> "Powder detergent creates more friction between the clothes [during washing], so more fibres are released, whereas liquid is smoother. The less friction there is in general, the fewer fibres are released."
Is this true or just something completely made up? Sounds like bs to me, powdered detergent is not sand, it quickly dissolves when it comes in contact with water.
Agree, total mumbo jumbo. There are plenty of alkali salts in detergent, but if it wasn't soluble it wouldn't work. If you want an abrasive you add sand...
Impossible if you have any skin conditions. I suffer from eczema (fortunately mild now, but in the past I was seriously considering suicide), and one of the things that reliably trigger a flare-up are unwashed clothes covered in dust mite excrement. Neither sun nor cold will help with that, only good old washing.
On that auto-immune topic, this reminds me of the Hygiene hypothesis which basically assert immune issues as a result of too much cleanliness (over simplified version).
"The hygiene hypothesis states that early childhood exposure to particular microorganisms protects against diseases by contributing to the development of the immune system. In particular, a lack of exposure is thought to lead to defects in the establishment of immune tolerance." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis]
I had problems with a flaky scalp, canker sores and irritating bedsheets.
Long story short, I cut out SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate). I think it is just very efficient at removing protective oils from your skin, or possibly layers of "healing goo" when you have a cut or sore.
I removed it from my toothpaste, shampoo and laundry detergent.
I use verve toothpaste (@amazon), shea moisture shampoo and all fresh clean essentials sulfate free laundry detergent.
ymmv, but it has helped me quite a bit.
also, companies are tricky and rename it to various aliases on their labels to keep sales going.
exactly, if you really care about plastic in our environment, then don't get synthetic clothes. i live in a hot environment. i change shirts up to 3x a day. no way i am not going to wash those. the only item i never washed is a pair of leather pants. and also coats and jackets get washed rarely. and as for handwashing, i'd rather spend my time with more meaningful activities.
The one time I bought expensive jeans the guy told me to do this. Told me to put them in the freezer instead of washing them to preserve their color. Luckily I didn’t have to deal with the problem as I got too fat for the jeans before they had the chance to fade.
Raw denim folk can get religious about not washing their jeans. Sadly freezing doesn't help if they smell, they might feel fresher after taking them out, but the funk will be back as soon as they thaw.
Ok a little tabloid-y but definitely piqued my intellectual curiousity. Not that given how much I can sweat anyone will thank me for not washing but still it's interesting to see such a simple ingrained idea (wash clothes) being challenged with some degree of rationality - it reminds me of the question what taboos are so engrained in our society we simply don't see them
It's the old way of doing it though. Pre washing machine clothes wash tended to be underwear only, and brush and air the rest. Partly because washing was a more brutal process - boiling, wringing etc that the outer layers couldn't handle.
The UV from the sun is what kills them, it's also great for breaking down dye and fabrics. It is doubtful the UV will reach all the cracks and crevices.
A rich heiress who has likely spent a lot of time on private jets in her lifetime is pretty low on the list of people Ill take climate change advice from.
It seems like there is a sense that environmental/climate problems affect everyone, including wealthy people, and her ideas sound reasonable, constructive and fair. An initiative to wash clothes in a way that causes less ecological damage could very well come from the fashion industry (as it may require new types of fabric etc.).
I'm looking forward to a consumer grade Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Dry cleaner. Dissolve out the oils trapped in your clothing, sterilize them and perhaps deposit the oils where they can be used as fuel. It would probably work for other items such as soiled machinery, oil extraction from herbs and food, etc.
Please let's not let not washing your clothes become the trendy thing to do. Public transport can already smell bad enough. Just wash your clothes, keep smelling like flowers and pick something else to be different about.
Not saying people shouldn't wash their clothes, but that flower (or other) smell you seem to find pleasant isn't pleasant for everybody. Don't know why, genetically probably, but I really dislike most synthetic smells. It's also not just the smell but also the fact it's constantly there, sort of annoying me. I'd rather have people wash their clothes using water (lots of clothes don't seem dirty enough to really require soap, as far as I can tell) and then hang them outside to dry. Though I realize that is not an option for the majority of the population. But it would me nice if most of those products would smell less, or if at least people would use less. It's not because the marleting department of a product decides X is the right amount to advertise, that it's also what is really required,.
Stop blaming the consumers. And start making plastic PRODUCERS pay the negative externalities. Make an international fund to freaking tax the polluters and redistribute to other countries to reward reforestation.
Same with carbon
And everything else
I am tired of plastic straw and bag BANS while plastics and fossil fuels are used every day.
You will see biodegradable plastics appear faster than you can say “progress”.
It’s like Andrew Yang’s idea to tax the gun makers for each gun death.
I haven't used a conventional laundry machine in about a year. The way I clean things, everything looks brand new, the microplastics are captured, and stuff is smelling good.
At first, I just used a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot, put some clothes in there, hot water, added All Free & Clear + Clorox2 Stain Remover and Color Booster, then shook about 100 times.
More recently I use one of those hand-crank-turned contraptions* that rotates on a stand (multiple are available from Amazon).
> But most importantly - never, ever, tumble dry.
When its time to dry things, I just hang them up on a drying rack and let them drip into a caserole pan.
When the dripping is done (roughly 45 minutes) I re-arrange them for best ventilation and point a small fan towards them, almost everything is dry within 2 hours.
You can use a GuppyFriend micropastic bag to catch the microplastics.
What got me wondering the most is that the dyes often come out of the fabrics, When you hand wash things its a bit more obvious. I wonder what their eventual fate is.
* none of these are really that great, lots of room for improvement here.
I think we should be teaching how to care about the clothing properly kids in school. I have learned it myself and I am sure I am doing it completely wrong.
Unfortunately, various industries don't really want you to know. They want to sell you more stuff.
> Instead, she says, the "rule" is to "let the dirt dry and you brush it off".
So her point is that people should just get used to wearing "dirty" clothes. I think a better first start is to recalibrate what people mean by "dirty". Most people I know (and certainly myself in the past) would usually wash many clothes (shirts especially) after a single wear regardless of whether they needed it. Now I only wash my clothes when they need it (which means there is some stain or it smells).
Of course maybe we should get used to wearing clothes that are visibly dirty, but there seem to be lower hanging fruit.
It's sad that the myth of freezers killing germs is still a thing. I wonder how many deaths (or at least general "health incidents") per year are a consequence of this. The fact it's from BBC and they quote _someone_ that's apparently a professor (they don't even mention the profession, just some "head of fashion design curse", whatever that means ...) will make many more people believe such false claims and spread the myth and the implicated problems it brings even further.
>Instead, she says, the "rule" is to "let the dirt dry and you brush it off".
A privilege reserved for people who live in areas that never need air conditioning. On the handful of occasions I've been forced by necessity to wear the same pair of jeans for multiple days the dried salt buildup is enough to draw blood by abrading my thighs.
Then again I don't wear anything but 100% cotton so I'm not the audience she has in mind either.
“Areas that never need air conditioning” covers most of the Uk, and with a slight tweak to the wording you could cover all of it - and the UK is the BBC’s target market.
(I’ve never felt the need to wash jeans more when working in air conditioned UK offices. Maybe it’s the humidity.)
People like stretchy fabrics which can’t be made durable without synthetic fibers. Also cotton sucks to work out in, synthetics let sweat evaporate much more effectively.
I don't think the ultra rich really do break a sweat except when wearing their lulu lemon exercise gear. I doubt their clothes get muddy or stained very often. They probably have so many clothes that not wearing something for a month is not a hardship. Most likely, their maid is covertly washing their clothes.
I now have two Turms t-shirts worth equivalent of 10 USD with both hydrophobic and antibacterial properties. They don't feel dirty even after sweating in them a few days. I'm determined to test them for 20 or more wears. But I wonder if they are counterproductive for the environment with the coatings.
[+] [-] astura|6 years ago|reply
Is this true or just something completely made up? Sounds like bs to me, powdered detergent is not sand, it quickly dissolves when it comes in contact with water.
[+] [-] angry_octet|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grandinj|6 years ago|reply
Whether that actually generates friction or not, I don't know
[+] [-] unwrap|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] twistiti|6 years ago|reply
"The hygiene hypothesis states that early childhood exposure to particular microorganisms protects against diseases by contributing to the development of the immune system. In particular, a lack of exposure is thought to lead to defects in the establishment of immune tolerance." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis]
[+] [-] m463|6 years ago|reply
Long story short, I cut out SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate). I think it is just very efficient at removing protective oils from your skin, or possibly layers of "healing goo" when you have a cut or sore.
I removed it from my toothpaste, shampoo and laundry detergent.
I use verve toothpaste (@amazon), shea moisture shampoo and all fresh clean essentials sulfate free laundry detergent.
ymmv, but it has helped me quite a bit.
also, companies are tricky and rename it to various aliases on their labels to keep sales going.
[+] [-] gattilorenz|6 years ago|reply
(I'm quite far away from considering suicide, but I wouldn't mind a better quality of life)
[+] [-] alanfranz|6 years ago|reply
The solution would be to stick to cotton, denim, wool, and limit synthetic fibers. I cannot handwash everything.
[+] [-] em-bee|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yummybear|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anbop|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] n1c|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kuraj|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lifeisstillgood|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NeedMoreTea|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fluxsauce|6 years ago|reply
That's a myth, freezing jeans in a consumer fridge does not kill bacteria. For example, listeria can grow in both a refrigerator or a freezer.
Fortunately, the sun can kill bacteria, so take it outside and hang it to air.
[+] [-] angry_octet|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Double_a_92|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] entee|6 years ago|reply
Still turn inside out for at least a bit if using this strategy.
[+] [-] kyleblarson|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] UweSchmidt|6 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
[+] [-] nanomonkey|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] namibj|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dcsilver|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stinos|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cs02rm0|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bjelkeman-again|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EGreg|6 years ago|reply
There is NON BIODEGRADABLE plastic in everything!
Stop blaming the consumers. And start making plastic PRODUCERS pay the negative externalities. Make an international fund to freaking tax the polluters and redistribute to other countries to reward reforestation.
Same with carbon And everything else I am tired of plastic straw and bag BANS while plastics and fossil fuels are used every day.
You will see biodegradable plastics appear faster than you can say “progress”.
It’s like Andrew Yang’s idea to tax the gun makers for each gun death.
[+] [-] clumsysmurf|6 years ago|reply
At first, I just used a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot, put some clothes in there, hot water, added All Free & Clear + Clorox2 Stain Remover and Color Booster, then shook about 100 times.
More recently I use one of those hand-crank-turned contraptions* that rotates on a stand (multiple are available from Amazon).
> But most importantly - never, ever, tumble dry.
When its time to dry things, I just hang them up on a drying rack and let them drip into a caserole pan.
When the dripping is done (roughly 45 minutes) I re-arrange them for best ventilation and point a small fan towards them, almost everything is dry within 2 hours.
You can use a GuppyFriend micropastic bag to catch the microplastics.
What got me wondering the most is that the dyes often come out of the fabrics, When you hand wash things its a bit more obvious. I wonder what their eventual fate is.
* none of these are really that great, lots of room for improvement here.
[+] [-] astura|6 years ago|reply
Sounds itchy.
[+] [-] js8|6 years ago|reply
Unfortunately, various industries don't really want you to know. They want to sell you more stuff.
[+] [-] CogitoCogito|6 years ago|reply
So her point is that people should just get used to wearing "dirty" clothes. I think a better first start is to recalibrate what people mean by "dirty". Most people I know (and certainly myself in the past) would usually wash many clothes (shirts especially) after a single wear regardless of whether they needed it. Now I only wash my clothes when they need it (which means there is some stain or it smells).
Of course maybe we should get used to wearing clothes that are visibly dirty, but there seem to be lower hanging fruit.
[+] [-] numlock86|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Causality1|6 years ago|reply
A privilege reserved for people who live in areas that never need air conditioning. On the handful of occasions I've been forced by necessity to wear the same pair of jeans for multiple days the dried salt buildup is enough to draw blood by abrading my thighs.
Then again I don't wear anything but 100% cotton so I'm not the audience she has in mind either.
[+] [-] tom_|6 years ago|reply
(I’ve never felt the need to wash jeans more when working in air conditioned UK offices. Maybe it’s the humidity.)
[+] [-] gowld|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mapcars|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] entee|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gpvos|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] angry_octet|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aitchnyu|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trumpeta|6 years ago|reply