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Thread Number: 87135
/ Tag: Detergents and Additives
Cleaning skin oil stains on pillow cases |
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Post# 1116999 5/12/2021 at 00:53 (1,072 days old) by robbinsandmyers  (Conn) |
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Post# 1117000 , Reply# 1 5/12/2021 at 01:22 (1,072 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI) |
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Ammonia might do the job. | ||
| Post# 1117002 , Reply# 2 5/12/2021 at 02:55 (1,072 days old) by Stan (Napa CA) | ||
Ammonia  | ||
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Post# 1117005 , Reply# 3 5/12/2021 at 04:25 (1,072 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Post# 1117009 , Reply# 4 5/12/2021 at 06:46 (1,072 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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 Any mid- to high-end detergent (Cheer powder or Persil liquid for me) boosted with a good dose of Biz powder. My current HE toploader runs the Sheets cycle in non-HE mode with water input at the selected temperature with no dumbing-down. 122°F for Warm (really), 133°F for Warm+, or tap-hot for Hot. Better results at Warm+ than Warm. Some agitation time, a long soak (2 hrs), then more agitation. Borax is said to work nicely as a booster for body odor/soils but I haven't tried it. | ||
| Post# 1117013 , Reply# 5 5/12/2021 at 06:55 (1,072 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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Post# 1117017 , Reply# 6 5/12/2021 at 08:04 (1,072 days old) by pulltostart (Mobile, AL) |
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John, My current routine (with best results thus far) is to prewash the pillow cases in hot water and Dawn dishwashing liquid, then proceed into the regular cycle. I use a low water level for the prewash and don't allow the washer to empty before the regular cycle, instead I finish filling the tub with warm water, add my regular detergent (Persil) and my sheets and let the washer finish washing and rinsing. My pillow cases are very dark and facial oil really shows itself. The Dawn seems to do a good job on the oil.
lawrence | ||
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Post# 1117020 , Reply# 7 5/12/2021 at 08:53 (1,072 days old) by littlegreeny (Milwaukee, WI) |
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I had similar issue
I have dark gray sheets that really show body oils. My skin is extremely oily and I've tried many various detergents and wash routines including prewash, soaks, powders, boosters, etc. What works best for me is I made my own pretreatment spray which is simply about 4 tablespoons of Seventh Generation dish soap and then fill the rest of the spray bottle with water. I spray all the oil stains, let sit for 10 minutes then do a HOT wash with a heavy-handed dose of Tide Ultra Stain Release Free. I wear a mask when I spray the laundry because the overspray makes my throat feel funny.
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Post# 1117021 , Reply# 8 5/12/2021 at 08:57 (1,072 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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| Post# 1117041 , Reply# 10 5/12/2021 at 12:07 (1,072 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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Powders have less "tensides" meant as synth surfactant because they rely much on alkaline builders for oils.
To some extent even oxy clean will do something as it is percarbonate so sodium carbonate aka washing soda soaked atomized in peroxide. But that is mostly thanks to its alkalinity and peroxide may do someyhing for dead skin embedded in fat. While I agree that whatever bleach Is not the Key for oils, the powders still offer a great power over fats because of the alkaline nature missing in liquids. The latter have several surfactant cocktails and are usually enzyme laden. If you decide to rely on enzymes though keep in consideration that some denaturate with a wash temp too hot. Soak whether thanks to surfactant, enzymes or alkali Is the Key for stubborn solid fat stains. Alkaline works best in hot water as the saponification process of fats Will be increased. Body oils on pillows though is also dead skin plus oil so a detergent containing good amounts of protease enzyme besides lipase will also help a lot to break It down I usually get good results with regular powder and hot wash. I may do a 30mins soak if really dirty. | ||
| Post# 1117054 , Reply# 11 5/12/2021 at 13:57 (1,072 days old) by qsd-dan (West) | ||
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Post# 1117058 , Reply# 12 5/12/2021 at 15:04 (1,072 days old) by mrboilwash (Munich,Germany) |
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Henrik, you had all my attention as you mentioned there are acidic detergent pods in the US.
Same dissolves same makes sense but I`ve never heard of an acidic laundry detergent except for liquid fabric softener. Could you give an example what brand you`re talking about? IIRC "The Laundry Guy" previously discussed in another thread mentioned the use of vinegar as a pretreater on oily stains. At first I found it kind of strange but then I thought I`d have to try it myself to come to my own conclusions. | ||
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Post# 1117060 , Reply# 13 5/12/2021 at 15:31 (1,072 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany)) |
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@mrboilwash Totally random source: Watched some small YT clip on the whole thing about people eating pods and it mentioned that while most were alkaline or neutral, some were acidic and cause related injuries. | ||
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Post# 1117064 , Reply# 14 5/12/2021 at 16:15 (1,072 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.)) |
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Yellow stains on white sheets: | ||
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Post# 1117070 , Reply# 15 5/12/2021 at 17:57 (1,072 days old) by lakewebsterkid (Dayton, Ohio) |
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Oil As mentioned, a nice soak with Biz will help. Adding ammonia towards the end of a hot wash will help quite a bit too. I HIGHLY recommend using a sanitize cycle if your machine has one. | ||
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Post# 1117078 , Reply# 16 5/12/2021 at 18:53 (1,072 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Since alkalinity to some degree is require for cleaning cottons and linens highly doubt any detergent sold for general laundry purposes is acidic. Near neutral is one thing, but even there one has doubts.
Now something for silk, wools or other fine wash would be another matter. Cottons and linens aren't harmed by alkaline substances in general, but are by acidity. Wool and silk OTOH are the opposite which is why special care laundry products are near neutral to slightly acidic. This being said commercial and or professional laundries have long relied upon chemistry to get proper results. Certain soils or marks can be shifted at alkaline pH, others with acid. For ages both domestic and commercial laundering relied upon high water temperatures and pH levels along with good mechanical action to remove soils ranging from body oils to blood. Soap, sodium metasilicate and perborate (in short Persil washing soap of old), along with wash temps of 140F or above will (and did) given excellent results on commercial laundry including blood stained hospital wash. Thanks to pressures from "green" movement the energy intensive and environmentally suspect ways of old have come under attack. So instead of chemicals even commercial laundries have been pushed to adopt enzymes and higher surfactant levels in wash but at lower temps. All oils/fats to some extent are hydrophobic, that is they resist water. Use of surfactants including emulsifiers such as alcohols C10 – C18 ethoxylated can attack oils by increasing wetting power of water, and also helping to break up such soils from fabrics. The other way is to raise pH by using alkaline substances that will (for lack of better description) saponify oils/fats on fabrics. That is simply breaking them down into "soap" so they can be washed away. People adding ammonia to combat oil/fat soil are using ammonium hydroxide (a gas trapped in water to make ammonia), which has a base pH. | ||
| Post# 1117105 , Reply# 17 5/13/2021 at 03:07 (1,071 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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Acid pods
May be that the acid pods they were referring to that Henrik mentions were machine cleaning pods?
Washer cleaning treatments as well as ones for DW's are usually acid, that is for mineral build up. Forget most machines today will rather need a very alkaline treatment to get rid of the usual moldy fatty gunk as minerals build up is the last of their problems, and that's because of modern (bad) washing habits. Last chance is that they misread some info and meant to say that just like acids alkali are corrosive, and somehow came up with saying some pods are acid. Actually, to our digestive system alkali are way more irritating since our stomach is made to deal with acid, as our digestion take place thanks to acids. But is not even merely about irritation and poisoning The reaction that alkali makes with acids in our stomach is dangerous when we speak of ingesting a detergent pod because of suffocation. Reaction alkaline acid is a frizzy reaction and combined with a soap it produces foam, if from ends up in the lungs you choke. That is also why some first aid directions mentioned not to induce vomit.. This post was last edited 05/13/2021 at 03:33 | ||
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Post# 1117141 , Reply# 19 5/13/2021 at 13:48 (1,071 days old) by mrboilwash (Munich,Germany) |
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Are you sure you don`t confuse plain citric acid with a combination of citric acid and washing soda which would form sodium citrate as soon as the product comes in contact with water? Have you checked the finished products pH levels in the MSDS?
As far as I know alkalinity is even more important for dishwashing detergents than laundry detergents because dishes can hold a lot of dried on stuff and alkalinity helps to swell and soften dried on food residue. I think surfactants alone couldn`t accomplish this. I`ve also never seen an acidic hard surface cleanser with or without nonionics that would come close to an alkaline one when it comes to removing oil and grease. So I have my doubts about acidic DW detergents. There are also lots of anionic surfactants that show no or very little sensitivity to hard water minerals and can be mixed with acids. Just think of cleaning vinegar (Essigreiniger) or shower gel which is typically pH 5.5 to match the pH of healthy skin. | ||
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Post# 1117167 , Reply# 21 5/13/2021 at 16:54 (1,071 days old) by mrboilwash (Munich,Germany) |
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I only skimmed through it, those patents are just too much text to read and nearly impossible to understand for a normal person but it is indeed interesting that P&G considered an acidic laundry detergent.
As to the DW detergent we all mess up something sometimes, no one is a professional here and we all learn from each other. I think the reason why they put in citric acid, citrate and sodium carbonate instead of just citrate and washing soda could be to speed up the dissolving process of the tablet by a fizzy reaction when the acid reacts with the base. | ||
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Post# 1117168 , Reply# 22 5/13/2021 at 17:04 (1,071 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany)) |
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My searching wasn't sucessfull either Best I could turn up was that most Tide pods are actually very close to neutral, being labeld 7-7.2. Dishwasher detergents around 7 are common in the eco-sphere aswell (Seventh Generation and such). | ||
| Post# 1117369 , Reply# 24 5/16/2021 at 05:18 (1,068 days old) by Stan (Napa CA) | ||
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Well John | ||
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Post# 1117416 , Reply# 25 5/16/2021 at 20:13 (1,068 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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No, you don't need high or even moderate alkalinity for laundry, as you say surfactants can do the job in theory....
But that also explains why so many domestic washing machines are fouled with muck, crud, and god only knows what else from doing nothing but using neutral to slightly base detergents coupled with cool or cold water. To clear the crud and remove odors from washing machine we're now told to run "maintenance" cycles using *gasp* hot water and a packet of chemicals. Those products are full of oxygen bleach and alkaline substances, the same things people are *NOT* using on wash day. Examine water as it drains from washer after using many liquid detergents, especially the green variety that are loaded with soap based or like surfactants. You see crud and scum same as when a very dirty person takes a bath using soap. Crud that comes off said body leaves tide marks and otherwise fouls bathtubs or showers. Eventually one must get in there and scrub out all that muck. As have stated repeately there are reasons why commercial or industrial laundries largely stick with chemicals instead of enzymes. Former is proven technology that works, and will do so with short cycle times. Lowest wash temperature for such places is 140F, not 120F and surely not 104F or 84F. | ||
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Post# 1117427 , Reply# 26 5/16/2021 at 21:52 (1,067 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Ever hear or see Disol-Vol?
It's been around for ages, sold in laundromats and elsewhere for attacking greasy and oily soils.
www.cleanersupply.com/Lau... What's in it you say? Mostly sodium carbonate and sodium metasilicate. Again raising pH of wash water to attack oily dirt. www.tschoppsupply.com/wp/wp-conte... Another product for same purposes is Soilove... www.amazon.com/Soilove-La... Here again you see same sort of ingredients; sodium metasilicate, ammonium hydroxide (ammonia liquid), and ethylene glycol monoethyl ester.... www.wardrobesupplies.com/... Chemistry of laundry is pretty straight forward and hasn't changed much in one hundred or so years if not older. Main differences are man made surfactants have largely replaced true soap, more environmentally friendly builders have replaced complex phosphates,and of course creation of enzymes and some other bits. But otherwise facts on ground remain remarkably consistent. Alkalies or acids will clean, remove stains and so forth for a large part of wash day issues. | ||
| Post# 1117442 , Reply# 27 5/17/2021 at 07:21 (1,067 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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It is simple, while it is possibile to clean merely using a synth soap with a neutral pH, it will have many downsides affecting many things hence why few are so. Price is one.
Synth soaps-surfactans sulfonates sulfates etc are more expensive to make than alkalis, alkalis allows to use less of them by reducing water hardness and offering advantages. A neutral laundry-dishwasher detergent that will have to rely merely on the surfactant will result being way more expensive, because of the cleaning ingredients plus whatever will be added in larger amounts to keep suds down, but of course that also depends on water hardness. It is also true you have to develop a product that would adapt or at least try to adapt to the most different water kinds. Take for istance dish soap, often advertised being neutral if not acidic (to match human skin 5.5pH) they clean and clean good themselves, but everyone with hard water will know that it takes a lot more product with hard water conditions to clean, and by adding even a small dash of a weak base such as baking soda to wash water makes a huge difference. If you needed an espresso cupful of product by adding whatever alkali carbonates it reduces needing only a coffee spoon with same results. Of course baking soda alone will not clean that much If it wasn't possible to clean and cut oil-grease w/out a base you would not even have all those 5.5 pH shower and bath products. Said this, alkalis as builder or cleaning ingredients are still huge in cleaning degreasing products and are still considered a "requirement" for this reason, it is wise to use them when possibile and that is even because they are sure more enviroinmentally friendly than synth soaps especially the heavy duty ones. Cost as mentioned is another advantage This post was last edited 05/17/2021 at 07:38 | ||
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Post# 1117466 , Reply# 28 5/17/2021 at 11:15 (1,067 days old) by robbinsandmyers (Conn) |
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Stan
Sadly my work load has been pretty heavy the last 2 weeks and I get in pretty late and just want to veg out. Other than the usual whites and colors of weekly laundry I was hoping to wash the bed linens this weekend cuz they're due but didnt have time. looks like sometime this week is when it will happen. Lots of options to weigh. Thanks for the input. I want my Lanz bed linens to look new again lol.
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| Post# 1117605 , Reply# 29 5/18/2021 at 22:30 (1,065 days old) by Stan (Napa CA) | ||
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Hi John | ||
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Post# 1117713 , Reply# 30 5/19/2021 at 20:38 (1,064 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Maybe I'm old school, but I wonder if some of those pillow stains are from hair products, not normal skin oils.
You know, a little dab'l do ya, as well as your pillow case. Just a thought, even though oily products like Brylcreem seem to have fallen out of favor, with various non-or-lesser staining products like hair gel taking their place. Me, I hated Brylcreem. I have very fine hair (actual strand size measured under a microscope in a science lab one day) and Brylcreem just made it more limp and lifeless. When gels hit the market for men, I switched ASAP. | ||
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Post# 1117736 , Reply# 31 5/20/2021 at 01:07 (1,064 days old) by robbinsandmyers (Conn) |
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Reply #29 | ||
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Post# 1117737 , Reply# 32 5/20/2021 at 01:08 (1,064 days old) by robbinsandmyers (Conn) |
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Reply #30 | ||
| Post# 1117739 , Reply# 33 5/20/2021 at 02:15 (1,064 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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Post# 1117807 , Reply# 34 5/20/2021 at 13:23 (1,064 days old) by robbinsandmyers (Conn) |
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Post# 1117816 , Reply# 35 5/20/2021 at 15:51 (1,064 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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According to use and care manual for my (now gone)vintage Whirlpool convertible/portable washer maximum soaking time was two hours. This seemed fairly consistent with other top loading washers of all sizes through the years. Some may be have and longer or shorter suggested times, but there often was a limit.
At first didn't understand, then dawned upon one that unlike a wash tub or other solid bottom container washing machines have sumps, pumps and various seals. These things may or may not be water tight forever when faced with a large volume of water. | ||
| Post# 1117866 , Reply# 36 5/21/2021 at 00:58 (1,063 days old) by Stan (Napa CA) | ||
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Well | ||
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Post# 1117868 , Reply# 37 5/21/2021 at 02:08 (1,063 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Post# 1118810 , Reply# 38 5/30/2021 at 18:43 (1,054 days old) by robbinsandmyers (Conn) |
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Reply 37 | ||
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