Unnecessary washing products - please don't think I'm skanky

[ShyTalk]

Hi all. Did anyone watch the "Victorian Farm" programme on BBC1? Well, my DS bought me the book that accompanies the series for MD a few weeks ago. One of the chapters is about laundry and the writer says that since she researched clothes washing all over the world, she hasn't used washing powder, softener etc. She has found that it is the "slooshing about" action of the water, whether in a machine or a river that actually cleans the clothes and that the detergent is superfluous. She does say that to do this, you have to look at your laundry, and pre-treat nasty stains with laundry soap rubbed in (Fairy soap bar) before washing.
Having read this, I just had to give it a go, whilst being worried about lingering BO etc. We are 2 days in, and I find no discernible difference between using powder and softener and using nothing at all.
This may not be for everyone, it is rather a leap of faith, but I have always been the Queen of Clean, and I am convinced so far in this experiment that washing products are unnecessary. It is cheap, it avoids the build-up of residue in your clothes and prevents detergent run-off into rivers.
Also - if detergents are really not required, how did this multi-million £ industry develop when we don't actually need it?

i would belive this-we have the washer balls but sometimes i have forgotten to put them in and the clothes still come out v clean, even with messy baby clothes to deal with! good marketing from co's make us think we need the washing powder, etc.

I don't use softener or antyhign like that, I just use liquid detergent, but probably about 20% of the quantity they recommend. Everything is clean and I don't treat stains beforehand.

nicm - yes, I think that those washer balls are a good idea as long as they eliminate the need for the detergents. As you have found, even without them, the laundry still comes out clean. Maybe there is something we can all learn from this?

ooh i've never tried using nothing at all, but I do use an absolute minimum of ecover powder in my wash. like, a couple of tbsp max.

might give it a go with nothing though

I never use softener use minimal cheap and cheerful washing powder ..everything looks clean to me

This is interesting!
I have washed clothes without detergent before now, when I have forgotten to put it in, they all came out stinking! Wet but smelling unwashed

And thats not because our clothes are smelly in the first place honest!

Yurtgirl - seriously, we are as stinky as the next family, but no smells after washing with absolutely nothing. I am very smell-sensitive and if there was any residual smell, I would be aware of it.
If your clothes weren't smelly in the first place, I have to ask, why did they come out stinking? Not being funny, just wondering?

Um, well obviously they didnt come out stinking that was an exaggeration.

They didnt smell washed though. It wasnt just that they didnt smell of washing powder (as I use one without lots of fragrance anyway) more that they didnt smelled washed. They smelt......... stale?

I currently use tablets, so I might try one instead of the reccomended two and see what happens

I think you need to be able to wash the laundry in quite a lot of water for it to emulate the Victorian Farm method. Modern washing machines use much less water and at a lower temperature than would have been used then, and the detergent makes up for the lack of water/lower temperature.

It might work well in a twin tub, as they use lots of water.

But who has one of those nowadays?

I'm 100% sure if I washed DH's socks or shirts in the summer with no detergent, I might as well not bother at all....

Lilymaid - the Victoriam Farm method seems to involve minimal water - ie, in a tub on the floor with a "dolly" (ie, basically a long stick with what looks like a 3-legged stool fixed to the end of it). Why do you you think they used a lot of water? Or were able to access a lot of water?

I thought they did add brighteners to their washing in that programme (blue powder?), they used it to counteract the yellowness in the clothes caused by the soap they used -like they do in modern washing powders. Of course, I could be remembering a different programme .

I wouldn't be confident in washing our nappies with no detergent even though we only use a small amount. I'd like to think it would work though, but surely it depends on what temperature you wash at?

Washersaurus - you are right - they did use brighteners, but these were for whites. I am hoping that a boil wash will sort the whiteness? I feel it would be mad to stop using powder etc only to have to use "brightener".
My DD(29) now washes reusable nappies with absolutley no powder (she was waiting for an excuse, and now I have given her just that).
Seriously -so far, everything is equally clean, compared to a powder wash.

PS - she does the nappies at 40 degrees and they are seriously clean.

going to give this a go - it's worth a try

if you are pre treating stains anyway, why not just bung some powder in?

I have never used the amount that the packs suggest, usually half or 1 tablet per wash, and that includes baby goo!

hmm, im not convinced, i bought soap nuts after threads on here expecting great things and at first they seemed ok but after a good while 6 months i realised that actually i was needed to buy new clothes as our were getting ruined (kids stained, dh work shirts greying) so it wasnt saving me money or the planet

madrose - good for you for giving it a go - it worried me a bit the first time, but I was reassured when I took the laundry out of the machine - couldn't tell the difference! My main motivation is no detergent build-up in our clothes.
MumOeufMonsters - that is just the issue - why wash the whole lot in detergent when only a few stains need help? The washing machine will do the work for the general grubbiness with just water alone. Surely, the less detergent, the better?

Mmmm. I love the idea of cutting out unnecessary chemicals - but there has to be a line. Washing nappies without detergent can't be a good idea, they may look clean but what about bacteria? 40 deg isn't hot enough to kill them and detergent is an effective anti-microbial.

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when you have a builder for a husband, believe me, you need to use powder!

I am the same as yurt, my washing the few time I have forgotten even just the lenor smells......fousty is the only word that seem right to me!

I do however only use one washing tablet, or a third the recommended amount of loose powder (depending on whichever ariel is on offer basically), plus the obligatory lenor/comfort (I like the different smells each week).......I love the smell of fresh washing, especially if it has been out of the line, and believe me, you do not get that if you go without the powder. not IME or IMHO.

I always use 1 tablet instead of 2, am trying to convert DP so that the times he puts washing on he does it too.

tell him it saves money trillian.......my DH is all for the saving money side of the arguement

He thinks it won't be clean enough, even though he's never complained/noticed any difference in the washing I do, and I have told him that I only use one tablet.

Now does anyone know how to deal with the armpit areas on tshirts that have gone sort of hard? (I think it's to do with DP's antiperspirant rather than the sweat itself, IYSWIM)

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