We`ll never know for sure what led to this kind of build up.
Apart form constant cold water washing which most likely seems to be the culprit it could have been the result of home made "detergent" made from borax and soap flakes or even from constant underdosing of a good detergent in warmer water by misjudging the soil level or for fear of some suds in the last rinse.
As to why those CNN "experts" recommend cold water washing for sheets and the difference of laundry recommendations in different countries I think there is a lot of political propaganda involved which is not always as obvious to the public as it should be.
All governments have environmental and energy departments and then there`s all this lobbying from all kinds of groups like clothes retailers, detergent industry, textile industry, appliance manufacturers and so on.
Anyone of them wants something from the government and in turn has to give something.
For instance in parts of Europe we`ve had what is called a "voluntary agreement" of the detergent industry to go without phosphates in laundry detergents even though the use was not outlawed yet.
I think care labels and laundry recommendations have gone a similar path.
Apart form constant cold water washing which most likely seems to be the culprit it could have been the result of home made "detergent" made from borax and soap flakes or even from constant underdosing of a good detergent in warmer water by misjudging the soil level or for fear of some suds in the last rinse.
As to why those CNN "experts" recommend cold water washing for sheets and the difference of laundry recommendations in different countries I think there is a lot of political propaganda involved which is not always as obvious to the public as it should be.
All governments have environmental and energy departments and then there`s all this lobbying from all kinds of groups like clothes retailers, detergent industry, textile industry, appliance manufacturers and so on.
Anyone of them wants something from the government and in turn has to give something.
For instance in parts of Europe we`ve had what is called a "voluntary agreement" of the detergent industry to go without phosphates in laundry detergents even though the use was not outlawed yet.
I think care labels and laundry recommendations have gone a similar path.