What is a dryer sheet?
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:What's up? What's up? What's up, Jam? How are you doing?
Jam:Dude, I'm good. I am enjoying the sunlight very, very strongly beaming into this room here. It's like the perfect hour of the day for and I guess maybe the sun's changing or something, but This room is very bright in here.
Melissa:Does it feel like you're a cat basking in the rays or something?
Jam:No. But I did actually, I was kinda confused whenever I was gonna walk in here because it looked like there was light a light on in here. Yeah. And then I came in. I was like, oh, it's just the Window.
Jam:Like, the blinds were open and stuff like
Melissa:that. Well, Jam, I'm really excited about today's episode. Probably as excited as you were about the warm Sun beaming into your into your recording, Graham. Because ever since our plastic episode, I've really been trying to get Down on my one time use wasteful plastic products. You know what I'm saying?
Jam:Totally. A 100%.
Melissa:And I got some beeswax reusable plastic wraps. I've sort of been doing it slowly, like, realizing, oh, no. This is a One time use thing I could get rid of. So I got some beeswax reusable plastic wrap instead of traditional, like, cling wrap or whatever.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:I got some reusable parchment paper to put in the base of my baking pans so that you can just rinse it off and have it there, and it's already cut to size and everything. So that's exciting.
Jam:Nice. That's actually really cool. I didn't know that existed.
Melissa:Yes. I'm really excited about it. I haven't gotten to use it yet, but I'm really excited about it. Mhmm. And then I was doing some laundry, and I'd been in the process of really trying to reevaluate all those things.
Melissa:And I was putting a dryer sheet in the dryer, And I thought to myself, what is this? Mhmm. What am I doing with this? Yeah. I know it softens and it gets rid
Jam:of static cling, but what is
Melissa:it? Mhmm. And it
Jam:does it surprisingly well for, like, a little Rectangle.
Melissa:I know.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:Have you thought about what it is? Do you have any thoughts on what a dryer sheet is?
Jam:Well, it seems really to me. But Mhmm. But then kinda like money that's not actually paper. Money's woven. Like, it's actually technically cloth.
Jam:Then maybe it's like that, but those are the only 2 things in my mind that really would make sense. But it feels to me like it's very much coated with something because Yes. When you the the a dryer sheet that's fresh that you're about to put in versus one that's just been through a drying cycle that you take out, they feel different. It feels to me like something that was on it comes off in Yes. By design.
Jam:But that's all I can Tell about it. I don't know anything else.
Melissa:Well, you're not so far off. It definitely is coated with something.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And we'll get into all of that. But you know what is exciting to me about dryer sheets is when I looked them up, I realized that they are chemistry through and through. Everything about them is chemistry.
Jam:Nice. Now are they good chemistry or bad or a mix?
Melissa:I think they're a mix. I think there's a lot of misinformation. We'll get into it. There was one moment when I was doing this research that I wanted to scream based on what someone had written.
Jam:No dang.
Melissa:But for the most part, I think it's a solid mix.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So it was invented. Bounce sheets, dryer sheets, whatever brand you use, were invented by a chemist to solve a chemistry problem
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And a convenience problem. So fabric softener is usually put in the last spin of your washing cycle.
Jam:K.
Melissa:Because if you put it in at the beginning, it will react with detergent and form a precipitate, and neither of them will work. So it won't clean your clothes, And it won't soften your clothes. And the what a precipitate means is basically if you have A solid form in a solution. So if you mix together cold water and Salt, water, maybe you'll see some salt precipitate out.
Jam:Oh, I see. Interesting. So that will happen.
Melissa:If you mix together, detergent and fabric softener in your load, you'll form some bits of solid, and it kind of renders both things useless.
Jam:Interesting. So you gotta, like, do the soap, have it Wash them and then completely rinse the soap out as best as it can, and then it it it injects the powder softener?
Melissa:Yes. You
Jam:can tell what's back
Melissa:in the day oh, go ahead.
Jam:I was gonna say, you can tell which settings on my washer I have not used and which types of Liquids, I have not included into those cycles.
Melissa:I've never used this fabric softening cycle. So back in the day, they didn't have a fabric softening dispenser the way that they do now. So because of that, this chemist's wife had to run down to their laundry machine and catch It on the last cycle, they throw in the fabric softener every time.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Which, as you can imagine, was probably pretty annoying.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:So that chemist named Konrad Gaiser, I believe, is how you pronounce it. It's g a I s e r. Okay. He decided that he was gonna solve this problem. So he added fabric softener to a cotton rag and threw it in the dryer.
Melissa:Okay. And then later, I'm assuming he refined this process, but he basically patented it and sold the idea to Procter and Gamble.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And they made balance sheets. What you now know as balance sheets.
Jam:Got it. Got it. Interesting.
Melissa:So the modern dryer sheet is quite literally a piece of plastic coated in chemicals.
Jam:Dang it. It's plastic.
Melissa:I know. And I feel like that is so sneaky because it doesn't see my plastic, especially after it comes out. You know?
Jam:Yeah. Seriously. And it looks like you can see little woven elements to it. But I guess even polyester is plastic, so Which feels like cloth, so it's not completely crazy for a plastic to feel like clothy, but, dang, interesting.
Melissa:I know. And that's what they said. It's actually nonwoven polyester, which I don't know why they specify that in the definition, but they specify it everywhere. It's nonwoven. I guess it's Just stamped polyester?
Melissa:Or Oh, I'm sorry. Something about the way the plastic is refined, it comes out that way. It seems like it's woven, but it's not.
Jam:Okay. Weird.
Melissa:So it's nonwoven polyester. It's just a piece of polyester, quote, fabric.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And it's covered in some kind of softener.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And that is a chemical softener. And I think a lot of people freak out Because there's a lot of false information about dryer sheets and about what chemicals are. So when you say something is coated in chemicals, People think, oh, no. It's coated in chemicals. I'm out of here.
Melissa:I can't use this. But I would encourage you to remember that hand soap is Also a chemical. Your shampoo is a chemical. Your body is chemicals and has chemicals in it. You know?
Melissa:Mhmm. Water Well, could we consider it a chemical? So don't freak out just because I say chemical. So these polyester sheets, these dryer sheets are coated in this softener, this chemical softener. And, generally, It's a long nonpolar chain.
Melissa:So we talked about nonpolar chains before. Do you remember talking about that?
Jam:Yes. I guess it's a few times, but but the nonpolar chain Isn't the chain on soap nonpolar?
Melissa:Yes. Okay. The nonpolar basically means the electrons are evenly shared, so there's Not an uneven distribution of electrons, so there's not charge on it.
Jam:Right. There's not a magnet. There's not
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Different ends that wanna do different things.
Melissa:Right. It's just neutral all the way through.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Oils are also nonpolar. So if you just have a long nonpolar chain, What I think about that as feeling like is gonna be oily,
Jam:kind of. Mhmm.
Melissa:And so what happens when you throw your dryer sheet in with your clothes. As it heats up, this nonpolar coating melts And literally coats your clothing with a nonpolar coating
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That feels slippery to us, which our brain interprets as it being saw.
Jam:Woah.
Melissa:I know.
Jam:So it's not even really, like, softening the fabric in maybe the way that we might think it is.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:It's like it's kinda getting way in there and, like, making the fibers of our clothes more comfortable and stuff. It's just Nope.
Melissa:It's tricking
Jam:us, basically.
Melissa:It's tricking us. That's right.
Jam:Dang. Weird.
Melissa:And that coating also reduces friction, which minimizes static cling, and I suspect part of that is because it's nonpolar. It also Static cling happens because of electrons being transferred. And so one thing will gain electrons, one thing will lose electrons, and so they'll sort of cling to each other. You know?
Jam:Mhmm. So
Melissa:I suspect that the nonpolar coating not only reduces friction that allows for energy and electron transfer, but I think it Probably because it's nonpolar, it's less likely to trade around.
Jam:Oh, interesting.
Melissa:Electrons. I suspect. I cannot Find a source to confirm that.
Jam:Yeah. I remember thinking, like, as a kid that the dryer sheet was kinda somehow soaking up all of the static. Like, I just didn't really
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Think too far into it, but thought this little thing must have something about it where it just All the static that wants to happen, it takes it. And That's
Melissa:what I thought too. Yeah.
Jam:But it's
Melissa:And I have not really ever thought about what a dryer sheet is. I'll be honest with you. Uh-huh. I know what it does, and that's all I've ever thought about. So this is really interesting for me.
Melissa:And there was a big article in the chemistry and engineering news magazine, which is associated with the American Chemical Society and is a really good source, and that's where I got most of this information about dryer sheets. And I was blown away and really excited to learn about Yeah.
Jam:That's crazy. And, also, it's kind of a bummer because there's yet another thing that is made of plastic that has one use only.
Melissa:I know. I have some solutions that we can talk about at the end.
Jam:Okay. Cool.
Melissa:So the way dryer sheets are produced actually makes for a little bit of a challenge Because the other thing they do besides just have that melting coating is it that coating has good smells in it.
Jam:You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:So they have to figure out a way to include the good smell in the dryer sheet, but then when they apply the coating to the sheet itself. Usually, the softener is solid at room temperature. That's why it doesn't get sticky or weird in your Bounce sheet box in your dry in your laundry room or whatever.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:So it has to be solid, but they melt it and Press it onto the polyester sheet. So if you have some kind of fragrance in there, when you melt it initially, it will release the fragrance, then you might not have fragrance still in the sheet. You know? Mhmm. So they had to figure out a way to produce these on a mass scale that kept the fragrance in.
Melissa:So that's actually a bigger problem than you think.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So what they did is A number of different approaches. 1 company does something I think is really smart. They patented a way of adding the fragrance after the fact. So then when you're heating it up to melt everything. You're not losing fragrance.
Melissa:You're adding it in after. Mhmm. But another one that was very exciting, and that goes back to our Febreze episode, is they would hide, so to speak, the fragrance molecules inside those cyclodextrins. So inside those funnels, They would put the fragrance molecules, and then when the heat there's energy for the intermolecular forces to break. There's water vapor coming and maybe knocking some molecules around, And it releases the fragrance from the cyclodextrins in your dryer.
Jam:Gotcha. Gotcha. Interesting. So those little Funnel things that hide the smells, they use the opposite way for Mhmm. Odor eliminators.
Jam:In this case, it's like, let's temporarily hide A good smell that will be released later.
Melissa:Yep. Interesting. Isn't that so cool?
Jam:Yeah. That's very cool.
Melissa:So that is how a dryer sheet does its deal. That's how it makes your clothes feel softer, how it makes them have less static electricity
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And how it makes them smell good.
Jam:Dang. Interesting.
Melissa:And it's all chemistry. It's solving a chemistry problem. It's using a chemistry invention. It's using chemistry to make sure Something solid at room temperature but can melt in the dryer. It's using chemistry to apply those fragrances.
Melissa:It's using chemistry every which way?
Jam:Yeah. And it's it's kind of a pretty serious combo of things all in 1 little sheet. You know? Yeah. That's like multiple problems being solved by 1 sheet.
Melissa:Yeah. It had so much more to it than I expected. You know?
Jam:Yeah. Absolutely.
Melissa:And, also, I was very disappointed to realize it was plastic. I feel tricked.
Jam:I feel like that could almost be like a segment on our show. It's like, what Thing that we learned is is plastic. Or, like, just something we learned that is bad for the environment or whatever. Because not always just plastic stuff, but in general, I feel like that's a a regular theme of, man, I learned this this week or whatever.
Melissa:The dark side of chemistry, yet again, strikes.
Jam:Mhmm. Dang. Okay. So should I try to explain those different 3 different chemistry things that are part of the direct sheets back to you?
Melissa:Yes. Please do. And then when you're done, I have some facts about dryer sheets, about their toxicity, and ways to alternative options for your laundry.
Jam:Okay. Great. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Okay. So there's seems to be basically 3 things going on in dryer sheets.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Firstly, they're a sheet of plastic, which is kind of crazy.
Melissa:I know. Yeah.
Jam:So that's already chemistry. Yeah.
Melissa:Yep. Already chemistry.
Jam:And then they code it In a coding that is first trying to do one of the main things that even started this whole story with the guy Trying to get his fabric to be soft and do it in the dryer instead of the washer, they have a fabric softener in a kind of solid state coded encoding the entire, battery sheet. And so the way that that coating softens our fabrics is because it is nonpolar. Mhmm. Like part like, the chain on a soap molecule and, like, in oils and fats and stuff. And as the dryer heats up and that nonpolar substance gets released and kind of turned back into a liquid and coats our clothing.
Jam:Its nonpolar Makeup makes us feel like the clothes are softer because of the way that it feels to us Mhmm. Just by being on board. Not that it's, like, really actually changing the makeup of our clothes at all.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So that's the that's the one thing. He was like, gotta make My wife's, like, struggle easier. Mhmm.
Melissa:And I like that he did it to avoid the chemical reaction of just throwing in the detergent and the fabric softener.
Jam:Right. Oh, yeah. Obviously, that's, like, where the problem first starts. Mhmm. So yeah.
Jam:Okay. So he's trying to avoid a chemistry problem and use chemistry to Make a new solution.
Melissa:Smart smart guy.
Jam:Very smart guy.
Melissa:Nice chemist.
Jam:And then it's also trying to remove static electricity. And the non polar Molecules of the fabric softener also seem to be doing that for us because they are able to make I guess, you said sort of the transfer of electrons be easier so they aren't, like, staying and charging up in certain places? Or It's
Melissa:It that's a good attempt, I would say. It's kind of the opposite. 1 Oh, okay. Friction between close is where the transfer of electrons happen. So it's almost like the oil, like, lubricates the surface.
Melissa:And so or the softener acts like an oil, lubricates the surface, and lets them sort of slip past each other. That was my understanding.
Jam:Oh, got it. Yeah. Yeah. That
Melissa:makes sense. The nonpolarness of it, the reason it kind of lets it slip past and doesn't give the transfer is I think the nonpolarness of it sort of keeps Keeps things on lock. You know? There's not enough there's not a lot of electrons that really want to move around because it's so nonpolar. That's my suspicion.
Melissa:Yeah. But most places just talked about it reducing friction and allowing the close to pass near each other without actually rubbing together and changing that, Those electrons.
Jam:Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. So if they can just be, yeah, be less, like, friction because obviously they were tumbling for such a long time rubbing against each other a lot.
Jam:You can just reduce how much friction there is, then that would so quickly reduce all that static. Jeez. Static is
Melissa:That's it.
Jam:So weird. And then
Melissa:Static is so weird.
Jam:And then
Melissa:I almost did a segue on what is Static, but I decided it could be its whole own episode.
Jam:Oh, dude. Yeah. That sounds way interesting. And then the last thing that we want, Chemistry problem we want our dry ice sheets to solve is that they smell good.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And so The after solving multiple chemistry problems already with this little sheet, they had to figure out how to Hide since inside of it that would be released as it is As the substance is kind of going from its solid state on the sheet to a liquid state that's gonna start tumbling around with our clothes. And they used our old friend, the Cyclodexterans?
Melissa:Yes. Yes. Cyclodextrin.
Jam:The little little tornadoes, little, Yeah. Things that that hide, odor molecules, in this case, good odors, and then release those, I guess, because of each because the heat starts to Release things and allow or is it like does the cyclodextrin just, like, go away when there's heat present?
Melissa:Well, it talked about the water molecules that actually turn into water vapor maybe sort of Knock the fragrance molecules out of the cyclodextrin. And I would like to learn more about how that process works chemically because I think the interior is nonpolar is what I remember I was talking about. So I'm wondering how The water vapor would knock out something on the inside because it wouldn't really wanna bind. But then I thought maybe the water molecules are the right size to try to pass through. So maybe they just that plus the heat is enough energy to sort of knock the fragrance molecules out of their position, kind of.
Jam:Got it. Okay. Cool. Cool. So then we've got our closer soft.
Jam:They feel soft to the touch. Mhmm.
Melissa:And
Jam:then they also aren't really staticky.
Melissa:Mhmm. And Which is great. Yes.
Jam:Very good. And they smell good.
Melissa:Thanks, chemistry, for all those things.
Jam:If only, chemistry, you could've done it in a different way with that plastic. But
Melissa:on plastic. Well, let's talk about that. So I agree that jar sheets are not the best because they are plastic.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:However, there is a lot of false information on the Internet About how these chemicals that quote quote how these chemicals that quote dryer sheets are not Good for you. How they're dangerous. How they're carcinogenic. Mhmm. And I believe that this is not accurate information.
Jam:K.
Melissa:So often, to support this claim about dryer sheets, they cite a particular study that I think is really being misrepresented. Mhmm. So this Studies seemed to check the emissions of the air from a laundry cycle. So they're just checking air emissions, not whatever is on your clothes. So they claim that it's leaving something on your clothes that could be really dangerous.
Melissa:They're They're citing the wrong study for that, and I didn't really find a study that represented that. Mhmm. This study did talk about how some Unsafe vapor molecules were emitted
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:From a laundry cycle, but they did not specifically talk about dryer sheets. They talked about the whole laundry cycle. So washing it in this and then drying it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And at one point, the study even stated that there could have been Some emissions from the off gassing of the machine itself, you know, the washer or dryer itself. So I won't argue too much with it, and, actually, I only had the abstract. I wasn't able to actually purchase the paper on my own. So I made these conclusions just from reading the abstract. I already feel that it's being misrepresented.
Melissa:Uh-huh. I'm gonna try to do the interlibrary loan and get access to it if I can. Maybe talk more about it in a bonus episode.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:But I really feel that that was being misrepresented.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Now I will say that There's not a lot of regulations from the FDA as far as fragrances go. Mhmm. So I think dryer sheets have One thing against them that they're plastic, and another thing against them that fragrances aren't very Reliable. So a friend of mine worked for I won't say who. It's a colleague of mine.
Melissa:They worked for a Household chemical company, and the methods they used to test fragrances were essentially volunteers would Spread the fragrance on their arm, and if there is a negative reaction, then they wouldn't use it.
Jam:Oh, wow.
Melissa:So not, yeah, not great. Yeah. And that chemist said that as much as possible, he attempts to use unscented products because of that.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So that That is something that I have heard from someone who worked in the company, but a lot of the other claims about dryer sheets, I just don't see being Substantiated. Uh-huh. But I just wanted to talk a little bit about this idea of chemical free options. So there are some options that are not dryer sheets to try out on your laundry to see if it works for you.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And 1 person stated that using vinegar was a Chemical free alternative, and that was the thing that really frustrated me.
Jam:Chemical free.
Melissa:Because vinegar is literally a dilute acid. I have used Vinegar in a chemistry lab before.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It's definitely chemically. Mhmm. It's it's very, very common these in the lab. It's a dilute acid. And, really, everything is chemical.
Melissa:Everything is made up of elements and atoms, and so you just wanna be careful of language that says chemical free. Mhmm. And even in that study, they did state, I believe, that green laundry options or less chemically laundry options, quote, unquote
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Still gave similar results in terms of the off gassing. So Yeah. But then you do have to ask, what are my Reducing one time use plastic and still having soft nonstatic y clothes.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So one thing I did was get some wool dryer balls, And they have worked pretty well for softening. They mechanically soften by literally beating up fabric. Uh-huh. And if I don't have if I have the right combination of clothes, they do reduce static as well. Uh-huh.
Melissa:But it seems like maybe if I have some of those more synthetic y type fibers and less cottony, I think. I don't know for sure Mhmm. That those will still kind of Hold on to static.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So one thing that they did recommend was adding vinegar to your Fabric softener cycle. So at the very end, it would release vinegar instead of releasing
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Fabric softener. But it was hard for me to think through the chemistry of how that would reduce static. I could see it doing things Like eliminating any residue of detergent on your clothes or making sure that they come out Smelling fresh because of the acidity in there. I think I could see some of those things. Yeah.
Melissa:But I was hesitant in terms of how that would soften close.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:And then for a source that I use That what it's not a scientific journal, but it's just called Humble Organics. Mhmm. Someone went through trying all these ways to reduce Static cling. And they said the things that worked the best for them were line drying their clothes. If there's something particularly staticky, they would just take it out and line dry it.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Something that was prone to receive or give electrons, they line dry that. Or you can spritz your clothes with a spray of water Because that keeps that can basically interact with the charges and sort of neutralize them. Mhmm. The charges that cause static electricity. Or you can moisturize.
Melissa:So if you put a coating of lotion, that's usually going to have some, probably, I would guess, some hydrophobic Options in there, some nonpolar chains
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That will kind of give a barrier between you and the static. Interesting. And so those are some options for you if you wanna try reducing your one time use plastic and not using dryer sheets. And a big thing in favor of that, in addition to it not being plastic, is if you're coating your Clothes with something, especially the things that are supposed to absorb like towels
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:They're not gonna do as good of a job absorbing. So using Something else that's not coating your clothes is going to actually leave your towels and things being more effective.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. And I like the option of, like, removing some things and just, you know, line drying them. I think that's a kinda underrated option for a lot of things because Mhmm.
Jam:One thing I've heard this is obviously just I don't have a lot of reasons to believe it, but it seems to make sense. That just dryers shorten the lifespan of our clothes, Because they're so harsh, like, both washers and dryers. And if Mhmm. We were to, like, go back to a time of manually washing them and just line drying them, that it's possible that many of our clothes would last longer. It's like we're intensely spinning them, and then we're intensely heating them and also still spinning them.
Jam:And so I feel like that's kind of an underrated option for stuff that maybe doesn't need to be dried super fast. You know? Or the things like you were saying that that are prone to more static type of, stuff or might just be really not needed to be Dried in a dryer?
Melissa:To that, yeah, I thought that was fun. I'll link to it. It was fun because this person said, This didn't work for me. This did work for me. This didn't work for me.
Melissa:So they weren't just unequivocally saying this will work all the time, but this was their experimental results kind of which I appreciated.
Jam:Nice. It's nice.
Melissa:And one other thing that I found while I was looking for this. This was one of my favorite things, and I'm it also makes me sad. Is in 2009, in the senate, A bill was introduced called the Household Labeling Act of 2009.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And, basically, it required that household cleaning products such as Windex or balance sheets or whatever would have to put their ingredients on them the same way food does.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And for a long time to me, it's been kind of insane that that's not already part of the deal. Just as a chemist, you know
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:When I wanna look at what things are, it's crazy to me that I can't look at what's Inside of the products that I'm using in my home. Mhmm. And this didn't get very much traction, and I think it just sort of died in the senate. But this is something that if there is ever another opportunity for us to have a household product labeling act that I would really encourage you guys to get behind it Because I think it would really help with a lot of the misinformation about chemicals, and it would help us make more informed choices about what we're really using.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Is the green Product really green. You know? Is it really better for the environment? What does it change? What's different between it and the other one, or is it just got a label with leaves on it.
Melissa:You know?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So that's something that I thought was really, really cool and interesting that that They had attempted to pass that, and it's been almost 12 years, but I hope that they'll Mhmm. Bring that back up Because I think it would be really, really valuable for our misinformation about chemicals and the products we're using.
Jam:Yeah. Definitely. That'd be really interesting. It seems weird. I agree.
Jam:Just as that regular Joe, I'm like, yeah. It is weird that I couldn't just go look at what's in the stuff I'm using. You
Melissa:know? Yeah.
Jam:It just seems kind of like common sense. I realize that I'm sure there's part of it where people are like, well, we don't we wanna pat we have our patent on the way that we combine these things, and it's unique to us or something. But it's like well, it still seems like the end user should know about stuff. You know?
Melissa:I definitely agree. Oh, and I did wanna say one more thing. Sorry. There were so many things that came up with this that I was excited about.
Jam:Dude, it's okay. I love it. I love all this. So, I feel like it's all really relevant too for a lot of our decisions to to maybe change based on some of this information.
Melissa:Okay. Good. Well, my my last thought was a lot of chemicals that are, you know, technically safe can still be irritants.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Mhmm. So if you're having that experience that this is irritating your skin, I don't wanna say it's because, oh, You know? You're crazy. You're wrong. It's on your head.
Melissa:It's chemicals are fine. There are molecules and combinations of molecules that can be irritants. Like, I think caffeine is an irritant. So if you were to take pure caffeine and put it on your arm, it would irritate it. Uh-huh.
Melissa:But you can drink it in small quantities, diluted, and it's fine. Mhmm. So there is a possibility that whatever products are being used in your laundry detergent, in your dryer sheets, or whatever can be impacting you and irritating you. I'm not saying all chemicals are great. I'm just also not saying all chemicals are bad.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And
Melissa:if there's something that irritates you, that's probably legitimate, and you could try Switching to the fragrance free option first, and then maybe there's some other options that use just vinegar to wash your clothes or whatever so you can try different options.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I think that's all of my fun facts about chemicals and household products for today, but I can't guarantee Tee, we won't circle back around to this.
Jam:Nice. I love it. I definitely love it. And I feel like I've been more interested in that stuff since having a kid and wanting to make sure that The, you know, the the stuff is safe, and if there's something not safe about the the choices we have for our longer, then I wanna I wanna know that. You know?
Melissa:Yes. Definitely.
Jam:Well, do we have enough time to still talk about our weeks?
Melissa:I think we do.
Jam:Awesome.
Melissa:So how's your week been, Jam? Got anything you wanna report back?
Jam:It was a good week. I got a chance to see some of my family. We had our very late Christmas gathering. Mhmm. My family's usually late for stuff.
Jam:And so this year, we made it really special and made it especially late. It was just the 1st chance we all got to actually be able to get together. And so, it was really nice just to get to see my Siblings and my mom and my, my brother my younger brother and sister-in-law have a daughter, and she just Grows so fast. She's already, like, a year and a half, 18 months, I think, here at the end of the month. And so
Melissa:She's so cute. We posted pictures of her before.
Jam:Right. And she yeah. She's really cute. And so it was just good to get together and catch up, and we hadn't all we'd we're all together briefly in, like, early October. And before that, it had been, like, probably, I don't know, an unusually long enough time.
Jam:And so it feels like Getting together again somewhat soon after, like, 3 months later, seemed really good, and we got a little bit more time together, which was nice.
Melissa:Yeah. That is nice.
Jam:And I got a cool coffee related gift, so that kind of continues my streak of receiving coffee related stuff like the book you gave me, which I talked about a couple weeks ago. This mug I'm drinking from right now
Melissa:I wondered if that was a new mug, but I thought it was the new mug you replaced Your old mugwhip already.
Jam:Yeah. So I kind of updated again quickly. I'll post a picture of this later. It's And people can definitely make fun of this. I will not be offended.
Jam:Okay? Because I realize how coffee snobby this mug will be when I describe it to you.
Melissa:I think I know what it is. Okay.
Jam:It this coffee mug is, right now, at this exact moment, keeping my coffee at a constant temperature of a 125 degrees by using Yes. A battery at the bottom And just a little, very simple heater and then, like, a thermometer as well. And it looks very normal, though, Which I love.
Melissa:It does look very normal.
Jam:You could You
Melissa:could trick people into thinking you weren't a coffee snob.
Jam:Yes. Very much so. And, it has a little light on there to to show you if it's, like, low on battery and stuff like that. But you could turn you can turn that light off if you want. So then it would very much seem, in almost every way, like a normal mug.
Jam:And it feels just like ceramic. But I've been very excited about it. I've been using it for only a few days, And it is, I know, totally ridiculous. And I think the best thing about it is just that it's a kind of Great gift to be given by somebody. And Yeah.
Melissa:That's a great gift.
Jam:And to buy for oneself might seem a little bit overkill. But Regardless of how I receive it, I am very much all for it, and I'm very bought in. Just the idea of, like, I take a sip 40 minutes after I made my coffee and it's the same temperature is kind of amazing.
Melissa:That is amazing. I'm very happy for you, Jim.
Jam:So that was my week. What about you?
Melissa:Well, my week actually wasn't the best week I've ever had, and I almost Decided not to talk about this.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:But I think it can be beneficial to share these kinds of experiences. So
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:This past week, I had a pretty low productivity week, and I was struggling a lot with impostor syndrome as well. So I have a really flexible schedule. I manage my own time. You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:And so I just felt like it was really hard to convince myself to get up and get going and to start work and get to the office. And I would get there, and it was just hard to do things. Mhmm. Mhmm. And then I started to wonder, oh, why can't I just get this Together, why can't I just do my work?
Melissa:You know? Other people just can't get their work done. And so I was struggling with that imposter syndrome and feeling inadequate and, like, I was falling short. You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:So it's just kind of a hard week. But I shared that I was feeling that way with some of my friends, And that is the good part of my week is they were so kind and encouraging and really, You know, pointed out the facts to me, where I am in my life and what all has been going on. And There are a lot of really smart people who have no reason to just pretend that I'm good at my job,
Jam:tell other people consistently that I'm good at my job.
Melissa:You know? And so it was nice to have that group of people around me that could encourage me and remind me that even when I Feel like maybe I'm not doing great. Maybe I'm not doing great that week.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Overall, that doesn't mean that I don't belong where I am and that I'm not a good student and that I'm not a good chemist. You know? So that was nice to have those people point that back.
Jam:Totally. Yeah. That is really nice. And sometimes that can make all the difference then in kind of Getting your act together in one sense because you're re remotivated again. People reminded you, hey.
Jam:You're good at what you do, and you love it, And you're in a great spot, and that can be it could it could be nice to have a motivation kinda renewed a little bit. And Right. And that can help Make things feel a little bit less like it's so hard to make yourself be productive. You know?
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:It's nice when it happens just naturally.
Melissa:Right. And it reminds you to be nicer to yourself. You know, I would never talk to one of my students the way I talk to myself. You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:1 of my students said, At a hard week, it was hard to get work done. I felt like I didn't wanna get out of bed ever. I would be really empathetic and care a lot about that that was their didn't wanna help them. But when it's myself, it's just much harder to be empathetic. Mhmm.
Melissa:You know? So It was tempting to gloss over that this week because other good things happen too. But
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Then I thought maybe it'd be helpful for others who are feeling the same way as Teachers, as chemists, as whatever your career is, whatever your position is, whatever you pursue in life, I think it is Always valuable to remember that a lot of people are feeling Mhmm. Feeling this way, especially right now, and it's okay to have off weeks or off months are off times, and
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:You are valuable and good and worth living even if you didn't get your work done. You know? It's just good to remember.
Jam:Yeah. Dude, totally.
Melissa:That's great. Rogers, you made today better just by being you.
Jam:You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:Good stuff, mister Rogers.
Jam:Very good stuff. Amen.
Melissa:So that was, that was a week. So thanks to those friends who encouraged me and Continue to support me as I pursue a PhD, which is really hard. And thanks to you, Jam, and to all of our listeners for coming and learning and being excited and letting me get on my soapbox about dryer sheets.
Jam:Soapbox, nice. It's kinda related.
Melissa:Oh, That was an accident. It was good.
Jam:It's, like, just related enough to seem like a good pun. You know? Even though it's not technically exactly so. But either way, thanks for the pun. Thanks for teaching us and for Going into a lot of details about some other choices we might be able to make and things we can look into about improving The safety of our laundry stuff, but also just some of the, impact on the environment that might be good to look into and make different choices about.
Jam:And in general, just for the fascinating education about drag sheets, Mohsen and I have a lot of ideas for topics of chemistry in everyday life, but we want to hear from you. If you have questions or ideas, you can email us on Gmail. You can tweet us on Twitter. You can gram us on Instagram, or you can book us right there on Facebook. At chem for your life.
Jam:That's KOM, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas. If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi dotcom/chem for your life, and donate the cost of a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app in reading and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to be able to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jaren Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to a Colini and v Garza who reviewed this episode.
