I have a new standard for the level of haterdom to aspire to, and it's Reddit User KismaiAesthetics, who hates doing laundry so much that he got really good at it, so that he can (I quote) do it right the first time, every time, and get back to watching cat videos on the Internet.
and by "really good at it," I mean that he does a bunch of reading on the chemistry of laundry, subscribes to academic journals about laundry, and buys a bunch of different laundry products (including from outside the US) to scrutinize their ingredients and test them for himself. he writes a bunch of incredibly detailed longposts about his findings on /r/laundry and his website, which is also about laundry. he even got interviewed about his laundryposts, in which he revealed he's writing a book about laundry. this man is like ahab and the white whale, if ahab had a reddit account and moby dick was a pile of clothes with cheeseburger stains on them
anyway the reason I encountered this guy was because recently, the household washer has been leaving these gross little oily brown flakes on anything washed in it. this is kind of a big problem for me, given that I not only have (literal, diagnosed, medicated) OCD which includes a contagion phobia, I also sew a bunch of stuff with the intent of gifting or selling it, and sometimes that involves prewashing fabric. only, you know, washing is supposed to make things cleaner, not dirtier.
and my research brought me to (gross photos warning!) Kismai's post on the very topic. apparently this stuff is called "scrud," and it's basically a residue that forms over time inside the nooks and crannies of a washing machine - leftover detergent reacting with mineral traces in tapwater to form a buildup that also traps dyes, grease, and other dirt, which bacteria then feeds on, because it wasn't already gross enough. it forms faster if you have hard water, use too much detergent (which most people do), use fabric softener, wash only on cold and the list goes on and on - point is, scrud is the reason that you have to actually clean your washing machine, or be super fastidious about how you do laundry.
(I'll take "things I wish school/my parents actually taught me" for 800)
so now I am engaged in a lengthy battle against scrud, armed with a tub of oxiclean and a sack of citric acid crystals. (we're renters, so disassembling the machine is out of the question.) pour in a scoop of oxiclean, run a machine clean cycle, pour in a scoop of citric acid, run another machine clean cycle, all while wiping piles and piles of scrud out of the drum at the end of each cycle. I'm on the eighth cycle now. there's still so much scrud. the reddit record for "how many cleaning cycles were needed to get a machine entirely free of scrud" is 22 cycles. help
hey so like
it turns out that laundry sucks significantly less when your clothes and sheets and etc actually come out of the machine looking, feeling, and smelling clean, rather than looking, feeling, and smelling like despair dipped in slime
I've also picked up a couple of tips from r/laundry for the UK which has earned me the moniker of chief laundry officer at home, summarised below, and also a few facts about Japan* & other countries' laundry. bolding below is to help with readability:
(e.g., *apparently most Japanese washing machines don't do hot water settings so laundry detergent manufacturers like Kao have patented liquids with 'anti-mite' properties using jasmonoid compounds to compensate for the lack of > 60°C temps which would normally kill said mites)
most generic supermarket bio powder detergents seem to have lipase enzymes based on performance. however ingredients list for Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose etc. only specify 'enzymes' which is soooooo unhelpful. still, Aldi & Lidl are confirmed to contain lipase
Ecover & Ariel bio detergents are also generally recommended
most UK areas have abysmally hard water so getting limescale prevention tablets, though not essential, may help with performance
I use dissolved citric acid in water (active ingredient in stuff like the USA's Downy Rinse) in the rinse compartment rather than vinegar or fabric conditioner. laundry detergents are formulated to work in slightly alkaline conditions & citric acid helps to neutralise lingering detergent at the end. I believe you can find citric acid at DIY & household shops or on ebay? food-grade or not doesn't matter.
liquid scent boosters are water-based AFAIK and thus OK to replace fabric conditioner, but I don't use them so don't know much!
dehumidifiers + a fan help a lot with drying clothes at home! maybe essential given how prone to humidity & damp a lot of UK homes are
