Confession time

[danalwyn]

Can I confess something here? Something that will undoubtedly make the housekeepers of the world point at me and laugh like I'm some sort of freak and say things like "Ha! Those bachelors don't know anything about running a home!".

I can't tell the difference between laundry detergents.

Every time I get close to running out, I go to the store and stand in the aisle and look at the racks of dozens of types from a dozen brands, and absolutely cannot figure out what the difference is between them. I can never tell whether my current detergent is making my clothes smell like bottled sunshine (whatever that smells like), or mountain breeze, or fresh water, or even a flowered panorama that was probably stolen from a U-Haul truck. I can't tell that it was bottled high in the Alps by singing, dancing Austrian nuns. I just can't tell. All I care about is whether or not my clothes are clean, and I seriously can't tell one clean, stainless shirt from another. Is there something wrong with me?

Am I the only one who has this problem?

Comments

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Nah, they're pretty much all the same -- it's all just marketing. I'd pick a midpriced brand and stick with it.

And don't feel bad -- some other guy on my flist last night posted that he needed to sew on a button, and so he went to the internet and researched that. That's the kind of thing that makes me roll on the floor.

No, I'm not talking out of school, I made fun of him right to his face :)

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Given how badly I did the last time I had to sew a button back on, I would probably do the same thing, but I don't think I would confess it on the internet unless I wanted people to laugh at me.

I'm too thrifty for my own good, I usually buy the generic cheap stuff.

Watch out though, I'll make fun of your if you ever have a "simple" computer problem. Sewing on buttons straight is hard! (Okay, I'm just incompetent, but still).

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I can tell, because it's different kinds of noxious stink. Really. The "bottled sunshine" isn't too bad, but the "mountain breeze" reeks of acetone, and the flowery fields tend to have a nasty petroleum edge that reminds me of a refinery. For this reason I pick scented ones very carefully, or use unscented. In re: the clean -- I have a lot of dark clothes, and some of them make the dark clothes grey faster. I also like simplicity, so at the moment I'm using this one (http://www.ecos.com/ecosliquid.html). The smell isn't too obnoxious, it gets things clean without bleeding the colours, and there is no need to add fabric softener -- which is nasty in and of itself, but necessary here because it's so cold and dry and the water so hard -- and it's also decently economical because of how concentrated it is. Oh, and it also works very well with cold water, because I wash everything with cold water. Simplicity, like I said. The only way it could be better is if it was unscented. :P

Edit: I see they also have an unscented version, but then there is also my other requirement: is it readily available here? It's weird what is, and what isn't, and I've only seen the variety with scent unfortunately.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

I don't think we believe in unscented here. Even the cheap-o stuff isn't unscented, which makes me think that they don't believe people in the Midwest have allergies. All that farm living no doubt.

Unfortunately, I have a horrible sense of smell I suspect, and allergies usually renders it incapable anyway, so I don't notice. It's interesting to know that other people can notice, and that they don't always notice what the companies want you to think they should notice.

And I washed my clothes in one cold load for many years. Now I do a warm and a cold, mostly because the warm fills faster, but I do still sometimes belong to the cold-only brotherhood.

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

In my experience the cheapest brands always stink *worst*, and most foully of chemicals. This is also why I loathe fabric softener, particularly the drier sheets. I'm not actually allergic to any of this, by the way, just repulsed by it.

Edited to add: before discovering this stuff with the soy-softener in it I just added white vinegar to the rinse cycle in lieu of fabric softener. It works decently well, and is comparatively cheap. Of course having the softener in the detergent means I don't have to fiddle about with the wash, so that's also a bonus.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what I would do with fabric softener, we never used it growing up so I've never used it since. As long as my clothes aren't sharp enough to cut me, I generally do all right.

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

Be glad you have no need of it. Climate plays a huge role. Here air-drying anything with cotton that is heavier than a t-shirt that hasn't been washed with softener will turn it into sandpaper. Other fabrics will be so full of static that they stick to themselves or shock you when you put them on or reach for something (like the light switch) while wearing them. The combination of chafing and static means that treatment of some sort is necessary for all but the finest of fabrics. I suppose if one wore nothing but silk, leather, and fur it wouldn't be necessary, but I'll stick to cotton and synthetics*.

*Only some, like polar fleece. Other synthetic fabrics smell to me, or react with the skin/perspiration in a way I can't stand. You may wish to be grateful for not having an acute sense of smell. It can make life difficult!

[aries-ascendant.livejournal.com]

Most people I know that move to the Midwest discover (develop?) allergies they didn't have before. Are they harvesting corn or soybeans near you? That seems to be what triggers it for a lot of people.

[lookingforwater.livejournal.com]

So here I am, with an off-comment topic.

A friend and I are working on a webcomic concept (we have an artist and everything) and we're going to be using the Physics. I was wondering if you would be willing to listen to and critique our basic concept? It's a science-fantasy comic, so it's not going to be 100% accurate to real life, but I want there to be actual theory underlying it, and since I don't know much about physics I would very much appreciate it if you'd check to make sure I haven't dramatically misunderstood something.

We'd give you a credit on the website as science consultant and everything.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Replied late (very late) by PM.