Recently, scientists have developed hypoallergenic fragrances suitable for sensitive skin, and laundry detergents are available in both scent- and dye-free formulas. When used in the diluted proportions in laundry detergent, most people overwhelmingly prefer them. As with perfumes, each fragrance is a proprietary blend of many ingredients, derived from a variety of substances. Laundry detergents have unique scents developed by scientists and tested extensively with consumers. People also added sachets of herbs and dried flowers to their wardrobe and trunks for the same reason. While fragrance doesn’t really play a part in removing dirt from your clothes and linens, launderers have been adding scent to their process for centuries. Because these enzymes are organic components, detergents that contain them also include stabilizers and preservatives.įragrance - Clothes with a fresh, pleasant scent feel and smell cleaner. The most effective laundry detergents contain multiple enzymes. They allow dirt to rinse away when the water drains instead of settling or “redepositing” onto your clothes.īuilders - These ingredients help enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the surfactants (see below).Ĭhelators - These ingredients target naturally occurring metal ions in water, especially in “hard water” and prevent them from interfering with the cleaning action of the surfactants.ĭispersion agents - These ingredients help keep particles of soils from redepositing onto fabricĭye/Colorant - This is an optional ingredient that makes laundry detergent more visible and pleasing to the eye.Įnzymes - Some laundry detergents include these biological agents which target a single type of stain: protein, starch, fat, or thickeners. Each ingredient falls into one of these categories or types of ingredients that make a laundry detergent workĪnti-redeposition agents - These ingredients suspend dirt and oils pulled from your clothes by surfactants in the wash water. Laundry detergent labels may have many ingredients listed. Types of Ingredients in Laundry Detergents Read on to learn about each type of ingredient and what it does to help your clothes get clean. Ingredients in laundry detergent (except for dyes, fragrances, optical brighteners, and preservatives) attract, break down, surround, and remove dirts and oils, or help those ingredients do their job better. How Does Laundry Detergent Clean Clothes? To make laundry detergent, scientists isolate parts of ores or liquids from the earth such as trona and petroleum or plants such as palm kernels or coconut and create the specific substances that make detergent work. Scientists can also take an element’s molecular components and recombine them in new ways to make specialized chemicals by adding oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, or sulfur, for example. It wouldn’t be very useful in baking or cleaning as a rock, so the refining process crushes it, exposes it to carbon dioxide from the air, and makes the familiar white powder you encounter every day. Baking soda, for example, is refined from a crystallized salt called trona. They are created when scientists take a substance, such as an ore, seed, fruit, or vegetable and break it down into its components. A chemical simply refers to a substance that has been processed, purified, refined or prepared from another substance. Like any other material in the universe, your laundry detergent contains chemicals, but don’t let the word scare you.
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