Clear water before adding soap (left) and detergent (right)
After stirring in the soap and detergent
I live in an area that has 'hard' water - i.e. naturally occurring minerals dissolved in the ground water.
(I don't even live in the 'worst' area - I have experienced places with much higher levels of 'hardness' than here!)
I learned early that soap tends to not work well in such water, but neither was I interested in adding large quantities of salt or other chemicals to our drinking water to 'soften' it. My preference is to use detergent to do the household laundry and wet finish my handwovens.
When I tell people to use detergents with such water, some 'get' it; others do not. Usually those who do not simply do not have 'hard' water, in which case I tell them that using soap is fine - in 'soft' water.
For anyone interested in learning about how soap works, Penny Le Couture (spelling?) has a book called Napoleon's Buttons, one section of which is devoted to soap. She doesn't describe detergents, but I found out today that they can be made from petrochemicals. Do with that as you will. I don't know what Synthropol or Orvus Paste are made from, specifically, but they are routinely recommended by dyers and other fibre folk.
The challenge I have faced, routinely, was getting through to others that what is 'normal' for them may be quite different from others. That there is no one 'correct' answer. There may be several answers that could be shared, based on those differing realities that different people experience and that *their* perfect answer may not serve others. Others who may come from different countries, in different geographical areas, facing different climates, with different shops/businesses to purchase supplies from, different income brackets, ***different physical sizes/shapes***.
Please note: I am not suggesting that everyone must use detergents because *I* do. I'm just sharing information. What any one person chooses to do is up to them. All I'm saying is that if you have hard water, you will get better results from using a detergent instead of soap.
Am I saying that soap is 'bad'? It can be - if it is heavily perfumed, or high in fats. But so can detergent - if it is laden with additives such as whiteners, brighteners and also perfumes.
One person has let me know that they refuse to use detergents because of the petrochemicals. We all must draw our own lines in the sand. Make choices appropriate to our values. So I do use detergents. I never use 'lots' because it's a waste of both the detergent *and* the water to rinse it out.
Never accept what someone says unless they can explain their reasons. Think about those reasons. Are they appropriate to *you*? Or do you need to adjust what you've just been told? Do you need to dig into the information a bit further? (Until this morning I was not aware that detergents were made with petrochemicals. I thought about how I use them, why I *need* to use them, decided I would continue, while I pursue other ways to reduce my carbon footprint - buying a hybrid vehicle, having a heat pump installed, buying fewer clothing with Lycra in them, etc.)
I remember posting on Facebook a while ago that we need to stop using so much oil and gas and having someone rip a strip off me saying that petroleum is *necessary* because plastics are needed for health care purposes. I suggested that if plastics were that important and necessary, maybe we should stop burning it in our cars and furnaces, then?
We are facing the effects of human caused climate change. I will likely die before it goes pear shaped entirely, but I have younger folk I love and care about and I really don't want them to face the looming 'natural' disasters that will affect the entire world.
Because our world is a ball. There will not be a square inch (or centimeter) where we will be able to escape the future - unless we start applying the brakes.
And ultimately petrochemicals are 'just' chemicals. Pretty sure we can make them from some other source when the oil/gas run out. But that is a choice we each need to make for ourselves. Because I *know* not everyone can afford to buy an EV/hybrid, nor a heat pump. We chose to spend our money on those things. Others will make other choices.
I just wish more people would be aware of the coming tsunami of disasters if we don't stop what we are doing. But that's just me. I am the only one I can make decisions for.
Because it depends.
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