Question from LW
I had started using the Seventh Generation Ultra Free & Clear Natural 2X Concentrate Laundry Liquid.
The ingredients listed on the website are:
Aqua (water), sodium laureth sulfate, coconut alcohol ethoxylate & glycerin (plant-derived cleaning agents), sodium citrate (water softener), oleic acid & glyceryl oleate (plant-derived anti-foaming agents), sodium hydroxide & sodium borate (alkalinity builders & anti-redeposition agents), amylase, cellulase & protease (non-animal derived enzymes), calcium chloride (cleaning enhancer), hexahydro-1,3,5-tris (2-hydroxyethyl)-s-triazine (preservative, less than 0.05%).
A sticky residue has accumulated on the clothes and has caused a reaction with my MCS and fibromyalgia symptoms getting worse.
Do you have any suggestions for removing this type of residue from the clothes and washer?
Also, what is a good laundry product for MCS? I noticed you said you use soap not detergent at home. What laundry soap products are suitable for MCS?
Debra’s Answer
First, I suggest you go to the Cleaning page of Debra’s List and see that there are many laundry products with an “MCS” icon next to them. Since Seventh Generation is one of those and you are having a problem with it, I can only point out once again that sensitivities are individual and you need to find a product that you individually tolerate.
It sounds to me like the problem may not be the detergent, but the hardness of your water. Minerals in “hard” water make soap and detergent stick to your clothes. A couple of ways to handle this are to add baking soda to your laundry to soften the water or get a water conditioner (I have a salt-free water conditioner from Go Beyond Organic that I love and I have very hard water).
I think what will remove the residue is a mineral called sodium hexametaphosphate. It basically softens the water and releases any detergent that is sticking to the clothes. You can get it from a local chemical supply house.
One thing I would like to add is that I have recently discovered that it may not be necessary to use any kind of laundry product. You can wash clothes and get them perfectly clean in plain water! I have been washing my clothes in plain water only since March 11 and they come out perfectly clean. Now, all I need to do is “freshen” my clothing because it’s mostly perspiration and not dirt, but it got me to thinking that if everyone separated out their clothing so as to only wash clothes with stains, etc, in detegent, we’d save a lot of resources!
