Gel and Powder Laundry Detergent

Detergent is such a common place laundry substance that it rarely occurs to anyone that it‘s actually a finely tuned chemical compound, carefully designed to break down all sorts of soiled, greasy garments. It isn’t just soap, oh no, it’s combinations of certain surfactants. Yes, I did say surfactants and I didn‘t even refer to its other possible components that are ionic or non-ionic. It’s interesting to be sure, possibly even erudite.
But who cares? We simply expect our clothing to be easy to wash, our cleaning agents to be effective without giving any of it a second thought.

But the bottom line is that the next time you reach for your handy laundry powder or gel, consider that it’s really an amazing scientific construct designed to make life easier and definitely cleaner and therefore healthier.

Regarding the easy part, it wasn’t long ago that humans were doing laundry in rivers, pounding clothes on rocks to dislodge the crusty stuff that clung to the fabric. These days, we use specific detergents for certain types of clothing and even choose condensed forms of gel packets to simply toss into a washing machine and be done with it. Our detergent powder might be scented or not, might be non-allergenic or not, might be designed for an HD washing machine or for an older model which is no doubt soon to be obsolete. Incidentally, modern biodegradable detergents are now available to clean wonderfully and avoid leaving synthetic toxins behind in the environment.

It seems quite marvelous that something we completely take for granted is actually a scientific, sort of magical, totally modern product that our ancestors would have really cherished. So maybe give it a thought next time you use it. I know I certainly will!