Not sure this adds much to the topic, but here is my extremely limited observation. I had a couple of nice plants last year, in a tent in a garage and about 2 weeks before harvest I had one plant that seemed to have white strands all over the main cola, plus a little bit in other places. I felt my options were 1) turn that one into an edible or hash, 2) use neem oil, which sites like this seem to suggest is a really bad idea so close to harvest, or 3) use insecticidal soap with a label that says 'Safe to use up to one day before harvest'.
I chose option #3, sprayed until wet, let it go for a day, and then would give a daily water-spray as a way to try to wash off residual spray or dead bugs etc. Basically, as part of flushing I also make it rain upon the plants a couple of times. I made it to harvest, had a decent cure, and have good potency. But it is harsh (and I also really did not flush the plants properly, not enough).
In my case, I fill a small container with warm water and add a tablespoon or two of baking soda and mix it around. Then I add the buds, and very gently just kinda swirl them around a bit. Then I add around 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and the water will then start fizzing a bit as you swill it all around. I keep the buds swimming until the fizzing stops, then I move the buds to a tub of clean water, for just a little gentle agitation. I now drain and rinse again but I don't know how much that 2nd rinse is needed. Doesn't hurt, if you are careful. Drying is a pain; you need airflow, but you don't want a big blower focused right on them either; you do want airflow and circulation as these buds are not just a little wet - they are sopping wet.
Now, maybe I made this up in my head, maybe it's a placebo/phantom kinda thing but I swear my rinse water felt 'slippery'. I wonder if anytime I used anything - Neem, Soap, foliar fertilizer, etc - it leaves a residue that simple sprays from a spray bottle don't remove. Plus, I did not filter and inspect or really do anything to measure the effect of washing - but I just have to think that somewhere along that dense packing of plant growth there has to be some chemicals or fungus or bugs that might just come out via a washing process.
And yes, absolutely I can tell the difference in taste. Now, in my case, did this turn harsh into non-harsh? No, but it did turn harsh into less-harsh. It was not much effort, for a gain that I can at least notice.