Laundry report from the <whisper> Daily Mail

[CeliaFate]

Article here
It makes interesting reading. I'm feeling quite smug as I do everything it advises in the report (am practically OCD with washing )!

My machine is 10 years old and doesn't go below 40 anyway so I'm covered there. As for the rest - well we're all still alive and healthy so I won't be changing too much about the way I wash. I might switch back to powder though.

I must admit I wash my nursing uniforms in with everything else which probably isn't the best. I don't have the time or money to wash it separately though.

interesting - but am I meant to use bio or non-bio for best bug-killing? It doesn't seem clear.

OMG. Off to do a 90 degree towel wash.

so glad I've seen this - confirmed what I have been thinking for a long time now - am interested in the dettol suggestion, anyone else doing this ? guessing I just add to the powder ?

I wash bedding, towels & whites at 60 degrees anyway - everything else at 40 - but use mostly liquid detergent.

too many variables for me - we should go back to the good old days when it was all Persil, Daz or Surf, in boxes

I did a 90 degree wash with no clothes in and non bio powder as soon as I read that article.

I always did my whites at 60 degree's, I shall look at doing dark towels and pants together at 60 degree's also now after reading that!

I have never used dettol either, I alternate between powder and gel due to what is on offer of the brand I use. I was using gel as I was told that the powder shortened the life span of your machine!

Stick some Napisan in with the dirtier washing, it made my towels softer too.

What is napisan? is it something to do with reusable nappy related?

I always do towels and bedding on 60 degrees, and for a few years do a 90 degree wash once a month with soda crystals in the drawer

How we all continue to live in this level of filth and remain healthy despite our slovenly ways is a total mystery to me. [hconfused]

"you've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die"

(I think a peck is bigger than it sounds)

This is Napisan. It's great stuff! I can't use biological stuff on ds' clothes so I use Fairy Non-bio and Napisan. 60 degree washes are recommended for allergy prone children so I do that.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

I don't do low temperature washes for all the reasons stated in the article. Towels and bedding are done at 60. Hadn't thought about the underwear though...presumably ok to mix if there are no actual skiddies?

Well I hope he washed them thoroughly before he ate them Trills!

is it a misprint where it says non-bio contains bleach, surely its the bio that contains bleach and the non-bio the enzymes?

no, bio is enzymes (remember biotex when it first came out in the olden days?)

Hmm, I'm feeling twitchy now. My DS has eczema on his face which has twice become infected with something that sounds like one of the bugs they refer to. We use cloth nappies which are washed at 40 degrees, as is the rest of our laundry apart from sheets, which we wash at 60.

60 degrees from now on it is then.

MyMelody, the article was right - bio contains enzymes and non-bio has bleach. That's why you can't wash silk in bio - the enzymes 'eat' the proteins in the silk. Bleach is added to non-bio to make up for the lack of enzymes.

oh i see thanks, you learn something every day!

\link{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_detergent\biological detergent} on wiki

interestingly it says

A study by hospital dermatologists published in the British Journal of Dermatology found that "ultimately, the balance of all the enzymes in laundry detergents are not a cause of either skin irritation or skin allergy ... the supposed adverse effects of enzymes on the skin seem to be a consequence of mythology"

I have a couple of eczema-inclined people in the family so I've always avoided bio - maybe I should give it a go (as there seems to be no doubt that it performs better)

But you live with staphylococcus on you, it's on your skin. E. Coli is a huge family of bacteria and only one or two produce harmful toxins that make you ill: so them testing for E. Coli and finding it is NO SURPRISE as it's everywhere, all the time, on you and in you. The one that hits the headlines is a distinct variety and at no point do they say that they tested for that variety.

We have totally evolved with these bacteria and actually have bacterial DNA within our own genome as it has been co-opted or subsumed into our DNA. There's a massive industry based on making you fear what you cannot get rid of and mostly don't need to protect yourself against. By all means be clean and hygienic but don't listen to this crap, your houses and towels and worktops are obviously fine if you're not making yourselves sick every week or so

Angeldog, do you soak your nappies in Napisan or equivalent before washing them? If soaked, washing at 40 should be OK as Napisan is bleach & kills the germs; if not then they do need a really hot wash (min 60, pref 90).

I remember a friend of mine used to have to practically wrestle with her mother to stop her boil-washing nappies which had been soaked in Napisan

I agree with teetick. These things sound really bad but they don't qualify any of their statements as to why we should be worried. I mean, presumably none of your families are regularly getting ill?

thats it, not long ago the papers were saying that all these allergies were caused by people being too clean and sterilizing everything in sight, and that we need a few germs to keep our immune systems up. you have to keep it all in perspective or you will drive yourself mad