Now that you are facing an adult life <more now in post pandemic>, you face yourself with a comprehension challenge which back in time wasn’t even on your radar, for example, your mother asks: “Hey, could you buy me a detergent that at least lasts long enough for the fortnight washes”. ¡And what an horror!, for the first time we face the dreaded bottle or detergent bag with any attributes as: scents, cleanliness, colors, liquids, powder, biodegradables, with or without bubbles, pods and even the new sheets that woke your curiosity
Now that you are facing an adult life <more now in post pandemic>, you face yourself with a comprehension challenge which back in time wasn’t even on your radar, for example, your mother asks: “Hey, could you buy me a detergent that at least lasts long enough for the fortnight washes”. ¡And what an horror!, for the first time we face the dreaded bottle or detergent bag with any attributes as: scents, cleanliness, colors, liquids, powder, biodegradables, with or without bubbles, pods and even the new sheets that woke your curiosity
Oh! But halfway through the fortnight it is over and turns out the blame is on you because you didn’t knew how to pick. Okay now!, that’s not truth, we get you and we support you: “You read that the bottle or gab said 64 washes”, unless you live in a laundry <64 washes won’t be completed in a month> Or am I about your reasoning?...
What happened is that, as that famous character used to say: "They took advantage of my nobility", because if you go to the back of the bottle, box or bag, you will notice that the number of washes mentioned <in very, very small letters>, correspond to the minimum unit for washes.
Many of the US leading brands, have been used as references for the region and for the ways of calling the doses, making it harder for the consumer to understand the use and ration of the product.
For example: T*D€ Powder and/or Liquid <I will not promote the brand>, the units of the measuring CUP, are divided into 5 levels. Number 1 referring to "Medium Loads", which is equivalent to a tablespoon of "something" which with works to wash no more than piece of garment, while level 5 refers to "Extra Long Loads", for a real and complete wash inside your washing machine.
And as that other famous character used to say: "That's the detail", because "64 micro washes", turned out to"13 complete washes" <don't forget that the manufacturer will call them whatever he wants, because he wants to, and because he can and he feels like it>. Oh! , but it turns out that at home we are left with half of the laundry basket unwashed.
The trick was promoting the minimum washing unit going from 64 loads to 13 complete and real washes.
Now a days we face the same case with liquid detergents. Sometimes appealing to unrealistic numbers that no one will take the time to calculate. Which either you are a chemical engineer making calculations or you do good research when it comes to making an acceptable wash.
Such is the case of: ... [Add 1/2 cup of detergent to the washing machine for every 10 liters of water].... Well, either you learn the American or European washing machine standard law that say that you can have 40 to 60 liters of water per wash and understand that you must add 2 full caps, or you are left with a wash that you practically applied a placebo effect.
We learned all this by analyzing from back to front, <yes, we know that no wall is built from top to bottom>, but the thirst for knowledge arose when we decided to venture into Biodegradable Detergent Sheets.
Because we had to transform and concentrate only 5 grams into a detergent sheet with ultra-concentration of active ingredient, higher than 40% and achieve a higher level of cleanliness within the same 40 liters of water.
Recently we learned that: A full wash or load is made up of 7-8Kg of dry clothes. And that was our starting point!.
Market research for learning about the world of detergents was a challenge, perhaps because the main frame of reference in the learning of washing process was: "Because my mother told me so, period", obviously other key elements of study emerged and forced us to understand that, in one hand we had a generation that reads what they are going to buy and in the other a generation that by experience calculates, gropes and learns, inheriting the knowledge to the next generation, which, today <including myself> we are more open to try new experiences in the consumption process.
My mother explained me how to use the washing machine and I wash like this because she explained it this way ("YOU can’t question her").
It was more difficult to understand that still, in some generations, the foam or bubble effect in detergent continues to be a synonymous of cleanliness. When in fact, it is a placebo effect that is added chemically "without any real or proven effect", but many people still like it. <I admit that I feel admiration for a certain campaign of a leading detergent in Mexico, which popularized the foam in its detergent and this, as a cascade effect, reached the Central American countries due to the enormous influence of Mexican television>, today many T.V soaps mothers would grab their necklaces scandalized if their detergent doesn’t foam <I have no evidence, but no doubts either>.
Bubbles in detergents is a placebo effect, which has no cleaning effect.
Not to mention the colored microparticles with a higher cleaning effect, when you see that the same amount of active ingredient remains <It is important to clarify that, if something really cleans the clothes it’s because the ACTIVE INGREDIENT, not the foam>, but again we return to the label and find the legend of "up to 15%", again I want to clarify that under that argument is completely legal to put only "2%" and as we do not exceed the 15% advertised .... They are defended with the wonderful word: UP TO", which refers to: "It does not exceed 15%", <Do you understand the trick or do we explain it with crayons?>
Anyway, the washing world is a universe of knowledge. This will be the first of several articles that we will publish and use to understand the scary world of washes, <lets be serious.... I hope couple of these facts turn out helpful. Let's read the small letters and be open-minded to try new products>.
Remember: A biodegradable detergent is phosphate free.
I won't say goodbye without first inviting you to investigate a little of the new environmental trend of detergent sheets, in Mexico we already find some great brands that I would like to invite you to try. You can find some of them in Mercado Libre <a nice purple packaging>, the others are already in the chain called HEB Mexico.
My name is Abby and we have a lot to talk about, see you soon!
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