Question: Using too much detergent in your laundry, what are the negatives?

[revvinkevin]

 

 

OK, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">aside from the obvious over sudsing issue</span> in the machine, what is the downside or potential issues with using too much detergent?  

Not from a machine stand point, but from a clothing / textile standpoint.

 

I was speaking with a guy yesterday and lightly touched on doing laundry.  He was saying he uses (what sounded like) 3 to 6 times more detergent than the product directions call for because he "likes how the clothes smell".   We did not get into detergent brands with heavy scents (like Gain) or any of that.

 

As I see it, there would be a build up of detergent residue in the fibers of the item due to insuffeciant rinsing.  

 

Would that make the item feel "sticky" or not clean or even hold more dirt?   

 

Could it do anything (harm) the fibers over time? 

 

And... OK... what could happen to the machine over time (again, forgetting the oversudsing issue), only make it a mess inside?

 

Please discuss......

Thank you!

Kevin

 

[maytagbear]

Yuk!

The first thing that came to my mind is that someone like that could potentially be building up a whale of a skin sensitivity/allergy!

Beyond that, I'll let others with more knowledge have their say.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[omono]

hmm I'd have to say the stench of synthetic fragrances , I find even walking down the detergent isle of the supermarket to be a "breath taking" experience similar to meeting women who can not distinguish between a fragrance and a marinade

 

[ozzie908]

Must be using a cheap detergent

I say that because I have been guilty of overdosing because I was too damn stubborn to read the instructions, and it was not until I started seeing holes in things I decided to have a look at the box. After checking the obvious like a enlarged hole in the drum to searching for a needle I turned my attention to the box of Ariel I was using and read that it was now twice as strong as ever hence needing half a scoop only per wash and I as I have always used a good filled scoop sometimes more it must have been detergent burns I was finding.
Now I have calmed down and got to grips with using much less I find the poor Miele can get away with 3 rinses instead of 5 !
So if this man was using 6x the reccomended amount were his clothes tatty and torn?and if not why not?
The thought of rash where you should not have them springs to mind !

Ooops

Austin

 

[qsd-dan]

Usually clothes feel stiff and scratchy if they're not properly rinsed. As stated above, it's just a matter of time before rashes begin to appear.

Reminds me of a trip to the Laundromat earlier in year to wash my large fluffy comforter in the commercial front load Speed Queens. Watched a senorita pour nearly the entire contents of liquid soap into the dispenser. That poor machine billowed suds all the way through to the 3rd and FINAL rinse. Good Lord! I'm getting the case of the "itchies" just thinking about it, lol.

 

[stan]

Regular Laundry Detergent

for the most part, is pretty powerful stuff, if you really stop and think about it, and it's designed purpose.

So besides the obvious... like the extra cost.. Don't get what his deal is?

Maybe bordering on a OBC kind of thing?
Who knows!

 

[danemodsandy]

All I Know Is:

You cannot get some folks to read the label and use the measurement it recommends.

My late partner was very, very bad about this - he was the free-pourer of all time. Since he was blithely pouring in about four times what was needed, he groused about how much detergent cost and how it didn't last. He compensated for that by buying whatever was cheapest at Big Lots, which can be very cheap indeed. It was nothing to see suds billowing up from under the washer lid.

I finally told him I'd do the damn laundry after he tore up a DD Whirly by cranking its timer around to do extra rinses - with the machine running. By the time I discovered what he was doing, it was R.I.P. for the machine.

 

[qsd-dan]

It was nothing to see suds billowing up from under the washer lid.

 

[stan]

I meant

OCD.

*LOL*

 

[tolivac]

Remember one of the funny cartoons in the newspaper years ago-the man in the funny read the instructions on the detergent bottle-"use one capful for average load"so he used his baseball "cap"as a measuring "tool"Imagine the sudslock he had!!The charactor misunderstood what was on the package.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Back when detergents were really alkaline, using too much meant that more residue was left in the machine and it caused corrosion, sorta like those upper racks in the KD21 & 22 series where the vinyl split on the rails and they rusted. So rust and corrosion to the machine and serious dermatitis, especially with enzyme detergents because if they are not rinsed well or the enzymes are not killed by temperature or cholrine, they just keep munching. Early users of TIDE XK had bad rashes where elastic waist bands met the skin from not thoroughly rinsed laundry. One deep rinse in a top loader was not really sufficient for optimal rinsing.

 

[jerrod6]

What is Tide XK? 

 

[tomturbomatic]

Tide XK, youngun' was the designation in the mid-late 60s for their enzyme fortified detergent.