The ecological choice, in laundry detergents, implies the total lack of “camouflaging” chemicals, aimed to keep up appearances, but liable to pollute and leave toxic traces, such as optical brighteners, dyes, persistent perfumes and other additives. The ecological laundry process results more “transparent” and washing problems are solved by logic ways, not by deceptions.
Dark fabrics laundry is someway particular, as the hygienizing and deodorizing agent (that is Bleaching Powder), generally coupled with the heavy laundry detergent, may leave some lime remains on clothes, remains that are all the more evident since clothes are dark coloured. Remains form with alkaline pH; if we add Citrico Acid to rinsing water, lime traces dissolve in water and go away. This can be done putting a bit of citric acid (1-2 tablespoons) in place of the fabric softener, into the same reservoir.
Usually, to wash dark fabrics we recommend to use low dosages of Bleaching Powder, precisely in order to reduce lime remains and, in case of delicate coloured clothes, discoloration. But sometimes we may need to increase the dosage, for example to hygienize particularly dirty or smelly clothes; in this case we can replace the Laundry Detergent with the Delicate Fabric Detergent, as it has neutral pH. In this way, citric acid will be more capable of eliminating lime residues, as it will not have to react with any alkaline detergent.
To sum up:
- dark laundry using low dosage of Bleaching Powder: Laundry Detergent;
- dark laundry using relatively high dosage of Bleaching Powder: Delicate Fabrics Detergent.
And, in place of the fabric softener, please use Citric Acid.
Leave a Reply