Ive been living in japan for about 4 or 5 months now. I want to improve my laundy to make it smells nice and
cleaner. Last time i bought a softener was this one Laundrin Fabric Softener No.7 Refill 16.2 fl oz (480 ml) https://amzn.asia/d/iUSh18U
It makes my room smells nice. But for the clothes, it has a faint smell of it.
But after i hang it outside for drying, the smell fades into nothing and so after the clothes dry, i got clothes smelling like the “sun smell”. Ive cleaned my washing machine with those liquid stuff before. I wonder if its just the softener thats not as good as the review say it was.
Im currently using attack zero liquid, a bit of borax, and distilled white vinegar for softener in my laundey. If you guys have tips or product i should buy, a reply would be appreciated!
17 comments
That’s because Japanese don’t like strong smells, including perfume and strong laundry detergent.
Personally I use non scented laundry here. You can spray some light cologne and it won’t smell weird.
I don’t like scents, so I use softener only for the bed sheets. And even then, I use about half the recommended amount.
I hang everything indoors these days, just because I don’t like opening the balcony glass door in summer, even for a minute, and make my air conditioner and dehumidifier work more.
As a result, my towels are scratchy, which most people don’t like, but I do. It allows me to gauge when they need to be washed again, like the blue stripes on toothbrushes.
I’ve found that hanging laundry outside removes almost all smells. The only way it stays is if I hang indoors or use my dryer. I think it depends on how long you hang it outside as well. Bring it in as soon as it’s dry and it should have less time to air out.
Try the scent beads I swear they work wonders 😆💞
Easiest, cheapest, best solution is cheap vinegar & baking soda. You can order both on Amazon. Add a capful of vinegar to the detergent tray and sprinkle the clothes with baking soda powder; removes all scents and makes clothes softer !
Totally get what you mean. Started living here recently and here’s my recommendation.
Detergent: currently using Attack [https://amzn.to/3SzeTsx](https://amzn.to/3SzeTsx) as well. (scent here doesn’t really matter since it gets replaced by the softener’s scent). Planning to change for Ariel since its popular in my country.
Laundry softener: [https://amzn.to/3djvkt2](https://amzn.to/3djvkt2)
The floral scent doesn’t go away easily unlike most Japanese brands, of course just adjust the amount depending on your preference (I just use max always for simplicity but a little bit expensive LOL)
Some additional tips,
1. Don’t overcrowd the washing machine cause it reduces the scent of both the detergent and softener.
2. Use just enough water to not dilute the soaps too much.
3. A day in the sun is enough, don’t leave it for too long (I guess the scent evaporates?).
4. Choose the perfect time to hang it so the neighbor’s cooking exhaust don’t go to your hanged laundry.
edit: added a bit more info.
Just because it doesn’t smell floral or whatever doesn’t mean it’s not clean. It is clean, especially when you put it in the sun the sun kills a lot of bacteria and any bad smells. If you really want your clothes to smell flowery or perfumed though the best solution would probably be one of those scent sprays you can get for clothes/fabrics, or one of those hanging things you put in your closet to make it smell nice
Use warm water to wash, use dryer with dryer sheets. Profit.
I used to have Lenor Eau de Luxe Sensual. Had a strong smell and would last for very long but it got discontinued.
I switched to Eau de luxe perfume la mariage. Had even stronger smell but also got discontinued. I really think they don’t like strong smells 😕
I’d say Japanese fabric softeners and detergents are horrible. There are people having a condition called multiple chemical sensitivity who react to these horribly or people who develop the condition by simply using these products. Once you get that, your life will never be normal again and endless sufferings await you. So, I would say stay away from products by big companies at least. Some consumers had headache, coughing, and other symptoms by these. To me, these smells are nothing but shit. Check hash the hash tag #香害 if anyone is interested.
That said, I do not know if the product you put in the link is bad or not. Sorry, if this makes you feel upset but I assume non Japanese people living in Japan wouldn’t know such things but there are couples of documentary’s and articles regarding this you can find in Japanese.
Edit
You guys are down voting my comment, so I think I should add more so that you can understand a bit more perhaps. I said “Japanese” but here I actually mean products sold in Japan and not necessary excluding products from foreign companies. Most of the products are localized. And this problem isn’t necessarily exclusive in Japan, of course. However, the amount of the report is greater here and the term has been mentioned by a fair amount of politicians, for example Reiwa party, Chizuko Takahashi from communist party, also Komei party.
https://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_kaigiroku.nsf/html/kaigiroku/019719820190614004.htm
There are also articles written in Chinese, basically these are I could find from Taiwan media but it’s about the situation in Japan. I suspect the problem is more common here. Also there are fair amount of scientific paper by the Japanese about it, and therefore I assume this issue is more takes about here.
Edit2
Thank you for reading and understanding. While this is very complicated and perfectly healthy people might not be affected by tiny chemicals, and there are certainly disinformation or not so true things, unknown factors, with a lot of anecdotes and less scientific discussions, and people who develop the condition often previously has other condition while some anecdotally say there were healthy but the exposure to fabric softeners changed her life, this whole thing does matter to anyone’s healthy lifestyle and for the fact people can’t avoid all potentially toxic chemical products in our daily lives, what I believe is, by my comment, while I know many people wouldn’t pay much attention to this issue, there should be people who are genuinely curious about this and dig into this matter.
The generalization sounds bad, I know, especially most of the people here have to use one of these products as you guys are living here. But what’s actually bad is the society that leaves the issue untouched. And I
am more than happy if a handful of people find this interesting and find out more things about this issue. I am sure there are always smarter people who can perhaps gain some more insight about this while someone like myself only can say what has been going on.
And I am glad there seems to be people who actually read my comment and undertand what I mean.
What is bad about “sun smell”? I really enjoy when I can hang my clothes outside. The sun cleans everything.
Agree with the comments that Japanese people don’t like strong scents. But just because you don’t notice the scent doesn’t mean that other people don’t. If you want something stronger smelling you can try Downy (sold at Costco). If you have a front-loading washing machine check that thicker softeners are okay, the manual for ours specifically said not to use Downy.
Put a soap bar in your drawers / wardrobe / おしいれ.
Hi! I like to use アリエール brand detergent pods, and some Oxi-clean in every load of laundry. Laundry smells good, and the laundry machine doesn’t stink as often.
I don’t use any fabric softener.
If you use dryer, you will retain the floral smell. If you will hang dry in the sun, just pick them up as soon as they’re dry.
Sachets! Put some of the smell you want on some cotton balls and place in cheese cloth or something airy but contained, and put that in your drawers. It’ll release the smell and get into your clothes after they’re clean and sun dried
If you want to keep your clothes nicer for longer, don’t use softener. It doesn’t make your clothes any cleaner.