Understanding Detergent

Homemade laundry detergent is all the rage for some of you. It is supposed to be organic and also much cheaper than store-bought detergent. But in this month’s article, we are here to help you understand why things aren’t always as they seem.

So I remember the Monkee’s episode where they all go to April’s laundromat to do their laundry. Yes, my Aunt was the Monkees queen, and we spent hours at her house watching each episode. Yes, that was way back when TV Land first came around however, I do digress.

Meanwhile, over at the laundromat, the Monkees meet the owner April who then waxes poetic about the science of laundry. I thought about this episode when I first started to work with Spot. It was quite interesting to learn, that April was right. Laundry really is a science.

The dictionary defines detergent this way – Any group of synthetic, organic, liquid, or water-soluble cleaning agents that, unlike soap, are not prepared from fats and oils, are not inactivated by hard water and have wetting-agent and emulsifying-agent properties.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because most homemade detergent recipes call for the use of soaps (which are fat or oil-based) rather than detergents. This is a big problem because unlike detergents, which remove dirt, soaps can actually build up and trap the dirt. Plus the build-up of fats and oils could lead to burnt laundry, allergic reactions, and less than bright clothes.

The Cons Of Homemade Detergent

• Harder to rinse out of the fabric.
• The heat from the dryers could burn the fabric due to fat buildup.
• Soap builds up in the machines and the drain lines because it is fact-based, and is like dumping shortening down your drain. This leads to bigger expenses down the line for homeowners and costly repairs for laundromats.
• HE washer models are made to work best with HE Detergent and nothing else. Homemade detergent is not suitable for these machines.
• Clothing doesn’t get as clean as it could.
• Expense of repairs and shorter clothing life outway any cost benefits of making the detergent yourself.

In The Business Of Detergents

We encourage you to stick with the company’s who do detergent every day all day. They really do know what they’re doing. After all, there is a science to laundry, and since I’m not a scientist – well, I’ll refrain from making my own laundry soap and just leave that to the experts.