Soap flakes

[potsy]

Heard a few mentions of these as alternatives to normal washing powder when washing technical clothing or waterproof stuff, thought I'd have a look whilst out today and found some 'Liquid Soap Flakes' is this OK or would I be better getting some 'Techno wash' stuff from Nikwax?
My yellow jacket is looking decidedly 'black' and is in need of some TLC

 

[LizardEye]

If its really black, and in particular oily black, then soap flakes might not shift it.

I'd go for a technical wash and reproofer.

I've used Grangers 2-in-1 (here) and it's really good.

About 8 quid a bottle but you'll get a couple of washes out of it.

Make sure you tumble dry afterwards. Even if the label says not to, you
can do a warm one and keep checking it.

 

[potsy]

It is oily black as most of my stuff seems to end up, that's the joy of working in engineering

Might give it a go as it was only £3 for the bottle and I have other stuff to wash as well

The Graingers stuff looks good, cheers for that.

 

[I like Skol]

Glad you have brought this topic up as I was going to mention it myself.

2 weeks ago I had a go at re-proofing an old coat of mine for cycling use. It's a Regatta breathable type made from Isotex. I did some reading on the tinterweb and saw the soap flakes suggested or the nikwax pre-proofing wash stuff (£££) and decided to use some of my wifes Persil Silk & Wool washing liquid as it sounds as though it is basicaly a liquid form of the soap flakes.

I machine washed the coat without conditioner and then did a few repeated rinses to remove any traces of soap, so far so good. I then used the Nikwax TX direct wash in proofer and hand washed in the sink as per the instructions as I thought the machine wash method of applying would surely rinse all the stuff out?

I duly hung the coat up to dry over the bath and later when washing up noticed how wonderfully the water on and around my stainless steel kitchen sink was beading (like on a freshly waxed car bonnet) so was expecting great things from my rejuvinated coat.

Once dried I splashed a little water on the coat and was dismayed to see it soak straight in without a suggestion of beading on the surface! I decided to do a second treatment but this time I wouldn't rinse the treatment out but would simply treat then squeeze dry and hang up. This second attempt still did not improve things.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

The stuff obviously works as seen on my sink so why isn't it taking to my breathable (technical material?) jacket?

edited for spelling

 

[mr Mag00]

i remember reading somewhere that a warm iron run over the fabric not on steam setting activates the coating, check the www for this

 

[BigSid]

Hi

Persil Silk and Wool is detergent not soap.

Detergent will wreck the jacket’s ability to keep water out.
Garment reproofing companies use washing machine that have never had detergent in them.

Clean any detergent from the washing machine’s drawer, take the drawer out and make sure that you’ve got rid of any lumps of washing powder in the corners.
Then run a wash cycle with no detergent and just a couple of towels to get rid of detergent in other parts of the machine.
(Running the washer empty can damage it.)

Then wash with soap flakes.

Not sure if the waterproofing can be recovered after washing in detergent. I hope it can.

Big Sid

 

[I like Skol]

Hi

Persil Silk and Wool is detergent not soap.

Detergent will wreck the jacket’s ability to keep water out.
Garment reproofing companies use washing machine that have never had detergent in them.

Clean any detergent from the washing machine’s drawer, take the drawer out and make sure that you’ve got rid of any lumps of washing powder in the corners.
Then run a wash cycle with no detergent and just a couple of towels to get rid of detergent in other parts of the machine.
(Running the washer empty can damage it.)

Then wash with soap flakes.

Not sure if the waterproofing can be recovered after washing in detergent. I hope it can.

Big Sid

Ahh, right. I might see if Nikwax have any technical support and fire off an email to them to see what they suggest. I have washed the coat with our regular detergent in the past but thought I was doing the right thing this time with the Silk & Wool stuff

 

[potsy]

Ahh, right. I might see if Nikwax have any technical support and fire off an email to them to see what they suggest. I have washed the coat with our regular detergent in the past but thought I was doing the right thing this time with the Silk & Wool stuff

I think that's the trouble I'll have. Have washed it in the past with normal 'Bold' detergent so the water-proof properties may be gone now.
Will get some soap flake stuff and the Nik-wax re-proofing stuff and give it a go, like the above advice about totally clearing out any old detergent though, thanks for that

 

[guitarpete247]

I wash my cycling stuff regularly with one of these eco washing balls from Betterware. It avoids having to search shops for soap flakes. If anything need waterproofing I use either Nikwax or Grangers products whichever is on offer whenever I see it .

Yes I'm from Yorkshire .

 

[LizardEye]

The purpose of any detergent is to get stuff off fabric- that includes any treatments you or the manufacturer have put there.

Soap is ok as basically it's crap at removing anything but muck. But anything that's used to clean clothes, unless it says 'pure soap' in big letters will wreck your waterproofing.

You can get it back by using Grangers etc, but not sure it will ever be as good. If my jackets really dirty I wash in detergent, then soap flakes to get rid of the detergent, then use a reproofer.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Best bet is keep doing this every now and again for freebie nikwax

http://www.nikwax.com/en-gb/webquiz/index.php

 

[Hicky]

Potsy, that green coat I had on today("buffalo" type) has had various preperations tried on it, none of them last more than a couple of showers.
The outer material is pertex, tried grangers spray on then warm tumble dry....nikwax again quick tumble.
The max I get is a couple of light showers....I do without now.

Washing waterproof(goretex) I've only every used washing powder(about 1/3 of what normally goes in and tumble dry to activate it again.