I miss that sharp, flowery smell from detergents. There I said it. Charlie's soap has no fragrance, and I want my clothes to smell something other than merely "fresh." It's like when I was weaning from deodorants, I would sometimes take the top off the Old Spice we use (now the Old Man uses it exclusively) and would just take a quick sniff, just to remember. I can't imagine how people use scent-free detergents, because I need that smell, man!
So, I gave in and have started putting a 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil in with the Charlie's Soap. I was worried it would leave oil stains on the clothes, but we put the detergent in through the center well of our washer, so it's easy enough to add the fragrance so that it is dispersed more evenly in the wash water. And the clothes have an ever-so-slight smell of cucumber and melon (the Bath and Body Works "dupe" I have a lot of and need to get rid of). When they come out of the dryer they have a slight trace of scent, just enough to feed the olfactory nerves, so I've been happy.
4 comments:
Thanks for the idea about using fragance oil with the Charlie's. I've been using it for our laundry and cloth diapers for a year and my husband says things don't smell "clean" to him. I am going to try this with essential oils and see if it gives me the clean smell he's looking for. Thanks!
I'm glad you liked the idea esp, and hope that it works for you--please let me know how it goes, if you are of a mind.
I'm going to get some lavender for my next wash scent. I like the Seventh Generation lavender-scented detergent and thought that would be a nice addition.
One more comment -- sometimes our clothes are just plain funky when they come out of the wash with Charlie's soap. I wonder if this is a combination of our water and the fact that our son is a hard-scrabbling, dirt-clod throwing, playground mite who just comes home completely filthy. My husband also works out and his clothes are often stinky, as well.
So, one thing you can take away from the discussion of Charlie's Soap vs. regular detergent is that Charlie's Soap does really get your clothes clean, but without the masks that regular detergents needlessly throw in, like optical brightners and scent.
I too love Charlie's Soap, but miss that clean smell of other detergents! My husband too, thinks our clothes aren't as clean as they don't 'smell clean' to him... I'm excited to try using essential oils with our charlie's detergent, but thought I'd offer a suggestion to you both. I find that using borax or straight vinegar with our really smelly laundry (sometimes with oxy clean too) takes all odors out of the laundry. Also, when washing gym clothes or especially dirty children's clothes the smaller the load the cleaner the clothes.
Your idea about adding vinegar is pretty sensible! The one thing about using fragrance or essential oils is you want to find ones that are water-soluble. I've had some problems with oil stains on clothes out of the wash; some FOs I've used are no problem, though, so I think it's the type of oil. I've just been cleaning out my old stock of fragrance oils so it's been hit or miss. I did just get some orange blossom essential oil recently from a seller in the state and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever.
That's my two-cents -- thanks for commenting!
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