The way we wash our clothes
Habits die hard . Old habits are even harder to die. The technology
keeps changing , times change , people don't . In India , it was
Hindustan Lever which introduced the concept of washing powder or
detergent for the first time . It took the market quite some time to
shift from soap cake to washing powder . And even now the only change
that people have made is in the washing agent .
Instead of the soap cake the detergent has come .
But people brush ,stamp and beat the clothes in the same way they used
to do before. Very few of them know that the way a detergent washes the
clothes is very different from that done by a soap cake . A soap cake
mainly washes the surface and takes away the dirt particles clinging to
the surface , while the detergent takes dust away from the fibre . Thus
soaking clothes prior to washing is essential for detergent wash while
it does not have much effect if you are going to use a soap cake .Some
kinds of clothes like Terry towels are best washed with detergent while
some other like canvas jeans are best washed with soap cake .
Another distinction . Do we wash clothes clean or do we wash clean
clothes ?
Nowadays for a normal office worker , the time that he spends outside
airconditioned atmosphere is limited . Thus the grime and dust collected
by his clothes is minimal as compared to 20 years ago when most of the
menfolk used to be engaged in outdoor work and the land they used to
walk on used to be dusty . Also the offices used to have ceiling fans
and dust used to be all over the place . Thus the clothes got exposed to
dirt , dust and grime all day long . Furthermore majority of the cloth
being of cotton tended to hold on to dust in a strong way .
Nowadays the amount of dust , dirt and grime that gets on to a shirt
during a regular office day is substantially reduced .Also the
percentage of terene in the cloth being much higher , the dirt retention
is substantially lower . Thus as of today , much less effort is
necessary to make clothes clean . In fact other than the collar the
whole shirt is dip and wear . That is you can just dip it into detergent
solution , lightly tread and rinse and hang out to dry . Even when this
is the case we keep washing clothes in the same way we used to do years
ago when a more determined cleaning of clothes was necessary . Not only
do we spend more energy and effort than necessary into washing clothes
but also the clothes do not last long due to the unduly rough treatment
they receive which they do not deserve .
(
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