I want to wash Sunbrella fabric and they say no detergent.
If I should use only natural soap, what do I buy?
What is the difference and what will happen to my fabric if I wash it in my regular laundry detergent?
Thanks for your help.
Amazing, isn’t it? Sunbrella fabric is made to live outdoors, but it’s apparently allergic to regular detergent.
I’d go with Ivory soap if hand-washing. You could probably mix some up in a bucket and scrub the awning or whatever it is using a push broom. If you’re determined to wash the stuff in a machine, there are “natural” soaps available - I just don’t know how they hold down the suds.
Ivory Snow would be your best bet in a mchine.
Always read and follow label directions.
Detergents are synthetic, soaps are made from natural fats. Synthetics are typically harsher. kunilou rightly points out that Ivory Snow is a non-detergent soap. So is Dreft and Rinso, although I’m not certain that those two brands are still in production. So you could use one of those.
(I just double checked the above, and found that both Ivory Snow and Dreft are now also detergents, not soaps. But they are specially formulated to rinse cleaner and are designed for fine washables and childrens clothing, so they are probably still okay for your problem)
Or go to a supermarket and/or five and dime and ask if they have any laundry bar soaps. Fels Naptha is the name of one. It is still very caustic, though, so you might just go with one of the above.
How about Dr. Bronner’s soap? Washing Sunbrella fabric is about the only use not mentioned on the label, but since it can be used for everything from brushing teeth to contraception, it must be OK for fabric, too.
Detergents are either surfactants or combinations of surfactants and other things. A surfactant is a water-borne agent that is active at the surfaces of the water (a SURFace ACTive agENT). Surfactants are generally synthesized to have a molecular structure that has an affinity for water at one end of the molecule and an affinity for oil at the other end, and this lets them coat droplets of oil and separate them from other things and keep them separated. A sequestrant is a surfactant that is especially good at keeping the droplets separated. An emulsifier is a surfactant that is especially good at coating many droplets of oil, for example to make soybean oil into a creamy base for salad dressings. An emollient is a surfactant that is especially good at coating skin and blocking transfer of water out of the skin. Sodium laurel sulfate is a common surfactant that you might find in shampoo. Triton X-100 is a brand name for a common surfactant you might find used in many industrial processes.
Soaps are a class of detergents that are synthesized by “saponification”, or reacting fats (lard, vegetable oil) with caustic alkalai. If the alkalai is based on sodium, for example lye, then the soap is a “hard soap”, whereas if the alkalai is based on potassium, for example potash, then the soap is a “soft soap”.
Saponification is a synthesizing process that has been known since antiqity. I presume that is what is meant by saying that soaps are “natural”.
I’m not familiar with that brand of fabric but I presume it’s treated with some sort of finish/fabric protector to make it water/soiling resistant. Ordinary detergants can affect the finish/protector on fabrics ( I found out from washing a raincoat with a water repellent finish).
Try soap flakes - dissolve in hot water, allow to cool, then wash the fabric as gentle as possible - friction will also degrade the finish (so sticking it in a washing machine wouldn’t be a good idea).
Wow this is so much better than Hints from Heliose.
Thanks so much for all the info.
FYI I am trying to wash covers of cushions that were in a boat when it sank. So I guess most anything will be an improvement.
I am going to try to wash the cushion covers in the machine with Ivory soap and hang to dry.
Hope the sun comes out tomorrow.
Many thanks,
Stellablue
If you want to get a bit more into chemistry, as a general rule soap is good for non-polar molecules like oil but not very good for polar molecules. Detergents are designed, as napier said, along the lines of molecules found in nature like phospholipids, which have a polar head and a non-polar tail, creating a phospholipid bi-layer in cells. This means that the detergent can do double-duty and work well with both polar and non-polar molecules.
Sorry, but while I know chemistry I don’t really know laundry. I just throw my stuff into the washer and let it go at that.
Asterion-Heads Tails
Without chemistry life itself would be boring!
I will never do laundry the same again.
Thanks