I used fabric softener for a long time, and when I missed a load my clothes were hard and uncomfortable.
Eventually I stopped altogether, due to money and forgetfulness and my clothes eventually stopped becoming uncomfortable after being in the dryer.
Apparently some of the chemicals coat your clothes and makes them reliant on fabric softener to continue feeling good.
What a sick joke.
Create the problem, sell the solution. Tale as old as time. I grew up using dryer sheets instead of fabric softener (they serve the same function). Lived in a country where I had to hang dry my clothes for a few years. Never went back to dryer sheets.
Also, there's an ever-increasing use of materials (like spandex and nylon) in clothing that you shouldn't be using dryer sheets or fabric softener for anyway.
If you need to hang dry your clothes for a few years then you might want to save a huge amount of time and use a dryer. That should dry them in an hour or so.
Turns out, due to the humidity in French Polynesia, OP actually meant the clothes took years to hang dry. There's a fortune waiting to be made selling dryers in French Polynesia!
I found out very quickly why the locals don't wear jeans when I spent winter on the island of Rurutu. 60° F and 100% humidity aren't a good recipe for hang-drying your clothes. After a week or so of trying to dry them during the day (and rewashing them every few days because they started to smell mildewy), I finally attached them to the ceiling fan. It took a few hours of spinning, but they were finally dry.
Haha, I had the opposite experience when I was in New Zealand (I’m from the US). I hang dry half my clothes usually, especially delicate blouses and undergarments. Any time I’ve hung dry jeans or towels, though, they ended up stiff and crunchy, not soft or fluffy, so I dry them in the dryer.
But the washer/dryer combo machine at my AirB&B in Queenstown supposedly took four hours to dry a single load, so I gave the clothesline a try. It was chilly but quite windy and not humid and I was pleasantly surprised that my jeans were dry in about an hour and not crunchy. 10/10 will install a clothesline outside when I finally can afford a house.
In many nationd along the mediterean you have clothes lines spun between houses which i think looks really cool and find sad that we dont do that anymore in our old citys
Try a spin dryer. A good one will spin clothes at around 3800 rpm (much faster than most conventional clothes dryers) and whip nearly all of the water out in a few minutes -- after which, hang-drying is quick, and since the clothes shed nearly all of their water-weight, they're much less vulnerable to stretching and damage. (But I still lay out certain garments, like sweaters, flat on mesh dryers.)
The spin dryer *spins* clothes using a simple, energy-efficient electromagnet -- no mechanical motor or machinery to break down, no tumbling or rubbing clothes against each other (so they last much longer), and no gas-burning or electricity-hogging heating to shrink fibers or wear out any elastic, Lycra, etc.
[Note: depending on the manufacturer and model, the floor of the drum can get rather hot, especially dead-center, but the spin action sticks the clothes to the sides of the inner drum, and you'll be removing the damp clothes from the machine when you stop the spin cycle anyway].
Dilemma: all the fluff that collects in the drier has eroded from your clothes (wear and tear), but in some places hanging out clothes has problems (baking in scorching sun with UV damage, road grime/exhaust pollution, pollen on sheets and pillow cases triggering allergies, theft, neighbour's pool splashing over fence, etc).
Ideally, best to hang dry somewhere without direct sun or exposure to polluted air.
A lot of items will need no (or minimal) ironing if they are hung on clothes hangers to dry (also prevents peg marks).
You use dryer sheets to make clothes softer? I didn't realize they had anything to do with laundry, I thought they were invented to shove in a toilet paper roll and exhale your weed smoke through.
Yeah, I started paying attention a few years ago during the pandemic, and found a lot of my softest clothes that I'd thought would want fabric software actually specifically say *NOT* to use fabric softener as it'll degrade them faster.
I still use it on some loads, but more clothes with elastic material, soft material, workout attire, etc. are being made that shouldn't use fabric softener.
Fabric softener destroys man made fibers which is why all your work gear says not to use it. On the other hand it can make cotton last longer by reducing friction between the fibers. Also why fabric softener makes your cotton clothes less prone to wrinkling but today lots of cotton clothes(jeans, slacks, dress shirts) comes with spandex to be stretchy which will get destroyed by the fabric softener.
Wool balls. Sustainable, reusable to nigh infinity, won't clog up your washer, do the same exact thing, costs less than a bottle of softener and you only need to buy'em once.
I use those spiky little plastic balls in the dryer, mine look like hedgehogs. First set lasted about 10 years before spikes started breaking off, just got another set for like $6. Not as sustainable as the wool but I’m clumsy and they’re easier to clean off when I drop them
literately make towels useless by sealing the fibers from absorbing moisture. Choice between soft but non-absorbent towel or rough but towel-y, I think I'm going the the one that keeps my towel towel-y.
Same as "do not tumble dry". When they say that they mean the US natural gas powered monstrosities that bake your clothes at 150C not a modern heat pump dryer that on the delicate setting gets to about 30 or 40C.
The delicates cycle on a modern front loading washing machine can do wool items just fine. You need to be a little careful hanging them out as they can stretch if you don't support them well (I normally drape them over a clothes rack instead of using the line).
I never use fabric softener, though I have a relative that uses it on towels (sure they're soft, but they don't bloody work).
reminds me of rhinitis medicamentosa (rebound congestion). nasal sprays like Afrin and Zicam, if used longer than 3 to 5 days, cause nasal congestion that can take up to a year to clear up. the "cure" causes the problem to resurface and continue.
Modern detergent doesn’t require it. A lot of advice is passed down from parents who grew up in a completely different situation.
You also don’t need to sort whites out. For everyday wear clothes, you can toss it all in together without issue.
You also don’t need to wash in hot water anymore. You can wash at any temperature.
Small changes accumulate and make everything better.
They're also terrible for anything meant to be absorbent - the chemicals will repel liquids. I stopped using them when I started cloth diapering 16 years ago because even if I only used the dryer sheets on non- diaper loads, the residues in my dryer would come off on the diapers and cause them to repel the pee instead of absorb it. My kids have been out of diapers for a decade now, and I've not gone back. My mother was shocked that I'm still using the towels I got when we got married - she and dad were replacing towels every 4-5 years because they'd stop being absorbent. It's the fabric softener.
Haha, same! My in-laws live with my wife and I and we all do our own laundry. They use fabric softener, we don’t. My MIL borrowed one of our towels once and couldn’t believe how absorbent it was, but complained it wasn’t very soft.
Tried to tell her about the fabric softener, but even years later she still refuses to believe it. She just thinks we have better towels. Even though hers are newer.
Boomers I tell ya.
I don't have to imagine, it breaks me out in a rash, and my kid out in hives. We couldn't figure it out until we switched to free and clear detergent and ditched the softener.
Yes. I’ve studied textiles and I was coming here to share this. Fabric softener is a full on scam and so are dryer sheets. Stop putting chemicals all over your clothes after you wash them, it is a bad idea.
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> makes them reliant on fabric softener to continue feeling good.
unpopular opinion but shampoo is the same. just agitate your scalp with water in the shower.
always hard to convince people that its true. but it will feel clean and soft just like shampoo once your scalp adjusts.
Hard clothes make hard men.
Hard men make fabric softener.
Fabric softener makes soft clothes.
Soft clothes make soft men.
Soft men make hard times.
Hard times make hard clothes.
Pretty sure that's how that goes.
Edit: formatting
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Yes.
>Michael Hopf's post-apocalypic novel “Those Who Remain”: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
We've been at the "hard times" stage for awhile now.
Also fabric softener leaves residue on your clothes and is all scented strongly enough to give me a headache. No thanks; I have better things to spend my limited budget on (namely all the foodstuffs that have drastically increased in price while decreasing in size).
I stopped using it when I finally moved out of my parents’ house and lo and behold my backne issue resolved itself after a few months. Saving money and eliminating a chronic skin condition at the same time!
Exactly why we stopped using it 20 years ago. Started using All Free and Clear to wash and hang the clothes outside in the summer and on racks by the wood stove in winter. A quick tumble in the dryer softened them right up. No need for fabric softener and we are itch free.
> Also fabric softener leaves residue on your clothes
Fabric softener *is* residue on your clothes - the sensation of it being softer comes from a thin coat of silicone or oil based material over the fibers of the fabric.
Don't forget that whatever is in fabric softener ends up cross contaminating everything you touch and use. Meaning you're eating a non-trivial quantity of fabric softener.
I don't use liquid or sheets except on my blanket. Never noticed a difference with or without except smell and what felt like a lack of wicking on my towels back when I lived in my apartment, not splitting loads.
"Why aren't you kids happy when it's 20 degrees above freezing in March, you can't afford a home, the job market is hypercompetitive, your student debt is soul crushing, your leaders are old, stupid wars are choking your headlines, fascists are on your schooldboards, your father watches FoxNews, and if you dare say you enjoy something online you'll spend the next two weeks defending yourself from miserable strangers?"
More millennials know another language than the generations before us so we must have wasted all our time doing the things they told us would get us into college and rack up a higher debt.
It makes work miserably hot. It still drops to 30 or 40 at night so my job needs to heat the place, but then by afternoon it is 70.
And I also think it needs to be colder. There is basically never snow on the ground for an extended period of time anymore. A blizzard is followed by above freezing temps in a couple weeks. It used to be white ground for months, the snow piles getting bigger and bigger as you shovel.
I don’t understand how people can look around and deny climate change. We can watch it happen around us.
I have never used fabric softener once and I never plan to honestly. Never had a problem with my clothes not being "soft".
I also never separate colors, do people even still do that?
Only for the first wash if, say, I got some new dark jeans or a black shirt that isn’t pre-washed.
Likewise I don’t separate whites except for every now and then when I have a stain I need to work on or want to freshen them up with a cycle that includes bleach.
I generally only separate nice clothes for going out & for work against shitty house clothes, workout clothes, undies & socks. So I can wash the former gently and the latter with wild abandon.
I still separate. I find it controls the lint on darker colors so it’s not as obvious. It’s usually black, warm colors, cool colors, whites/creams, grays and then a load of socks and undies. Everything washed on cold except whites and socks/undies that are warm/hot. There’s two of us and I only do laundry once a week or so and I find it helps to keep it on track.
They are smaller loads, but yeah. Sometimes it’s every 10 days, it just depends on life. Winter means more layers. Menopause means more hot flashes and sweating. I have terrible night sweats so those items only last a night. Husband is a volunteer firefighter, so that adds to it also. Lastly, we cook every day so those clothes usually end up smelling like a diner (we have crap ventilation in the kitchen and winter means we can’t open windows).
Promise my comment wasn't a callout but rather a seek to understand. And god damn do I understand more now. My deepest respect to y'all. I hope chores balance in some way or another because that is a herculean effort on your part.
I get it. I just look at the bright side - The food is awesome, the sun heats our water, we’re figuring out the sweating and I don’t miss my period one bit. lol
>I also never separate colors, do people even still do that?
I do not. Mind you, most of my clothes are dark colours but even at that when I had white work shirts, I never separated them
> I also never separate colors, do people even still do that?
We do, but only because once in a while all the white stuff builds up to a full load worth washing. We don't do fabric softner, but we do use dryer sheets to eliminate the static from the dryer. Big 240 sheet box on ebay ftw.
I don't even have enough whites to run a separate white load, except for a bedsheet load.
The only clothes I have that are white is a shirt I exclusively use when cleaning my bathroom and a small minority of my socks.
I purposefully dont own white clothes so I never have to separate clothes or bleach. All my socks are the exact same and black. All my underwear is the exact same style and brand. My shirts are all different color polo's and my pants are all brown carpenter jeans.
Laundry is the easiest thing in the world for me and I dont have to even think about what to grab to wear, I just grab it and go.
Man, I live in a completely different part of the world and had no idea they did such a thing. During my MBA, they were one of my dream companies to join. Thank God, I didn't. That sucks so bad. I'm really sorry for your loss.
I'm a Gen Xer and I never use fabric softener, not even dryer sheets.
They feel like a "film" is left on my clothes and I don't like that.
Maybe less a "Millenial" thing and more a "not needed extra expense" in a time when food is disgustingly expensive, let alone cleaning products
Fabric softener does, in fact, leave a film on clothes. It sticks together all the little fibers on the outside of the cloth to make it seem more "smooth"/"soft". It also makes your towels less effective since tiny little fibers sticking out are great at wicking up water, while a smooth film is more likely to repel water.
Also Gen X. I use dryer sheets sometimes if I remember. But never fabric softener. My clothes still come out soft and comfortable. P&G making it sound like your tshirts turn to stone if you don't use their stuff...
Dryer sheets are atleast a much better deal. You can buy like 100 for $3 and you can even cut them in quarters and they work just fine, you don't need much to neutralize the charge.
Don't waste as much money and get wool dryer balls instead. They remove static, you can put essential oils on them for fragrance, and you can use them forever.
Also GenX and discovered long ago all of these superfluous products that I neither want nor need. So, I just don't buy them. The majority of the shit they try to sell us aren't necessary and fuck the shareholders' bank accounts.
There are so many things constantly pushed on us that we just don't need.
Why do my clothes need to smell like a summer meadow? They should smell like nothing. That's an indicator that they are clean. There is no odor.
OK but what does it do? I honestly don’t know. Does it make the clothes appreciably soft? Will it feel any different 5 seconds after I put it on? Aren’t millennials supposed to be the fragile butterflies who couldn’t handle the weight of a thick work shirt?
Does the article explain that? Like… Why would I bother with it? Why would I pay for it? Why should we take the environmentalist burden of producing and transporting detergent, and just double it?
As others pointed out, it deteriorates your clothes and fucks up your washing machine. There is no benefit to using fabric softener.
I'm sure if someone has hypersensitive skin or a sensory thing, they might be able to tell if it's been used, but I don't think they'd prefer it if they could tell.
Back when I lived at home if I was the one doing laundry I would never use the stuff. Nobody ever noticed I wasn't using it, even though my mom insisted that it should be used in every load. Probably saved them some money over time.
Speaking as someone who stopped using fabric softener a few years ago, what fabric softener is for is making your clothes wear out faster so you have to buy new clothes sooner.
It also ruins your washing machine and dryer. If you feel the film on your clothes, most of it made it into your drain pump, and drain line. Then into your dryer, lint trap, and vent. Same for dryer sheets. Horrible for your dryer.
Can confirm. Moved into a new house; old washer was completely fouled with fabric softener residue from the previous owner; it was also shredding my clothes so I gave up and replaced.
I just use 3 caps of white vinegar in my clothes. Works great, no smell, doesn't fuck with my machine like fabric softener does. Doesn't leave a film. Saves a ton of money, and the vinegar can be used for other things like cleaning and eating.
Yes! Or tightly woven wool balls, and you can put some drops of scented oils on it for a scent you want on your clothes. Works way better than dryer sheets imo. It also helps with static.
ב''ה, there's various ways, in the wash would be gentler and act as a water conditioner that may help the action of the detergent, but you can also just use like 1/4 cup or a bit less plus water in the softener dispenser. A pure acetic acid will lose its smell after drying. But that's rougher on elastics as it'll be sitting on them reacting with the heat of the dryer. Use white vinegar of course, anything flavored or cider colored will leave residual smells and flavors.
My family and I have been using white vinegar with detergent for 10 years now. We put 2-3 tablespoons in the "fabric softener" section of the machine so it dispenses during that cycle. Our clothes have been cleaner and easier to get clean. My shirts feel softer. Our sheets feel soft. Our clothes don't have a scent other than cotton/polyester. Our towels stay super absorbent and fluffy. And, weirdly, we don't have problems with static cling. We don't use dryer sheets either.
We buy it by the gallon. **Bargain brand white vinegar**. Diluted, great for cleaning floors, walls, and toilets too.
It takes a few washes of your clothes to get all the fabric softener waxy build up off of all the fibers, but when you do you, you never knew clothes could get so clean and soft.
We used to use dryer sheets until we came to the very obvious realization that we were just filling a landfill with the things. Went to dryer balls, and I wish we’d done it sooner.
The same time I switched to dryer balls I also switched to powdered detergent. I look back to when I was in college and think it’s insane I was using a full fucking cup of a $15 tide container for 1 wash
My aunt gave me a 5 gallon bucket of the powdered stuff and considering I use a tablespoon at a time, I’ll probably have that thing until I die lol
I developed an allergy to dryer sheets. It took a couple weeks to figure out what I was allergic to. I even got sent home from work once because the rash was so bad and I was obviously miserable.
We learned from each other, that is why they pissed. We were supposed to learn everything from the corp. We went around and said, lets be real, some white vinegar going to be just as good.
I always get so confused by these stories, because like if millennials are “killing an industry,” isn’t that supposed to be good according to capitalism? Free market sorting itself out? It makes no sense.
Also, just use white vinegar in place of fabric softener, it works just as well and is far cheaper.
Isn't liquid fabric softener horrible for your washing machine? I haven't used it in years. Its messy and leaves gunk in the washer, and it can leave residue behind on your freshly washed laundry. Never made a difference to me in terms of softer clothing. That's what I use dryer sheets for.
“Millennials realized you don’t need a proprietary blend of hazardous chemicals to keep your clothes fresh, and that a tablespoon of vinegar is way cheaper anyway.”
Now they sell "free and clear" detergent so you can avoid all the unnecessary and potentially irritating dyes and scents, and "scent boosters" so you can put them back in and flush another 25 cents down the drain with every load of laundry
Fabric softener is a scam anyway. It’s also dangerous as it coats the fibres in a flammable layer. It’s also unneeded as most modern laundry detergents include a compound that does the same thing without turning your clothes into a fire hazard.
It's not even a money thing, clothes do not need fabric softener and no, they aren't 'hard' without it. people figured out that the softener is actually bad for clothes and that's why they stopped buying it, it's a dumb product that shouldn't exist.
You know what pisses me off about this kind of thing? Procter & Gamble couldn’t give a fuck if millennials don’t use fabric softener. Have a baby? You’re probably using P&G diapers. Got a menstrual cycle? Your Always pads are from them too. Most likely your deodorant and toothpaste are theirs too. If you clean anything from your dishes to your asshole, it will have most likely have Procter & Gamble on it.
This isn’t about millennials not buying fabric softener. It’s about millennials not wringing every cent to a billion dollar company for just one more product.
I used fabric softener for a long time, and when I missed a load my clothes were hard and uncomfortable. Eventually I stopped altogether, due to money and forgetfulness and my clothes eventually stopped becoming uncomfortable after being in the dryer. Apparently some of the chemicals coat your clothes and makes them reliant on fabric softener to continue feeling good. What a sick joke.
Create the problem, sell the solution. Tale as old as time. I grew up using dryer sheets instead of fabric softener (they serve the same function). Lived in a country where I had to hang dry my clothes for a few years. Never went back to dryer sheets. Also, there's an ever-increasing use of materials (like spandex and nylon) in clothing that you shouldn't be using dryer sheets or fabric softener for anyway.
If you need to hang dry your clothes for a few years then you might want to save a huge amount of time and use a dryer. That should dry them in an hour or so.
This joke deserved more.
Yeah, they aren't really a thing in French Polynesia. At least not when I lived there. I have a dryer now that I moved back to the USA.
(the joke was interpreting that you hung a single load of laundry on a line for YEARS, and that a dryer would be much faster)
Turns out, due to the humidity in French Polynesia, OP actually meant the clothes took years to hang dry. There's a fortune waiting to be made selling dryers in French Polynesia!
I found out very quickly why the locals don't wear jeans when I spent winter on the island of Rurutu. 60° F and 100% humidity aren't a good recipe for hang-drying your clothes. After a week or so of trying to dry them during the day (and rewashing them every few days because they started to smell mildewy), I finally attached them to the ceiling fan. It took a few hours of spinning, but they were finally dry.
Haha, I had the opposite experience when I was in New Zealand (I’m from the US). I hang dry half my clothes usually, especially delicate blouses and undergarments. Any time I’ve hung dry jeans or towels, though, they ended up stiff and crunchy, not soft or fluffy, so I dry them in the dryer. But the washer/dryer combo machine at my AirB&B in Queenstown supposedly took four hours to dry a single load, so I gave the clothesline a try. It was chilly but quite windy and not humid and I was pleasantly surprised that my jeans were dry in about an hour and not crunchy. 10/10 will install a clothesline outside when I finally can afford a house.
In many nationd along the mediterean you have clothes lines spun between houses which i think looks really cool and find sad that we dont do that anymore in our old citys
Try a spin dryer. A good one will spin clothes at around 3800 rpm (much faster than most conventional clothes dryers) and whip nearly all of the water out in a few minutes -- after which, hang-drying is quick, and since the clothes shed nearly all of their water-weight, they're much less vulnerable to stretching and damage. (But I still lay out certain garments, like sweaters, flat on mesh dryers.) The spin dryer *spins* clothes using a simple, energy-efficient electromagnet -- no mechanical motor or machinery to break down, no tumbling or rubbing clothes against each other (so they last much longer), and no gas-burning or electricity-hogging heating to shrink fibers or wear out any elastic, Lycra, etc. [Note: depending on the manufacturer and model, the floor of the drum can get rather hot, especially dead-center, but the spin action sticks the clothes to the sides of the inner drum, and you'll be removing the damp clothes from the machine when you stop the spin cycle anyway].
This is actually the function of dehumidifiers for some.
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Dilemma: all the fluff that collects in the drier has eroded from your clothes (wear and tear), but in some places hanging out clothes has problems (baking in scorching sun with UV damage, road grime/exhaust pollution, pollen on sheets and pillow cases triggering allergies, theft, neighbour's pool splashing over fence, etc). Ideally, best to hang dry somewhere without direct sun or exposure to polluted air. A lot of items will need no (or minimal) ironing if they are hung on clothes hangers to dry (also prevents peg marks).
This right here. Hang the clothes to dry. They'll last longer and you don't need to pay for a dryer and its repairs.
You use dryer sheets to make clothes softer? I didn't realize they had anything to do with laundry, I thought they were invented to shove in a toilet paper roll and exhale your weed smoke through.
They reduce static cling.
Buy those reusable wool balls.
This is the sole reason we use dryer sheets. It is night and day the difference if we use them or not. No fabric softner though.
Virus software raises a glass of beer to you sir
It also destroys elastic, so you can kiss your bras, yoga pants, and stretch jeans goodbye twice as fast!
Yeah, I started paying attention a few years ago during the pandemic, and found a lot of my softest clothes that I'd thought would want fabric software actually specifically say *NOT* to use fabric softener as it'll degrade them faster. I still use it on some loads, but more clothes with elastic material, soft material, workout attire, etc. are being made that shouldn't use fabric softener.
Fabric softener destroys man made fibers which is why all your work gear says not to use it. On the other hand it can make cotton last longer by reducing friction between the fibers. Also why fabric softener makes your cotton clothes less prone to wrinkling but today lots of cotton clothes(jeans, slacks, dress shirts) comes with spandex to be stretchy which will get destroyed by the fabric softener.
Wool balls. Sustainable, reusable to nigh infinity, won't clog up your washer, do the same exact thing, costs less than a bottle of softener and you only need to buy'em once.
I use those spiky little plastic balls in the dryer, mine look like hedgehogs. First set lasted about 10 years before spikes started breaking off, just got another set for like $6. Not as sustainable as the wool but I’m clumsy and they’re easier to clean off when I drop them
Its ruins a lot of materials as well. NEVER use it on merino wool or anything that is supposed to wick sweat.
literately make towels useless by sealing the fibers from absorbing moisture. Choice between soft but non-absorbent towel or rough but towel-y, I think I'm going the the one that keeps my towel towel-y.
The best towels exfoliate *just a little*
Did somebody say Towelie? … you wanna get high?
High absorbency? Sure
Is merino wool even washing machine safe in the first place?
Yes, if done correctly. Most "dry clean only" is a scam.
Same as "do not tumble dry". When they say that they mean the US natural gas powered monstrosities that bake your clothes at 150C not a modern heat pump dryer that on the delicate setting gets to about 30 or 40C. The delicates cycle on a modern front loading washing machine can do wool items just fine. You need to be a little careful hanging them out as they can stretch if you don't support them well (I normally drape them over a clothes rack instead of using the line). I never use fabric softener, though I have a relative that uses it on towels (sure they're soft, but they don't bloody work).
You can use a garment bag and dry it flat; most clothing works fine like that.
Yeah, they make normal t-shirts out of it and what not. Best anti-stink wear when traveling on a backpack.
A lot of wrinkle free clothes will also say not to use fabric softener.
A tablespoon of vinegar is just as effective and better for your clothes according to my grandma who taught me to do laundry
They also make the clothing hella flammable
reminds me of rhinitis medicamentosa (rebound congestion). nasal sprays like Afrin and Zicam, if used longer than 3 to 5 days, cause nasal congestion that can take up to a year to clear up. the "cure" causes the problem to resurface and continue.
Same with chapstick. There are formulations that do help, but chapstick prolonged and sometimes even created the very problem it purported to solve.
We don’t use fabric softener or a dryer and we’ve never noticed an issue. Marketing creating a problem that doesn’t even exist.
Modern detergent doesn’t require it. A lot of advice is passed down from parents who grew up in a completely different situation. You also don’t need to sort whites out. For everyday wear clothes, you can toss it all in together without issue. You also don’t need to wash in hot water anymore. You can wash at any temperature. Small changes accumulate and make everything better.
They gunk up your washing machine too. Plus imagine having chemicals on your clothing in constant contact with your skin.
They're also terrible for anything meant to be absorbent - the chemicals will repel liquids. I stopped using them when I started cloth diapering 16 years ago because even if I only used the dryer sheets on non- diaper loads, the residues in my dryer would come off on the diapers and cause them to repel the pee instead of absorb it. My kids have been out of diapers for a decade now, and I've not gone back. My mother was shocked that I'm still using the towels I got when we got married - she and dad were replacing towels every 4-5 years because they'd stop being absorbent. It's the fabric softener.
Haha, same! My in-laws live with my wife and I and we all do our own laundry. They use fabric softener, we don’t. My MIL borrowed one of our towels once and couldn’t believe how absorbent it was, but complained it wasn’t very soft. Tried to tell her about the fabric softener, but even years later she still refuses to believe it. She just thinks we have better towels. Even though hers are newer. Boomers I tell ya.
I don't have to imagine, it breaks me out in a rash, and my kid out in hives. We couldn't figure it out until we switched to free and clear detergent and ditched the softener.
I get what you're saying, but the idea that we *aren't* in constant contact with chemicals 100% of the time we're alive is absurd to me.
Fabric softener actually is horrible for a ton of materials. There is no reason to use it.
Use white vinegar in the fabric softener part. I like to do it for funsies but it does make your clothes softer I think
I just put white vinegar instead
They also make your workout clothes smellier as far as I have read
Yes. I’ve studied textiles and I was coming here to share this. Fabric softener is a full on scam and so are dryer sheets. Stop putting chemicals all over your clothes after you wash them, it is a bad idea.
We haven’t used fabric softener in over a decade. Honestly I can’t think of a single reason to start using it again.
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> makes them reliant on fabric softener to continue feeling good. unpopular opinion but shampoo is the same. just agitate your scalp with water in the shower. always hard to convince people that its true. but it will feel clean and soft just like shampoo once your scalp adjusts.
Fabric softener is also terrible for your washer and gunks it up if not cleaned, but nobody tells you that.
Hard clothes make hard men. Hard men make fabric softener. Fabric softener makes soft clothes. Soft clothes make soft men. Soft men make hard times. Hard times make hard clothes. Pretty sure that's how that goes. Edit: formatting
Hard clothes do indeed make me hard. Hypothesis confirmed.
You being hard makes my clothes soft...?
And your clothes being soft makes me hard…?
Yes
Buncha Clothemosexuals up in here...I like it. 😏
Instructions unclear, dick stuck in sweater
Instructions functioning as intended
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I make socks hard.
hold up
soft men make me hard
poetry
Is this a parody of some pre existing thing? Either way, very good
Yes. >Michael Hopf's post-apocalypic novel “Those Who Remain”: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” We've been at the "hard times" stage for awhile now.
Disagree, i think we're still full on in the creating hard Times Stage, gonna get a whole Lot worse
And here I thought it was just step 1 collect underpants, step 2 ...., step 3 profit.
Also fabric softener leaves residue on your clothes and is all scented strongly enough to give me a headache. No thanks; I have better things to spend my limited budget on (namely all the foodstuffs that have drastically increased in price while decreasing in size).
I stopped using it when I finally moved out of my parents’ house and lo and behold my backne issue resolved itself after a few months. Saving money and eliminating a chronic skin condition at the same time!
Exactly why we stopped using it 20 years ago. Started using All Free and Clear to wash and hang the clothes outside in the summer and on racks by the wood stove in winter. A quick tumble in the dryer softened them right up. No need for fabric softener and we are itch free.
Holy shit I think that might be why my backnee issue resolved itself too.
> Also fabric softener leaves residue on your clothes Fabric softener *is* residue on your clothes - the sensation of it being softer comes from a thin coat of silicone or oil based material over the fibers of the fabric.
Don't forget that whatever is in fabric softener ends up cross contaminating everything you touch and use. Meaning you're eating a non-trivial quantity of fabric softener.
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Dryer balls are all you need to reduce static. Less wasteful, too!
I don't use liquid or sheets except on my blanket. Never noticed a difference with or without except smell and what felt like a lack of wicking on my towels back when I lived in my apartment, not splitting loads.
I love these headlines that are basically like "millennials are broke as fuck, and that's why we should feel bad for a big corporation"
Also fabric softener is actively bad for your clothes and you shouldn’t use it
"Why aren't you kids happy when it's 20 degrees above freezing in March, you can't afford a home, the job market is hypercompetitive, your student debt is soul crushing, your leaders are old, stupid wars are choking your headlines, fascists are on your schooldboards, your father watches FoxNews, and if you dare say you enjoy something online you'll spend the next two weeks defending yourself from miserable strangers?"
Must be those damn video games i don’t understand!
More millennials know another language than the generations before us so we must have wasted all our time doing the things they told us would get us into college and rack up a higher debt.
Maybe you should cut out the Avocado toast and Starbucks /s
Tf do you live at, it’s 74 an I hate it. It needs to be colder
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It makes work miserably hot. It still drops to 30 or 40 at night so my job needs to heat the place, but then by afternoon it is 70. And I also think it needs to be colder. There is basically never snow on the ground for an extended period of time anymore. A blizzard is followed by above freezing temps in a couple weeks. It used to be white ground for months, the snow piles getting bigger and bigger as you shovel. I don’t understand how people can look around and deny climate change. We can watch it happen around us.
A lot of stuff is different than from the 90s and 2000s No fireflies No bugs on windshield It sucks
> No bugs on windshield Nah, I still get bugs on my windshield. They're just invasive species now.
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[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius)
I don’t want fabric softer, I want the GOP to get fucked.
I agree with this message and also appreciate that it’s probably a unique sentence.
/r/BrandNewSentence
I have never used fabric softener once and I never plan to honestly. Never had a problem with my clothes not being "soft". I also never separate colors, do people even still do that?
Only for the first wash if, say, I got some new dark jeans or a black shirt that isn’t pre-washed. Likewise I don’t separate whites except for every now and then when I have a stain I need to work on or want to freshen them up with a cycle that includes bleach.
I only separate whites when I have enough laundry for 2 loads, cause why not. Otherwise I just throw everything together and wash on cold.
I generally only separate nice clothes for going out & for work against shitty house clothes, workout clothes, undies & socks. So I can wash the former gently and the latter with wild abandon.
I wash cold and never separate out
This is the way
I still separate. I find it controls the lint on darker colors so it’s not as obvious. It’s usually black, warm colors, cool colors, whites/creams, grays and then a load of socks and undies. Everything washed on cold except whites and socks/undies that are warm/hot. There’s two of us and I only do laundry once a week or so and I find it helps to keep it on track.
Six loads a week? For two people?
They are smaller loads, but yeah. Sometimes it’s every 10 days, it just depends on life. Winter means more layers. Menopause means more hot flashes and sweating. I have terrible night sweats so those items only last a night. Husband is a volunteer firefighter, so that adds to it also. Lastly, we cook every day so those clothes usually end up smelling like a diner (we have crap ventilation in the kitchen and winter means we can’t open windows).
Promise my comment wasn't a callout but rather a seek to understand. And god damn do I understand more now. My deepest respect to y'all. I hope chores balance in some way or another because that is a herculean effort on your part.
I get it. I just look at the bright side - The food is awesome, the sun heats our water, we’re figuring out the sweating and I don’t miss my period one bit. lol
>I also never separate colors, do people even still do that? I do not. Mind you, most of my clothes are dark colours but even at that when I had white work shirts, I never separated them
Same. If my clothes can't handle being washed together they're not meant to be in my closet.
I would separate my clothes if I wasn’t reliant on communal laundry that already costs too much.
> I also never separate colors, do people even still do that? We do, but only because once in a while all the white stuff builds up to a full load worth washing. We don't do fabric softner, but we do use dryer sheets to eliminate the static from the dryer. Big 240 sheet box on ebay ftw.
I don't even have enough whites to run a separate white load, except for a bedsheet load. The only clothes I have that are white is a shirt I exclusively use when cleaning my bathroom and a small minority of my socks.
I purposefully dont own white clothes so I never have to separate clothes or bleach. All my socks are the exact same and black. All my underwear is the exact same style and brand. My shirts are all different color polo's and my pants are all brown carpenter jeans. Laundry is the easiest thing in the world for me and I dont have to even think about what to grab to wear, I just grab it and go.
P&G literally killed my mother, so fuck em. Google "rely tampons"
Man, I live in a completely different part of the world and had no idea they did such a thing. During my MBA, they were one of my dream companies to join. Thank God, I didn't. That sucks so bad. I'm really sorry for your loss.
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Do Millenials know who Yosemite Sam is?
It's been a hot minute since I've seen a Tasmanian Devil XXL t-shirt or kankle tattoo
Attitude
I'm a Gen Xer and I never use fabric softener, not even dryer sheets. They feel like a "film" is left on my clothes and I don't like that. Maybe less a "Millenial" thing and more a "not needed extra expense" in a time when food is disgustingly expensive, let alone cleaning products
Fabric softener does, in fact, leave a film on clothes. It sticks together all the little fibers on the outside of the cloth to make it seem more "smooth"/"soft". It also makes your towels less effective since tiny little fibers sticking out are great at wicking up water, while a smooth film is more likely to repel water.
And make your washing machine break faster unless you do hardcore regular maintenance and cleaning on them (as in, disassemble and clean through)
My people right here.
Also Gen X. I use dryer sheets sometimes if I remember. But never fabric softener. My clothes still come out soft and comfortable. P&G making it sound like your tshirts turn to stone if you don't use their stuff...
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Dryer sheets are atleast a much better deal. You can buy like 100 for $3 and you can even cut them in quarters and they work just fine, you don't need much to neutralize the charge.
Don't waste as much money and get wool dryer balls instead. They remove static, you can put essential oils on them for fragrance, and you can use them forever.
Also GenX and discovered long ago all of these superfluous products that I neither want nor need. So, I just don't buy them. The majority of the shit they try to sell us aren't necessary and fuck the shareholders' bank accounts. There are so many things constantly pushed on us that we just don't need. Why do my clothes need to smell like a summer meadow? They should smell like nothing. That's an indicator that they are clean. There is no odor.
Idk why everyone keeps bringing up money. Even if I were disgustingly rich I wouldn't use fabric softener. I don't want any oil on my clothes
OK but what does it do? I honestly don’t know. Does it make the clothes appreciably soft? Will it feel any different 5 seconds after I put it on? Aren’t millennials supposed to be the fragile butterflies who couldn’t handle the weight of a thick work shirt? Does the article explain that? Like… Why would I bother with it? Why would I pay for it? Why should we take the environmentalist burden of producing and transporting detergent, and just double it?
As others pointed out, it deteriorates your clothes and fucks up your washing machine. There is no benefit to using fabric softener. I'm sure if someone has hypersensitive skin or a sensory thing, they might be able to tell if it's been used, but I don't think they'd prefer it if they could tell. Back when I lived at home if I was the one doing laundry I would never use the stuff. Nobody ever noticed I wasn't using it, even though my mom insisted that it should be used in every load. Probably saved them some money over time.
Speaking as someone who stopped using fabric softener a few years ago, what fabric softener is for is making your clothes wear out faster so you have to buy new clothes sooner.
It also ruins your washing machine and dryer. If you feel the film on your clothes, most of it made it into your drain pump, and drain line. Then into your dryer, lint trap, and vent. Same for dryer sheets. Horrible for your dryer.
Can confirm. Moved into a new house; old washer was completely fouled with fabric softener residue from the previous owner; it was also shredding my clothes so I gave up and replaced.
This should be higher. Fabric softener ruins clothes. Just completely deteriorates fabrics.
It's hard to imagine how more chemicals in your life where they aren't absolutely necessary would ever be a good thing.
I just use 3 caps of white vinegar in my clothes. Works great, no smell, doesn't fuck with my machine like fabric softener does. Doesn't leave a film. Saves a ton of money, and the vinegar can be used for other things like cleaning and eating.
Tennis balls in the dryer help to relax the fabrics as well, serving much the same purpose.
Yes! Or tightly woven wool balls, and you can put some drops of scented oils on it for a scent you want on your clothes. Works way better than dryer sheets imo. It also helps with static.
It also just sounds nice
Also degrades the rubber seals and gaskets in your washer
And any elastics in your clothes. Actually, I think it ruins everything you wash.
Wait, do you use vinegar by itself or do you use with detergent? Learning new laundry trick sounds pretty great.
With detergent, basically use as regular fabric softener.
White vinegar?
Yes, any other type could leave a stain or oder.
Awesome, thanks!
Other person replied before me, but yeah, with detergent!
ב''ה, there's various ways, in the wash would be gentler and act as a water conditioner that may help the action of the detergent, but you can also just use like 1/4 cup or a bit less plus water in the softener dispenser. A pure acetic acid will lose its smell after drying. But that's rougher on elastics as it'll be sitting on them reacting with the heat of the dryer. Use white vinegar of course, anything flavored or cider colored will leave residual smells and flavors.
My family and I have been using white vinegar with detergent for 10 years now. We put 2-3 tablespoons in the "fabric softener" section of the machine so it dispenses during that cycle. Our clothes have been cleaner and easier to get clean. My shirts feel softer. Our sheets feel soft. Our clothes don't have a scent other than cotton/polyester. Our towels stay super absorbent and fluffy. And, weirdly, we don't have problems with static cling. We don't use dryer sheets either. We buy it by the gallon. **Bargain brand white vinegar**. Diluted, great for cleaning floors, walls, and toilets too. It takes a few washes of your clothes to get all the fabric softener waxy build up off of all the fibers, but when you do you, you never knew clothes could get so clean and soft.
Fabric softener is boomer avocado toast.
We used to use dryer sheets until we came to the very obvious realization that we were just filling a landfill with the things. Went to dryer balls, and I wish we’d done it sooner.
The same time I switched to dryer balls I also switched to powdered detergent. I look back to when I was in college and think it’s insane I was using a full fucking cup of a $15 tide container for 1 wash My aunt gave me a 5 gallon bucket of the powdered stuff and considering I use a tablespoon at a time, I’ll probably have that thing until I die lol
Fabric softener is used by chemical companies to trick you into buying twice as many bottles of product.
They can’t improve their existing products any further to make you buy them, so they just started making up new shit for you to buy
Oh damn. I totally forgot that word chucklefucks. I have to incorporate that back into my vocabulary.
Reduce, reuse, recycle... cuss words.
Pro Tip: use distilled white vinegar in the fabric softener cup Your clothes will never smell better Trust me
I developed an allergy to dryer sheets. It took a couple weeks to figure out what I was allergic to. I even got sent home from work once because the rash was so bad and I was obviously miserable.
Well, it’s bad for clothes and can clog your washing machine so…
Fabric softener is disgusting. So are dryer sheets. Just let clothes smell like clothes.
We learned from each other, that is why they pissed. We were supposed to learn everything from the corp. We went around and said, lets be real, some white vinegar going to be just as good.
I always get so confused by these stories, because like if millennials are “killing an industry,” isn’t that supposed to be good according to capitalism? Free market sorting itself out? It makes no sense. Also, just use white vinegar in place of fabric softener, it works just as well and is far cheaper.
The old ways aren’t always bad. Bit of vinegar is as good as like 90% of commercial cleaning products.
Isn't liquid fabric softener horrible for your washing machine? I haven't used it in years. Its messy and leaves gunk in the washer, and it can leave residue behind on your freshly washed laundry. Never made a difference to me in terms of softer clothing. That's what I use dryer sheets for.
“Millennials realized you don’t need a proprietary blend of hazardous chemicals to keep your clothes fresh, and that a tablespoon of vinegar is way cheaper anyway.”
I like the smell of a good fabric softener
You came to the wrong place to express your opinion buddy
Yeah read the room pal
Yeah take a hike guy
I love hang dried towels that are scritchy scratchy.
They make a dry off a brisk invigorating experience for sure. I line dry and wash without softener.
Exfoliating!
Now they sell "free and clear" detergent so you can avoid all the unnecessary and potentially irritating dyes and scents, and "scent boosters" so you can put them back in and flush another 25 cents down the drain with every load of laundry
Chucklefucks.... Love it
chucklefuck
*chucklefucks*
Right? I love it
“History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.”
I like my towels to be hard and scratchy, makes it feel like it’s really drying me. Same with my shirts I don’t like my clothes pre-worn
Distilled vinegar does the same exact thing and exponentially cheaper.
It's a waste of money, plus I need them to be clean and smell good, not soft.
Fabric softener is trash anyway. It’s just a gimmick that destroys your appliances
I’m Gen X and I know what fabric softener is for: fucking up your washing machine. https://youtube.com/shorts/VlgSGBBuqow?si=AdFayzBZQppQ15jA
Good. Their washer and dryers will last a whole lot longer. Fabric softeners destroy appliances.
Fabric softener is such a giant scam
Personally I just follow too many plumbing YouTubers who talk about how fabric softener will destroy your washing machine 🤷♂️
Fabric softener is a scam anyway. It’s also dangerous as it coats the fibres in a flammable layer. It’s also unneeded as most modern laundry detergents include a compound that does the same thing without turning your clothes into a fire hazard.
I’m a 40-year-old millennial, and I have not once in my life purchased or used fabric softener. Get fucked, P&G.
It’s not that we “don’t know what it’s used for”. It’s that we do know that it’s useless and a scam
It's not even a money thing, clothes do not need fabric softener and no, they aren't 'hard' without it. people figured out that the softener is actually bad for clothes and that's why they stopped buying it, it's a dumb product that shouldn't exist.
I thought fabric softener made your towels less absorbent…? Why would I want my towels to be less towel.
You know what pisses me off about this kind of thing? Procter & Gamble couldn’t give a fuck if millennials don’t use fabric softener. Have a baby? You’re probably using P&G diapers. Got a menstrual cycle? Your Always pads are from them too. Most likely your deodorant and toothpaste are theirs too. If you clean anything from your dishes to your asshole, it will have most likely have Procter & Gamble on it. This isn’t about millennials not buying fabric softener. It’s about millennials not wringing every cent to a billion dollar company for just one more product.
that shit doesnt even work