Is there a less expensive alternative to TechWash?

You could visit your local supermarket and buy pure soap.

It usually comes in a bar or flakes.

Pure soap is not detergent…

Best to wash by hand or if you must use a washing machine run a couple of hot water cycles, to wash away the detergent residues , before you do your outdoor bits.

BTW, not everyone will know what SSIA means nor have the time to look it up on Google ( I did…)

Subject Says It All

SSIA is used on mailing lists, newsgroups, and message boards. Typically, the author will write the content of the message in the subject line, then write only “SSIA” in the body of the message.

I don’t know if it’s cheaper but I use atsko sport wash for everything with really good results

+1 w/Atsko. Haven’t seen unscented, pure soap flakes sold in stores for 20+ years. All has that baby scent, yuk.

This is what I use (no scent…) :

$3.20 for 500g.

maybe I’ll need to explain how one gets liquid soap from that…

I forgot, they still sell this. My Mother-in-Law had the same bar for 20 years.

On Amazon they have a 2 liter jug of atsko sports wash for $22 with free shipping. I use that for all of my clothing.

Most soaps are not good for down stuff (jackets, quilts, bags, etc.) All tend to remove oils from down. Good and bad since body oils corrupt downs fill power, but, the lanolin like oils are actually a part of the down’s make up and can lead to degradation/failure. All are “surficants” helping to mix water and oils. Even silicone coatings can be degraded with soap. Go real easy. Usually it is a bit better to have something a little dirty than to start degrading it. Small amounts of any sports wash (non-detergent in common terms) is OK. Anything from a third down to a tenth of the recommended amount is good enough in most cases. Just rinsing with water will do a fair job of cleaning. But even water can also degrade stuff.  For packs, shoes, etc, a third recommended concentration is good enough, max.

Take bar of similar soap as mentioned earlier, take boiling deionized or distilled water and dissolve said bar of soap in the boiling water. Tap water would be ok as well.

= basically Atsko sport wash and similar products.

Thanks to everyone for the information and I hope those of you who were unfamiliar with “SSIA” appreciate learning the acronym.   As to “not having time to look it up on Google”…….smh.

smh= shake my head

SMH= Sydney Morning Herald

AotA = Attack of the Acronyms

BTW, pure in Pure Soap is not just an added sounds-good word, it denotes that the soap is made from :

sodium (soda ash) or potassium (potash) salts of fatty acids , obtained by reacting fat with lye in a process known as saponification)

without the extra fillers/detergents and whatever they fill like putting in bits that standard soap has.

There are different kinds of soaps (olive, coconut,). I have used flakes and powder from olive oil but at 30 degrees celsius it isn’t possible for them to dilute and they leave residues, especially white marks/lines in black synthetic clothing such as running shorts. Flakes and powder need hot water to dilute. The problem with Nikwax is that they suggest different products for different fabrics: For next to skin clothing the Base wash, for softshells, hardshells and fleece the tech wash, for down the down wash and for wool the wool wash. Even if Nikwax products were cheaper, it isn’t affordable to wash each fabric separately. If you smell Nikwax Tech wash, it smells like pure olive oil soap, propably in very small persentage. Other cheaper alternatives i have found but not tried yet are these:

http://bio-bebe.gr/detergent/en/products/bio-laundry-liquid-detergent.html

Many of us in Britain use this – it seems to be rather expensive in the U.S! I’d imagine you could dissolve soap flakes in hot water and then use that when it has cooled.

I think Basewash is detergent based rather than soap, probably to get rid of oils and smells better.

I think that the same detergents that are cheap in the US, are cheaper in Britain, and vice versa. Check the Atsko sports wash:

Forgot to say, the Tech Wash from what i remember is almost transparent, meaning that the it has much less soap thatn most detergents (and it is much more expensive). I think the Base wash looks more like gel and is less transparent.

“Forgot to say, the Tech Wash from what i remember is almost transparent, meaning that the it has much less soap thatn most detergents (and it is much more expensive).”

I think you’re right there. The Tech Wash says to use about three times as much as the Drypak Liquid Soap Flakes.

Maybe that’s why Nikwax has labelled it as water based. After some research i also found these that claim not to leave residues.

This has no soap: https://www.frezyderm.com/en/baby-care/baby-detergent/baby-laundry/
This has green soap, propably olive oil: http://www.intermed.com.gr/en/brands/babyderm/products/babyderm-laundry/

Most of the baby laundry detergents has no or very mild aroma. If washing underwear or next to skin clothing, you could add some drops of tea tree or lemongrass essential oil which are known to kill bacteria. I don’t think that 15-20 drops of essential oil will leave residues and cause problems to the DWR treatment of softshells of hardshells  if washed together with other clothing.

Since most detergents for outdoor clothing are water based, they should be much cheaper than the detergents sold in the supermarket.