If you’re noticing more grime in your washing machine than usual, it could be your detergent.
Laundry expert and mum, Nicole Gibson from Soka Australia has taken to Instagram to share her laundry experiment to help people better understand their laundry detergent choice.
What are detergent fillers?
It turns out, lots of washing detergents contain something called fillers.
Fillers are made from chemicals and ground down into a sand like consistency and added to detergent as a bulking agent.
Common fillers include:
- wheat and other grains
- limestone and chalk.
The experiment: how to tell if your detergent contains fillers
Nicole says the easiest way to tell if your detergent contains fillers is to test it yourself.
“Use a tablespoon of your laundry detergent in 1 cup of water. Use an old jar and shake!!” she writes on Instagram.
If your detergent fully dissolves, then it is filler-free. However, if there’s a bunch of gunk left in your water, then your detergent contains fillers.
What’s wrong with fillers?
Nicole explains on Instagram that fillers:
- do not dissolve⠀and⠀cause grime to build up in your washing machine
- can remain on your clothes after a wash. (Nicole says, “After 10 washes your garment will be 2% heavier as fillers get lodged in fabric fibers.”)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- get washed into our waterways.⠀⠀
How to cut back on laundry detergent
If you’re using regular store-bought detergent, Nicole recommends using less the what’s recommended and adding bi-carb soda.
- Top loader washing machine: 1/4 of the recommended detergent, plus 2 Tbsp of bi-carb soda.
- Front loader washing machine: 1/8 of the recommended detergent, plus 2 Tbsp of bi-carb soda.
- It also helps to look for a low-sud laundry detergent.
If you have a stubborn stains you need help removing, Nicole is happy to help. Contact her via the @sokaaustalia Instagram page.
You might also like:
15 best laundry hacks of all time
9 ways to freshen up any laundry
8 handy tips for using bi-carb soda in the laundry
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