Go Green: Use Vinegar as a Natural Softener

Looking to find a new way to go green in the laundry room? Try using vinegar as a natural fabric softener! That’s right—white vinegar has natural fabric softening properties, and can replace many of the chemical-based softeners you find in stores.

These commercial fabric softeners not only are more expensive, but are also likely to contain many chemicals that can be detrimental to your health over time when you use them frequently. In addition, commercial fabric softeners can make towels less absorbent. For these reasons, many people are using alternative, natural methods for fabric softening.

Here’s what you should know about using vinegar as a fabric softener when visiting the laundromat in McAllen, TX.

Vinegar is effective in all types of water

Even if you have hard water, vinegar still works as a natural softener, as it removes the buildups of soap and residue. Vinegar contains small amounts of sodium and potassium, which softens hard water, dissolving some of the minerals built up in it.

Some people are worried about using vinegar in their laundry, thinking its strong smell will seep through and stick with the clothes. However, you’ll find after trying it for the first time that there’s no reason to have this concern—there will be no vinegar smell left behind after the laundry goes through its rinse cycle.

There are some fabric softeners that do add extra scents, such as vanilla or lavender. If you like having these extra scents in your laundry, you can get natural fragrances by adding in essential oils. Put about 40 drops into a single gallon of white vinegar, using oils such as chamomile, vanilla, lavender or orange for some of the freshest, most laundry-friendly smells.

How to use vinegar as your natural fabric softener

If you’ve decided to give vinegar a try as your natural fabric softener alternative, the process is simple. Add a half cup of white vinegar into the laundry in your washing machine before the last rinse cycle occurs. Or, you can instead add half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser in your washing machine before you start the load, and your machine will automatically dispense it into the laundry at the right point in the cycle.

Be sure to use white vinegar—darker vinegars could potentially stain your clothes. White vinegar leaves no trace of color as well as no scent, so you don’t have to worry about putting it on your laundry.

If you’re at all skeptical about this solution, we encourage you to give it a try for yourself. Not only is it a more economical choice, considering vinegar costs much less than many fabric softener chemicals, but it’s also a choice that’s better for the environment and is likely to be at least as effective as what you’re already using for your fabric softening processes.

Want more tips about how to do your laundry in an environmentally friendly way? Contact Spin Plus Laundromat or visit our laundromat in McAllen, TX today.

Categorised in: Laundromat

This post was written by Writer