Repairman Shows The 'Detrimental' Effect Fabric Softener Has On Your Washing Machine In Eye-Opening Viral Video

No matter how beautiful they are, every rose has its thorns—and apparently so does fabric softener.

Fabric softener is marketed to consumers, especially moms and families, as the perfect finishing touch to washing laundry. Not only will the clothes be clean, but they'll be softer to the touch and smell of beautiful flowers instead of "just" cleanliness.

Throw in a nice drying treatment, especially with scented dryer sheets, and families are guaranteed fresh, flowery clothes that scream cleanliness and comfort.

But according to repairman and TikToker @cleanwithactive, we might thank ourselves for the lovely variety of smells and soft touches, but our washers certainly will not be thanking us, especially with long-term use.

Over the course of their TikTok video, they demonstrate the disassembly of the internal mechanism of a washing machine, which needs the full barrel to be taken apart in order to perform a deep-down clean on the features of the barrel as well as the internal feed of the washing machine itself.

Inside is disgusting, dark brown, and clearly very old gunk that the TikToker has to remove, sometimes able to swipe it away with his fingers and other times with the assistance of a handheld scraper.

The repairman warns viewers against continuing to use fabric softener:

"I wanted to show you guys the detrimental side effects of too much soap and especially too much fabric softener, which you should not be using in your machine at all."

As it turns out, using fabric softener, scent beads, too much laundry detergent, and dryer sheets all damage our washing machines, dryers, and of course, the environment over time. Not to mention the added expense on our grocery lists and more plastic that will potentially end up in landfills.

You can watch the video here:

Fellow TikTokers agreed with @cleanwithactive's warnings.

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

@cleanwithactive/TikTok

This is one of those home tips that feels counterintuitive, because it seems like using more soap and more cleaning products would produce cleaner clothes.

But as it turns out, it's more wear and tear on the clothes to expose the fabrics to so many different products and solutions, but it's also more damage to our machines that many of us can't afford to replace or hire a repair person to address.