If you DIY your laundry soap, then you must consider this question as to why homemade laundry soap is bad? Get the information in this article!
What Is Laundry Soap?
Homemade laundry soap is generally made up of washing soda, borax, baking soda, and soap flakes. It has surfactants (surface active agents) that break the surface tension between water and dirt, thereby cleansing your clothes, but it requires more friction that’s only possible by washboard. Laundry soap keeps your clothes clean and smelling good. However, its adverse effects outweigh the potential benefits.
Why Homemade Laundry Soap Is Bad?
Many people tried homemade laundry soap recipes because they look more appealing and can be made at home with some simple ingredients. However, these laundry soaps can ruin your fabrics in many ways. Below let’s know, why homemade laundry soap is bad for your clothes!
1. Clogged Clothes Surface
As homemade laundry soap has ‘Soap flakes’ in it, it’ll stick on to the fabric’s porous surface and cause the build-up of dirt, grimes, and bacteria slowly over time. As a result, your clothes will become stiff, smelly, and less-absorbant as well. That’s why homemade laundry soap is bad to try out.
2. React with Hard Water Minerals
If you’re using hard water, meaning water with high mineral content to wash your dirty clothes, in that condition, homemade laundry soap will react with the minerals, creating insoluble residuals that’ll stick on the fabrics, if not rinsed properly.
3. Ruins Washing Machine
A washing machine is only made for commercial detergents, not for laundry soaps because it doesn’t give your clothes that level of friction or agitation which’s required by laundry soap for cleaning the clothes surface. When the reaction happens between laundry soap and hard water, it not only ruins your clothes but damages your washing machine too. It makes a thin layer of residuals in the washer’s drum that embeds with bacteria, dirt, and grimes, thereby developing mold and mildews. Even using homemade laundry soap can void its warranty as well. Rather you can try to DIY Natural detergent as an alternative to this.
4. Soap Is Not Versatile
Soap has surfactants and molecules that don’t perform well with today’s variety of fabrics, washing temperatures, and water conditions. As a result, the clothes will not clean well and develops a thin film of dirt along with debris that sticks with the fabric after some time.
5. Lacks Enzymes
There is one important active ingredient that homemade laundry soap lacks– ‘Enzymes.’ Commercial laundry soaps have enzymes namely Proteases and Amylases which easily break down oil, grease, sweat, and starch-based stains.
Homemade laundry detergents are likely to not harm neither your clothes nor the washing machine but DIY laundry bars are not meant for washing machine cleaning of the clothes.