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Why your shirt laundry’s lightly starched shirts feel so stiff
By: Stu Bloom
We hear this complaint quite often: even my light starched shirts feel stiff.
Why?
The answer typically boils down to the cost savings associated with synthetic vs. natural starch.
You see, there are basically 2 types of starch – synthetic and natural.
Most ordinary cleaners starch their shirts with a cheap synthetic glue (it’s poly vinyl chloride aka PVC).
Synthetic starch adheres to your shirt’s fibers like a coat of paint. Every time your shirts are starched another “coat” is added. The build-up continues in this fashion because synthetic starch does not dissolve instantly when it comes into contact with water in the washer wheel.
At RAVE FabriCARE, we only use the finest, natural wheat starch. Wheat starch dissolves immediately on contact with water during each laundering.
One more thing about synthetic starch. The continuous build-up on each starching also abrades the fibers of your shirts rather quickly.
That’s because, instead of “collapsing” when it comes into contact with water in the washer wheel, the shirt maintains its rigidity. It’s just like throwing a thin piece of plywood into the washer wheel and tumbling that piece of wood for 30 plus minutes.
Walk down the detergent isle of your local supermarket and you’ll find a bottle of synthetic liquid starch.
That’s very similar to the synthetic starch your ordinary cleaner is using.
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Stu Bloom
Stu Bloom is Founder and President of RAVE FabriCARE. RAVE FabriCARE, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, cares for fine garments, household textiles and accessories and serves clients throughout the USA and Canada. Stu is the author of various ebooks on these subjects, all of which are available from www.ravefabricare.com/freestuff. He is an evangelist for true quality cleaning and is a contributor to and editor of True Quality Cleaning, RAVE FabriCARE’s blog. You can find Stu on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
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