Washing without powder: testing alternative methods

Almost all detergents produced by the modern chemical industry contain substances that are harmful and dangerous to human health. Therefore, today many housewives are looking for alternatives to washing powder. Moreover, in the past, people could do without chemicals and tidy up their clothes using simple water and natural products.

Harm of washing powders

Washing powders are a mixture of synthesized chemicals. Their composition is very far from natural, so any detergent, no matter how expensive and popular it may be, is dangerous for the environment and human health.

Among all the elements contained in the powder, salts of phosphoric acids (phosphates) and surfactants (surfactants) are especially harmful. Without these components, the product loses its cleaning abilities, since it is the surfactants that destroy the pollution particles, and the phosphates soften the water.

Harmful substances enter the body through the respiratory system and through the skin, because the smallest particles of chemicals are retained in the fibers of washed clothes. This threatens the appearance of allergies, suffocation, redness and peeling, a decrease in protective functions and a slowdown in metabolism.

In addition, laundry detergents destroy the environment.Waste water is released into bodies of water where the chemicals continue their destructive work, accelerating the growth of algae that clogs rivers and lakes.

What to replace powders with?

To avoid the negative effects of chemicals and maintain health, you need to reconsider your attitude towards modern detergents and, if possible, abandon many of them. As an alternative to washing powders, you can use natural substances and plants, such as mustard, soapwort, chestnut, beans, soap nut and others.

Mustard

Dry mustard is suitable for cleaning any, even the most delicate materials. Usually mustard powder is sold in grocery stores and is inexpensive, from 70 rubles per 1 kg.

To prepare the detergent composition you need 2 tbsp. l. powder, pour 1 liter of water, mix and set aside for 2 hours. During this time, the bulk of the mustard will dissolve, and the sediment will sink to the bottom of the jar.

The settled liquid is drained from the sediment and added to a basin of hot water when washing by hand, and to the drum of the machine when washing by machine.

Soap nuts

The peoples of India, Tibet and Nepal have long used dried soap tree fruits for washing cotton, linen, wool, silk, colored and mixed fabrics. The so-called soap nuts contain 38% saponins - natural substances that promote the formation of foam. Nuts are suitable for both hand and machine wash. This product is very economical as it can be reused.

Place 8–10 nuts in a special bag supplied with the kit and place them in a container of hot water or the drum of a washing machine. After 10–15 minutes, the nuts will swell and begin to foam. Having squeezed the bag several times with your hand, the foam is released into the water and the laundry is loaded.After washing, the items are rinsed in running water, and the nuts are frozen or dried for use next time.

Salt

For washing cotton and linen fabrics, a solution of table salt prepared at the rate of 1 tbsp is perfect. l. for 1 liter of water. Things are soaked in the resulting salty liquid for 1 hour, then particularly dirty areas are rubbed with your hands and rinsed in clean water. Colored fabrics only become brighter after such washing.

Soap root

In the market or in a homeopathic pharmacy you can find a remedy such as soap root, or soapwort. Woolen and silk items are washed in the water obtained after infusing the root.

Cooking method:

1. take 50 g of roots per 1 kg of dry laundry, chop the raw material into pieces;
2. the pieces are poured into 1/2 liter of boiling water and left for 24 hours;
3. the resulting mixture is boiled again for 1 hour, cooled and filtered.

The powder substitute is ready. Now all that remains is to add the mixture to a bowl of water or to the washing machine - and you can start washing.

A decoction of soapwort root cannot be stored; it should be used immediately after preparation.

Laundry soap

Laundry soap contains only herbal ingredients and is therefore absolutely safe for health. The numbers on a bar of soap indicate the percentage of fatty acids. The higher the number, the more effectively the product will cope with washing and removing dirt.

To wash in a machine, a bar of soap is grated on a fine grater and poured into the drum. If the laundry is washed by hand, treat heavily soiled areas with a piece or pour grated soap into a basin of water, dissolve and then load items that require cleaning. However, handwash in principle, and even more so with laundry soap, requires certain skills.

Chestnut

Chestnut fruits can successfully replace the most advanced washing powders; the main thing is to properly prepare the detergent from them.

1. First you need to remove the outer skin so as not to turn things brown, and dry the kernel.
2. Then crush the white pulp using a coffee grinder.
3. The resulting powder should be poured into a bowl of water and whipped into foam.

Beans

A decoction of beans is effective for washing items made from natural wool. To prepare it, add 200 g of beans to 1 liter of water and cook until fully cooked. Then the resulting broth is poured into a container for washing, the required amount of water is added and the laundry is loaded.

Tourmaline Spheres

A unique product for environmentally friendly and economical washing, developed by TianDe, consists of plastic spheres filled with natural components - granules of tourmaline, zeolites, rare earth metals, silver. The action of the device is based on the physical properties of the components. If in ordinary washing powder the dissolving power of water is increased due to surfactants, then in tourmaline spheres a similar effect is achieved due to weak electric currents arising when tourmaline moves in water.

Eco-friendly and completely hypoallergenic laundry detergent allows you to do without powders, bleaches and conditioner. It is enough to place the sphere in the drum of the washing machine, load the laundry and turn on the appropriate mode. When using tourmaline, neither the fibers nor the dyes of the fabric will be harmed. On the contrary, things become softer and the color of the material becomes richer due to the dissolution of the salt film on the surface of the fabric.

Only by replacing chemical powders with natural remedies will you be able to preserve your own health and the ecology of the planet.