Hi all, I was hoping you could send me in the right direction. My washing doesn't seem to come out as clean as in the UK but then again, I only have cold water!

I was wondering if there was a powder someone could recommend for this situation - e.g. a biological powder that works well at low temperatures??? Not being able to read Thai, I'm not sure if the powder I'm using at the moment is bio or not. I've also tried adding some "Vanish" to the wash with little effect.

Who can advise me?

Not that I have found, but this is what has worked for me with washing only in cold (and this includes my husband's stinky socks and undershirts AND cloth diapers/nappies):

With an especially stinky load, I do a short wash with just baking soda - about 3 tablespoons. Then I do a second wash with 1/2 the recommended detergent (this is for a front loader - not sure about top loader); for the rinse cycle, I put in about 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar. The vinegar helps to disinfect and to strip residue detergent off of the clothes. Usually I just do the detergent and vinegar. Can't smell the vinegar on the clothes and the clothes come out with no smell instead of the clean/detergent smell. Good for the environment as well.

I think kannon99 is on to something with her use of vinegar as a rinse. Fabric softener puts a waxy coat on the clothes that doesn't wash out well in cold water. I just plain don't use any. It's not like you're going to have clinging slips from static electricity here. The primary function of fabric softener here is to cover up the sour mildew smell from being hung out to dry in the rainy season. Fabric softener also makes towels and cleaning cloths unable to absorb water and semi-useless. That waxy layer again.

If you want to get the dinge out of the laundry, get some Amway detergent. A small box is expensive, but lasts me over 6 months.

Thanks for those tips/pointers, I've got some experimenting to do by the sound of it.

Strangely enough, I saw a commercial on Thai TV last night for a washing powder. ~It was a Thai brand but they mentioned "Bio Active"! I need to watch out again for the ad and pay more attention this time. Might mean sitting through hours of Thai TV though .

Ah, I get it. By biological washing powder you meant what we Yanks call laundry detergent with enzymes. I still recommend the Amway stuff instead. But then, I'm allergic to the enzymes.

Enzymes aren't going to get your clothes cleaner. They will help with stains from things like food. The general dullness of your washed clothes is caused by an accumulated film of unrinsed detergent and fabric softener. You need to use a detergent that will rinse out completely to remove it. You could try washing them without any detergent at all and see what happens, or better yet try as kannon99 suggested.

Hi!

Where I can sign for Amway in Thiland?

Are U IBO?

Thx!

Email removed please PM

Inga

I just went down to the local Amway distribution center and signed up to be an IBO. My sponsor is some Thai lady who happened to be there at the time. I just wanted to be able to buy the product at reasonable cost. It cost something like 100 baht to sign up. Amway has a Thai website you could visit if you can read Thai, and I do believe you can even sign up there.

I wish the full line of products was available here, but it's not. I really wanted some of their liquid scouring powder goop for my bathroom.