Homemade Fabric Softener

[gadgetgary]

This question was posted in the Appliance Forum. Anyone ever hear of it?

Has anyone added essential oil to Vinegar to use as a fabric softener? I saw a recipe for homemade fabric Softener: 2 Cups Vinegar
2 Cups Baking Soda
4 Cups Hot Water
20 drops of essential oil.

 

[tolivac]

Whats "Essential oil"?

 

[toggleswitch]

Something smells in here...........

Has an essence.
Odorous,pleasantly

Loading…

www.aromaweb.com

 

[tomturbomatic]

Nothing is gained from what's left after the baking soda reacts with the vinegar producing fizz and releasing CO2 except possibly some dilute sodium acetate also known as sodium thanoate, if the proportions were right, which is alkaline, so you are not neutralizing detergent alkalinity. Maybe it is combined with the oil in the process of saponification (making soap and glycerol), but 20 drops to over 4 gallons of liquid seems mighty weak, but it might leave enough film on the laundry to soften it. I use so little that they do not break my budget and I buy when it's on sale and use coupons.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Although a lot of people I've noticed on the laundry room forum seem to complain about "nasty labaratory concoted scents", I have to say I much prefer the smell of Comfort to the smell of vinegar on my laundry! Besides, it isn't so expensive for me either seeming as we buy it in bulk, at 5 litres for £2.50 or so, and 2 5 litre bottles can last 3 or 4 months with my typical dosing (half cap).

Jon

 

[aamassther]

20 drops is about right to 6 cups of liquid, for a nice light scent. Essential oils are very concentrated, potent plant oils. I would add the oil to the liquid after it's cooled down. The components of the essential oils are volatile and will evaporate quite quickly at that temp. When I had a TL washer I would occasionally put a couple of drops of cedarwood oil in the wash with unscented detergent(used Shaklee, then),sometimes in the rinse, especially in sheets and woollies. Lavender is nice too, because of its calmative properties. The brand I use most is from Frontier Co-operative herbs, they sell it as either Frontier or Aura Cacia. You can find them in food co-ops, or Whole Food type places. I forgot about that, hmmmmm...I think I'll try it with the vinegar in the FS dispenser today.

 

[panthera]

essential oils and fabric softener

I don't know enough chemistry to be certain whether the natrium acetat resulting would have any relevance...but I would guess the point of the whole thing is to make it "fizz up real purty-like".
Essential "oils" are not necessarily all that much "oil". They are, depending on which branch of esoteric nonsense you believe in, extracted from their elemental source (such as plants) and supposedly contain the healing characteristics thereto pertaining.
In real life, they can impart a very nice smell to things in extremely small quantities. Some can burn the hell out of you (cloves for one) so should be handled with care.
I do know that a few tablespoons of spirit of vinegar in the water will produce softer clothes; I would imagine that the baking soda (by itself) would also provide softer water through an ion-exchange.
Who knows? Maybe what is leftover after the fizzing is active enough to have an effect.
There would, by the way, be no vinegar smell left - unless you were using garlic vinegar or some such.
In any case, those quantities in a FL would be way over the "top" - and rather expensive, I should think.

 

[maytagbear]

I'll

stick with Downy, thank you

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mixfinder]

Make it easy on yourself,

Dear Lawerence,

Years ago, one of the suggested solutions to sudslock was to add a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water and toss it in the machine, while it was spinning.

I have also read, adding a cup of white vinegar to the rinse helps to remove more of the soap.

The soda box suggests adding soda to the wash to increase the function of the detergent and remove body odors.

I have no idea how or why softeners work, but I do know, that in the industry, softeners are called, softsour. A tech with Ecolab said using a softsour made soils wash out more easily in subsequent washing.

I do know, I like the feel and smell of clothes laundered with a liquid softener.

The "eggplants" or healthy organic community often offer alternatives to popular laundry products.

If that is important to the person using it, great.

So, my thoughts to Lawerence or anyone else. If it works for you, you are pleased with outcome and feel good about doing or using it, have at it.

Kelly

 

[mixedup]

I've tried it

without the baking soda. It actually does soften some, though not as much as softener. Husband didn't like the scent I concocted. Amazingly even using straight vinegar the laundry doesn't come out smelling like vinegar.

 

[mixfinder]

Scents are Subjective

Most of the choices for laundry products I use are based on the scent.

I cannot stand the odor of dryer exhaust with dryer sheets, regardless of the brand.

I avoid the backyard when the neighbors are doing laundry.

I purchased a gas dryer in 2000.

I couldn't tell any difference but one of my daughters said it made her clothes smell like gas.

No one else in the family noticed. The choice of detergent or softener did not seem to lessen her distate for the finished essence of gas dried laundry.

Kelly

 

[sudsmaster]

Although I promoted it as a solution for a while, I haven't really found the vinegar alone to do much in terms of softening. The best product I've found for bath towels is the late lamented Downy Enhancer/Advanced formula. It's good because it softens without reducing absorbancy. I have tried to discover the major ingredient in that product, but all the labels and internet searches reveal is "cationic surfactant" which could be just about anything, as it's listed on pretty much all fabric softeners. Its advantage is that it's natural and doesn't have annoying added fragrances (I buy it in bulk at Smart & Final). Of course there's the risk of oversudsing but I've noticed that this soap is not very high sudsing to begin with. It's also very mild and gentle on the skin, but cleans pretty well. I started using it because after a lot of garden work and home improvement projects, my hands were getting really dry and raw, and the coconut oil soap seemed to help.

From a chemist's point of view, I figure the "secret" ingredient in Downy Advanced was a cationic surfactant with relatively short chain fatty acid groups. Unlike beef tallow and similar fatty acids, which typically have 12 to 18 carbon atoms in a long chain, it's possible that the "Advanced" formulas have much shorter fatty acids. Just a guess on my part... and Downy sure doesn't seem too willing to part with its formula, even though the product is no longer available anyway.

I have thought of perhaps just adding some diluted liquid coconut oil soap to the fabric softener dispenser to see if it would provide a softening effect.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Absorbency of towels

Not sure if anybody else has used it, but I have tried the Ecover softener before on towels & it has to be the best performing one ever. Leaves a light scent, if none at all, softens brilliantly, isn't loaded with petrochemicals and doesn't affect absorbency of towels. However it is quite expensive, so I tend to reserve my bottle of Ecover for using on towels - when I use softener on them - and just use Comfort on everything else, seeming as it is almost as good and is better value for money, even if your skin is subjected to more petrochemical ingredients or whatever Ecover says is in your standard run-of-the-mill softeners.

I know Ecover's percarb bleach is available in the US and is identical to the European version, so I would recommend Ecover fabric softener for anybody in the US wanting to seek a softener to replace the Downy Advanced for use on towels and the like. For a green product, it actually works surprisingly well, but as I said before it does have a premium price over the main brand softeners, at least here in the UK.

Jon

Loading…

www.ecover.com

 

[frigilux]

My Mom used to use a splash of vinegar in the rinse for white loads, sometimes. I always thought it was odd, but I don't recall the clothes ever smelling like vinegar, either...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Sudsmaster: You could try quaternary ammonia in the rinse. It makes laundry very soft without oils.

 

[toggleswitch]

Beware of use of ammonia if you have a cat. They will pee on

What is quaternary ammonia?

 

[mixfinder]

Do 4 quats make a Garloon?

Wow, Tom, I just googled quaternary ammonia and learned is a key ingredient in fabric softener.
It is way to cool to have new words that just roll off my tongue at cocktail parties.
Is quaternary ammonia cheaper and or easy to get?
Thank,
Kelly

 

[petek]

Do 4 quats make a Garloon?

For 100 Sheckels I will answer that question.

 

[sudsmaster]

Quaternary ammonium compounds are those with an ammonium group in them - usually with up to four alkyl groups (carbon chain) attached. Kind of like a soap, but with four branches instead of just one.

These are varied in structure, but in addition to being the primary consitutent of fabric softeners (using cationic quaternary ammonium compounds), they are also used as disinfectants and hair conditioners.

Next time I have a chance I'll ask the guy who runs the chemical warehouse where I got my STPP if he can get me a sample of quaternary ammonium.

I don't *think* there is a separate ingredient called quaternay ammonia, as that would indicate no alkyl groups are attached, which would be an unstable configuration. But not sure of that.