‘Should be banned imo’: Cleaning expert warns you should never use fabric softener. Then she reveals the long-term effect on your clothes

You may want to re-think how much fabric softener you're using when you wash your clothing. At least, that's the message popular TikToker Ann Russell (@annrussell03) shared in a recent clip.

Throngs of folks who replied to the video stated that they, too, have enjoyed the wonders of using less fabric softener in their clothing. Other media outlets have also covered the damaging side effects of going too heavy with the stuff.

Soft, but at what cost?

Russell's video begins with a stitched clip of another user on the platform. This particular clip shows someone pouring what appears to be fabric softener in a washing machine's dedicated container for the substance.

However, Russell states that consumers might want to stay away from doing so. Or, at the very least, alter the way they use fabric softener. In her own TikTok post reply to the snippet included in the video, she shares why.

"This is what I mean when I say you use too much fabric softener," she begins. "Read the instructions. There are three levels in that. And she is using concentrated fabric conditioner. Fabric conditioner used to come in..." She demonstrates how the product used to be packaged.

Next, she likens the usage of fabric softener to "washing powder...years ago." According to Russell, folks had to use more of the clothing conditioner back in the day. However, newer products necessitate less usage of the substance, she says.

Too much

Russell continues, "They've made it more concentrated. And if you use far too much, after a while, your clothes are going to A.) not smell very good. And B.) they'll feel greasy and floppy."

She says this is due to aromatic materials incorporated in the manufacturing process of these softeners.

"Because it acts by putting a very scented wax...the chemists will line up to explain why. Basically, it puts a wax over all the fibers in your clothes," she says.

It's this wax, she says, that leads to one's garments degrading over time. This is why she's urging folks to lay off using so much fabric softener.

"And it stops them sticking together," she says. "So it makes them fluffy and feel soft because it's a waxy coating."

Following this, she likens the clothing additive to moisturizers that one would apply to their face. But, unlike moisturizers, she says, these softeners have detrimental long term usage effects.

"The thing is supposed to come off in the wash. So you use a little bit, you put your clothes in," she shares. "You wash it all off, you put a bit more on and you replace it."

Moreover, she reiterates that people are just implementing too much softener too frequently.

"But when you use more than you should do, like four times the amount, it doesn't all come off. And over time, it builds up," she says.

Bad smell

Russell then states that folks who've encountered foul-smelling clothing after a wash may have overloaded it with softener.

"Number one that can be sometimes why you open your drawers and your clothes don't smell great. And they feel funny. They feel floppy and odd. So, don't use it," she says.

At this point in the clip, she refers back to the video she stitched at the beginning of her own TikTok. She highlighted the other TikToker's fabric softening practices as the gold standard in clothes washing.

"You see that first level that she's done? That's the level. Read the back of the bottle. Measure it in the little measuring cup if you've got one," she advises.

To close out her clip she says if folks don't heed this advice, softener "will build up" and their clothes "won't smell great."

@annrussell03 ♬ original sound - Ann Russell She/Her

Viewers are glad to be rid of fabric softener

One user seemed dead set against using fabric softener entirely. "Stopped using softener completely and my clothes have never been better," they penned.

While another replied that they, too, have removed themselves from the grasps of Big Softener. "I ran out of fabric softener yesterday. So just used detergent, and they were so soft!!! Think I definitely use too much," they said.

Another person also voiced their displeasure with the product: "Hate fabric softener."

But some swore by the substance. "Yeah but it smells so good," one said.

Someone else echoed the aforementioned sentiment: "If it doesn't smell like I'm wearing perfume when I put them on then I didn't use enough."

But there was another TikToker who proposed an alternative. "A cap of Zolflora/Fabulosa with my regular washing powder always means my clothes smell nice. [And they] don’t carry the waxy feeling of fabric softener."

The Daily Dot has reached out to Russell via TikTok comment for further information.

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The post ‘Should be banned imo’: Cleaning expert warns you should never use fabric softener. Then she reveals the long-term effect on your clothes appeared first on The Daily Dot.

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