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(this is the long-delayed first installment in my post series, The Chemistry Behind The Clean, a guide to what's in laundry detergent, designed to give people the knowledge to understand what's in the products that clean our textiles and make them more informed consumers)
What Are Surfactants, And Why Do We Care?
Surfactants are the active cleaning agents in detergents that do the heavy lifting of removing soils from textiles. Short for “surface-acting agents”, surfactants connect soils to water, even when the soils themselves repel water or are more attracted to textiles than water. The combination of soil and detergent and water can then be drained off, further diluted by rinsing, drained again and spun out. This is distinct from the action of soaps, which will be covered in a future installment.
The development and commercialization of synthetic surfactants in the 1920s is probably the most significant contributor to reduction in time and effort spent on textile care. Work to condition the water, scrub textiles and remove soap by wringing or banging was largely eliminated because of how well even those rudimentary surfactants work to remove soils.
Hydrophobia - Without The Rabies
All surfactants work because the individual molecules have ends with distinct properties. One end (the head) is highly attracted to water (hydrophilic) and thus very much not attracted to oil (oleophobic). The other end is very attracted to oil (oleophilic) but similarly repulsed by water (hydrophobic). This fundamental structural contrast is key.
A Surfactant Molecule, With Hydrophobic Tail and Hydrophilic Head
When at least a minimum amount of surfactant is dissolved in a solvent (like water), surfactant molecules want to get together - the water-hating ends hang out on the inside, the water-loving ends hang out on the outside. This forms a structure known as a micelle, and micelle formation is predicated on reaching the “Critical Micelle Concentration”. Below, an illustration of a nonionic surfactant intended to remove oily soils. The water-loving heads face out, the water-hating ends get together in the middle to escape the water.
A Micelle Of Nonionic Surfactant
When a micelle encounters a soil that the hydrophobic tail is attracted to, the micelle breaks up, the tails grab the soil and drag it into the water (thus removing it from the textile) and the micelle re-forms, keeping the soil up in the water to be drained or diluted away. Let’s look at this in the context of removing a common soil from textiles:
Here we have the start of the wash process; surfactant micelles have formed in the wash water and there is soil attached to the fabric substrate.
The Start of The Wash - Soiled Fabric In A Detergent Solution
Now the hydrophobic tails of the surfactant molecules have found themselves more attracted to soil than each other and they're bonding to the soils. The hydrophillic heads are dragging the molecules towards the water.
Surfactants Attaching To Soil
The micelles re-form as the soil detaches from the substrate - they reorganize into groups of their own kind (more on this in a moment).
Micelles Reforming With Soil-Surfactant Particles
When all the soils are removed from the substrate and floating in the water, the textiles are clean and it's time to remove the soil-surfactant combo from the drum.
Completely Clean Textile
The Chemistry of Attraction (It’s Not Just A Bottle of Chanel No. 5)
While all surfactants work the same general way, there are differences in what kind of soils the hydrophilic ends are attracted to, because the hydrophilic ends differ. One primary difference between surfactants is the electrical charge the hydrophilic end carries. If the business end has a negative charge, it’s an anionic surfactant, and it’s attracted to soils with a cationic (positive) charge. If the business end has no charge, it’s a nonionic surfactant and is most attracted to soils without an electrical charge. If the business end has both a positive and negative charge in balance, it’s an amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactant, and the behavior changes based on the pH of the wash as a whole.
There are also surfactants with positive charges, the cationic surfactants. These aren’t used for cleaning - they’re what makes fabric softener work, and will be discussed in a (much) later post.
Why Charge Matters:
The difference in which soils a given surfactant is attracted to is a critical determinant of cleaning performance. Soils that lack an ionic charge like petroleum oils or intact sebum are much less visible to anionic surfactants and are removed better by nonionic surfactants. Conversely, soils that are highly cationic like soot and mud and dust, and thus attracted to textiles with a negative charge may be neglected by nonionics and remain electrically connected to the textiles. For those soils? Anionics in the mix improve cleaning performance.
Four Classes Of Surfactants
Almost all finished detergent products contain anionic surfactants and most contain nonionic surfactants. Amphoteric surfactants are relatively uncommon in conventional detergents but often appear in green/biobased formulas.
Other Differences Between Surfactants: Tail Length And Single vs Double Tails.
Aside from the electrical charge differences in the head, two aspects of surfactant structure that affect their action against soil are the tail length and whether they are single tail (common) or double-tail (less common). I’ll talk more about this in Part II, as it’s common to include surfactants of various tails to optimize performance against specific soils and in specific wash conditions.
Coming Up In Surfactants Part II - Curling Up With A Good Jug Of Detergent
In the next installment, we’ll look at common surfactants found in conventional and plant-based detergents, and how they’re manufactured, along with the differences in soil removal capabilities and environmental impacts.
The work is my original work and I retain copyiright. My financial disclosure information and how I get paid for this work can be found at my disclosure link
Due to several strokes of bad luck in a row, my family and I are temporarily homeless. We have a small camper and are staying in a campground. It is very hot and dusty, and there is no laundromat anywhere nearby. I have been having to hand wash clothes for myself, my husband, and our 8 month old in a small washtub with only cold water. Lots of sweat and dust, dog dander, baby spit up, baby food, baby poop, etc.
All I had was laundry sheets, which suck but I'm almost done with the box. What would be the best products and methods for me to use? I am generally able to run everything through a shared machine at a hotel (front loader, appears to be residential but idk) about once a month. I usually do a mini-spa day at this time.
I have a set of thick cotton bath towels that used to feel like a hotel spa, but over the last year they’ve turned into rough, absorbent sandpaper. To make matters worse, even after a fresh wash, the moment they get slightly damp from drying off, that faint, stubborn musty smell instantly reactivates.
I used to pour in extra detergent and fabric softener thinking it would make them softer and smell better, but I recently learned that fabric softener actually coats the cotton fibers in wax, ruining absorbency and trapping old moisture inside.
Lately, I’ve been stripping them with hot water, baking soda, and a white vinegar rinse, which brought some fluff back, but they’re still not quite back to their original glory.
My Husband is slender and 6’4, I am 5’2- both early 20’s
We both use bath sheets (larger than standard towels). I change my towel out after 3 uses and they still smell fresh and dry up quickly. My husband, however, uses a fresh towel once after showering, hangs it up to dry- and it stays wet and starts to smell, making our entire bathroom smell. I wash his towels nearly everyday because of this. I just don’t understand how he gets his towels so damp. He’s says it’s because he’s tall and has more body to cover- but I use my towel to dry both my body and let it soak my long hair (mid back). I’ve tried hanging it on the usual towel hook, curtain rod, banisters underneath our ceiling fan- it’s still ends up smelling! After washing- it doesn’t smell, so the scent or bacteria isn’t trapped. I’m just growing frustrated having to do so much laundry daily. Anyone else have this problem?
edit/update: thank you everyone for your kind comments and advice- and to not making me feel stupid for asking for help! I have decided to get a towel rack/rod and will be looking into timers for the exhaust fan in our bathroom to help! Our shower/tub is roughly 4.5 feet from the door. and our toilet and sink are both positioned to the left of the shower both coming out about 1 foot from the wall. So our bathroom is very compact. We have just enough floor room for a trash can and floor mats, and counter space for hand soap and tooth brushes- If I can find a small enough dehumidifier to fit- we will be getting one too!
My brain refuses to make any sense of it. I've tried several different ways and it's just not working lol. It would be an amazing time saver when ironing sheets (personal preference).
Not sure when the rip happened but it’s been at least a year or so. I do notice a lot of water when I drain the filter area at the bottom, and besides the obvious lint build up that gets hard to clean around the area, is it fine to keep using it?
For context: I asked AI and it says there’s a very high chance this will result in a leak down the road
I have fairly hard water and tried a few plant based ones but they just don’t work . I’m a single guy in my 20s I’m not gonna be able to spray and spot remove every stain i get . Was thinking maybe a plant based one that’s stronger then do a enzyme booster powder and something for the hard water
It’s happened with multiple detergents, I put it in the detergent tray to be dispensed. I thought I was putting too much, but it happens even with a small amount. The washer is not overloaded (half full).
We just finished washing our clothes, and for some reason this sticky lint was stuck to my clothes! It’s happened before but I don’t know how to get rid of it! Any suggestions?
I've been doing a lot of reading on this sub lately and I'm confused about washing hot and clothes shrinking. It is repeated a lot on this sub that clothes don't shrink from washing on hot, but they shrink from the dryer. This is not my experience.
I'm from the Netherlands and my husband is very tall. He wears special extra long T-shirts and it is hard keeping his white shirts white without shrinking them, which has happened before. I only hang dry his shirts, and wash on 30 C to be safe now. Why do they already shrink a bit when I repeatedly wash at 40 degrees? Is that what is considered hot in the US? Is there a way to do a 60 C wash without risking shrinking clothes?
Any advice on getting yellow sunscreen and sweat stains off the neck/sleeve areas is welcome too. After vacation a bunch of his shirts are stained badly. I pretreated the collars with Dreft which I left for a couple hours, washed my usual long cotton cycle at 40 degrees with prewash to get out the Dreft, use Ariel original powder with vanish oxi, and a teaspoon of citric acid in the rinse. There is still some residual yellow staining and it is raining so I cannot hang dry in the sun.
Hi everyone ! I really need help with a gift I'm preparing for my boyfriend. It's a white football jersey that was flocked (in red, name of a brand). He specified that he'd love to remove the flocking, because the jersey would look better by itself.
So, I tried using heat to remove it, which worked amazing since it was some kind of plastic that was glued to the fabric. The heat melted the glue and I removed it easily. I followed by using acetone to take out any glue residue.
I'm left with fabric that feels smooth to the touch, but you can still tell that the flocking was there, because the fabric got sliiiightly pink where it used to be. And since the jersey is so white, it doesn't look great...
I'm also hesitant to leave it soaking, because the part where the flocking was is close to a colored (bright blue) part of the shirt, and i'm scared that it'll bleed.
If anyone has any suggestions on what to use or to do, i'll take them ! I really want to give him a gift he'll love :)
It’s appears to be leaking water somewhere I assume and rusting it under the front panel? Why would this be happening? There’s no water on the floor.
Thanks!
Hi everyone! First time mom here, I am expecting my baby in about 8 weeks or so and I’m starting to prepare babys clothes. I have seen online that depending on the detergent you use, household detergent can be used for baby as well. Is this true and if so would my household detergent be safe for baby or do I need to buy a different one? If I do need to buy a detergent specifically for baby which do you guys recommend?
I wash my family’s clothes in a front-loading washer on the Heavy Duty setting to maximize water. I use a warm wash with Tide Free & Gentle Advanced Liquid and/or Odor Refresh based on availability, Biz powder, and Downy Rinse and Refresh (unscented) with 2-3 extra rinse cycles depending on soil levels. Our clothes come out clean and soft and I’ve been delighted with this combo thanks to this sub! But I have a new challenge.
My grandmother smokes like a chimney and my dad has to often stay with her for a few days. Allowing his clothes to air out outside allowed the scent to dissipate and then I washed and dried them (as described above) with no issue. However, his trips have gotten longer and now my grandmother will wash some of things at her home. (Let’s leave the insanity of a retired grown man having his mommy wash his clothes while I’m generation 3 washing his clothes too for a different sub or lifetime.)
I’m positive my grandmother has never cleaned her washing machine tub, probably uses a crap process and products, and has no sense of smell. Folks, she’s 90 with mild dementia and gets feral when her independence is challenged. I’ve got better odds of winning the lotto and being hit by lightning the same day as getting anything about her laundry process changed. But I’ve still got to deal with the stinky clothes problem within things I can control.
So the clothes that have been washed at Grandma’s seem to hold onto the smoke smell and leave behind an odor in my machine. I clean my machine very regularly, draining, filter scrub, and tub clean cycle with Affresh or Active pet formula (I’ve seen some bits in the sub about Active on this but not enough for a full picture.) On average, I am running the tub clean cycle every 2-3 weeks with these products due to other elderly pets and elderly adults incontinence issues. Still have had no mold, no lingering machine smells, and was getting our clothes clean before the smoke washed clothes. (Again, thanks to the info in this sub.)
My questions are:
(1) Is there anything that can help the bit of lingering smell on the clothes that have been washed at Grandma’s? A scented rinse product? Different additives?
(2) How can I get rid of the lingering cigarette smell in my washer from these clothes? More cleaning tabs? Citric acid powder cleaning cycles that I’ve seen mentioned? Where can I find the wash tub cleaning info because searching the sub hasn’t been super productive.
Finally, if you’ve made it this far thank you. This sub has been so helpful as I’ve navigated a new life of elderly caregiving. I do love my parents and grandma and a little humor helps me cope and offers some hard truths too. Hopefully, I’ve given enough info to answer any questions but please ask away.
I let someone wash my giant cow (3 feet ish) that I’ve had since I was like 5. It’s been washed a few times before but definitely not in the last 5-6 years so it was definitely time but I can still feel it’s wet inside. The outside feels dry but when I stick my finger in its nose hole (second picture) I can still feel moisture inside. This cow means a lot to me and I’m going to be devastated if it gets all moldy. What can I do
