Does anyone here do the vinegar rinse thing?

[scott55405]

After reading about this I don't know how many times on THS, I thought I'd give it a try in the whites and towels. For other things, I use Downy Advanced. I don't think Downy Advanced affects towels adversely like some softeners do, but the vinegar is supposed to help soap residue removal, and the towels do seem soft.

What have been your experiences with this if you've tried it? Have you tried it in things other than towels and such?

 

[scott55405]

I also meant to mention that my washload does not smell like a salad, as I was always concerned it would if I did this. I can still smell the fresh Gain scent, which I like.

And just for the record, I got some sort of error message and thought my thread didn't post but guess it did, twice. Sorry!

 

[DADoES]

Scott, I've used vinegar with Downy Advanced, but I don't do it all the time. The normal dose of Downy with vinegar as the dilution 'filler' so it's really not that much vinegar. If I do it, usually it's on towels/linens, and sometimes jeans. Much less often on casuals, but I have done it on them as well.

I've also experimented with doing two deep rinses, vinegar in the first, Downy in the second.

I don't really see a whole lot of difference either way. Maybe I'm just not very discerning or critical. Long as everything comes out clean and freshened, and minimally-wrinkled for casuals.

 

[ironrite]

I've started doing that. I add the vinegar to the bleach dispensor on the Frigidaire F/L. Then I use the Downy Advanced. The water here is very hard and I've noticed it does seem to cut the suds during the remaining rinses. I use Tide HE.

Though I like the Downy Advanced, the stuff gags me. The clothes don't smell bad when they're done, but the Downy smells like rotten apples in the bottle. I'm using the Clean Breeze scent.

 

[launderess]

Purpose of adding a "sour" to the final or second to final rinse is two fold. One the acidic bath will remove the alkaline (base) residue from powdered detergents which tend to be alkaline in nature. Removing deposits of soap/detergent scum, washing soda, borax and such will result in softer and whiter/brighter laundry.

Secondly the acid will help restore laundry to a skin friendly neutral pH after an alkaline wash bath. This results in greater comfort for the wearer of the laundry.

If using a liquid laundry detergent, a sour really isn't needed as they are neutral to slightly acidic in nature due to their different chemical make up than powders. For one liquid detergents do not rely on washing soda and or borax (both are strong alkalines) as builders. Most liquid detergents use sodium citrate as a builder/pH adjuster.

The new fabric softeners in the market like "Downy Advanced" rely on cationic surfactants (a type of detergent) to soften laundry instead of the old wax and oil bases found in older formulas of FS. If you notice when a front loader starts to spin out the rinse water to a final rinse where "Downy Advanced" has been added, the water slighly foams as it comes down the window.

While cationic fabric softeners don not coat fibers the way wax/oil based ones do, they still increase the risk of fire since they make items more fluffy.

Many of the "green" fabric softeners are cationic based,including Ecover (my fave for the scent). In this way these products can claim they are not made from animal by products (fats, oils and waxes).

Usually add about 1 tablespoon to the final rinse water (in the dispenser), with or without a dab of Ecover FS. If your laundry smells like salad dressing coming out of the washer, or worse the dryer, you are using too much vinegar.

Finally it goes without saying, but is worth repeating DO NOT ADD VINEGAR TO ANY WASH LOAD THAT CONTAINS CHLORINE BLEACH. If you used chlorine bleach in the wash, it should be mostly if not entirely rinsed before the final rinse and you add vinegar. To an extent vinegar will remove/neutralise any chlorine bleach residue, but not wash water saturated with bleach.

Oh yes, you do know only to use white vinegar, right? No apple cider, flavoured or coloured vinegar as they may stain.

Launderess

 

[scott55405]

Launderess, thank you for those helpful explanations. I have to admit I did not know about, and am curious, about the chlorine bleach thing. I rarely use this, but didn't know about it being bad with vinegar. Is it a chemical reaction thing, kind of like not mixing ammonia with bleach?

 

[bethann]

Vinegar uses

Just a tip! If your hair is hard to comb through rinse it with white vinegar and problem solved! It removes mineral deposits that grab on to the hairshaft. Talk about a shine! Great for longer hair! It will not hurt it even if it's colored. It might fade it a bit because the color is attached to the calcium.Good thing to do before you go to a stylist to get it colored.