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tibbrix

I now need sunglasses for laundry

tibbrix
8 years ago

Well, I didn't think it could really be done, but yesterday I stumbled upon a combination of laundry detergent and whitener that - I am not kidding - literally had my whites SCREAMING white. I noticed it even the moment I opened the washing machine. After they were dry, though, I could not believe my eyes. Like brand new. Blindingly white. Unfortunately, I had to sell my soul to achieve this, namely by having to buy them (or at least the detergent) at Wal-Mart.

Detergent is a Mexican product called Foca. While I prefer unscented detergent, the scent from this stuff is just plain lovely. It reminds me of how my sheets smelled as a child after my mother laundered them in whatever detergent she used and hung them in the sun to dry in New Hampshire air. It is a very gentle, fresh scent. And get this: It's $3.47 for 4 lbs.! (and you can get it even cheaper if you have a Latino/Mexican store nearby that sell it). It is a powder and comes in a bag. Use about 1/2 the recommended amount, so about 1/2 cup per load.

The whitener is OUT White Brite. Also 1/2 cup per load (verus 1 cup of, say, Borax, and it works A LOT better than Borax, which is what I'd been using). I put it in my top-loader washing machine, fill with warm water, let it agitate a couple of minutes, then turn it off and let it soak for about 15 minutes. Egads. Couldn't believe it. However, I admit that for my first load, I used about 1 cup of each.

One warning: the Foca is not meant for HE machines, however you'll see people say in reviews of it that they do use it in their HE machines but use only about 1 tablespoon.

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