How to Remove Laundry Detergent Stains
How To Get Laundry Detergent Stains Out Of Clothes
You finally get around to the umpteenth load of laundry, and just as you’re about to throw those clean-smelling clothes into the drier, you notice a few strange spots that weren’t there before. Unfortunately, detergent may be the culprit but there’s a solution (pun intended) to get laundry strains detergent stains out of clothes.
arbOUR’s specially formulated liquid laundry soap comes to the rescue with its smart solution detergent. Our clarifying laundry product removes laundry stains that have built up over time and eliminates the residue from gelatinous liquid detergent.
arbOUR’s detergent is thinner than most, making it a smarter and safer detergent compared to other thick formulas and removes old laundry product residue. With all that product residue gone, there’s room for the detergent to actually clean deeply and remove stains, so your clothes and linens get cleaner and cleaner with each wash cycle.
Why does laundry detergent stain clothes?
As it turns out, chemicals in laundry detergent accumulate on the surface of fabrics after several washes and you can end up with clothes and linens with stains and rough, scratchy edges. The stains sometimes resemble darker grease spots or white splotches. They may also appear to have a rough, stiff texture, or a waxy finish. Towels that once embraced you with baby-bottom softness turn scratchy and brittle.
Some of the main causes are:
The powder you are using does not dissolve effectively or does not dissolve in cold water.
You are using too much detergent per load.
You have hard water with high mineral composition that prevents detergents from dissolving.
You are overloading the machine. When clothes are packed together, they have less room to move around making it harder for the detergent to disperse. This also causes difficulty with rinsing, leaving detergent behind.
You are using the wrong kind of detergent. Most laundry detergent formulas focus on harsh scents, which can remain on your clothes even after a rinse cycle.
However, these problems can be avoided when you use arbOUR’s specially formulated laundry liquid.
Removing laundry detergent stains
Common detergents have aromatic solvents, which are efficient components in removing dirt. However, we don’t use them. Instead, we found a way to mimic them in an environmentally acceptable manner. Since detergent uses the universal solvent of water, our goal in developing arbOUR products was to give water the ability to have as low a surface tension as possible. This makes arbOUR detergent very invasive, so it literally goes through soils and stains to remove them.
In addition, we use both positively and negatively charged molecules within our system so that when agitated, those molecules pull stains away from the fabric, allowing us to be effective in cleaning at lower-than-normal pH.
The pros and cons of homemade stain solutions
Household products can help remove laundry detergent stains, but most of them require special care and extra time.
Rubbing alcohol: Dab the stain but do a spot test first to ensure you do not damage the fabric. Wash in machine in plain water (no detergent.) Repeat until the stain disappears. It will work… eventually, but you’ll likely need to repeat several times and risk damaging the fabric.
Vinegar: Fill a sink with warm water, add 1 cup white vinegar, mix and add the stained garment. Soak for one hour. Every 10 to 15 minutes, rub the stain with your fingers to remove some of the stain. Wash in machine without detergent. This may be a common household ingredient but this approach is time consuming, adds in the vinegar smell factor, and causes wear and tear on the washing machine due to the acidity of vinegar.
Baking Soda: Add detergent-stained clothes to a new wash cycle with 1/2 cup baking soda, but no detergent. Alternatively, make a paste of baking soda and water and let it sit on the stain for 30 minutes or longer. Again, this is another common household item, but it may take several tries to remove the stains.
Bar Soap and Dish Detergent: Apply cold water to stain and then rub with bar soap or liquid dish soap. Use your fingers to rub the soap into the stain and rinse under cold water. This method is time-consuming, and still may not be effective in removing stains.
Remember, these are stopgap measures that take extra time. They sometimes work, but the results are inconsistent.
ArbOUR product’s are the best to remove stains
arbOUR’s laundry products are specially formulated to help you clean in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way – while staying safe:
No optical brighteners
No chlorine bleach
No parabens or preservatives
No sulfates
No fragrance allergens.
No dyes
We use very minimum amounts of preservatives in our formula, and those that we do use are non-allergenic. You need some preservatives, or your detergent in the bottle will quickly become bug food – eww. However, the compounds in the preservatives break down and are diluted before they’re put into the environment. That’s why the arbOUR is “septic safe.”
The rinse water (aka “gray water”) that goes down the drain after using arbOUR is biodegradable, too. Commonly used gel products, however, are not, because they require a binder in their formula, which means they are not pH balanced. A biodegradable product is better for earth because the soil doesn’t have to work so hard to re-balance when it absorbs the rinse water from arbOUR products.
With arbOUR, you can say goodbye to laundry detergent stains and give the earth a big hug.