"Slippery-ness" of wash water

[pulsator]

Exactly how slippery should the wash water be in the washer? I know that the detergent turns the water to a base which is somewhat slippery but how slippery should it be? I pretty much always stand by the washer while it's running and have grown into the habit of dipping my fingers in the wash water to feel how slippery it is and add detergent if it doesn't feel slippery enough/at all to me... Is this a bad thing? I love a good suds cake, but they make for HORRIBLE rinsing! (One of my worst fears is a cloudy/sudsy rinse!) So I tend to skimp on the detergent a bit and just go by feeling the wash water over the amount of suds. Anyone else do this?

 

[coldspot66]

Yes, I do that also. I sold Amway a long, long, long time ago. One of the things to check was if the water felt slippery between your fingers. Since Amway S-A-8 made no suds, it was the only way to determine if you were using enough detergent. I don't like alot of suds, and tend to use low sudsing powder anyway. I will sometimes add some liquid laundry detergent just to bring up the suds level a bit. Back then it was a good way to stretch the Amway powder by using a cheap liquid just for a bit of suds.

 

[jeffg]

Back in the powdered soap days, water feel was an accurate indicator of how much product to use. But with today's detergents, alkalinity boosters are secondary (with some products, very secondary). So you have to rely on the package directions and/or amount of suds in the water to tell.

 

[brettsomers]

When i dose Cheer according to the instructions, the wash water does NOT feel slippery. I get a little suds. I worry about the water not feeling slippery more than the suds.

 

[sudsmaster]

Liquid detergents are usually not as alkaline as powders, so the lack of slipperiness may not be a sign of inadequate dosage.

However for really dirty laundry, powders generally work better - due to the higher alkalinity, which has multiple cleaning functions.

 

[vintagesearch]

interesting, i also recently came to the conclusion that suds DO NOT have anything to do with cleaning ability! we buy that 2x ultra concentrated ALL liquid detergent at costco there is almost no suds however it takes out all the stains after one pretreat all the dinge, and rinses well thats been my observation it really gets the job done and since it rinses better i have no reaction. i cant say the same for gain anymore i hate suds! so now i'll check how slippery the water is...

thanks.

 

[rinso]

I was always under the impression that the slipperyness of the water was an indication that one had added enough detergent/soap? to break the surface tension of the water. This is what I understood the main purpose of detergent/soap to be. Of course, that was long ago. Maybe things are different these days.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm not sure that the slipperiness is a function of surface tension or lack thereof.

You can test this by adding only washing soda or phosphate to some warm water. Note the slipperiness of the water and the surface tension.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Funny, I thought that the alkalinty/base overly degreased (cleaned well) one's fingers which registers as slipperyness.

 

[rinso]

Hmmm. If it would only degrease the salad oil spots on my shirts. Yes, I am a sloppy eater and I wear everything I eat.

 

[mark_wpduet]

If I use Sears HE stain fighting detergent (1 small scoop full) the water feels slippery. When I use Tide HE powder (same amount) it doesn't feel slippery. I don't know if I need to be using more Tide powder than Sears but the recommended Tide HE powder amount seems way too much for me. I can't wait until I get finished with this Tide He powder. I hate it!