[b112]

Re: SLS. Hadn't heard of it, but clothing detergents can irritate my skin. Obviously, it may be SLS.

I'm rural, and so have my own well. One side effect is that depending on rainfall, and other factors, the hardness of my water changes.

Quite literally, I sometimes need to use 3x the detergent. Further, it is not entirely clear when to use 3x the detergent. I don't have time to do one of these every wash (other kits aren't suitable for my water):

https://ca.hach.com/total-hardness-test-kit-model-5-b/produc...

Anyhey, so I always just add vinegar after the wash, and do a second rinse. As this fixed most of my issues, I used to get rashes, and now I do not, it may be that vinegar is additionally effective at removing SLS.

Just a FYI, although I have zero idea if valid. Just that "irritation goes away" for me.

Edit for clarity:

I tend to add a full cup of vinegar, and sometimes more. The vinegar tends to rinse out very well.

[m463]

That's really interesting.

I read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

"With hard water, soap solutions form a white precipitate (soap scum) instead of producing lather, because the 2+ ions destroy the surfactant properties of the soap by forming a solid precipitate (the soap scum)."

I wonder if the vinegar helps clear this out.

SLS is a surfactant. I don't know how it all works together.

[b112]

There are loads of additionals added to soap, likely SLS helps too, to combat hardness in water. Most water has some hardness, but mine varies between 20 and 60 grains of hardness, which is quite high.

As you cannot tell the perfect amount of soap to add, unless you know the precise hardness at that moment, water like mine which is variable means a simple thing.

I am simply forced to add 3x the soap of the 'low range' of my water hardness, thus ensuring the clothes are effected by the soap.

Yet with amounts like that, all the soap has a difficult time washing out. Vinegar really helps, as an acid, to nullify the soap and wash it out.

So my target is not SLS in specific, just 'soap is a base, so acid should help get rid of it', which seems to work.

Some organisms cannot handle acid as well, so it may help in other respects.