Does anyone use regular laundry detergent?

[cactus kid]

Instead of the special "scent free" stuff on your camo?

[TUCO]

No special hunting product......I just use Cheer Free.

[Loreva13]

I do

[Coach W]

I ran out this time and had to use the baby's detergent (hes got sensitve skin).. I think its Tide Free and gentle or something like that???

Anyway it doesnt smell.... time will tell if it was a mistake.

[cricman]

I was using All Free and Clear because it is perfume and dye free. Unfortunately, it has an optical brightener that absorbs and flouresces UV light. I switched to Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin, after reading the ingredients and not seeing an obvious listing of a brightener. It is also perfume and dye free, and uses baking soda (obviously) to absorb and control odor. I later discovered that it also uses the optical brightener Tinopal. I'm still researching just how much and what UV spectrum that Tinopal absorbs and flouresces, but I haven't had any critters give me the stink eye this season, and I have seen and been very close to plenty.


cricman

[Stoof]

Scent free Arm and Hammer! I hand scrub my stinky hats with baking soda. Takes the stink right out.

[mhbaseball]

Regular for me

[Target-panic]

nothing special for me

[stan]

I do use scent free detergent for my hunting clothing. Don't know if it helps a lot or not, but it makes me feel more invisible.

[Texifornia]

I was using All Free and Clear because it is perfume and dye free. Unfortunately, it has an optical brightener that absorbs and flouresces UV light. I switched to Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin, after reading the ingredients and not seeing an obvious listing of a brightener. It is also perfume and dye free, and uses baking soda (obviously) to absorb and control odor. I later discovered that it also uses the optical brightener Tinopal. I'm still researching just how much and what UV spectrum that Tinopal absorbs and flouresces, but I haven't had any critters give me the stink eye this season, and I have seen and been very close to plenty.


cricman

I also have been using All Free. But recently have been wondering if the brighteners are hurting me... Think I'll try the Arm and Hammer.

[Badboypfg]

i use melaleuca Scent free laundry detergent.

[Nitro1970]

Purex free and clear.

[JW]

I just buy whatever detergent is on sale in the hunting section. I will not use regular detergent. Even if its like All clear it still has brightiners in it. Im not sure one way or the other on the uv thing and deer seeing it. But i dont wanna chance it.

[cricman]

This thread got me interested enough to do some quick research, and I found a link to a chart of detergents used by folks that wash cloth diapers. This detergent market has decided that brighteners are a potential skin irritant, so it is avoided in detergents used for the cleaning of cloth diapers:

http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

Pretty interesting, especially the amount of detergents that use optical brighteners like Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonic Acid (Purex, and several others) and Tinopal (Arm and Hammer and many others.) They all function the same, in that they absorb various wavelengths of UV light, and flouresce them back, causing an increase in the perceived brightness of textiles (and coincidently other treated materials, such as paper.) It has been suggested that deer have the optical and neural mechanism to see into the near UV and UV spectrum of light, but I haven't found any conclusive or comperhensive study that indicates to what degrre of sensitivity or wavelength range they can detect. I imagine that playing it safe, and eliminating products that enhance the flouresence of UV light on hunting clothing is the best bet. It looks like almost all of the "normal" bands have brighteners, so I will have to search for some of the brands recommended on the chart in the link. The good news is that they are not significanly higher in price per load than other detergents, and are significantly less than the UV free detergents marketed and sold to hunters.


cricman

[explorer1]

to a deer dont think it matters if it smells sweet like a flower it must be ediable, i still hunt and have never had a problem with detergent deer either lol.