Most Common Ingredients in Liquid Laundry Detergent

Today, however, we are much more informed about the harmful effects of harsh chemicals in detergents and so are the producers.

Skip is a brand that is focussed on creating top -quality clothes liquid detergents that care for your clothing and care for you too. That is why Skip lists all of their ingredients and their purposes openly on their packaging and website, because they want you to know that their products are safe to use.

If you’re curious about what goes into Skip’s range of laundry washing liquids, then this blog is just for you. We take a closer look at what liquid detergent ingredients go into each bottle of Skip Auto Washing Liquid and what harmful chemicals you should avoid all together.

What Are the Most Common Liquid Laundry Detergent Ingredients?

Knowing what goes into the detergents you are using is an important part of being a consumer. We are more informed these days about chemicals and the side effects they can have on our skin and our bodies. By choosing to use a detergent, like the Skip range of liquid detergents, you’re choosing a product that openly discloses its ingredients list, and actively chooses not to place any harmful chemicals in their products for your safety.

Here is a breakdown of the ingredients list of Skip Auto Washing Liquid and what the purpose of each ingredient is:

Surfactants

Surfactants are found in most laundry products and cleaning products. They are compounds that work to basically penetrate fabric fibres, break down dirt and stains, and suspend them or encase them in water so they can be easily washed away during rinsing. If you think of what happens when you mix oil and vinegar, they two never dissolve into one another but rather remain separated. Surfactants help to keep the dirt molecules encased in water and separate from the clothing.

Perfume

Perfume in liquid detergents is included in the formula in order to give the clothing a scent after being washed. Some detergents contain more perfume than others and your choice of detergent will depend on whether you like the scent or fragrance or not. Skip uses less harsh chemicals in the form of perfumes.

Optical Brighteners

Many years ago, blue dye was added to laundry powder in order to make white fabrics appear whiter. This was known as bluing. Thankfully today, this practice no longer exists and optical brighteners have been developed to replace it. Optical brighteners are a synthetic chemical compound that is added to liquid and powder detergents that absorb ultraviolet light and help to make white and bright clothing appear brighter. Another name used for optical brighteners on ingredient lists is fluorescent whitening agents or FWA’s.

Enzymes

Enzymes exist in many forms both inside and outside our bodies. Liquid laundry detergents include a range of different kinds of enzymes – commonly including amylases and proteases – which break down the hardest to get stains. Enzymes take on the stains that surfactants without damaging the fabric like bleach would. Enzymes and surfactants together make washing detergents such successful cleaning products which cares for your clothes.

Skip Auto Washing Liquid is not only a safe liquid detergent formula but also has a range of other benefits too.

• It leaves no residue on clothing or in the washing machine and doesn’t clump like a powder can.

• You use less liquid in every wash, saving you money and time.

• It can be applied directly to stains as a pre-treatment. It has advanced enzyme technology which can lift stains from fabric.

What Toxic Chemicals Should We Avoid in Laundry Detergents?

There are some absolute no-nos when it comes to ingredients in detergents. As a consumer, you should know what the most harmful chemicals are so that you can be informed and avoid detergents and cleaning products that contain them. Here is our opinion on the top three chemicals to avoid at all costs:

• Dioxane – this chemical can be found in a few different forms in detergents and has been found to be a likely human carcinogen.

• Formaldehyde – used as a preservative, formaldehyde in detergents can cause skin irritations and also be a carcinogen.

• Bleach – bleach can be used as a separate clothes whitener when you want to get the yellow or grey stains out of white clothing, but it should not be used as a general ingredient in detergents as it could cause skin irritations after prolonged use.

For more fabric cleaning tips look at our clothing care category today.