A few years ago we had some kind of Purex Crystals show up at the local supermarkets -- at that time, the things were supposed to be "in-wash fabric softeners", and indeed, they contained some form of bentonite, which is what detergents like Bold 2-in-1 and dryer sheets like Bounce tend to use.
I tried them and they were OK, but not as effective as real liquid fabric softeners -- on the other hand, bentonite can do some good and it doesn't seem to affect flame retardant finishes in things like baby clothes etc as fabric softener does. They also could be used in "technical fabric" like GoreTex without affecting the finish.
Not too long after, stuff like Downy UnStoppables scent beads showed up and Purex Crystals became just another scent bead product. At first I thought it was a step backwards (and I still think so in the case of Purex Crystals), but then I saw it made sense: I always thought laundry detergent manufacturers should only offer *two* versions of their product, one unscented and one with whatever they want to be their "iconic" signature scent.
That would save an awful lot of shelf space, whoever doesn't like the "standard" scent is free to buy scent beads and use one or more combination of scents and leave the rest of us alone and in peace.
In fact, to test that theory, for a long time I bought unscented laundry detergent and fabric softener and tried some of the scent beads. If you use it according to the directions, it works well. Also, if you are a scent lover, you can fill the lid according to directions and be noticed on a 2-mile radius, but it also gives people like me, who likes very little scent, a chance to vastly underdose the thing and still get decent results.
After I got satisfied with my tests, I was done. I still have not used all of the product from the original bottles I bought years ago.
But, even if I'm not actively buying the products, I suppose we would all do well to support the heck of the idea that companies should only have a scented and an unscented version of their products and then sell scents in some other concentrated form, like beads, or liquid or whatever.
If you are not convinced, think about it: under this system, companies like P&G wouldn't have to be changing Tide and Downy so frequently and upsetting people who *liked* the original scents, they could just release yet another scented bead product and let people who wanted change buy it and we would still be buying the stuff we liked.
