Tide rash

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Tide has changed over the years.

Methinks many are allergic to the various chemicals used not only for scenting P&G detergents, but the other chemicals along with the scents desiged to make fragrance "cling" to the textiles.

Supposedly research by P&G determined consumers wanted the "fresh" scent of laundry to last, even when things had been stored in cupboards for days afterwards. This explains why anything laundered in all but unscented versions of Tide, reek for days afterwards, and one can even smell the scent in the next wash water.

Scents are some of the most potent allergic triggers out there. Was totally gobsmacked when Henkel decided their previously unscented "Persil Sensitive" had to have scent. Now it reeks, and the scent (much like Tide), stays for days after laundering.

L.
 
Speaking of Tide Rash

Back when I was a teen I had acne (who didn't?) and in some desperation I put 2 and 2 together and got 5. That is, I read that the cure for acne was to dry out the skin... and that detergent was drying on the skin... So I made a paste of whatever laundry powder was handy (probably White King D) and applied that to my face. Kept it on till it dried a while. Brother came into kitchen where I was doing this and told me I was out of my mind. Oh well. It did burn a bit. Finally rinsed it off, but didn't see any improvement except for the reddening.

Next day I woke up and the skin on my face was peeling off. Yikes! A bit embarrassing at school the next week or so, until skin recovered.

And to add insult to injury, the acne just got worse.
 
No rinsing

was intended for those who used wringer washers. Rinsing was a separate step, and a lot more work. However, my mother always rinsed. She would wring the washed clothes into a cement laundry tub of cold water, the swish them around, and then wring them dry into the other laundry tub.

It was a great day when we got our first automatic, the Whirlpool '64 Imperial.

I could not imagine letting children or the elderly wear unrinsed anything, and the thought of wearing unrinsed unders........!

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
eeeeewww

Sadly, I run across such individuals on a regular basis for whom bathing seems a foreign concept. It's really bad when you have to work with someone like that. But usually it's in a home improvement store, or an auto parts store, that these types show up. I guess they get used to it and are not aware of the stench they leave behind. And I gotta wonder about their moms, girlfriends, or wives, if any.
 
Tide then wasn't the vast chemical cocktail it is today. At most nothing more than one simple petrol sourced surfactant, washing soda and or phosphates, perhaps some OBAs and scent, finally a few other minor things like washer protection agents. In short nothing that is going to cause great harm to one's skin.

Considering how much if not all laundry was done in hot or warm water, and usually beaten to death by hand or machine, much of the muck and dirt would have been suspended in the wash water. While not rinsing probably lead to dull and dingy laundry, it also probably wasn't an established part of many housewives wash day. I mean after all these were women trained to rinse their laundry several times from the days of using soap.

Only benefit one can see from not rinsing, is to save water, especially those living where water was either in short supply and or hard to get at.
 
Um, washing soda is very alkaline and I know from experience that it can burn the skin, so traces on clothing are likely to cause itching in susceptible subjects. STPP is also alkaline but more moderate. As an experiment I added some to my bath water and it wasn't unpleasant at all. But it was a lot less concentrated than what one would add to a washing machine.

Enyzmes could be a problem with today's detergents. They are designed to chew away at proteins and fats - basically what skin is made of.
 
Enzymes in laundry detergent are used in tiny amounts and there is no medical or scientific proof whatsoever that they cause skin problems.
 
Well, enzymes, as I see it are the most harmless stuff in a detergent. Saliva has more amylase than a dose of washing powder :)
 
Actually, the reason why enzymes don't cause problems in modern powdered laundry detergents is because they are "pelletized" so that they don't become airborne in dust from the detergent. Mfg's found that unless they did that, the enzymes would cause people breathing problems (asthma attacks probably).

Also, I don't think laundry detergents are supposed to contain amylase in the first place. Amylase is in saliva to start the first step in breaking down starches to sugars. Starches are water soluble so there's no great need to break them down further in the wash. Laundry detergents do contain proteases (to break down proteins) and lipases (to break down fats/oils). The detergents designed to fight pilling may also contain cellulase (breaks down the fine cotton fibers that form pills on cotton/poly fabrics).
 
Amylase

Is indeed found in some laundry detergents. Novozeymes (sp?), amoung other chemical suppliers make this enzyme for inclusion in laundry products. My box of Persil "Sensitive" Megaperls lists amylase amoung other enzymes.

Once posted a link that listed all and sundry enzymes available for use in laundry products, and the list is not small.

Enzymes needed to be somehow "covered" after it was discovered workers in laundry product plants were coming down with various allergic reactions (skin, breathing, etc), from handling or breathing the stuff. This gave rise to the stories of persons having skin rashes from coming into contact with laundry washed in "bio" detergents.

While it is possible someone could have allergic reactions to laundry product residue (enzymes), the amount of enzymes used in laundry detergents is rather small, indeed a very small amount of total product at recommended doses.

It is easier to find out what is in European detergents due to labeling laws. As no such requirments are made in the United States, we can only go by vauge class descriptions , or MSDS information. Normally one only sees protease enzymes listed/spelled out as it can cause allergic reactions by inhalation or skin contact, owing to the fact much of the human body is made from protein.
 
IIRC, the theory goes that many stains are made up of various substances, and to "unlock" them from fabrics requires a complex approach.

Gravy, for instance is usually made up from meat drippings (protein), fats (lipids), and starches. To get at the entire problem, each specific enzyme goes to work on it's portion of the soil/stain, to aid in complete removal.

Consider also with the average wash temperature down to around 120F or 100F, sometimes even 85F, without a complex chemical make-up including enzymes, much modern laundry just isn't going to come clean. We only have to examine vintage laundry manuals for all and sundry various methods were used to deal with food stains that most of us rarely bother worrying about today.

L.
 
I read years ago, can't remember where; nor can I properly paraphrase the article.
BUT-it said that Tide was one of the first detergents to use enzymes, and was originally made with goat bile. Don't know if this was true, don't think it still is anyway; just know it stuck in my head at the time and apparently is still there.
 

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