kris_of_pnictogen on Nostr: this item intrigues me. I know the chemical mechanism behind "fabric softening", and ...

this item intrigues me. I know the chemical mechanism behind "fabric softening", and why it can impart an almost unnatural sense of softness to a fabric. There's negative surface charges on the fibers of the fabric, generally, when it's all staticky. The fabric softener contains long-chain surfactant molecules with a *positive* charge on them, so the "static cling" is neutralized, and now your clothes have a kind of molecular film of these cationic detergent molecules on all the fibers. To me fabric-softened clothing feels weirdly greasy or something.

But wool balls! that sounds a lot more friendly. Maybe the lanolin helps. ~Chara