Have you ever paused and asked yourself, Are my clothes toxic?
No? You probably should.
Perfumes and personal care products are not the only items that should raise a red flag in your mind. Add cleaning agents in popular detergents to the list…to the very top, in fact.
Make no mistake. In the devastatingly unregulated laundry detergent industry, manufacturers have no qualms about launching cleaning agents that coat clothes in very toxic chemicals to remove stubborn stains and spots.
The U.S only regulates chemicals in detergents and fabric softeners that are highly toxic. In other words, a large number of these dangerous substances are still freely used to treat clothes—without regard to the deterioration they cause to your beloved pieces and your health.
Finding laundry detergents that are devoid of any or all these chemicals is pretty hard. We recommend switching to organic dry-cleaning instead—it’s affordable, avoids using chemicals and adds to your clothes’ appeal.
In this post, we’ll highlight the most common toxic laundry detergent chemicals that can ruin your clothes thus, you need to keep your eyes peeled for them.
Dirty Detergents—The Big 3
The average U.S family goes through nearly 18 billion cups of laundry detergents each year—18 billion cups!
This dangerous cocktail of detergent chemicals is no joke. Some of the chemicals are potentially cancer-causing and others aren’t even mentioned on the label.
The top offenders include:
NPE (nonylphenol ethoxylate)—they’re used to give your load that crispy clean feel.
Phosphates—they prevent dust particles from settling in your clothes.
Ethylene Oxide—they add to the shelf-life of the detergents.
Sure, you got a perfectly clean load of laundry out the washing machine—but at what cost?
Without getting too technical, we’ll try to explain just how much harm these chemicals cause. There are concerns that they may be potentially linked to autism, respiratory diseases, cancer, and neuro-transmission diseases.
It’s All Still There
These toxic chemicals leave behind more than just clean clothes. Residual traces of these substances can be found on your clothes for a long period of time. They build up slowly until your precious clothes contain dangerously high levels of residue. It’s not a good picture for anyone, least of all your clothes.
Organic Dry-Cleaning Will Save Your Clothes
Using organic or ‘green’ dry-cleaning throws any chemical-induced side-effects right out the window. At NY Organic Dry Cleaners, we use products that are naturally found and which keep your clothes in pristine condition.