Dare you stop using washing powder?

Pink.

Zeusiblue wrote: »

HI just reading through the posts with interest. Has anybody tried the Eco Wash Balls?
Eco wash balls are orb like objects made out of plastic that you put into your washing machine where they help to clean you clothes during washing. Wash balls are meant to be used as a replacement for washing detergent or at least as a way to reduce using the detergent for as far as 80%.
Inside of the plastic shell of the eco wash ball are lots of smaller pellets usually made out of ceramic. The general idea behind this is that these pellets interact with water molecules to help clean the dirt of your clothes.

Newer eco wash balls can be used 1000 or even more times, so if you wash your clothes every day you could use them for almost three years. Off course, if you wash your clothes once or twice a week this period is greatly extended.

They are also very easy to use - you just put them into your washing machine together with your dirty clothes and you are done.

Here are a few pictures so you can see for yourself how they look:


Has anyone else tried these. I use these and quite like them.My partner however prefers detergents as he likes the fragrance. So it's a mixed bag really.What do you think?:rolleyes:

Hi Zeusiblue,

There's an earlier thread that may interest you where other Old Stylers discuss laundry balls

Poll: Wash balls - Laundry balls - Eco balls (merged)

Pink

blueberrypie

A._Badger wrote: »

Just for the record, a temperature of 60 degrees C is required to kill the sort of bacteria that is likely to present a problem in the home. The point made earlier about washing babies' nappies at lower temperatures is potentially misleading: wash them at anything lower than 60 and you are running risks.

I was the one who mentioned nappies - I'm not sure why you think what I said was misleading. People used to boil nappies before washing them - they didn't have modern detergents, and they didn't have the agitation provided by washing-machines. Now we do, and it isn't necessary to boil nappies.

exup

detergents and agitation don't necessarily kill microorg's - disinfectants and heat do that

phizzimum

A._Badger wrote: »

Just for the record, a temperature of 60 degrees C is required to kill the sort of bacteria that is likely to present a problem in the home. The point made earlier about washing babies' nappies at lower temperatures is potentially misleading: wash them at anything lower than 60 and you are running risks.

The same is true for towels, by the way.

I wash towels, tea towels/dishcloths, bedding at 60 with detergent...

but wash clothes at 40 without detergent (pre-treating stains)

Patchwork_Quilt

I found that one Persil tablet works well at 30 with our clothes - in the olden days I would reluctantly have used two.

I think one of the key things is to decide what you would like to use and then always measure the dose. I feel that washing powder manufacturers rely on people just tipping a random amount in and it's probably more than we need.

HariboJunkie

geordie_joe wrote: »

Sorry, but it actually meant what it said, that I assumed they would still attempt to get clean.

Thanks for clearing that up. :beer: