Report states we are all covered in s---- fecal matter....

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

formulas

We've all read about what a miracle Baking soda is.  And I've experienced that myself.  One of the secrets is to simply let stuff soak in it.  Vinegar helps too.

 

Apply this thinking to laundry, your hair, your teeth, your body, etc.

 

I've made baking soda and vinegar "on tap" if you will, in my home.  Vinegar works to sterilize, like bleach, though it takes longer, but it isn't toxic.   

 

For Laundry-

one to two 16 oz. boxes.  depends on size of load, what your washing, and how oily and dirty it is.

 

Lets say I'm washings sheets(fitted, flat, two cases, maybe some under garments).  I'll load half, empty a full box spreading it around, then load the rest. Start the washer.

After it has started tumbling and the water has flowed, diluting the soda, push pause. Ideally you want  everything to be in contact with the solution and not be diluted with too much water.

 

After the soak 30-45 minutes, restart, the washer may continue to fill with water to fulfill it's weight calculations.  After I'm confident its done filling OR while it is going through the first drain/spin, add about 8 oz. of soda to the detergent dispenser and fill the softner dispenser all the way up (about 8 oz. ) with white vinegar.  Let it complete the cycle.  Hang clothes to dry.

 

With more fragile and lighter soil clothes, I wouldn't do the second batch of soda and I may only soak for 1/2 hour.

 

Hair solution-

I have an old spray bottle that the sprayer broke.  This works perfect.  Fill half way with hot water.  Use the funnel and put about 1/4 cup of baking soda in.  Shake. 

The solution should be thicker, a diluted milky white.  The baking soda should be so concentrated that it all does not dilute in the water so that if you let the bottle sit after a few minutes, the soda will settle to the bottom, as you  may see in the picture.

 

You mix like this each time your going to clean your hair.  Now, you may not need as much.  I have a full head of thick hair and a full beard, which is just as much hair.  I always use up almost all of the solution each time.

 

The trick is the amount of time that the solution is in contact with your hair.  I kneel and rest my upper chest on the bath tub.  With your head over the tub simply (DO NOT get your hair wet first) pour bits at a time onto your dry hair and beard.  Pour with the right hand and rub in with the left, or vice versa until everything is saturated.  The solution will be gritty and kind of feel like sand, but it will be warm.  If it gets in your eyes it won't sting, but it will be a typical annoying. 

 

If your going to take a shower, I simply stand and get in the shower, not rinsing your hair until after you've cleaned your body.

 

If you're only washing your hair, just set there for a few minutes, with the weight of your upper body on the side of the tub.  This is when the solution is doing its thing.  You don't need to rub it around or anything.  Then simply rinse. 

Turn off the water, take the Apple vinegar in spray bottle and thoroughly spray your hair, rub it in a bit, and rinse.  Comb the water out, and dry.

 

Now, when I was using shampoo (Paul Mitchel Awapuhi), I would have to wash my hair everyday.  The process of sleeping would make my hair squished and matted.

NOW, when I get up, my hair is lighter, sometimes all I need to do is comb it and it falls in place.

 

For body wash-   (I am very conscious of water usage and only turn water on in shower to rinse off)

You can make a milder solution, similar to the hair where the baking soda DOES dilute.  With that you would NOT get wet FIRST, simply pour the solution all over your body, rub it in, use a wet wash cloth (I run it under hot water) and gentle go over your skin.  Rinse.  FYI- baking soda on skin can be abrasive. I don't use that every day.  I usually use oatmeal soap.

 

I use the apple vinegar spray on my body in key areas, after the first rinse.   under arms, body hair, groin, lower back side, toes, ears, etc.  Finish with a nice, slow flow, warm water rinse. 

 

I always used baking soda before but not as much as I do now. 

I no longer buy laundry detergent, shampoo, body wash, tooth paste, deodorant (allergic), spray cleaners, or fabric softener. 

Instead I buy 16 oz boxes of Baking soda, usually a dozen at a time, large bottles of white and Apple Vinegar.

A dozen boxes  and the bottles of vinegar last about a month.

 

 

Pic- container for baking soda, funnel on wall, spray bottle for white vinegar ( I have several, also have one in the shower for Apple vinegar), old plastic bottle for mixing hair solution.

 

[this post was last edited: 11/15/2013-00:40]

rustyspaatz++11-15-2013-00-04-7.jpg
 
Shocking

What ?!

"Many people in my neighborhood and at work are getting cancer. Why is this? Absorbtion of chemicals thru the skin and lungs."

 

Yes, When you are putting petro chemicals in your clothing during wash, when ever you wear those clothes, your wearing and absorbing the chemicals.  Even if you sleep naked, like I do, your sleeping on sheets that have been washed in?

 

Like I said, my Rosacea went away after I ditched the shampoo.  That was awesome.  My nose and forehead was always red and peeling.

 

 

I'm not joking sel8207 (if that's your real name), like what? You just stand around the water cooler talking about all the people who have got cancer?

 

Like its the latest trend?  "Oh yeah, I got an Iphone, new toaster, and CANCER, how about you?"

 

If you know that many people who have issues.... It kind of reminds me of the Love Canal in the late 1970s.  (video fast forward 8:40) After one of the residents started talking to her neighbors, she found that almost ALL of them had suffered chronic health issues. 

Something was certainly up.

 

FYI- Using Baking soda is recommended by the U.S. Department of Defense for people who have been exposed to radiation.  Leaving the Baking soda solution on your skin for XXX amount of time helps to neutralize the effects of radiation. 

 

I feel good about that as the health affects of the Fukushima disaster are only starting.  And what disaster will be coming next?

We have one Nuclear power plant left in California, none in Oregon, so that's good.  Not all people are as fortunate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
An alkalai like sodium bicarbonate can indeed saponify body fat soils, turn them into a crude soap and thus rinse them away. But as a cosmetic chemist (that's what the "arbilab" was originally, years before it was a screenname) I must tell you that the saponification reaction is pretty fussy. It wants one molecular hook of alkalai for every molecular hook of fat, and a specific temperature at which to bind them. This can be calculated for triethanolamine stearate, but NOT for body soil in a laundry load. Oh, the temperature is in the neighborhood of 160F. If you're under that, "soda" washing hasn't a chance of working.
 
Baking soda/Sodium Bicarbonate

Residue is actually the purpose of using laundry sours (an acid) in the final rinse. When washing soda is used as a builder for washing IIRC it breaks down into baking soda, that is what causes all sorts of problems including hard and scratchy laundry. If you do washing with liquid detergents you notice things feel softer even without fabric conditioners, that is because liquid detergents do not use washing soda or other alkalis in large amounts as builders. Some do contain borax and maybe soap but in low amounts and the overall product is still rather mild.

Before the Solvay process was invented to produce soda ash cheaply and in mass amounts, ashes from wood and plants were used for laundry as well as for soap making. Housewives and others would save the ashes from wood fires used for cooking and heating.

The traditional French method for laundry would be to first place the washing in a type of tub or barrel. Then ashes would be placed on top and water slowly poured over. As the water passed down the washing the alkaline substances from ashes would go to work. The water was then collected/drained from the bottom and the whole process repeated for a period of time. This "pre-soaking" while often destructive to textiles in the long run, was much less so than the harsh beating or whatever treatment otherwise employed to loosen soils and oils from fabrics.

As stated previously by another poster, all alkalis combined with fats produce a type of soap. That is how washing soda, baking soda, TSP and other alkaline substances clean. When use lye to open drains clogged with grease/fats again it is the same reaction.

Once soda ash came along persons could stop the drenching with ashes and simply soak washing in solutions containing the stuff. This would "break" fats/soils from textiles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvay_process
 
arbilab

"but NOT for body soil in a laundry load. Oh, the temperature is in the neighborhood of 160F. If you're under that, "soda" washing hasn't a chance of working. "

It DOES work...
and my water heater is around 130.
What's interesting too, is that stains that weren't coming out, that I thought were permanent, with the old oily detergents, came out with the baking soda.
 
Germs in the machine

My old frogeye set from 1955,Iwash with 180 degrees,but it doesnt have a warm water rinse,or hot.The machines both have ultra-violet lights in them.I figure if that and reg tide and a small scoop of Oxy-clean doesnt do the job,then the germs or mold which I have never had a problem with are alien and I better look behind the garage for a flying saucer.I wash the dogs towels and bedding with Dreft,and he seems fine,so I must be doing something right! My laundry never smells sour or whatever.I do always leave the lid up on the washer for a couple of hours after my wash is done,I also think thats one of the keys to having no problems with mold.I doubt many folks do this especially with front-loaders.I also after every wash wipe the machine down inside to dry what I can see and the lip of the top and lid.Doesnt take but a minute.I lok at some of the machines at thrift shops and the Restore store,they are so nasty!!!!!! It wouldnt take anytime to wipe them down with 409 or clorox and people buy them like that. Bobby
 
retromania-

"Absolutely no comment! "

Can you comment on your overt expression of your intent not to comment?
 
people today

have no idea how to wash things properly we are all so used to throwing things into the machine with some detergent then just leaving it to do its thing one of the side effects of the automatic washer i think and then theres the mouldy washer syndrome cause by chucking in two much detergent and softener back in the early 70s i worked for Hoover as an apprentice engineer we had lots of problems with busted washers caused by a build up of the then rellativly [here in the Uk]new idea of using softener the softener sticks to the rubber parts in the machine and causes them to perish much quicker than normal an exellent way to prove this is to use softener in a twintub and see what happens after doing some washing then rinsing [the rinsing would be done by spraying water into the spindryer you know the drill guys then a bucket of water with softener added would be poured in ]once finished run your fingers around the spin can and you will find most of your softener there a sticky goo just waiting to go mouldy oh by the way i was listening to a program on the radio about the butter margerine thing did you know margarine is just one ingredient away from plastic theres food for thought pardon the pun
 
Hmmmmmm... I'm a Germ-O-Phile, myself! And everything comes up from "down there" enough that anything that I think is contaminated, I am quoted w/ saying: "There's Doo-Doo on it!!!!"

Sorry, had a recent experience that I had to bring back this thread to put in my 2-Cents-worth...!

-- Dave
 
Hospital Laundry

It will vary by country and or region but in the United States there is not any such requirement that healthcare facility (hospital, nursing home, etc..)laundry be disinfected by going into a bucket or whatever before it goes to the wash.

Center for Disease Control does have guidelines and there are others from various US federal agencies but the latter tend to deal more with protecting workers than anything else. Many of the latter rules were put into place during the HIV/AIDs epidemic when no one was at first sure what was going on.

For instance healthcare linen containing any sort of body fluid (blood, urine, feces, etc..) is to be placed into a separate bag and labeled accordingly. This is so the laundry knows what it has and workers can unload it using proper precautions.

In the United States chlorine bleach is widely used for whitening, stain removal and disinfection of laundry in both commercial and domestic settings. Most standards regarding disinfection of hospital linen revolves around using that substance.

Most wash programs for commercial laundries dealing with healthcare linen begin with a series of flush washes. This in theory sends a large amount of soils including body fluids (feces and such) and the germs residing on said textiles down the drain. Alive but none the less down the drain. It also begins the process of reducing germ count.

Tests done with commercial laundries going back to the early part of last century determined that not just hot water, but using sufficient amounts of soap or detergent (alkaline substances) along with frequent changes of water left textiles sufficiently "disinfected" for all normal purposes. The addition of disinfectants such as chlorine bleach further those affects.
 
well, in our grandmother's time...

Our grandmothers lived in mortal fear of germs, this isn't a new thing. In the past the idea of letting a germ sneak past your cleaning methods and infect your family was horrifying to any housewife, women who didn't keep their home spotless were considered slovenly and lazy.

My grandmother used to use scalding hot water for dishes, each dish wash scraped, rinsed in scalding water, washed in one side of the sink, and placed into the other side of the sink in more hot soapy water. When all the dishes had been washed the first time, she would let out the first wash water, refill that side of the sink with scalding hot rinse water, wash all the dishes again, rinse them, then the pans were dried with a spotless towel, and the dishes and glassware allowed to dry on a scrupulously clean dish rack which was bleached overnight once a week.

Laundry was just as intense, work clothes from the farm were pre rinsed in warm water, washed once in warm water with Murphys oil soap, then again in hot water with all detergent, then double rinsed in warm, with a splash of brown bottle lysol in the first rinse, and a capful of downy in the second rinse, then hung out in the hot sun to dry.

Regular clothes weren't treated quite so harshly, but they were still washed in the hottest water safe for the fabric, and double rinsed, whites being dosed with bleach and everything else dosed with lysol, all except for the finest fabrics.

Then everything was ironed, to keep it looking presentable, and to annihilate any poor unsuspecting germ she had possibly missed earlier.

As she got older, got an electric dryer, and we left the farm, she relaxed somewhat, giving up adding lysol to laundry, no longer ironing anything unless absolutely necessary, but she and ladies of her generation are still far more concerned about household germs than most generations before or after.
 
Thing Is

The weakest of the germs most commonly found on laundry is E.Coli. That bacteria requires temps at or over 160F held for at least ten minutes to be destroyed.

You aren't going to get those temps on domestic American top loading washing machines not now or in the past. Don't know any front loaders sold for domestic use in the USA reach 160F much less hold that temp. Some commercial units can heat or boost water temps either via steam or other heating, but not sure how many laundries do so. They can get hot water from central systems piped in at that temp by using recirculation systems to ensure water from the boilers reaches washers with minimal heat loss.
 
What a minute. Didn't our grandmothers (like Vintagekitchen's and mine) do the things they did precisely BECAUSE they knew germs were everywhere? Wouldn't this be especially so on a farm where animals were slaughtered and there was always the danger of accidentally carrying a germ out of its normal environment and leaving it in another where it could flourish and cause problems?

My grandmother was raised on a farm and later became a nurse (R.N.). While she wasn't so much for tidy-ness or neatness, you could have used her kitchen or bathroom as an operating room. She was also the one who taught me never to overload a washer because if there was insufficient turnover clothes couldn't get clean.
 
Yes, persons kept things clean because of germs

It was seen as a housewife's primary duty to safeguard her family's health by attacking dirt and therefore germs to prevent illness. However there was more to it than just keeping things clean.

Modern antibiotics would not be available until after WWII with the arrival first of penicillin. Prior to this persons could and did die off in droves from what would be considered simple infections today. Anything from pneumonia to a simple prick of your finger by a rosebush while gardening could prove fatal.

To combat this threat you had all that scrubbing, boiling, using disinfectants (carbolic soap, Lysol and other phenol based products), and so forth. The idea was to eliminate as much as possible the potential for disease.

That being said many diseases that we hardly hear about in the Western world today were common, and could be transmitted by improper handling of things in the home. Typhoid fever, TB, diphtheria, and so forth were common with often limited treatments. Best persons could hope for in any infectious disease situation was that the infected was strong enough to fight off the bug.
 
No antibiotics and hearing loss

Prior to WWII ear and sinus infections were serious, chronic problems. When all available treatments failed and the infection threatened to spread a radical mastoidectomy, I believe it would be called today, was performed. The result was a permanent, moderately severe conductive hearing loss of 60-70dB. While today's hearing aids can overcome this, that was not the case back then. That's one reason schools for the Deaf back then were so numerous.
 
"It DOES work..."

If you say so. I'm not going to un-convince you of that which you think you "know", any more than you're going to un-convince me. All I've got to run with is 100 closely-measured fat/alkalai reactions using laboratory-pure fats and alkalais measured within a tenth of a gram.

Oh, did I mention diammonium phosphate? Without which the water phase could not possibly support the oil phase load.

But nevermind all that science nonsense.
 
GROSS!!!

Now that I think about it, I should do whites separate...
With bleach and hot water...
 
Getting around the eco-nazi's

The older I get, the more I'm convinced that a steadily rising portion of the population has a need to rant, rave, harangue, etc. It's really not about the topic; it's about satisfying that need. but I digress....

As stated further up, does your new, eco-friendly, water-saving toilet not flush properly? Simply flush it repeatedly until the job is done. The GE Hydrowave I inherited uses almost no water. So I washed everything twice with second rinse. First wash with soap, second without. My so-called 'warm' water was cold so I set the water temp to hot. The new dishwasher didn't clean well on regular cycle so now I run the "sanitize' cycle every time.

It's nice to know I'm conserving resources......
 
Ah, the Home-Ec Generation Strikes Again...

Growing up my downstairs neighbor was what I call the "Home Ec" generation (in fact, she'd taught school briefly in Wyoming or Montana before moving to NYC, and then marrying and moving to Chicago), who went to school in the 20's and 30's, she was the tail end of it, my mom, only a couple years younger didn't get the same training. She was very into everything looking clean, no fancy woodwork and a modern kitchen (she had a Magic Chef range and St. Charles cabinets from '55, which were the first thing the purchasers of her unit ripped out) and it was all about the appearance of cleanliness, if not in fact (I inherited a lot of her cookware, wasn't all that tidy). My grandmother was the same way, everything looked clean, but behind the furniture, ho-boy (course she was too old by that time to move things).

My neighbor was the product of the school movement of Home-Ec which taught cooking and so forth, not just from a hygienic point, but also to assimilate foreigners into American society and expurge their ethnic tendencies and cooking techniques.

Of course, as I understand, we should be more worried about our kitchens than bathrooms, as far as cleanliness is concerned (those sponges should go, as I recall hearing, in favor of paper towels which get tossed right away).

*semi-coherent rant over*
 
Back
Top