Washing your clothes incorrectly can leave you with a myriad of problems.
You might think that doing the laundry is easy. It should be as simple as throwing your clothes into your washing machine, adding your favourite detergent, and sticking it on a cycle. However, there are several things you need to consider when it comes to doing your laundry, as doing it incorrectly can have consequences.
If you’ve ever taken your laundry out of the wash and found that it’s covered in a white dusty residue, then this is one of those consequences – and it means you must change your washing routine.
You might think that the white residue means something is wrong with your washing machine. After all, the washing process should make your clothes clean, so why are they dirtier than when they went in?
Well, according to cleaning fans on Reddit, the answer is quite simple and easy to fix.
In a post on the Cleaning Tips forum on Reddit, one person asked for help after they took their black laundry out of their washing machine and found it was covered in white residue.
They said: “I have work clothes that always end up with this white residue on them. This doesn’t happen to my other clothes and I only wash like materials and colours together and still have this problem.
“I check all pockets before washing. I can wipe it off with a wet washcloth, but it’s super annoying and really slows down my laundry. What gives?!”
People in the comments were quick to tell the person what their problem was – they weren’t washing their clothes properly.
One of the major factors that can cause white residue on clothes is using too much detergent. The residue is actually soap scum, which can linger on clothes if the soap you use to wash them can’t cycle through the washing machine properly.
This can also occur when you overload the washing machine with too many clothes so that the soap can’t fully rinse off, or when the temperature you set your cycle to isn’t hot enough. Some detergents can work at lower temperatures, but not all of them can, so it’s important to always follow the instructions on the packaging.
One person said: “I had that too, it’s soap scum. You need to process soap through the cycle better. Hotter water, turn black stuff inside out, [do] two rinse cycles, and don’t over pack the laundry.”
Another added: “This is soap scum. Basically, the dirt that was lifted from your clothes wasn’t able to be expelled during the rinse cycle. This is caused by a combination of water not warm enough to keep everything in solution, and/or not enough water for the amount of clothes, and/or not enough detergent.”
A third wrote: “Maybe you put too much soap in when you washed it – try adding an extra rinse cycle.”
