10 underwear cleaning liquids vs. ordinary laundry detergents: blood stain killer, antibacterial, gentle on hands, which one is better?

"80% of recurrent gynecological diseases, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, vaginitis, and urethritis, are related to bacteria carried by underwear."

Source: Screenshot of a search engine

Since when, underwear has become not only a barometer of women's health, but also the "culprit" of women's gynecological diseases. The legendary artifact for washing underwear - underwear cleaning liquid, has also become popular with this "east wind".

Blood stain killer, 24-hour long-lasting antibacterial, gentle care, high-end fragrance... These claims appear on the detail pages of many underwear cleaning liquid brands. It can be said that they accurately grasp the pain points and needs of the sisters.

Source: Screenshot of a certain underwear cleaning liquid details page

However, some people question that underwear cleaning liquid is not much better than ordinary laundry detergent, but the price is several times more expensive. So, is it necessary to use underwear cleaning liquid? Compared with ordinary laundry detergent, what is the advantage?

In order to allow everyone to compare underwear cleaning liquid and ordinary laundry detergent more intuitively, we selected 2 products with outstanding overall performance from previous laundry detergent reviews, and purchased 8 underwear cleaning liquids based on fan nominations and platform sales.

Note: All samples are purchased at the notary office, and the batch is based on the purchased samples; the evaluation results are only for samples and are for reference only.

In this evaluation, we will have three rounds of evaluation: detergency, antibacterial effect, and pH value, and compare underwear cleaning liquid with ordinary laundry detergent. Friends who are interested must read to the end!

01

Blood stains, leucorrhea

Wash more cleanly?

During menstruation, dysmenorrhea and menstrual blood accidentally getting on underwear, sheets, quilts, pants... are a double blow to women.

As a cleaning liquid specially designed for washing underwear, can it meet our needs of cleaning blood stains, leucorrhea and other stains?

To this end, the technicians sent 8 underwear cleaning liquids to a professional laboratory in a notarized manner. The laboratory tested the detergency of the 8 underwear cleaning liquids according to the determination method of GB/T 13174-2021 "Determination of Detergency and Circulation Washing Performance of Detergents for Clothing".

The menstrual blood and leucorrhea that women are concerned about are protein stains, while the oil stains, sweat stains and dandruff produced by human skin metabolism are human oil stains.

Correspondingly, the laboratory used three kinds of dirty cloths to simulate oil and dust, protein stains, and human oil stains, and cleaned the dirty cloths with underwear cleaning fluid at a specific temperature and time.

The washing experiment was first carried out in a vertical decontamination machine and finally merged into the inner barrel of a rinser to control the moisture.

Now, let’s take a look at the cleaning performance of 8 underwear cleaning liquids.

Note: Evaluation is based on "QB/T 1224-2012 Liquid Detergents for Clothes"

According to the requirements of QB/T 1224-2012 "Liquid Detergents for Clothes", the decontamination value of the detergent for cleaning three types of dirty cloth must be greater than or equal to 1, and the larger the value, the stronger the decontamination ability.

My goodness, the cleaning power of No. 2 underwear cleaning liquid is at the bottom. Whether it is in the cleaning value of oil stains, protein stains or human body oil stains, the effect is the weakest.

As a "professional" underwear cleaning liquid, No. 2 is still outclassed by ordinary laundry detergents in terms of its ability to remove protein stains, that is, its ability to remove blood stains. However, its price per 100 ml is 6 times that of the two ordinary laundry detergents!

Compared with No. 9 ordinary laundry detergent, the 5 underwear cleaning liquids are slightly inferior in their ability to clean protein stains (blood stains). After all, No. 9 is considered the "best" among ordinary laundry detergents.

However, don’t rush to say that underwear cleaning liquid is not good. The blood stain cleaning ability of No. 3, No. 6, and No. 8 is nearly twice that of the two ordinary laundry detergents, so they are still reliable.

In order to more intuitively see the actual effect of underwear cleaning liquid, we dropped equal amounts of experimental sheep blood and artificial urine on pure cotton underwear to simulate stains. We also recruited (captured) volunteers and conducted a 2-minute hand-washing comparison experiment.

According to the naked eye comparison of the company's colleagues, everyone agreed that No. 3 has a stronger cleaning ability.

Since everyone washes underwear with different strength and focus points, the hand-washing effect will be slightly different, and the results are for reference only. If you look closely, you will find that there is also a young man among the volunteers.

Therefore, when women need to clean stubborn stains during menstruation or ovulation, we recommend using underwear cleaning liquid No. 3, No. 6, and No. 8. In normal times, considering the cost-effectiveness, ordinary laundry detergent can be used.

02

Antibacterial:

Dilution will reduce the cleaning effect

An internal poll of the company found that for many people, buying underwear cleaning liquid is not just about cleaning, but also about having an antibacterial effect.

Generally speaking, the antibacterial and antibacterial effects of most underwear washes are mainly claimed to be against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans.

The technicians also commissioned a professional laboratory to conduct a test on the antibacterial effect of 8 underwear washing liquids, using the original solution and a 1:100 dilution test. Here are the results:

Note: The details page claims that the date is March 30

According to QB/T 2738-2012 "Evaluation Method for Antibacterial and Antimicrobial Effects of Daily Chemical Products", an inhibition rate ≥ 50% indicates an antibacterial effect, and an inhibition rate ≥ 90% indicates a strong antibacterial effect.

After analyzing the test results, we discovered a surprising fact: if you dilute the underwear cleaning liquid and soak and clean your underwear, the antibacterial effect cannot be guaranteed.

The antibacterial effect was tested using the original solution method. The antibacterial rates of the eight underwear washing liquids against the three types of bacteria were all > 99.9%, showing a strong antibacterial effect, which was not much different from the claims on the details page.

But when comparing the antibacterial effects of the 1:100 dilution, except for No. 1, No. 4 and No. 8 which maintained satisfactory results, the antibacterial effects of the remaining 5 underwear cleaning liquids declined to varying degrees, and quite a few bacteria were still "alive" after washing?

Some people may ask, don’t some product detail pages indicate the antibacterial rate obtained from the original solution test in small print? There is nothing wrong with this, but many underwear cleaning liquid bottles or detail pages will recommend that you mix the product with water, soak the clothes for 15 to 30 minutes, and then rinse with water.

What? Based on this result, we recommend that those friends who are used to soaking first and then scrubbing, for heavy stains, it is best to drop the original solution directly on the underwear, let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes, scrub, and finally rinse with water.

Note: The blood stains in the picture are sheep blood for experiments

In addition to the specific antibacterial effect of the product, we also found that some sisters have some misunderstandings about Candida albicans, which is closely related to women's vaginal health. You may not know that it is not only not an enemy, but may also be a friend.

03

Does not hurt your hands or disrupt the balance of bacteria

Is it true?

A few days ago, a male colleague in the company asked us a sincere question: I wash my wife's underwear every day, which underwear cleaning liquid will not hurt my hands? 👀

It does not hurt your hands and does not disrupt the balance of vaginal flora. This is also where most underwear cleaning liquids feel that they are superior to ordinary cleaning liquids. After all, previous laundry detergent test results show that the overall pH value of ordinary laundry detergents is high.

Next, let's take a look at the pH value comparison of 8 underwear cleaning liquids and 2 ordinary laundry detergents:

According to the requirement of "QB/T 1224-2012 Liquid Detergents for Clothes" pH ≤ 10.5, the pH values ​​of the above underwear washing liquids meet the standards, but many friends are used to washing their underwear by hand every day.

The surface of the skin on our hands is slightly acidic, with a pH value of about 5.5, and a wider range of 5.0 to 7.0.

Therefore, for those who wash their hands by hand, underwear detergents with a pH value close to 5.0 to 7.0 are relatively gentle, and will cause less irritation to hands in the long run. In this way, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 7, and No. 8 are more friendly.

It is probably no surprise that neutral or weakly acidic detergents are gentler on hands, but does the pH value of underwear cleaning fluid affect the balance of bacteria in women's private parts?

Source: Screenshot of Xiaomou's book

In fact, underwear cleaning liquid, as a detergent, stays on our underwear for a few minutes at most, and then is washed away by water. In addition, it has to go through the drying process, so the detergent remaining on the underwear is minimal.

Furthermore, under normal circumstances, the pH value of the female vagina is 3.8 to 4.4, but there will be some normal physiological fluctuations due to the influence of estrogen, etc., which is fine within the normal range. Therefore, the legend that pH value destroys the balance of female flora can be broken.

By the way, some underwear cleaning liquids may also drop a few drops of plant essential oils, claiming that they can moisturize your hands? Will this be more effective? Emmm, probably not, but it will make it more expensive.

Source: Screenshot of a certain underwear cleaning liquid details page

04

Last words

Well, after three rounds of competition between 8 underwear cleaning liquids and 2 ordinary cleaning liquids, everyone must have their own answer to the question of whether underwear cleaning liquid is a waste of money.

In general, underwear cleaning liquid has certain advantages in terms of detergency, antibacterial effect and pH value, which are of concern to everyone. But the premise of this advantage is that you think you need to use a special underwear cleaning liquid.

After all, everyone's lifestyle and consumption habits are different, and the decision-making power is ultimately in everyone's hands.

We can give you a comprehensive recommendation on underwear cleaning liquids, and choose according to your own situation. In addition, there are some suggestions on cleaning and choosing underwear. This suggestion is something that all women can learn from.

In fact, whether using underwear cleaning liquid or ordinary laundry detergent, our core concern is to protect and care for women's health through better cleaning.

Maintaining good hygiene habits every day is far more important than worrying about which laundry detergent to choose.

Editor | SuSu

Design | Damao

References:

[1] Tu Yaoyao. Study on the colonization of female lower reproductive tract microorganisms and their relationship with pregnancy outcomes in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome[D]. Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2020.

[2] Yu Hongmin. Etiological investigation of bacterial vaginosis and its complications and study on biofilm formation of Gardnerella[D]. Fudan University, 2013.

Source: Dad Review