Half spa day for tea-towels - and hairbrushes

After

The next morning

The water within 10 minutes...

Before

I'm dealing with my mother's hoarding. She refuses to use detergent (or any other kind of soap or hygiene product) but got physical about keeping her tea-towels. So I did a spa day with what I had: ecover bio powder and pink stuff oxi-action.

Honestly, I can't see much difference in the before and after pics, or in the tea-towels themselves, but the water tells its own story.

While I was at it, I cleaned her combs and hairbrushes. The black brush, visible at the side of the tub with just the water, is at least 40 years old and had never been cleaned. I soaked it and the green brush in ecover over night and gave them a quick scrub with a toothbrush and hot water and - almost to my dismay because I feel like they should be condemned - they came up good as new. The gunk on the bristles came up all waxy and horrible, but it did come right off.

I'd hoped seeing the water would at least get my mother to stop fighting me, but when she saw me rinsing out the tub after, rather than just leaving it to dry, she started ranting about how OTT and obsessive I am and how there was nothing wrong with the tea-towels... Oh well. I'd already bought new tea-towels, but at least those old ones aren't stinking up the house anymore!