| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| gramadinah |
Posted - Jun 12 2012 : 11:12:10 AM
So I am at my daughters taking care of her kids and none of her towels will absorb a thing. Lots if Vinegar or what might help. She puts lots of softer in her towels and it is awful.
Diana
Farmgirl Sister #273 |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| coccocolorado |
Posted - Aug 25 2013 : 1:42:19 PM
I know this is an old thread but! I buy the giant bags of baking soda at the wholesale club because I add that into the dog laundry (mostly old towels, etc.)for odor. I noticed how soft it was - i can't use fabric softener because they make me itch, but started throwing the baking soda in with my towels (and linens)they were soft enough without being non-absorbent.
Farmgirl Sister #5348
City Girl
Country Heart |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Dec 21 2012 : 4:58:53 PM
If your family can still smell the vinegar in your laundry, you might try using it up front, rather than in the fabric softener cup, which only releases during the rinse cycle, toward the end. You could also put several drops of a nice essential oil in with it -- or on your felted wool dryer balls, which I hope you've discovered :) |
| countrymommy85 |
Posted - Dec 20 2012 : 12:43:18 PM
I just use white vinegar for my softener! Dryer sheet softeners do the same thing so I don't use them either!
Mothers are those wonderful people who can get up in the morning before the smell of coffee. ~Author Unknown
http://countryrenaissance.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SunflowersAndHoney |
| ceejay48 |
Posted - Aug 19 2012 : 8:00:24 PM
I use white vinegar and we don't notice any vinegar odor at all. I also line dry and we have clear skies and clean air and great sunshine.
CJ
..from the barefoot farmgirl in SW Colorado...sister chick #665.
2010 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
Mother Hen: FARMGIRLS SOUTHWEST HENHOUSE
living life - www.snippetscja.blogspot.com
from my hands - www.cjscreations-ceejay.blogspot.com
the "Purple Thistle" http://www.ceejay48.etsy.com
from my heart - www.fromacelticheart.blogspot.com
from my hubby - www.aspenforge.blogspot.com |
| queenmushroom |
Posted - Aug 19 2012 : 3:14:58 PM
Ok, I've used straight white vinegar in my front loading washer and haven't really noticed any change from not using softener (I'm just too cheap to buy it). Am I missing something???
Patience is worth a bushel of brains...from a chinese fortune cookie |
| texdane |
Posted - Aug 13 2012 : 05:50:49 AM
I use vinegar as a fabric softener in the softener cup of my washer. Using just that little bit has no odor at all, but the laundry comes out clean and fresh. Vinegar also keeps darks from lightening up, so clothes last longer. I also use homemade laundry detergent and bluing, but the vinegar was the first change I made. Now I get dizzy standing next to the laundry aisle in the store, the chemical scent is overpowering to me now. If your clothes smell of vinegar, try dropping down the amount you are putting in the wash. I have also heard of putting the vinegar in a downy ball if you don't have a cup on the washer. Good luck!
Nicole
Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE
Chapter Leader, Connecticut Simpler Life Sisters
Suburban Farmgirl Blogger
http://sfgblog.maryjanesfarm.org/ |
| delicia |
Posted - Aug 11 2012 : 6:36:39 PM
I tried the vinegar and my family hated it. They were smelling like vinegar. I am guilty of the softener sheets but, I did buy the ball things today to try. Are those of you using the vinegar noticing that the vinegar odor is an issue? |
| ptroupe |
Posted - Aug 01 2012 : 4:01:09 PM
I make my own and have not noticed anything not being absorbent. This recipe makes 64 ounces. I put it an old softener bottle and use the cap to measure.
1 15 oz bottle of hair conditioner
3 c. white vinegar
6 cups distilled water
Mix and use.
Portia
Wishing for the country life! |
| ceejay48 |
Posted - Jul 17 2012 : 09:26:41 AM
I stopped using fabric softener quite some time ago after I cleaned the dispenser on my washing machine. It was a gross mess to clean up and the "coating" it left on my hands, my sink and everything . . was awful!
I use white vinegar instead and it works great!
CJ
..from the barefoot farmgirl in SW Colorado...sister chick #665.
2010 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
Mother Hen: FARMGIRLS SOUTHWEST HENHOUSE
living life - www.snippetscja.blogspot.com
from my hands - www.cjscreations-ceejay.blogspot.com
the "Purple Thistle" http://www.ceejay48.etsy.com
from my heart - www.fromacelticheart.blogspot.com
from my hubby - www.aspenforge.blogspot.com |
| oldbittyhen |
Posted - Jul 16 2012 : 5:01:08 PM
the only good use for fabric softener is un-tangleing horses mane and tails, works on the worst of the worst matted knots, just remember to wash out really well...
"Knowlege is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" |
| farmmilkmama |
Posted - Jul 16 2012 : 1:50:54 PM
I had always wondered why it was that some people's towels wouldn't absorb liquid. Thanks for de-mystifying it for me!
--* FarmMilkMama *--
Farmgirl Sister #1086
Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
www.farmfoodmama.blogspot.com
www.thehmmmschoolingmom.blogspot.com
www.amydingmann.com |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jul 14 2012 : 6:06:10 PM
Fabric softener does awful things to towels -- and to the people using them. As has already been noted here, it coats the fibers of towels, making them lose their ability to absorb moisture. But it can also harm your skin.
I learned from a dermatologist rather late in life that the skin problems I'd struggled with since my early teens were partly caused (or at least aggravated) by towels that been treated with fabric softener. He recommended I use paper towels, and was even careful to tell me that some brands have tiny bits of metal in them, so to be sure to buy only the very best! Can you imagine? The idea of fabric softeners was so ingrained in the American way of life that it didn't occur even to a dermatologist who knew the problem of fabric softeners that I should just do my laundry without it! |
| Annie S |
Posted - Jul 14 2012 : 11:13:13 AM
I make my softener using vinegar, water and a little cheap hair conditioner, but usually just rinse with the vinegar. Also hang my towels and sheets, well everything actually, out on the clothesline.
Will take a little while to get the cruddy Downy out of the fabric.
Good luck. |
| rough start farmgirl |
Posted - Jul 10 2012 : 01:57:27 AM
Oh, This reminded me how much my mom LOVED Downy. The whole house (and somehow their car!) smelled like Downy. So funny to hear everyone else hates that slimey feeling, too.
Marianne |
| 36paws20hooves |
Posted - Jun 28 2012 : 02:53:49 AM
Hahaha!!!! Diana, that is the exact reason I will not get a shower at my mom's house. Why get a shower when you can't dry off. :)
I'm so busy I don't know if I just found a rope or lost my horse! |
| oldbittyhen |
Posted - Jun 12 2012 : 5:45:43 PM
it's the softener for sure...wash with baking soda in HOT water several times, useing vinegar in the rinses, it will take several washing to break down the softner and get it all out...
"Knowlege is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" |
| SusanScarlet |
Posted - Jun 12 2012 : 4:41:09 PM
I'd try washing with vinegar instead of detergent and with vinegar in the softener dispenser to get all the softener residue out and then in the future wash with detergent with vinegar instead of softener. Even Martha Stewart says never use softener on towels. |
| Cherime |
Posted - Jun 12 2012 : 11:40:14 AM
That is the funny thing about softener, it softens alright but does not absorb. I use the rubber balls in my dryer and that works fine.
CMF |
