We switched to unperfumed laundry detergent when baby Ingrid (then a few months old) had problems with dry skin and rashes. To keep it simple we used the same detergent both for her stuff and all our other laundry. Then about two years ago I took the next step and bought a laundry ball, which sounds like black magic and too good to be true, but it does actually seem to work. For really dirty stuff, like anything that Adrian’s worn, I take a tiny amount of (unperfumed) detergent, about two tablespoonfuls, which is about a quarter of what the manufacturers suggest. Everything still comes out looking and smelling clean.

By now my understanding of “smelling clean” is very different from most other peoples’. Now that my nose knows what clean laundry smells like, the perfumed detergents and conditioners smell disgusting. There is no way I will every buy any of those again.

Once I happened to cycle right past the air vent in a communal laundry room in an apartment block, probably coming right from its tumble dryer. The perfumed steam almost made me gag.

Any time I buy second-hand clothes (which I do often when it comes to baby clothes or nursing wear) the first thing I do is to hold them to my nose. In the vast majority of cases I then throw them straight in the dirty laundry hamper, because they smell of chemicals and synthetic perfume. I inspect the clothes again after washing, and sometimes send them back for a second round.