugely what all these chemicals are doing to the water supply and to our endocrinological systems!

I understand why people don't use it due to allergies, from an environmental perspective or because they dislike the smell.

But to describe the smell as a stench is a tad hysterical and melodramatic IMO. I don't know anyone whose clothes "stink" of fabric conditioner.

How do you get through daily life if you are that sensitive to smells?

I don't use fabric conditioner but the smell of it doesn't bother me.
The animal fat thing smol does on their advertising concerns me. They make a huge deal about not using a natural ingredient but don't say what they replace it with. If it's a plastic based substitute surely that's worse.

I wear a very pleasant (and expensive) perfume, I don't need to drown the laundry in cheap and unpleasant "fragrance"

See this is the thing. Your pleasant and expensive purfume will spell like toilet air freshener to someone. You're deluding yourself if you think everyone finds it pleasant.

People like different smells. The world goes round still.

People like different smells, this is true. However I wouldn't fill a holiday let with anything strongly perfumed because I know not everyone likes the same. I do think there is a lot of "nose blindness" going on with people who don't realise how strongly things smell.

I wear a very pleasant (and expensive) perfume, I don't need to drown the laundry in cheap and unpleasant "fragrance"

One artificial fragrance vs another. It's a question of personal preference. Some people might hate the smell of your expensive perfume. Price tag is no guarantee of universal appeal.