WASHING CLOTHES UNDER DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS

   Last year some of my dresses lost their luster rather rapidly which left me wondering what must be the sinister factor behind this phenomenon. In an attempt to detect this factor,

I procured six identical terry-cot napkins and tested them under various conditions which involved different kind of soaps, detergent powders, drying conditions, water temperature etc. Washing machine was not used in these experiments, all were rinsed manually. The outcomes were pretty interesting! If you are in search of best detergent to wash clothes, read on-

   EXPERIMENT 1: Finding Out the Factor which Causes the Clothes to Fade Out

   Each of the five napkins were subjected to different conditions. After washing them fifteen times, each was compared with the new one which was unwashed and degree of fading was noted.

   See the following images:

1. The new one and not exposed to any kind of washing.

2. Soaked in cold water and washed with ordinary soap. (the soap used was Patanjali detergent cake with herbal extracts)

3. Soaked with warm water and washed with ordinary soap.

4. Soaked in cold water, washed with the same soap and dried in sun. All other napkins are dried in shade.

5. Soaked in the solution of ordinary detergent powder and then washed. (Patanjali detergent powder)

6. Soaked in the solution of ultra detergent powder and then washed. (Surf excel)

    All the napkins were soaked for 60-90 minutes before they were washed. The culprit which elicited fading of the clothes is very obvious from the picture. The fourth one which was dried under sun faded the most followed by the second one which was washed with ordinary soap. Surprisingly, the third one which was soaked in warm water did not fade that much. Unlike their Ayurvedic products, Patanjali does not seem to have done sufficient R&D before bringing their soap bar in the market. It seems rather strong when dealing with the fabrics.

   EXPERIMENT 2: Napkins Soiled with Mud-water and Washed under Different Conditions

   Mud water was applied to all six napkins with a paint-brush and got those soiled moderately. See the following picture:

   Next day, they were washed under different conditions to determine the degree of cleaning. Warm water was not used in this experiment and all napkins were soaked for 45 minutes.

1. Washed with Patanjali soap bar.

2. Washed with Rin soap bar.

3. Washed with plain water and brush. No soap used.

4. Washed with Rin soap bar and cleaned with brush.

5. Washed after soaking in ordinary detergent powder solution. (Patanjali detergent powder)

6. Washed after soaking in ultra detergent powder solution. (Surf excel) 

  

   Compare 2 and 4. Both are washed with Rin soap but brushing has some added advantage which we can see in 4th. Again, compare the 3rd one with the rest where absolutely no soap was used but it was moderately scrubbed with washing brush. Its appearance is very much competitive when compared with the rest which are washed using various types of soaps and detergents. The outcomes of this experiment are sufficient enough to give a super impact to our popular belief that a soiled cloth can not be washed without a soap. It can!

   EXPERIMENT 3: Comparing the Washing Potential of Eight Different Popular Detergent Powders

    A white terry-cot cloth taken and cut into nine pieces. Each piece moderately soiled with muddy water.   

  Eight solutions of different popular detergent powders prepared, the quantity of detergent powder and quantity of water being exactly equal in each case. No. 8 just plain water, no detergent. After soaking for one hour, both the surfaces of each cloth were brushed five times each and then washed under tap water. After two such cycles, here are the results:   

None could remove the stain completely although in every case more than 90% of the stain is removed. As the numbers in the image display:

1. Wheel Active 2-in-1 powder: Wheel seems to have removed the mud stain very effectively. When compared with others, it has some edge above the others, just like 7.

2. Nirma Washing Powder: Fairly good. Least irritable to skin, so ideal for those who have skin problems.

3. Patanjali Herbal Wash: Fairly good.

4. Surf Excel: Fairly good.

5. Rin Powder: Fairly good.

6. Aerial Perfect Wash: Satisfactory but not up to the mark. This powder smells too strong.

7. Tide: Very good, comparable to Wheel. Excellent Jasmine smell! (According to Google, Tide was introduced ntroduced in 1946 by Proctor and Gamble and it is the highest selling detergent brand in the world, with an estimated 14.3 percent of the global market.)

8. Plain Water: Not bad!

9. Rin Whitener Liquid (Ala): Fairly good.

    It will be interesting to see how a fabric responds in the long term use of these powerful powders.

   EXPERIMENT 4: Testing Eight Different Powders on More Obstinate Stains

   The same pieces of white clothes which were used above were used in this experiment, too. Each cloth was stained with: Ink (blue), Tea (tan), Pickle (yellow oily stain). See below:

   Again, the same eight type of different detergent powders were tried and tested as described in experiment 3 with no. 8 being just plain water as a control. After 2 cycles of washes, check out the following results:

Against light background

Against dark background

   There is no room for any doubt here, the winner is unanimously no. 9 (Rin Ala whitener liquid soap)It has stood up to the task by removing all three stains very effectively. But it will be again interesting to note how this detergent affects the overall condition of fabric in the long run in terms of color, texture, consistency etc.

   The results of this experiment reveal another unbelievably shocking outcome. Just note that the tea stain on fabric no. 8 which was soaked in plain water only. The plain water has faded the tea stain more effectively than the detergent powders! Again this gives a jolt to our age-old belief that we must wash the cloth with detergent as early as possible when tea/ coffee has spilled on it. Here we can see, plain water is the foremost savior. It seems that after applying detergent on the tea stain, some chemical reaction must be taking place which fastens the stain further. The ink is removed effectively by all but the oily pickle stain was faded to different extent by different powders. The mud stain from the previous experiment looks more fastidious and it is not ready to leave the ground even after 4 washing cycles. After all, there is only one winner in this experiment and that is Rin liquid soap (Ala).

   EXPERIMENT 5: To Determine the Duration of Soaking in order to Loosen the Stain

   What is the minimum time does a cloth require to be soaked so that the stain is loosened?

   5 pieces of cloth taken. They were stained with ink. The next day, each one was soaked for a different duration - 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour and 2 hours before they were washed with plain water. No detergent was used.

   From the outcome which is seen in this picture, it is obvious that the stain has faded more effectively with the duration. The piece of cloth which was soaked for 2 hours, hardly shows any traces of the stain.

   EXPERIMENT 6: Overall Effect of Detergents on the Condition of the Fabric in the Long Run

   A detergent which proves powerful enough may be harmful to the fabric after repeated washings. Apart from fading a fabric it may also weaken the fiber as well. To ascertain this, 4 types of detergents were selected: 1. Nirma detergent powder for its fabric protective properties 2. From a group of ultra detergent powders (Ariel, Surf, Rin, Tide) only Surf Excel was selected as the properties of all these are more or less the same 3. Rin soap bar 4. Rin Liquid Soap (Ala). A new set of six napkins was chosen for this experiment.

   The napkins are soaked for 60 to 90 minutes and then washed. After a series of 15 washes, the results are as follows:

1. Brand new napkin, not even touched by water.

2. Napkin soaked only in plain water, untouched by detergent.

3. Soaked in Nirma powder solution.

4. Soaked in the solution of Surf Exel.

5. Applied Rin soap and kept before washing.

6. Soaked in Rin Liquid Soap (Ala) before washing.

   As we can see, it is very difficult to differentiate between the brand new napkin and the ones which were soaked in detergents EXCEPT the last one, 6.Rin Liquid Soap (Ala). Beyond doubt, Rin Ala exerts a bleaching action on the fabric and hence, its use should be restricted to white clothes only.

   To ascertain, whether the detergent induces any weakening of the fiber, each of the above napkin was soaked with a piece of white cloth also. After a cycle of 15 washes, each was torn manually and it was noted that the strength of the fiber remained intact in each case, even with Rin Ala Liquid soap.

   Many people want to know which is the best detergent powder or soap to wash clothes but from the above experiments we conclude that the method of soaking and washing clothes is more important than the type of detergent that we use.