Talk:Fabric softener

No Downy site? Dang, I'm going to have to write that one. uriah923^(talk) 18:54, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Do it, please. And if you can, include its chemical composition, if it is written on the bottle or known to you other way. --Shaddack 19:47, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My wife uses Both liquid and dryer sheets, or she will put it in with the soap at the begining while it is filling up with water. Why should she or why should she not?
how does it work? 17:09 10 Jun 2006

I assume it works by adsorbing to the surfaces of the fibres and creating a mildy charged surface which causes adjacent fibres to repel each other. This means that static cling is reduced and the cloth has a more spongy, soft feel to it. This would work best by adding at the end of the wash as their is less chance of the material becoming desorbed by subsequent washing and detergent action. Don't know about dryer sheets. Again I'm only assuming, but I would imagine they contain a volatile surfactant type material that vapourises in the dryer and therefore is able to adsorb to the fibre surfaces as they tumble around in the dryer. Probably no point in using both liquid and dryer sheets.

I cannot see how vinegar would function as a fabric softener. The only thing it may do is remove a small amount of "hardness" from water by reacting with dissolved alkaline materials in the water. This may make the detergent work a little better, but I can't see how it would have the same effect as a first-intention fabric softener.SimonUK 11:11, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Poor Sourcing

The source cited for the "Risks" section (http://www.ourlittleplace.com/notice.html) seems pretty poor. It's a personal home page, and many of the conclusions that it makes seems spurious or unsubstantiated. I didn't remove any of the material, but if there aren't any better links, there's a lot of basically un-sourced content in that first paragraph. -Kadin2048 02:52, 30 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]