Baking soda in wash to soften water?

[pear-shaped]

We have very hard water where we live and it causes all sorts of laundry problems. I've been wanting to try adding vinegar but I can't find white distilled vinegar here. I will probably just try white wine vinegar, which is the closest thing, but I while looking at a box of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) the other day, I noticed that adding it to the wash as a water softener was a suggested use. Does anyone have any experience with that? Would it effect colors?

[Tizzy]

I prefer to use a bit of washing soda when our water gets hard. We have a spring-fed well so most of the time it's pretty soft but during a dry spell it has more minerals. The washing soda appears to help.

[Jackies Ladybug]

i use it, havent had any issues with it doing anything funny to the clothes. i also use vinegar sometimes, as well as borax.
i think the borax does the best to soften my water, i also add a 1/2 cup of epsom salt if im washing towels so they dont end up super crunchy, we have REALLY hard water, so this works well.
just experiment until you find what works best with your particular mineral mix. hard water is different depending on what region you are in, so what works for me may not work for you.