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Different types of laundering products exist to meet the needs and preferences of many different consumers. An understanding of the products and how they work will help a consumer select and use laundry products successfully.
Basic Laundry Products
This review of laundry products includes a discussion on the following:
Basic Laundry Products
Soaps
Detergents
Detergent Ingredients
Laundry Aids
Bleaches
Bluings
Detergent Boosters
Disinfectants
Enzyme Presoaks
Fabric Softeners
Prewash Soil and Stain Removers
Starches, Fabric Finishes, Sizings
Water Softeners
General Information
Environmental Considerations
SOAPS
Soap for laundering has existed for centuries. The basic raw materials are fats/oils (tallow or coconut) and alkali (sodium or potassium hydroxide). Despite improvements made over the years in the quality of the product and in the manufacturing process, all soaps continue to suffer from a major drawback. They combine with water hardness minerals to form a lime soap or soap curd (a sticky white or yellow residue that deposits on the washer and the fabrics in the wash load). This performance negative has led to the limited popularity of soaps; only a few brands are available. Today, there are two types of laundry soaps:
Light Duty Powders
Light duty powders are essentially pure soap with perfume and fluorescent whitening agents. They are designed for lightly soiled items and delicate fabrics. Because of their mildness, they are also used for laundering diapers and other baby clothes.
Soap Bars
Laundry soap bars were precursors of the chip and the powder forms. They are generally made from tallow or a combination of tallow and cocoa (coconut oil). Borax and builders, such as sodium silicate and sodium carbonate, are included to improve performance and help soften water.
While a laundry soap bar is good for pretreating heavy soils and stains prior to laundering, a toilet bar could be used. Handwashing lingerie and hosiery are other uses for the laundry soap bar.
DETERGENTS
Detergents have essentially replaced soap for laundering, because they perform over a broad range of water hardness levels.
Considerable diversity exists among laundry detergents. They are classified by their general purpose or light duty performance and are available in powder or liquid forms.
General Purpose
Powders
Suitable for all washable fabrics from heavily soiled work clothes to lightly soiled lingerie
Some may be used for hand dish washing and household cleaning
Liquids
Used for general laundry purposes but are especially effective in handling oily soils
Pretreating grease spots and stains prior to laundering is convenient and effective because of their form
A new category of detergents will soon be available for new high-efficiency horizontal axis washers. These detergents will be specially formulated for use in low water volume.
Light Duty
Powders
For care of delicate washable fabrics and baby clothes
Can be used in an automatic washer
Liquids
Most are designed for handwashing delicate or lightly soiled items such as hosiery and lingerie
Can be used in an automatic washer following package directions
Most hand dishwashing liquids can also be used for handwashing delicate or lightly soiled items. They should not be used in an automatic washer because of their high sudsing characteristics and because they do not contain corrosion inhibitors.
Combination Laundry Detergents
Laundry detergents combined with a bleach alternative, color-safe bleach or fabric softener were developed to respond to consumer needs for easy-to-use, effective products and may eliminate the need to buy two products. The detergent/bleach combination products utilize new technology which has provided more effective, low-temperature bleaching systems in response to the lower wash temperatures used in today's washloads.
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