Fabric softener is bad for both you and for your laundry
There are a lot of people who still use fabric softener when they’re doing laundry. The commercials claim it’s impossible to do your laundry without it; the softener makes your clothes smell super fresh and they will be ultra clean. But is that true? We’ve taken a look at what’s actually in fabric softener and we were pretty shocked by it!
We think you will find this shocking as well, so keep reading!
Ingredients
If you really read what the packaging says, you will find out that fabric softener contains a couple of ingredients that are anything but fresh. In fact, we couldn’t name one single reason why you should expose your clean laundry to these foul chemicals!
Keep reading to find out what harmful chemicals fabric softener contains and to find out what you can use instead!
These are all chemicals that are in fabric softener. You’ll be astounded by what kind of damage they can do!
1. Alpha-Terpineol – This harmful chemical can cause health issues like dizziness, headaches, memory loss and even numbness in your face and pain in your neck and back.
2. Benzyl acetate – This is a toxic chemical that has actually been linked to pancreatic cancer. The fumes that come off it can cause irritation to your airways and eyes.
3. Benzyl alcohol – Benzyl alcohol can cause a big number of health problems, like central nervous system disorders, headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and extreme drops in blood pressure.
4. Chloroform – Chloroform is a powerful carcinogenic neurotoxin that can cause a lot of health issues such as losing consciousness, nausea, headaches, vomiting and/or dizziness and drowsiness.
5. Linalool – This is a sedative that has been known to cause respiratory problems as well as the loss of muscle coordination.
All of these horrible chemicals can be found in fabric softener! And as if that isn’t enough reason to stop using it, the stuff is also super expensive and terrible for the environment.
Of course, we totally get that you still want clean clothes that are fresh and soft. Fortunately, there’s a very good, natural alternative…
So, we hope we’ve convinced you to stop using fabric softener. Detergent on its own isn’t going to make your laundry smell as fresh and be perfectly soft, though. You might be wondering about a good alternative to the chemical-ridden softener. It’s everyone’s favourite natural cleaning agent: vinegar! Vinegar is a veritable miracle product: you can use it for so many different purposes and it’s entirely natural too. Besides vinegar, you could choose to add a little ammonia as well.
Laundry
Add one cup of vinegar with a splash of ammonia to your dirty laundry. Pour the stuff right into the fabric softener compartment of your washing machine and just add your normal amount of laundry detergent into its designated compartment. The ammonia will make sure that the laundry detergent isn’t going to stick to the fabric of the clothes or other laundry, and the vinegar has a similar function, but then for the minerals in the water instead of the detergent. Together, these two natural products will definitely make sure your laundry will come out perfectly soft and fresh-smelling. If you feel iffy about using ammonia, it’s also perfectly fine to only use the vinegar, without the ammonia added to it. Whatever you do, just don’t use fabric softener!
ty po ahahh