How Often Do You Wash Your Towels?

Grouse said:
fine delacates are not generally stored in sunlight like the interior of a car, or carpets/couches next to a window. optical brightners attract ultaviolet light, that degrades colors and fibers when left to exposure of sunlight. It is the combination of long exposure to direct sunlite and optical brightners. One by its lonesome is not likely to cause the issue.



That is also not taking in consideration what standard water based detergents do to the fatty oils that are in leather. the same oils that give it the very suppleness that we like.



just because people use it does not mean it is the propper thing to use.



I
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According to some quick research, Woolite does NOT contain any optical brightners:

Optical Brightners in laundry detergent



It would appear you were incorrect.
 
abbeysdad, you seem to be correct. Woolite no longer has any optical brightners. However, at one time Woolite used to have optical brightners. Perhaps that is what was causing the confusion :)
 
Okay abbeysdad. I searched two and found exactly what i am talking about. The quick way to test is to run woolite treated cloth under a black light. If it pops flourecent it contains optical brightners.

http://www.fcimag.com/CDA/Archives/e8f100004d0d8010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____



I'm going to fire off an email to woolite and see if they have changed their formula. It is likely that they have. According to the US military woolite is one of 5 or so detergents that DOES NOT contain OB's. However i have 10 years of experience to the contrary. That being said i have not purchased a bottle of woolite in a year or so. I will, and run a black light over it. If it glows it's optical brightners.



The link above outlines the damage that is done to fibers. it even includes what it looks like under a black light.



What optical brighteners are

http://www.addcomp.com/features/archive/novdec03/novdec03.htm#
 
written example



Carpet Sleuth: The mystery of the disappearing spots

Optical brighteners (not the butler) did it.



By Libby Longstreth



From the July 2001 edition of Cleanfax magazine. For a free introductory subscription, click here.



Optical brighteners are used to lighten fabrics. Whites are whiter, colors are brighter. What could go wrong? Plenty. Optical brighteners can create mysterious disappearing spots and permanent slow-appearing yellow spots.

While professional carpet cleaning chemicals rarely contain these products, they are in popular spotting chemicals marketed directly to consumers and some commercial cleaning chemicals. These chemicals often lead to problems, so their use leads to many inspection opportunities.



Following are three case studies with a similar problem to help you understand why diagnosing optical brightener spots is good inspection business.



Case studies



Case one: A carpet was professionally cleaned using hot water extraction. A few weeks later the consumer began noticing faint yellow streaks on the carpet near a sliding glass door. Over time, the streaks began to grow and he began noticing yellow spots and streaks on many areas of his carpet.



He called his insurance company who called me. Examination of the carpet under a black light showed streaks of pink/white fluorescence. The temporary pile distortion caused by cleaning had not been erased by vacuuming or traffic so characteristic wand marks were still visible.



The wand marks visible in ordinary room light matched the pattern of the fluorescent streaks observed under black light. Wherever yellow spots were visible in normal light, there were dark spots: non-fluorescing interruptions in the pink/white fluorescing streaks. Under black light an area beneath a rug showed nearly solid pink/white fluorescence, but under normal (ambient) light, there were no yellow spots or streaks.



Case two: A carpet in a mountainous area was spot cleaned. Soon after, the consumer noticed bright pink spots on the carpet when the front door was opened, but only in the daytime. Sometimes another pink spot showed up behind a couch in front of a window.



Case three: A carpet, recently cleaned with rented equipment and accompanying chemicals, had a large pink spot near a couch. The spot was only visible in the daytime.



The culprit



Optical brightener caused the problem in all the cases.



Optical brighteners are composed of electron rich molecules. The electron rich parts of the molecule absorb high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light just outside the visible spectrum. Absorbing the light raises the energy state of the electrons.



The extra energy cannot be held long as the “excited� electrons make the molecule unstable. The electron soon falls back to its more stable lower energy state and the absorbed energy released as visible light, thus brightening the textile to which it is attached.



Black (UV) lights emit high energy light at the edge of the visible spectrum. Under a black light the electrons get really excited and fluoresce a bright purple pink color. Nothing else reflects any color as the proper parts of visible light are not available and so the fluorescing compound is highly visible.



The process of moving to a higher energy state uses energy. Every time an electron moves to a less stable state it re-emits less energy than it absorbs. Over time it will not absorb light energy at all and the optical brightener becomes exhausted. At this point, the actual dull yellow color of the optical brightener becomes visible. This accounts for some of the yellowing that occurs after repeated clothes washing.



Unfortunately, these are rather large molecules and nearly impossible to remove from either fabric or carpet, so the yellow color stays. This is why brighteners are not added to professional carpet cleaning chemicals.



Solving the mysteries



Case one: The pink/white fluorescence was characteristic of optical brighteners. The yellow streaks showed up first in front of the sliding glass door because that part of the carpet received the most sun and thus the brighteners were more quickly exhausted in that area.



Under the rug the brighteners were protected from light so the brighteners were still fresh, there were no yellow spots in normal light and bright fluorescence under UV light. The similarity of the wand marks to the fluorescent streaks indicated that the brightener had been applied as part of the cleaning.



Case two: The spot cleaner glowed pink under UV light, as did the disappearing pink spots. The pink spot showed up on the carpet when the door was open because unfiltered sunlight could then shine directly on to the carpet and the brighteners. The UV light that is part of ordinary sunlight (especially at high altitudes) made bright pink spots where the spotter was used.



Case three: The spot was (surprise!) optical brightener turning pink under the effect of sunlight. Using a UV light it turned out the brighteners were all over the carpet, but the machine had leaked and a puddle of brightener had collected in front of the couch. The combination of lots of chemical and a little sunlight created a pink disappearing spot.



Libby Longstreth currently teaches the IICRC Senior Inspector Course, oversees the Substrate Inspection Course and is a full-time inspector, working with all types of floor coverings. She has a fondness for problems requiring biological and chemical analysis. Libby has an undergraduate degree in biology and psychology and has done considerable graduate work in chemistry and environmental interactions with floor covering.
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Hi guys, I do wash my MF or WW towels with every usage on the car, be it for windows, drying or cleaning dirty door jams. I dont separate them out, but just dump them all into 1 pail and put Mama Lemon Dishwashing detergent to clean it.



Then I will rinse in cold water for 2 or 3 cycles before drying them.



However, my concern now is that often or not, the detergent never seems to get out of the towels. And what I am afraid is that it is gradually stripping away my Autoglym EGP.



So pros here :), is there any way to solve this problem? Or should I use Meguiars Car wash shampoo to wash these towels instead?
 
Adzz said:
However, my concern now is that often or not, the detergent never seems to get out of the towels. And what I am afraid is that it is gradually stripping away my Autoglym EGP.



?
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What is Autoglym EGP?
 
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