cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58998407
Fabric softener is a scam
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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The homemade laundry detergent is so fucking good, though. No joke. My clothes have never felt cleaner. But can someone explain, if washing soda is just baked baking soda, why can't you just use the baking soda directly? If it's just to remove the moisture as they say in the pic, why bother doing it, since you're dumping it into water?
Also, get yourself a downy ball if your washing doesn't have the fabric softner section, and use vinegar. I love the way our laundry feels once we switched to vinegar.
Baking soda is NaHCO~3~ , Washing soda is Na~2~CO~3~
Baking soda is (incorrectly) called "Bicarb" because there is twice as much Carbonate (CO~3~) per Sodium (Na). Heating it causes some to be released as water and carbon dioxide:
2 NaHCO~3~ → Na~2~CO~3~ + H~2~O + CO~2~
Awesome! I wouldn't call this "releasing moisture" though which, to me, implies a physical change. It's straight up providing the activation energy for a chemical decomposition.