Benefits of soda ash
Washing soda is an excellent disinfectant and cleaner. It brings significant benefits in everyday life. This product is capable of:
- eliminate unpleasant odors;
- reduce water hardness;
- remove dirty, stubborn and greasy stains from clothes;
- bleach the laundry when washing;
- disinfect things.
Sodium carbonate perfectly removes dirt from tiles, toilets, bathtubs, sinks, and can also be used to clean dishes.
The effectiveness of using soda solutions
Baking soda is a product famous for its many qualities, which are recommended to be used to get rid of dirt on clothes, white things, and kitchen towels.
In combination with other washing solutions, sodium bicarbonate is able to cope even with stubborn stains of various origins (grease, fruits, drinks) that have become embedded in the fabric fibers.
Soda solutions can also eliminate unpleasant odors and disinfect fabrics. Cleaning with sodium bicarbonate allows you to maintain whiteness and eliminate the yellow coating that often appears on kitchen towels or linen.
The peculiarity of the cooking powder is that the active substances can soften hard water. Thanks to this quality, you don’t have to worry about the safety of the fibers - the solution carefully cleans stubborn stains on delicate fabrics that become thinner when exposed to aggressive washing powders.
What fabrics can it be used with?
Before using washing soda ash, you should find out what fabrics it can be used on. Allowed materials include linen and cotton, which withstand alkaline environments well, so any stains can be easily removed from such fabrics. As for synthetics, you need to be careful here, since a very large amount of this powder can damage the fibers. Soda can be used to clean and wash fabrics, except delicate ones, such as natural silk or fine lace.
Do not wash silk and woolen items with soda ash. They will lose their original appearance and become hard and rough. It is also not recommended to wash items with a special water-repellent coating or made from a membrane with this product.
Precautionary measures
Since this alternative to washing powder (soda ash) is a caustic alkali, precautions must be taken when working with it. It must be borne in mind that if it gets on the skin or mucous tissues, a burn may appear at that location. When soda ash is mixed with water, the reaction becomes even more aggressive, so rubber gloves must be used when using this product. Contact must not be allowed:
- with mucous membranes;
- respiratory tract;
- derma.
Store in a tightly closed container and in a hard-to-reach, dry and cool place. From cardboard boxes you need to pour it into jars so that the soda does not crumble or get wet. After finishing work with it, it is advisable to ventilate the room.
Can I wash with this product?
The product perfectly deodorizes, disinfects and cleanses . This allows it to be used as a detergent.
Washing with soda is safe for health, does not harm the washing machine and improves the final result of the procedure.
The product can be used both in pure concentration and as part of a mixture. Many housewives simply add baking soda to washing powder. At the same time, things become softer, the colors of the fabrics become richer.
Soaking laundry with baking soda
This method is very effective for things that have been lying unwashed in an unventilated place for a long time. In such conditions, they begin to smell damp and sometimes become moldy. This method is also perfect for whitening white laundry at home. To do this, pour warm water into a basin and add washing soda there in a ratio of 3 tablespoons per bucket. The laundry prepared for soaking is rubbed with laundry soap, or you can put it along with chopped soap shavings. The basin with soaked laundry should be left overnight. Although in the morning there is no noticeable improvement in the appearance of the laundry, however, after it is rinsed and washed in the washing machine, it will become snow-white.
After soaking, greasy stains on towels are easily removed. To do this you need to take 3 tablespoons:
- soda;
- vegetable oil;
- powder;
- bleach.
Pour all these components into a bucket of boiled water and put towels in it until the water cools down, you can leave it overnight. Then rinse in clean water and machine wash.
You can also soak colored laundry, but you should take no more than 3-4 spoons of washing soda per 10 liters of water at a temperature no higher than 40 degrees.
When soaking items in soda ash before washing in the washing machine, you must follow the instructions written on the package. If its concentration is exceeded or things remain in the solution longer than necessary, they will simply spread out during washing.
Cleaning the washing machine with soda
An unpleasant odor from washed items or poor quality washing may be caused by the poor condition of the machine. After all, like any equipment, it requires careful handling and care. You can clean your faithful assistant with baking soda or soda ash. The cleaning process is simple:
- Mix baking soda and water in equal proportions;
- Treat the drum and the rubber cuff with the resulting mixture, under which the source of the unpleasant odor most often accumulates, leave for half an hour;
- Remove the mixture with a damp cloth and wipe the parts thoroughly;
- run a “idle” wash, that is, without laundry, adding soda to the powder compartment.
This method will help clean the drum and machine parts from lime and deposits.
Boiling with soda
Boiling it with soda ash will help get rid of yellow stains on white linen and make it snow-white. To make the result even stronger, it is recommended to soap things with laundry soap before starting to boil. Then pour 500 grams of soda ash and the same amount of white into the water, leave to boil for 1 hour, not forgetting to turn over with wooden tongs. After the time has passed, leave to cool and then rinse. For boiling, you must use a galvanized tank or an enamel pan. Basins with chips, aluminum or copper pans are not suitable for this procedure, because the laundry in them will become covered with rusty spots. Place a white cloth on the bottom.
This method of making laundry snow-white is effective, but it cannot be used often. The fact is that in this case the fabric will begin to corrode and things will become unusable.
You can boil it in another composition:
- 10 liters of water;
- 200 grams of laundry soda;
- a glass of laundry soap shavings.
In this case, the boiling time is 2 hours, and if you add 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia, you only need to boil for 40 minutes. This procedure with the addition of sodium carbonate is not recommended for colored laundry.
Application in cosmetology
To give split ends beauty and strength, you can use a product with bicarbonate, made right before shampooing. For this, 2 tsp. soda should be added to 3 tbsp. l. shampoo to make a fairly strong concentrated product. Wash your hair with this shampoo once a week, and at other times use regular detergents. Within a month, you can notice that your hair is gaining strength, splits less, becomes thick and shiny.
Sodium bicarbonate can also be mixed with body gel to make a kind of scrub and remove dead particles of the epidermis from the body. This will help give your skin a healthier appearance.
With the help of sodium bicarbonate, you can restore the acid balance of the skin, and thus eliminate acne on its surface. To do this, dip a cotton swab in soda and wipe your face twice a week. You need to wipe the skin of your face very gently, using massaging movements, avoiding the area under the eyes. If you do the procedure regularly, then acne will not appear on the surface of the skin for a long time.
To successfully use baking soda, it is very important to pay attention to how to make the solution correctly. You should not mix the proportions by eye and assume that such a remedy will be an assistant - in many cases, it was the excess of the dose of the main substance that became the cause of allergic reactions or deterioration of the patient’s condition. And in gardening, too strong a solution of soda ash can completely destroy the crop.
And in gardening, too strong a solution of soda ash can completely destroy the crop.
Hand wash with baking soda
Soda ash is an excellent assistant when washing work clothes that have stains:
- fuel oil;
- machine oil;
- gasoline;
- paraffin
Inexpensive laundry soda will do an excellent job of removing grease stains and other food stains that most often appear on the coats of catering workers.
The use of this product on colored laundry is also acceptable, but it does not need to be brewed. To wash, you need to pour 10 liters of water at 30-40 degrees into a basin, put 3-5 tablespoons of laundry soda in it and wash dirty clothes in this solution.
Machine wash with soda ash
Place 3 tablespoons of sodium carbonate in the pre-wash section. If things are very dirty, then it is best to take more of this product - about 5 spoons. In some cases, you can throw soda into the washing machine, directly into the drum. This way it will dissolve better and spread better, especially for:
- cotton clothes;
- linen towels;
- bed linen.
It should be noted that the speed and efficiency of washing with soda in a washing machine is greatly influenced by the water temperature: the higher it is, the better. Washing water can be made softer by adding 3-5 tablespoons of this product to the machine. In addition to the fact that it has softening properties, baking soda:
- destroys germs;
- removes slippery plaque and mold;
- will eliminate unpleasant odors.
Get rid of unpleasant odors
Clothes and bedding develop an odor over time because bacteria from our skin accumulate on them.
Enzymes contained in washing powder break down these bacteria. But inexpensive detergents do not always cope well with this task. The Lifehacker Telegram channel contains only the best texts about technology, relationships, sports, cinema and much more. Subscribe!
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To enhance their effectiveness, add half a glass of soda to one load of laundry when washing. And not in the powder container, but in the drum - before putting things in it.
If you need to get rid of stubborn odors like armpit sweat or tobacco smoke, soak your clothes in baking soda before washing. Add a glass of soda to a bowl of warm water and leave the items overnight. Then wash them as usual.
Take note
