Dryer Sheets

Consumer product companies are coming out with smaller and smaller forms of concentrated detergents these days. I cite Method's 3x laundry detergent as an example, and I think Procter and Gamble is developing one as I type. As I understand them though, they are all just concentrated, and don't really go beyond the liquid, powder, or tablet forms that we all know and adore.

I have an idea that would get rid of the adding-laundry-detergent step altogether. What if we utilized the fact that you would only need a small amount of detergent to wash your clothes? What if you could embed detergent particles into your clothes during the drying cycle? Let's say a dryer sheet has all the detergent you need for an entire load of wash.

Take your wet clothes after a wash cycle, and throw them into the dryer, and then throw in one of these special dryer sheets with detergent. Out will come fresh, dry clothes, with detergent particles inside the clothes. You wear the clothes as normal, and then when it's ready to wash, you throw your clothes into the washing machine and start the washing cycle. It gets rid of the whole adding detergent step. Jono used to tell me, "The best ____ is no ____." And this is no exception.

I can think of a couple of synergies with this one. First, I'm utilizing the fact that my clothes are tumbling around in the dryer. Second, if I get a stain on my clothes, I can easily find water to add in order to wash it out. Third, since I dry my delicates separately from my regulars, I'd be able to use a gentle detergent sheet on my delicates and a regular detergent on my regulars, and throw them all into the same wash.

Drawbacks: Of course, I'm assuming that the detergent won't irritate my skin, which many detergents do. I'm also aware that if it rains, you'll have washed clothes.