Replace your fabric softener with vinegar
January 24, 2011 at 12:34 am 2 comments
Just as we’ve mentioned in previous posts, vinegar is a miracle worker for laundry for removing stains and just boosting the power of your SmartKlean laundry ball for heavily soiled items. Even though the SmartKlean Laundry Ball naturally softens your clothes, we’d like to mention that vinegar ALSO works as well as conventional fabric softener without the health risks or the waste or the animal fat (yuck).
Watching commercials on TV can be like opening a door to a realm of madness. Commercials like to take advantage of special effects and outlandish premises. Half of the time, we can’t figure out what these people are trying to sell us and the other half of the time, we sometimes question if we have lost our sanity. Some of the truly horrifying and Lovecraftian commercials are for fabric softener. Giggling teddy bears are the stuff of nightmares.
The good news is that you don’t even need to buy fabric softener, and, therefore, you will never have to think about soulless, fabric-softener-hawking, homunculi again. Fabric softener sheets are pretty wasteful. You put in one sheet per load and throw away one sheet per load. And for you vegans out there, fabric softener sheets are often made with tallow. You could be drying your clothes with animal fat. And liquid fabric softeners aren’t much better:
From the Good Human:
Some of the most harmful ingredients in dryer sheets and liquid fabric softener alike include benzyl acetate (linked to pancreatic cancer), benzyl alcohol (an upper respiratory tract irritant), ethanol (linked to central nervous system disorders), limonene (a known carcinogen) and chloroform (a neurotoxin and carcinogen), among others.
You can avoid these health risks, the animal fat and the waste simply by using vinegar to soften your clothing. Add 3/4 cups of vinegar to your final rinse cycle and your clothes will come out soft. And now for the best part, vinegar is ludicrously inexpensive when compared to fabric softener. Saving money and saving the planet together again.
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original article: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/fashion-beauty/replace-fabric-softener-vinegar.html
Fabric Softener: Highly Toxic!
When heated, the chemicals from fabric softener sheets stick to clothing and effect not only the person who wears them, but those around them as well. The release of these chemicals into the body through the clothing happens slowly, making the effects hard to notice.
The symptoms of fabric softener ailments:
- Tired for no reason – even after resting
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Sick stomach
- Feeling faint
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering
- Anxiety
- Difficulty breathing
- Twitching or spontaneous body movements
- Rashes on areas touched by clothing
original article: http://www.insidershealth.com/article/fabric_softener_toxic/3485
Please remove fabric softener from your life and if you know others who use it, send them this link!
Entry filed under: Natural Cleaning, Smart Laundry Tips. Tags: Laundry Balls, natural fabric softener, replace fabric softener, toxic fabric softener, toxic-free fabric softener, using vinegar as a fabric softener, vinegar for laundry, vinegar uses.
1.
Wayne | December 31, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Sharing this link. Who would think this technology was harmful.
2. Lenddo Saving Tips: Saving Money On Your Laundry | Online Reputation and Money Management | October 14, 2011 at 8:00 am
[...] expenses by not opting to use the fabric softeners available in the market. You can instead use vinegar as a cheaper alternative. Add ¾ cups of vinegar to your final rinse cycle; you’ll be surprised [...]