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Reviews > Do It Yourself > Nikwax TX.Direct Wash-In > Owner Review by Nancy Griffith

NIKWAX TX.DIRECT WASH-IN
BY NANCY GRIFFITH
OWNER REVIEW
March 06, 2016

TESTER INFORMATION

NAME: Nancy Griffith
EMAIL: bkpkrgirlATyahooDOTcom
AGE: 49
LOCATION: Northern California, USA
GENDER: F
HEIGHT: 5' 6" (1.68 m)
WEIGHT: 130 lb (59.00 kg)

My outdoor experience began in high school with a canoeing/camping group which made a 10-day voyage through the Quebec wilds. I've been backpacking since my college days in Pennsylvania. I have hiked all of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. My typical trip now is in the Sierra Nevada in California and is from a few days to a few weeks long. Over the past few years I have lowered my pack weight to a lightweight base weight of 15 lb (6.8 kg) and use a tent, stove and quilt.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

TX DirectManufacturer: Nikwax LTD.
Year of Manufacture: 2015
Manufacturer's Website: http://www.nikwax.com

MSRP: $13 for 10 oz (300 ml) bottle
$35.25 for 1 L bottle

Also available in the DuoPack with one 10 oz (300 ml) bottle of TX.Direct and one 10 oz (300 ml) bottle of Tech Wash for $20.75

Made in Great Britain

FIELD USE

I have used the Nikwax TX.Direct Wash-In for several years to keep my waterproof jackets and pants in tip-top shape. Prior to discovering this product, I mistakenly thought that the clamminess I felt during activity wearing raingear was due to cheap gear. Granted I did have some cheaper gear at first, but when our GORE-TEX jackets started to have the same problem, I was hesitant to just buy new even more expensive gear. While the Nikwax products seem expensive, they are very inexpensive compared with replacing gear. It comes down to a few dollars to keep one garment working like new for another year. I usually purchase the DuoPack of Tech Wash and TX.Direct which saves a few dollars as well.

Now I understand that all gear will eventually get dirty and DWR (Durable Water Repellency) will wear off or clog up its waterproof nature. I wash my raingear frequently to remove any dirt or sweat that clogs the pores. Even the frequent washings that are recommended do their part to wear off the DWR especially when using standard laundry soap. I started using Nikwax Tech Wash (not the subject of this review) for the washings to preserve the DWR as well as possible between re-waterproofing. When the fabric no longer beads up and is instead wetting out, I know that it is time for a re-proofing step using Nikwax TX.Direct. I usually end up doing this re-waterproofing about once per year.

I have used Nikwax TX.Direct on our Pertex Outdoor Research Helium jackets, Pertex Outdoor Research Reflexa and Revel pants, my eVent REI Kulshan jacket and our GORE-TEX Cabela's fishing jackets.

Nikwax products are easy to use and have instructions for both hand and machine washing. Our fancy washing machine is capable of tying clothing in knots, so I've been afraid to wash our expensive outdoor gear in it. I have always opted for the hand washing version and only use the machine for a low spin cycle to initiate drying.

getting started
Getting started
Drying
Drying in shower
To get started, I select my gear to wash. In this case, yesterday I washed two Pertex jackets and two Pertex pants in Nikwax Tech Wash (again not the product I'm reviewing here) in order to get them ready for the re-waterproofing step. My pants were visibly dirty and had some pine sap stains which I removed with alcohol hand cleaner prior to washing. Certainly the alcohol cleaning didn't do any favors for the DWR finish, so I had waited to remove these stains until I was ready to re-waterproof them. The jackets looked clean but the fabric had recently been wetting out. After washing there is no need to dry the garments before waterproofing so that's a bonus.

The Nikwax TX.Direct instructions on the bottle for hand-washing say to immerse one clean garment in hand-hot water. Since my clothing tags say to wash in cold water, I prefer to take the safe route and use cold water instead. I decided to do this job in the kitchen sink since I can wash/proof in one side and rinse in the other. Then the bottle says to add '2 oz (50 ml)'. I'm immediately confused because a 10 oz bottle would then clean 5 garments at 2 oz each. But in metric a 300 ml bottle would clean 6 garments at 50 ml each. I realized that the metric conversion on the bottle is slightly off and should be 2 oz (59 ml). Regardless, I'm gathering that the exact amount isn't critical to success here.

back to beading
Beading up!
Next I don some rubber gloves as recommended by Nikwax and use one capful per garment which is approximately 1.5 oz (50 ml). The liquid is a milky color and has a slight chemical smell although it isn't offensive. Although I wear gloves, when I've gotten it on my hands it has a waxy feel. I then agitate the water with two garments together at once. Once I feel that the garments have been completely covered and agitated evenly, I leave them to sit for 10 minutes per the bottle instruction of 5-10 minutes. After the allotted time, I come back and agitate further and then rinse in a cold water bath in the other side of the sink. It takes a couple of rinsing baths to get the water to be running clear. Finally I put the garments in the washing machine for a quick spin on the lowest spin setting and then hang them in the shower for final drying.

By morning the jackets and pants are all dry and look like new. I poured some water on my jacket just to verify that in fact the process had worked. Sure enough the water beaded right up! They are ready to go for another season of backpacking. While I'm not a huge fan of cleaning, a winter day spent washing and waterproofing my backpacking gear always feels rewarding.



SUMMARY

Nikwax TX.Direct Wash-In is an easy-to-use method of keeping my waterproof rain gear in its top condition. A little product and a little effort go a long way!

SIGNATURE

Nancy Griffith

This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1. Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

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