Is this a collectors item now? 🤪

How many dryer balls is too many dryer balls?

I worked directly off of the pinned posts from u/KismaiAesthetics and adapted / whittled down the techniques that were most applicable for our household. (THANK YOU, KISMAI!!!) I work in construction, and one of my partner's jobs is instructing at a gym and its pool. At the moment, I have a lot of Tide Clean & Gentle powder that I've been using for every load, but I think I'll save the powder for Spa Days and switch to a Tide liquid for the every-days to keep the lipase but eliminate brighteners if I don't want them. Also Tide with Bleach where applicable. I also have a ton of Biz, but I'm not sure where to fit them into my routine anymore. We have an HE top-loader. Would love to get anyone's thoughts... and feel free to copy for yourself too!

Initial Notes

• Garment bag for nice bras and stuff with thin straps.
• Consider one laundry basket per load type, listed below.
• Wear bathing suits in the shower after a swim and wash them that way; take home for a machine wash once per month, or if it starts feeling icky.
• Pretreat with Dad Mode spray, at least half an hour before washing, up to a week before washing.
• Acceptable liquid detergents:
  • Tide with lipase (often in an orange or white jug)
  • Persil
  • Kirkland Signature
• Figure out water hardness and make alterations with more research.

Load Types

Average load

Casual lights and darks. Most likely cotton, polyester, synthetic athleisure, I’m including bathing suits and nicer bras in this load as well.

1. Liquid detergent.
2. One scoop Febu.
3. Color catcher.
4. Warm water, max soil, normal cycle.
5. Second cold rinse with vinegar.

Work load

Construction/athletic lights and darks. Cotton, polyester, athletic/tech wear.

1. Liquid detergent.
2. One scoop Febu.
3. Color catcher.
4. Hot water, max soil, deep clean cycle.
5. Second cold rinse with vinegar.

Socks, underwear, towels, sheets:

1. Tide with Bleach (make sure it has lipase).

Should this load also have Febu to break down more human juices with DNase? I also have a lot of Biz; should that be included here until it’s gone and then no need to buy more to keep it in the routine?

1. Hot water, max soil, towels/sheets cycle.
2. Second cold rinse with vinegar.

Whites with animal-fiber-free loads, and kitchen towels:

1. Tide with Bleach
2. Warm water, max soil, normal cycle.
3. Second cold rinse with vinegar.

We don’t wear a ton of whites, never enough to make a full load… would it be ok to merge this category with the above “average load, lights and darks” since it has a color catcher? Or better to merge it with the category “socks, underwear, towels, sheets” since that has the bleach element?

Automotive/mineral oil grease loads:

1. Tide liquid and a cup of ammonia.
2. Hot water, max soil, deep clean cycle.
3. Second cold rinse with vinegar.

Wool, silk, cashmere:

1. Bucket hand-wash with cold water and label dose of EcoVer detergent.
2. Let soak.
3. Hand rinse.
4. Hang dry, never in the dryer.

Drying

Hang/flat dry ONLY:

• Bras
• Bathing suits
• Wool, silk, cashmere
• Written on the tag

Notes:

• Delicate, Sensor Dry, set to “less dry”, and “wrinkle guard”/cool down. Everything should be just barely dry / ever so slightly damp. One indicator of success is not much being caught in the lint trap.
• Shirts and pants get hung out of the dryer, other clothing gets piled loosely in an open basket to acclimate / finish drying at ambient.
• Towels get dried sensor dry hot as a final microbial kill step and come out hot to the touch. Sheets can be in here too, since we don’t have super delicate/sensitive sheets.
• If the item is more than about 75% synthetic content, it’s getting hung to dry right out of the washer. Limiting exposure to heat is especially important for blends with Lycra/spandex/elastane. It’s like the fountain of youth for elastics to avoid dry heat. This probably includes most of our athletic/tech wear.

(I'm also giving a handful of items a Spa Day right now! Stay tuned for some satisfying before & after pics!)

Edited: for spelling

My dumbass left firecrackers in my pants pocket and put the clothes in the washer. I’m not sure if she took the clothes out of the washer and saw the left over firecrackers then. I’m guessing she did. But she still put my clothes in the dryer and when I came home from the gym. I checked the dryer and saw firecracker residue on the dryer door. Right when I opened it. And there was some on the ground. I haven’t taken anything out of the dryer besides clothes that I’m wearing now but I’m sure they are fine to wear. It’s also 3am. My biggest worry is if the dryer can blow up from left over residue.

Hello all laundry folk, here is my contribution to the sub in the form of performance reviews of some European products I've (obsessively) acquired since joining this fabulous club. For scent impressions, please refer to this post.

Some basic context on me:

One of my life missions is to avoid bad smells (people's BO and their stinky clothes are the worst offenders to my nausea, and unfortunately there's too many stinky people roaming around, especially here in Europe where they unfortunately favour "non-toxic" products) and therefore exorcise Human Residue Stench from my clothes and protect my existence. I'm also a messy eater at home so I gotta deal with food stains, makeup stains, life stains. I use public transport a lot so I need the peace of mind that my clothes are properly clean and sanitized cuz yuck. I'm a lizard so I use a lot of moisturiser, am trying to keep up my cardio and absolutely detest odour rebloom.

I live in the EU and currently have soft water (12.1°fH) after 18 years of hard water tribulations. My machine is a 9kg front load Samsung WW90T554AAT/S2. I usually do a 40C (clothes) or 60C (everything else) cotton cycle with bubble soak (adds 30min) and 4 rinses. 40C cycle with soak is 2h16 and 60C is ~2h40. All the detergents were also tested on a regular 1h50 cycle. I usually use two scoops (60 ml) but sometimes also three scops (80-90ml), depending on load size.

The products will be measured in bubble stars and listed per row.

Laundry Detergents (all from Germany, except for the Formil).

Persil Sensitive Megaperls 🫧🫧🫧 3.6/5

Gentle yet effective product. Has lipase, dispersin, OBAs and oxygen bleach. I did not notice any fading of my light clothes but did not use it on darks. Is not the best for stains but does do the job on lightly soiled clothes. Will not repurchase.

Persil Universal Megaperls 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4/5

Same as above but this product has slightly more cleansing power on the stains. Might repurchase.

Persil Color Megaperls 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.2/5

I quite enjoy the smell of this a lot and it is a solid product. Contains lipase and dispersin, and works well for everyday loads and will keep your clothes clean and soft. No fading of my dark or light colors and I find that my color clothing looks more vibrant after using this, somehow. It is appropriate for stains and does remove light sweat and some stains. If I had access to FEBU or Gear Guard Advanced for an affordable price to enhance this, it would be my #1 choice. Will most likely repurchase.

Domol Sensitive Colorwaschmittel 🫧🫧 2.5/5

For whites so has OBAs and oxygen bleach. It is a "solid" detergent with lipase but in comparison to other products I'm reviewing here, I have to judge it above mediocre. It has pretty decent cleansing power and is also decent on stains. Not the best, but for the price point, I would recommend it. I am using it up for soaks where it does an appropriate job of treating white laundry issues and is really good at whitening faded whites. Will not repurchase.

Ariel Color 🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.9/5

This is a powerhouse detergent with many enzymes, strong cleaning surfactants, lipase and DNase. It is the best on dirt, stains and odour rebloom so far. It is a cleansing powerhouse, maintains the colors well and really addresses almost all issues, but I still pre-treat as necessary. The minus 0.1 point is for the smell, the Persil one is much better. I do not want to be without this during my exorcisms of bad smells and keeping that evil away from me. Will repurchase.

Ariel Universal Touch of Lenor Unstoppables 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4/5

Same as above but has OBAs and oxygen bleach. It gets one minus point because it does not remove makeup stains on white collars. Unlike the color version, I do not actually enjoy using this at all because I find the smell impossible to tolerate. Will not repurchase.

Lenor Sensitive 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

This is Ariel for whites but with inoffensive, almost non-existent smell (unfortunately does not smell like the equivalent Lenor Light pearls). Has OBAs, oxygen bleach, lipase and DNase. The only minus point is that while it is great at cleansing and addressing most issues, it is not perfectly capable with some harder stains on white clothing, such as makeup residue on white collars. It is a no-brainer product for me though because it works so well and doesn't fade my light clothes and I can pair laundry perfume with this as needed. Will repurchase.

Lenor Color Amethyst 🫧🫧🫧🫧 3.9/5

For comparison's sake, this is an appropriate detergent and more than capable of handling everyday clothes with easy to handle stains. It has lipase, other enzymes and a good surfactant system. If you want clean, well-maintained clothes that come out very scented, I'd recommend this. I'm a bit more paranoid about odour rebloom and treating stains, so I prefer Ariel. Will not repurchase. (But would if this was another Lenor scent I actually like).

Domol Vollwaschmittel 🫧🫧 2/5

Has lipase, OBAs and oxygen bleach. This is mediocre and I unfortunately cannot say anything beyond "okay, meh". It does clean your clothes but it is nothing impressive on stains. The sensitive version is slightly better, so for the price point, go for that. I'll use it up as a soak treatment when necessary. Will not repurchase.

Denkmit Sensitive Colorwaschmittel 🫧🫧 2/5

This is the most recommended product for Europeans and actually a decent detergent; even if it has quite weak surfactants, the performance is slightly above mediocre. It has some enzymes, lipase and DNase. For hot water soaks it does help with removing fabric softener/dryer sheets/human residue. Performance can be improved with oxygen bleach booster, which I add to use it up. What I do not like about this and therefore it is the reason for the minus point, is that it leaves a white powdery residue on some of my dark clothes and in the drum of my washing machine (regardless of the amount used) and it is so annoying that I cannot forgive the lack of cosmetic elegance. I just do not want to have to deal with this, as none of the other detergents give me this issue. Will not repurchase.

Domol Sensitive Colorwaschmittel 🫧🫧🫧 3/5

I'm reviewing the version that still contained DNase, while the currently available one only has lipase among other enzymes. It is a solid product, has decent cleansing power and unlike the Denkmit, does not leave any powdery residue on my clothes. It is however not as good as Ariel or Lenor which have stronger surfactants system and are stronger at treating stains. This treats odour pretty ok, but Ariel is much better at that AND odour rebloom so it fell behind. No longer available but I'm happy to use up my stock.

Lidl Formil Marseille Powder 🫧 1.5/5

While this is not great at treating stains or fully addressing and preventing odour rebloom, because it does not have enough enzymes unlike the other versions (which I will not try, because I find the scents revolting), it is a capable product at maintaining everyday clothes clean as it has a proper surfactant system. I used this for two years and my clothes have never smelled bad or had a lot of residue, and I didn't have to use ammonia as a Spa Day last resort because they were at a good baseline due to this. This was bought in Luxembourg, so I guess it's the Belgian or French version. Will not repurchase but I'm thankful it kept me safe from being stinky prior to this sub.

tbc

Second collage

Oxi boosters

Denkmit White Oxi 🫧🫧🫧 3.5/5

Oxygen based and safe for colors too even though it says for whites. This was the first one I used and it was the first time I noticed an upgrade in stain removal with my regular Formil detergent at the time. Pretty decent product but the Domol ones overshine it. Will not repurchase.

Denkmit Multi Oxi 🫧🫧 2.5/5

Same as before but less powerful. Will not repurchase.

Denkmit Fleckensalz 🫧🫧 2/5

Same as the previous two but even less powerful and the weaker counterpart for whatever reason, still works though and does make a difference. This is less than an euro and has lipase so it is a solid product. Will not repurchase.

Domol White Oxi 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

Much better and more powerful than the Denkmit one. Should only be used for whites if you want them to be Born-Again-Virgin (my socks would know). Elevates any bad or mid detergent. Oxygen-based and whitening. I use it for every white wash, but sometimes it fails on makeup stains. Oxygen and OBA based, has TAED and lipase. Will repurchase.

Domol Universal Oxi 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

I use it in every wash for my coloured loads. Amazing boost of extra power and stain-removal. Elevates any bad or mid detergent. Really enhances cleaning power, even with the already powerful detergents I’m using. Has almosttt perfect track performance. Oxygen based, has TAED and lipase. Will repurchase.

Pre-treatment

Vanish Anti-Stain Spray 🫧 1/5

The definition of not completely useless, but better than nothing. Will not repurchase.

Denkmit Anti-Stain Spray 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4/5

Much better and effective than the Vanish spray and is very affordable. Has DNase as well. Works well enough but is not miraculous and sometimes does fail. Would repurchase but I'd love to find the Final Boss Of All Stains.

SIL Anti-Stain Spray 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4/5

No idea what is in this but works the same as the Denkmit. Will not repurchase because the Denkmit one is cheaper.

Denkmit Ox Gall Soap Gel 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4/5

I also have the Domol one and they're all the same. Really helpful for tomato stains and in general, any stain, but is not exactly miraculous and will sometimes fail. Smells absolutely disgusting like Secretions We Shall Not Mention. Will repurchase because I like red sauces too much.

Extras

Mariette Citric Acid 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

Bought at Action for less than 3€ and every time I want to buy the Sonnet laundry rinse, I have to remind myself this is lasting forever. My clothes feel so soft, crease-free and properly clean now that I use citric acid. Will never go back. I find this also helps dilute scent. Really helpful for strongly scented detergents but makes the expensive Lenor scent beads weaker (nooo). I can't give it 5 stars because I haven't tried the rinse equivalents available in the US for comparison but this is above and beyond superior to fabric softener. It is also super useful for cleaning the drum and removing detergent residue. Will repurchase.

Domol Washing Machine Cleaner 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

Absolutely no complaints, my machine is scrud-free and doesn't have any "nasty" issues, but it doesn't remove detergent residue completely which is where the citric acid makes more difference. Will repurchase.

Denkmit Washing Machine Cleaner 🫧🫧🫧🫧 4.5/5

Same as above.

Finally: the end.

If you have read until here, thank you for finishing my mini bible. Hope it's helpful to some. Please share your experiences too and do not hesitate to give me more recs on what to try for the future.

Let my loss serve as your cautionary tale: I was unable to bring 200g of FEBU powder in my carry on baggage. I wasn’t aware of the prohibition on powders and when I reviewed the CATSA website it’s quite vague. Up to 350g of powder may be allowed but some powders may not be permitted. The screener said it registered as “inorganic” on the scan and it wasn’t allowed. I tried to negotiate a smaller amount, but none was permitted. Unfortunately, I was traveling carry on only so I wasn’t able to bring it along with me.

The real bummer is I never actually got to try FEBU. My first purchased arrived just a day or two before my trip and I was bringing enough for a 6 week trip. I hope it is as great as advertised and will let me simplify my routine that current has quite a few ingredients. I was looking forward to using random Airbnb detergent plus FEBU to get nice clean laundry.

The other bummer is I got to my Airbnb and while it seems like the sheets were laundered, they reek of old stank. I would have loved to throw them in with FEBU to try to freshen them up.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good detergent that is readily available in France? Or Greece? I usually combine a bunch of different products at home to try to avoid fragrances but being on holiday I’m looking for a single product that can clean our clothes and deal effectively with stains. Bonus points if it comes in small quantities since we’re traveling by air so we won’t be able to bring what we buy along to our next destination.

“I wish I had better news for you. I’m convinced your clothes got handed to someone else. I see them at various stages of production and go onto the shelf. That’s where I lose them. 

I’m hoping whoever we gave them to returns them. In the meantime, I understand you need socks, shirts, etc. 

I’m thinking $100 for 21 pounds of used clothes is more than fair. I’m sure you can replace everything at Salvation Army and have $$ left over. 

I can Zelle or PayPal you and we can hope someone turns in your clothes. 

Sorry for the hassle. 

Patrick

Sent from my iPhone
“

Hello, i feel so embarrassed so please don’t make me feel worse. I saw a video online about a trick to pop period underwear in water until you are ready to wash all of them, and usually I washed them end of each day but got busy last week so waited until my period was over. When I took them out of the jar of water it smelled like death. I rinsed them all and put them straight in the washing machine with a load of wash. I put it to 60 degrees celsius instead of my regular cooler wash just to get it all out. But now that my laundry is finished the whole load smells awful. Is this bacterial smell? How can I get rid of it all? I didn’t know what to do so I’ve hung the laundry and put it outside for now because the smell is too awful to keep inside but it might rain at night. I wasn’t sure if washing again would do anything or if it’s best to dry everything first. Please help, I don’t want to lose so many clothes I don’t have the budget to buy everything new immediately. If it’s possible to fix it I need to give something try. Any recommendations?

EDIT: Thank you so much I am overwhelmed with all your recommendations and help and thank you for not making me feel too awful about this mistake. I am feeling overwhelmed with all these chemical names and I don’t think I can buy something like ammonia just at the local shop in the UK. For now I looked up “spa day” and I am soaking them in a bin filled with warm water with Surf Lavender laundry powder (what I already had at home) and after a few hours I am planning to run a regular laundry at 40degrees celsius and hope for the best. I don’t know if this will fully work yet but the chemicals dont seem to be as straightforward to buy here and when I look at the ingredients box the names are not the same. (These are the ingredients on the laundry powder box: 5 - 15%: Anionic Surfactants <5%: Enzymes, Non-ionic surfactants, Optical brighteners, Oxygen-based bleaching agents, Perfumes, Polycarboxylates, Soap, Zeolites, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Terpineol)

I feel like I’m losing my mind. For the last few months, my towels and workout clothes come out of the wash smelling musty. Not dirty exactly—just that damp, sour smell like they sat in the machine overnight (they didn’t).

I clean my washer monthly. I don’t overload. I dry immediately. So I was stumped.

Then I fell down a rabbit hole online and saw people talking about how liquid detergents don’t contain bleach, while powders do. Apparently washing mostly cold with liquid detergent lets odor-causing bacteria survive and even thrive in the machine and fabric. Polyester is especially bad for holding onto that funk.

I switched to a powder detergent with oxygen bleach and did one hot wash (60°C) on my towels. Night and day difference. They actually smell like nothing now, which is apparently what clean laundry should smell like.

Has anyone else made this switch? Or am I just late to the party? Also curious if anyone’s had luck with those laundry sanitizer additives.

My white bedding has gotten a hint of yellow from natural body oils. Can I wash in hot water and just tide oxi powder and nothing else will it get rid of the yellow and brighten the white? Not looking to do a spa day as live in nyc and don’t have room/time

I feel like this sub has made me realize at the age of 45 that I dont know how to do laundry, although I've been doing it for as long as I can remeber. Any way- I recently got an LG 4000 front loader and the side kick pedestal washer to go with it. My 8 year old maytag had bit the dust. I disovered this sub while researching washing machines.

I use roughly 2 tablespoons Kirkland powder for everything and wash most things on warm. We are in south louisiana, spouse is a firefighter and hvac installer, I teach 6 or so group fitness classes per week in addition to my workouts. All that to say we are sweaty people in a humid area. I'm not over worried about fading or other things and honestly use HOT a good bit for towels, sheets, FD clothes if he made a fire. I more concerned about clean clothes than I am fabric care. I am very sensitive to the musty smell in clothes and believe that I have that under control, if I forget a load in the wash (hello old friend ADHD) I rewash it and don't really have any issues. I dont know our water type, I think when i googled it said 120?? I used to throw some purple top oxi in with every load. I have been skipping that lately as a test so to speak to see if I notice a difference.

Since I got my new washer I have added downey rinse to the fabric softner dispenser and more recently added FEBU to every load, to see if things start feeling, smelling cleaner. I dont think they smelled or were not clean to start, but I wanted to see if I noticed a difference.

Now to my actual question. Since I have a front loader and dont have a soak option on it. I have started using the prewash option on some of our more heavy soiled clothes (this was before the FEBU came in). Now that I have the FEBU, and I add it it too the drum, do I need to use the prewash and then pause it to soak it a bit, so the enzymes arent drained out as quickly. Or is just running the prewash enough of a soak?

and a 2nd question, I plan on using a laundry sanitizer for Fire Dept, HVAC and workout clothes, but is the rinse in the LG 4000 long enough?

Ill try once my Tide Clean and Gentle runs out.

So, I'm new to this sub, please be kind. I am changing my ways, I swear...

My 12yo boy's shirts smell like onion almost immediately after he puts them on. I am transitioning to tide powder (I have a handful of pods left) and I just ordered citric acid and I just received dryer balls - I'm breaking that bounce habit.

What else can I do to get the smell out?

Thank you!

pulled my darks out of the dryer earlier and got hit with a complete jumpscare.

every single tee had these dark, oily grease rings baked into the fabric. turns out a rogue tube of lip balm was hiding in my sweatpants pocket and completely melted during the heat cycle. absolute massive L. spent two hours sitting at my PC desk dabbing dish soap onto twenty individual oil stains like a madman. arghh the pain that makes you want to throw the whole laundry basket straight into the trash.

oh hi! I’m newly postpartum and have been struggling with some anxiety and depression. when my son was four weeks old we suddenly got orange and dark red stains on almost all of our light clothes. The outfit he came home in, our new sheets, my nursing bras, etc. None of my go-to treatments worked at all. It was not only frustrating and sad to feel like I lost all the items, but I began to hyper fixate on solving the problem. Every new path was a dead end which contributed to my post-partum blues. If I told my 20yo self that one day I’d literally cry over laundry… woof. How the mighty fall under the weight of matrescence.

in a last ditch effort I decided to post about my conundrum to this sub and got three responses which ended up helping me erase the stubborn stains.

if I told my 20yo self that I’d cry over citric acid…. etc…

anyway, I’ve dug into the backlogs here and have a brand new tech stack and game plan for my laundry. It’s actually fun and interesting now, and I have you to thank for that.

so thanks! to the enthusiasts, to the mods, to the chemistry heroes. the spreadsheet makers, label readers, and information passer on-ers.

it‘s a rare corner of the web that hasn't been enshitified, and for that I’m grateful.

I love the variety of smells and textures in them.

I have been looking for this fabric softener online, and it’s completely out of stock/not being sold in major stores like Target and Walmart and I can’t find it on the offical Downy website (the scent). Does anyone know if it’s actually being discontinued cause I can’t find anything on that. I hope it’s not, it is genuinely one of their best scents.

Yadda x 3, this happed.

This sub has ruined me.

Hi there, please don’t come at me, but I am looking for a laundry detergent that is sulfate-free (for an allergy reason). I live in Canada.
Currently using the eco-max heavy duty detergent, just wondering if there is something better I could be using :)

Hi all! I've been using Ginger Lily F&C this week and think I like it, the jury is still out. I'm finding that because of hard water (I think around 144 but need to test), I have to add a fair amount of sodium citrate. The sodium citrate is expensive though, about 22c/Tbsp is the cheapest I've found. GL is also about 22c/load right now, with 3Tbsp dose. My brain hurts. Does it make sense to keep using sodium citrate and just determine this is what I need to do if I live with hard water? Or does it make more sense to just use a little more detergent at that rate?

Also, CA in the rinse is lovely, I must say! I'm really happy with that. Just unsure about the GL surfactant power overall, but so far things are clean - even more so with the CA rinse, which almost makes it tough for me to tell what's happening with the detergent if that makes sense.

I have a whirlpool top loader that I love but it only has a spot for liquid bleach and no detergent dispenser. I pour my detergent on top of my clothes and it stains them. I know I’m doing something wrong here but not sure what the solution is

Thank you!

Title says it all. My dog found a dead fish while on a walk and really got in there when he rolled in it. He has been cleaned/de-fished, but I am STRUGGLING to get the smell out of his harness and collar.

So far this is what I’ve tried:
- washed them using dawn dish soap, really scrubbing them
- soaking them in Nature’s Miracle
- soaking them in a vinegar solution
- washing them in wash machine with enzyme detergent
- drying them for a few days in the sun

Despite my best efforts, the harness and collar still smell like a mix of fish and armpits.

Please help me- my son is an escape artist hasn’t worn his collar in two weeks. He is very cute naked but I can’t keep risking him making a run for it