Thread | Brutkey

Laundry tips and opinions which were requested:

Using fabric softener will make cotton feel clammy and greasy, and give it a mildewy smell. Fabric conditioning helps with staticky plastic fibres but isn't necessary for natural fibres! Just wash without. Never put it on towels, it stops their absorption powers. You can use a little bit of vinegar instead of fabric softener, it will have a mild smell when wet, dries odourless.

Line drying is less wear on clothes than dryer but live your life if you have no place to dry them!

Bedding needs to be washed super hot occasionally! Towels, too!

If your shirts smell terrible because you've been sweating into them, soak them in the sink with a cup of vinegar in room temperature water, rinse, wash normally. This kills a lot of mildew and helps break apart organic residue.

Liquid laundry detergent is silly! Just get detergent in powder form, you're spared the plastic bottles and no heavy liquids are ferried around.
Soap nuts are great if you're allergic to everything but soap nuts. They're not even nuts and are compostable!

A lot of the washing instructions are LIES. You can literally boil 100% cotton and it's fine! You'd be amazed how much dry clean only is not! Polyester and cotton will be just dandy in 60 Celsius - the manufacturers play it safe because some dyes fade in hotter temps. Cheaply made clothes may shrink, but if it's stinky, take the risk!

eena meena me
@meena@glitch.social

@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe any tips on what to do when you leave it a bit too long in the machine and it starts to smell?

Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

@meena@glitch.social Yes!
The smell is either mildew and/or bacteria, both of which thrive on the wet human matter left on the textiles and the fibres themselves.
Depending on how long it's been and how much has grown, you might be able to get away with putting it to air out and dry in bright sunlight: UV radiation kills a lot of microbes and ozone breaks apart the organic compounds that produce the smell.

If it's been a while or the laundry has been left wet and smelly enough times for it to permeate the seams etc., the simplest option is to wash it very hot - 60C and up, preferably 70C. (140F to 158F)
These temps kill most microbial life. Though bacteria starts going at lower temperatures mildew, mould, yeasts take hotter. The detergent washes the broken down organic compounds away.

If it can't be washed hot, there's always acid or alkaline/base! Soaking it in a white vinegar solution (a cup per bucket) or with soda or borax (half a cup in a bucket? Somebody else might know). I just use vinegar since it's technically safe to eat. 😄
You can also just pour two cups of table vinegar in the washing machine and wash it all cold if you don't want to mess around with a bucket or the sink. And then wash it another time with normal temperature and detergent.

Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

@meena@glitch.social (Oh, worth mentioning: sometimes the dyes of clothing will run if you give them the acid/alkali soak. Table salt or sea salt (not the mineral kind that is better for heart health) fixes it back on again, so it doesn't continue fading. I've met this issue exactly once all my life, but there we are.)