When looking at the grand scheme of things, it seems like clothes, water and laundry products will mix anyhow, so why separate them? Is it really necessary? The answer is a resounding, “yes”. Doing otherwise can actually undermine your washing efforts, ruin your clothes or – most likely – both. The reason is a difference in purpose and timing.
Pre-wash and laundry detergent products were designed to clean clothes. This means that, usually, your washing machine will add them to the mix as soon as it has filled with water. From that point on, the products work hard to help lift dirt, grime and stains off your clothes and textiles. Once the wash cycle is over and done with, a rinse cycle washes the detergent out. It is at this stage that fabric softener makes its appearance to help neutralise static, soften fabric and make clothes smell divine.
If you were to accidentally switch the products around and add them to the wrong compartments – the fabric softener to the main-wash and laundry detergent to the fabric softener, for example – the process would look very different. For one, the fabric softener would be released during the wash cycle. But since it isn’t a washing product, rather than remove stains it would coat them. Your dirty (but wonderfully scented) clothes would then be rinsed with laundry detergent, which would seep deep into their fibres. Finally, your items would be spun dry, with the detergent still weighing them down, making them feel stiff, uncomfortable and possibly itchy.
In other words, if you haven’t already, brush up on your washing machine symbols now, so your woolly jumpers don’t come back to scratch you.
