Laundry is never soft

moneybunny123

No matter how I wash or dry my laundry, its always "hard" feeling and never soft. I use non-bio detergent (gel or liquid - depending on what's on offer) and I use softener. I wash towels, socks and undies at 60 and everything else at 40. If I hang it outside on the line or inside on radiators or a clothes airer it makes no difference. I don't own a tumble dryer. Even if I put the laundry in the airing cupboard for a day or two once dry it makes no difference. Ironing helps a tiny little bit but what about all the things I don't have time to iron?!

What can I do? It's very frustrating - especially when dressing my baby and toddler and their clothes feel hard and rough

Chunks

Do you have a water softener mb123? I live in a (very) hard water area and got myself a cheapo softener recently (£300 timed model which I self fitted - about £340 all in - including the extra 'bits' needed. Works out about 15p per day to run which you set against less soap, no dishwasher salt, easier cleaning etc). Among the benefits is a better (softer) wash.

I am no expert but I assume lime scale in the hard water stays in the clothing and once dried it gives you the results you currently have. If you have a water softener, might be necessary to do a hardness test (kits are cheap as) machine may have developed a fault.

Other MSE ideas will follow, no doubt.

McKneff

Save yourself time and money, wash everything on 40 degrees, 60 makes no difference but its costing you in more electric for heating the water and probably a longer wash time.

grizzly1911

McKneff wrote: »

Save yourself time and money, wash everything on 40 degrees, 60 makes no difference but its costing you in more electric for heating the water and probably a longer wash time.

Or even 30 degrees:) our tabs even say good from 15 degrees.

I do think towels need a blast every so often though.

Not sure where you live but I know United Utilities have something on their website where they list what water hardness/softness postcodes have. Hard water seems the likely cause.

We are soft, most things are Ok but towels (even high quality egyptian) aren't fluffy. Somebody told me TDing towels made a difference but I haven't noticed (mainly line/air dry but I have tried it).

moneybunny123

But 40, 30 and especially 15 wont kill the bugs that end up in towels, socks and undies. Unless you're killing the smelly germs there is little point in washing them! You may as well rinse in cold water and spray with febreeze! I want to make sure such items are ACTUALLY clean.

I will have a look on United Utilities for my post code. Mind you, I have to say that every area I've lived in the problem has been the same.

grizzly1911

moneybunny123 wrote: »

But 40, 30 and especially 15 wont kill the bugs that end up in towels, socks and undies. Unless you're killing the smelly germs there is little point in washing them! You may as well rinse in cold water and spray with febreeze! I want to make sure such items are ACTUALLY clean.

I will have a look on United Utilities for my post code. Mind you, I have to say that every area I've lived in the problem has been the same.

Lifted from the Unilever website - it is the powder, bleaching/oxidising agents and enzymes in Bio that do the cleaning. The enzymes in Bio are killed at higher temperatures.


Don't dispute that if you work/live in bio hazard area then a much hotter wash may be needed for uniforms, overalls etc. Hospital uniforms for instance are manufactured to withstand the the hammering and don't tend to be soft and fluffy.


"Take a look at our guide to washing at 30°C.

• Wash stained clothes as soon as possible - before the stain has dried out is best!
• Always read the care label - and sort your clothes by colour, temperature and fabric.
• The care label indicates the highest temperature the garment can be washed in without damaging it, but it is perfectly OK to wash at a lower temperature to save energy.
• Wash badly stained garments separately at the maximum temperatures on their care labels, especially those with dried-on, strongly-coloured food, thick grease, heavy mud and grass stains. Otherwise you could waste energy by having to wash them again.
• Separate the clothes of any ill person in the household, and wash these at the maximum temperature shown on the care label, using xxxxxx Bio or Non-Bio powder or tablets. This will give the highest level of germ kill, and help to prevent any spread of the infection.
• After washing, don't allow your clothes to lie around wet any longer than you need to - bacteria can grow in the moisture, leading to unpleasant smells.
• About once a week, do a wash at 40°C or higher with a bleach-containing xxxxxx (Bio or Non-Bio in powder or tablet forms) just to make sure bacteria don't have a chance to grow in your machine causing unpleasant smells."

MaggieBaking

We have a tumble dryer and it's definitely the easiest way to get clothes soft. I have noticed when we put the odd errant sock that got into the wrong pile of washing and leave it on the radiator to dry it is "hard". Whenever my Mum hung clothes/towels out on the line they were as stiff as a board!

We use a clothes airer (the Hangaway from Lakeland) and hang it next to the radiator and the clothes dry quite soft. I wonder if it's because they dry slower, with a bit of movement that they're softer. We don't have any problems with water in our area.

McKneff

60 wont kill any more bugs than 40

The only way you will kill bugs is washing at boiling point, stands to reason really.

pinkteapot

:rotfl:

Been washing my smalls at 40 ever since I moved out of home 7 years ago and I've yet to catch anything.

Jon_Tiffany

We do a wash at 60 about once every fortnight to make sure there is no build up of bugs in the washing machine. But to be honest, its probably not needed especially as our washing is used every day so theres never much time for anything to start growing in there.

The best way to get soft fluffy towels is with a tumble drier. No tumble drier in our house so we dont have soft towels either

NouveauRiche

I don't know if this helps........

When I was a new housewife, my cousin gave me an automatic washer to replace a rusty old twin tub. I live in a very hard water area, and my washing was not as soft as in the twin tub. After a brief discussion, my cousin asked me to do a wash while she was there.

She stopped me even before I closed the washer door.

I was putting too much laundry in a load! Simple as that.

Ever since, when I put on a load of laundry - I imagine that I have found a stray bath towel that also needs washing. If there's no way it would squeeze in (still with room to spare) - the washer's too full and it won't rinse as well as it could.

I was also using too much powder. I always use a cup now and never guess the amount. (so I'm saving money too!)

When it's dried outside - it's lovely and soft. If I've HAD to dry towels indoors, I pull, stretch and shake them before folding. This makes a huge difference. (Although my arm muscles do feel like I've been to the gym the next day!)