Detergent instead of soap?

In the woolweenies thread, somebody linked to an article on how to wash wool and the recommendation was Dawn Liquid, which is a detergent, not a soap.

Recently I bought some Charlie's Soap which (irony alert) is not actually a soap, but is a detergent. It was originally created for the fabric industry but people would go in and ask for "Charlie's Soap" and Charlie would sell it in little brown bags, and now that's the way it's sold.

You use only a Tablespoon of powder and that's it -- no additives, no extras. You're warned not to use bleach or fabric softener with it. I've washed my smartwool in it, everything. Nothing EVER comes out with static cling, it's all soft, and it smells "fresh," which is kind of odd, because it doesn't have a smell at all. How does something smell clean/fresh without having any smell? It's hard to explain because we've come to associate perfumes with "fresh" but it's true, whether I pull the clothes out of the washer wet, or out of the dryer, they smell fine, no matter now dirty they were when they went in.

You might at the very least want to try it on your woolens, but I use it on everything.

Has anybody else used it, or anything similar?

I haven't used Charlie's soap, but think it sounds interesting.

Generally I use Trader Joe's laundry detergent or Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap (liquid).

There's a link in my first post -- did it work?

Yup, it worked great! I'm a bit computer illiterate, so didn't at first realize you had the link right there. How'd you make it be words instead of a URL?

Click the icon that has an image of the world with a chain "link" in front of it. Then put the URL in the window that pops up. When you hit return, write what you want the words to say. Hit return again, and it should put the html code in the box. Preview to see if it works!

thanks! That's very cool, I'll have to try it.

Erm...

did you know that tecnically, soap IS a detergent? Chemically, a detergent is a substance that dissolves fat (=dirt) off a surface. Non-soap detergents are called surfactants.

What you do not want for wool are the proteases (spot removers - grass, blood, etc) in regular washing powders, as wool = protein = is being eaten up.

Thought you'd like to know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alpinerabbit

What you do not want for wool are the proteases (spot removers - grass, blood, etc) in regular washing powders, as wool = protein = is being eaten up.

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Unless of course, you have bled all over your smartwool which has been known to happen here. :p

So, Pooks, did you buy this stuff on line?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

Yup, it worked great! I'm a bit computer illiterate, so didn't at first realize you had the link right there. How'd you make it be words instead of a URL?

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First highlight the words you want to be the link, then click the link button (the one that looks like the earth and chain), paste in the url, and then click OK.

I guess I am sort of half fasting it with the link washing recomedings. I do use hot water, but I do scrub in the arm pit areas. I also use woolite but will try dawn whe I run out. IT is sort of working. My wool smells nice and I haven't lost a touch of color- I was afraid with the hot water. However, the armpits are a little faintly sweat smeliing, which isn't too bad with me to begin with.

How do other people wash their wool? Do they use a detergent or someother soap? Do tey try the soak in hot water like the link or a thorough scrubing? I found a store that carries the Dr. Bonners but it seems a bit expensive before I hear what other people say.

As a knitter I did quite a bit of research on washing wool since I didn't want hours of work to be ruined!

Woolite despite it's name, is actually not terribly good for washing wool and apparently detergent is what you want to use. There's lots of info on the web about washing wool garments but here's one page: http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/articles/wash_sweater.shtml

Most of the sports brands use wool treated so that it can be machine washed so you don't have to worry about shrinking it as much as lots of wool garments.

Currently I use this stuff simply because I already have it and it smells nice: http://www.kookaburraco.com/
It's not cheap though so I doubt I'd buy it if I wasn't also handwashing handknitted garments.

I bought the Charlie's Soap online, direct from Charlie's. It's lasting a long time -- at only a Tablespoon per load, I guess it would!

As for detergent vs. soap -- I've found a number of references that claim they're different, including the "how to launder wool" article that was linked in the woolweenie thread.

This stuff is great. They advise you to run a load of just water and Charlie's through your washer first, to wash out the residue from all the other stuff you've used.