Poll: Do you use fabric softener?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hubby and I were talking about fabric softeners, and I got to wondering just how widely it's used.  Please feel free to elaborate below!

The poll is currently set up to show who voted which way.  If you'd prefer not to vote under those circumstances, just say so and I'll change the setting.

 

[Artemis]

I use dryer sheets but not liquid fabric softener.  We never used liquid when I was growing up because it was an extra expense we couldn't afford, and my parents always claimed it wore clothes out faster.  I've never tried it and thus never really felt a need for it.  Dryer sheets, though, I use mostly to reduce static.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Artemis said:

I use dryer sheets but not liquid fabric softener. 

It's my impression that they serve roughly the same purpose, so there would be no reason to use both.

4 hours ago, Artemis said:

my parents always claimed it wore clothes out faster.

I've heard that said of using a dryer instead of a clothesline (which seems plausible, since all that lint comes from somewhere).  I don't offhand see how fabric softener would have that effect, but then I have no idea how it works.

4 hours ago, Artemis said:

Dryer sheets, though, I use mostly to reduce static.

So a lot of your clothes are synthetic fabric, or a blend?

 

[kimber8ada]

I've always used the sheets, basically for static control and because that's what my mom always used. 

[DistantView]

Hell no. It leaves fabrics filmy and gross (esp. dryer sheets). IMHO of course. 😁

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, kimber8ada said:

that's what my mom always used

... and that's why we do about 75% of what we do!      Like I don't use cloves in pumpkin pie, because Mom didn't, and that's what I grew up with, so it tastes like home.

47 minutes ago, DistantView said:

It leaves fabrics filmy and gross

You forgot "smelling like a cheap bordello"    not that I would know!  And meaning no offense to the normal people here.

I'm finding scented products more and more annoying as the years go by.  What bothers me most about the scent in softener products is its persistence.  I have some clothing and bedding that I inherited from Mom several years ago, which I have washed numerous times with unscented products, and they still smell like her dryer sheets.

I guess the main reason I don't use fabric softener, though, is that practically all of my laundry is cotton, which is naturally static-free.  I discovered ages ago that polyester and I aren't a good combination -- it reacts with my body chemistry somehow, making me really stink (my brother and I seem to have inherited this trait from our father).  Cotton doesn't do that.

 

[Caya]

So I'm the only one round here who uses fabric softener? Unscented, hypoallergenic one mind you, because, yeah, don't like that clingy smell either.

Back when I started doing my own laundry, I didn't use any because my boyfriend's mom advised us (which should've given me pause, really) that we could just as easily do without. Yeah, no; I found that it made t-shirts stiff and uncomfortable to wear in comparison after a while, so I started using it and have ever since.

[Carol the Dabbler]

35 minutes ago, Caya said:

So I'm the only one round here who uses fabric softener?

So far, at least the liquid kind.  But dryer sheets are also a type of fabric softener, aren't they?

35 minutes ago, Caya said:

I found that it made t-shirts stiff and uncomfortable to wear in comparison after a while

Either I'm made of sterner stuff than you are, or else your t-shirts are inherently stiffer.  If I dried mine on a clothesline they'd be a bit stiff, but I use a dryer.

 

[Caya]

Both, I guess. Used a clothesline back then, yeah, but now we have a dryer and still use softener. Not sure how many people here use dryer sheets, they are fairly unknown. First encountered them in The Sims to be honest.

[J.P.]

No, why should I spend money on some more chemicals?

[DistantView]

On 1/8/2022 at 11:06 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

smelling like a cheap bordello

😄

[Artemis]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:00 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

So a lot of your clothes are synthetic fabric, or a blend?

Yes.  I'd prefer them not to be, but I need formal wear for work, which is typically polyester or some blend.  I don't have many choices either, in terms of what will fit me right, so I generally have to take what I can get.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Artemis said:

I need formal wear for work, which is typically polyester or some blend.  I don't have many choices either, in terms of what will fit me right, so I generally have to take what I can get.

You have my sympathy!  I'm nearly always in sweatshirts and pants, would hate to be in a situation where I had to dress up all the time.

 

[Arcadia]

On 1/9/2022 at 3:42 PM, J.P. said:

No, why should I spend money on some more chemicals?

Because they improve your life?  

I use dryer sheets because of the static thing too. Mine are barely scented so I don't notice that part.