Washing in hard water can leave mineral deposits behind on your clothes that can cause soiling to build up on your clothes and also cause your whites to look dingy.
Your Laundry Stays Brighter and Lasts Longer with Soft Water
Soft water will get your whites whiter, your clothes brighter, and is gentler on your fabrics. Because it is gentler, your laundry will even last longer! This might help you buy fewer clothes, which is a win in our books.
Hard-water buildups in different parts of the washing machine can cause breakdowns and force expensive repairs. The lint screen, washing tub and pumping mechanism can all accumulate mineral buildup, making it difficult for the machine to run. This buildup can cause minor problems as well as total system failure.
Hard water does not form lather with soap because a large amount of soap is used to neutralize the salts present in water, resulting in the formation of scum which sticks to clothes during washing making them dirtier.
Get a Water Softener
A water softener is a whole-home solution to a hard water problem. Getting a water softener will not only protect your washing machine; it will also protect all of your appliances that use water, make showering more pleasant, prevent yucky buildup on your dishes, and more.
Vinegar makes a perfect fragrance-free fabric softener and works well for hard water. To use vinegar as a fabric softener and static reducer: Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar to the final rinse cycle of your washing machine.
The hard water minerals will also prevent your detergent from mixing with the water to form a solution, which hampers the effectiveness of your detergent, preventing fabrics from getting completely clean – this will cause smelly clothes after washing.
Towels and Sheets Feel Hard and Scratchy
Thanks to hard water, your favorite flannel shirt may not feel as soft as it should either. Mineral buildup leaves your bath towels feeling stiff.
Is your water hard? Detergent has a special substance in it called sodium zeolite A which takes the calcium and magnesium ions out of hard water. These ions prevent the soap in the water from bubbling. In the hard water, the detergent should bubble better than the soap.
The blue crystals in OxiClean™ Versatile Stain Remover are made of water softener molecules which help your detergent work better.
Nicole explains when there's too much detergent in the washing machine, the rinse cycle can't wash it out as efficiently, and you're left with a lot of residue on your clothes. “That's why your clothes are crunchy and hard,” she says.
When washing with hard water, good detergents include extra ingredients that soften the water so the rest can get to work removing the real stains. This is why you'll need to use more detergent to soften the water if you live in a hard water area.
Without a water softener, you need to launch an attack against the minerals every time you run a load. For this mission, vinegar is the superhero you need. Add a quarter cup of vinegar to each load to help cut the minerals and prevent them from building up.
Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release is more than a superior stain remover. In our tests, this concentrated detergent works solidly in hard water. In fact, in our ratings, 12 Tide detergents (liquids and pods/packs) offer near top-level efficiency in hard water.
Borax is an effective stain remover for both food and grease stains. It also inhibits the growth of fungi, mold, and bacteria,5 which can cause strong odors in clothes.
Hard water also negatively impacts the efficiency and lifespan of any appliance that requires water for operation. This might not be such a big deal for a coffeemaker, but it has the same effect on water heaters and refrigerators.
Make sure you aren't the problem.
"This might indicate a user error—too little detergent, too much detergent, or too many items in the load," Simonelli explains. And if you are certain everything was handled properly? These are signs that your appliance needs to be cleaned or, worst case scenario, replaced.
White clothes turning yellow
The discoloration of your garments is another sign of hard water minerals seeping into your clothes.
In hard water conditions soaps form scum. Soap scum affects more than just cleanliness; it can deteriorate fabrics and eventually ruin clothing or other surfaces. Conversely, detergents can work in any level of water hardness since they react less to the many minerals in hard water.
The Reason Hard Water Damages Hair
It can also make hair dull, frizzy, stiff, and more prone to tangles. These effects are heightened when hair is washed with hard water over a long period of time. The buildup may be more difficult to penetrate with serums, masks, or other treatments.