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.
Water hardness affected powdered detergents, and, depending on the detergent type, 10-15% to > 30% extra detergent was needed to obtain a result similar to that of soft water.
You can also add 1/2 cup laundry borax to each load. Borax provides water softening by producing a soluble calcium complex (forming a chelate with the minerals so that they are no longer available for reactions) and boosts surfactant performance by preventing precipitation of a calcium/surfactant complex.
Hard water prevents water from mixing with detergent to form an effective cleaning agent. The calcium minerals bond with the soap to create a detergent curd that sticks to the fabric fibers, drawing in more dirt than before you washed your clothes.
Soft Water Has More Washing Power
When using hard water, you'd need to add more warm or hot water to get your laundry clean and make sure the detergent is gone. Soft water will let you clean your clothes using the only ½ the amount of the detergent, and you can use cold, warm, or hot water to get it super clean.
Fabric softener is not a hard water treatment. You may still find your clothing dirty-looking, stiff and rough after washing. Fabric softener can combine with the chemicals in your water to contribute to the soap scum.
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.
As staff writer Sarah Bodgan and senior staff writer Liam McCabe say in our guide to the best washing machines, 1 tablespoon is enough to thoroughly clean an average load, which usually weighs around 8 pounds. And if you're hand-washing, Sarah recommends that you use even less.
Detergent alone is usually more effective in soft water than in hard water. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD USE LESS DETERGENT THAN RECOMMENDED. It simply means that you may not need to add any extra beyond the amount generally recommended for diapers.
But when it comes to laundry detergent, you may be surprised to learn that more isn't always better. In fact, using too much laundry detergent may cause problems for your clothes and your washing machine over time.
Dishwasher detergent can be reduced by more than 50% after softening and still get the same cleaning results. This is great news for both households and restaurants. Let's take a look at what hard water is, and why you can get such a dramatic improvement when you soften it!
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.
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.
2) Stiff, Itchy Fabrics
Stiff fabrics are another unfortunate side effect of hard water. The minerals in your hard water stay on your clothes as they dry, leaving them feeling rigid and scratchy.
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.
“Not only can it irritate sensitive skin, but it can also leave a layer of residue on your clothes and reduce the absorption of your towels,” he told us. Fabric softeners work by depositing a layer of electrically charged chemical compounds on fabric.
Skip using fabric conditioner when washing cashmere, moisture-wicking activewear, and more. Caroline is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com.
It's the buildup of detergent, fabric softeners and minerals from hard water that we're not removing with regular washing methods. Add to that the accumulation of sweat, body oil, deodorant, lotions, shampoo and conditioners that adhere to the fibers of the fabric, and what do we get?
Detergents do not form insoluble precipitates with the calcium and magnesium ions in hard water. They are long chains of ammonium or benzene sulphonic acids and form lather easily even with hard water.
Borax has a high pH of about 9.24. 2 When you add one-half cup per load of laundry to water, it changes the pH to around 8 (a neutral pH is 7). This slightly alkaline pH is ideal for cleaning. Since borax acts as a buffering agent, it helps to keep the water at this pH, even after detergent or other cleaners are added.
Washing machines can be negatively impacted by hard water just like dishwashers can. Hard water minerals can buildup in the wash tub, pump mechanisms and other areas you can't see, damaging these mechanisms and leading to costly repairs.