August 2009 Detergent Thread

[lavamat_jon]

So, about time for another "what do you use" thread. Will be interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't!

I'm using Daz at the moment - one of the huge boxes Asda have been selling for £6 - and have to say I'm pretty impressed! On my usual Ariel Colour for colours, and currently going through the varieties of Comfort, on tropical at the moment and I've bought Aloe Vera to try next. Also bought the matching Persil Naturals washing powder.

Mum on the other hand has bought Miele washing powder and liquid from the engineer who visited last week (turned out to be a blocked dryer vent) - was shocked at how much she paid for it but it works pretty well. Is made by a company called Dalli - haven't heard of it before?

Jon

 

[foraloysius]

I have a small box of Dalli Color Plus at the moment that I bought in Germany. Not very impressed. The cleaning is OK, but it's a very sudsy detergent. I bought a box of Ariel Professional and a box of Ariel Professional Color at a wholesale store. Wonderful stuff, although it oversudses a bit sometimes too.

 

[autowasherfreak]

Sear's Ultra Plus

Still use the box of Sear's Ultra Plus that I bought back in May. LOVE this stuff!!!

 

[frigilux]

Tide With Color Clean Bleach Alternative (liquid; regular & HE versions)
SA8 (powder)
Tide Cold Water (liquid)
Cheer For Dark Colors (or Woolite For Dark Colors when I can't find Cheer)

Also in my much-downsized stash, one small box of each:
Persil Tablets
Ariel non bio (powder)
These came from a friend who went to England a few months ago.

Additives on hand:
SA8 Tri-Zyme (their pumped-up version of Oxi-Clean)
SA8 Stain Removal Spray (aerosol version for greasy stains)
Tide Stain Release pacs
Dissolv-It spray (for really greasy stains)

Softener:
Downy April Fresh

 

[frigilux]

Detergents

 

[frigilux]

Stain Removers

 

[rickr]

Foca powder!

 

[vintagesearch]

what do we use?

all liquid we get a bjs or arm and hammer
occasionally tide liquid, and any fabric softener
we feel like buying either suavitel, downy (all varieties including the ones at the discount store), gain, nice n fluffy, final touch, cuddle soft and, sometimes the pathmark brand

 

[jamiel]

Have quite a lot right now.

Mostly using Foca
Canadian Sunlight Fresh Rain (from Big Lots)...still shown as Unilever
Box of Tide (last time CVS had it on sale)
Bottle of Sun (my partner decided to buy some)
Bottle of Arm and Hammer Naturals (I kind of like it even though it doesn't have enzymes)

And my hoard:
1/3 bottle of Fresh Start (what I wouldn't give for a 20 year old bottle of Fresh Start w/phosphates). Don't think there was ever anything I liked better.

 

[rayjay]

SA8 Premiun

Eugene. I was wondering how you like the new SA8 premium detergent and the pre-wash. I see it, but I loeved the old formula, but I heard they changed it.

Let me know

Ray

 

[mattywashboy]

we are currently using Radiant powder for front loaders, mum made the error of picking up the one for top loaders, luckily i know someone at the shop we bought it from and they could take it back and change it even tho we had used a teeny amount.
Radiant is pretty much a constant in our house, with occasional uses of Omo or Dynamo, only if i bring them in tho.
Softner is always Fluffy White Lavender scent, smells wonderful on sheets dried on the line.

I don't have any current pics but will try and get some as Radiant have changed there packaging slightly, might even try and get some pics of the laundry aisle in the local supermarket.
Heres a pic of the detergents we used to use in the top loader, Radiant regular and Fluffy Pure and Gentle (now discontinued grrrrrrrr).

Also mixed in some british Ariel i picked up and also Omo Small and Mighty Liquid (blue= top loader, purple= Coloursafe, green= matic/he) and the empty bottle of Drive Matic i think was refilled with Dynamo Liquid.

Matt

 

[ronhic]

Matty

You should be able to use the top load Radiant in a front load at half dosage (or slightly less I found) - they used to give you dosing instructions to that effect before they brought out the matic version....same with BioZet and Duo.

I'm currently using 2/5 of a scoop of BioZet in the Zanussi/Westinghouse and getting good results on the 40c quick wash...(1:08)

 

[frigilux]

Ray---Something has definitely changed with SA8 detergent, because it doesn't remove stains as well as it used to....unless you use 3-4 scoops, which makes it quite expensive to use. I like to use it on my bath towel loads, because it rinses cleaner than any other US brand I've come across. This is especially true when using my front-loader. Towel loads in the front-loader using Tide (even in very reduced doses) tend to stay sudsy even into the final rinse, although I've never had any skin reactions to it. I have mechanically softened water, so suds are quite tenacious.

If you pre-treat stains, you probably won't notice a difference in SA8's performance. I don't pre-treat loads of highly-stained kitchen whites, because it would take forever, and I'd use a prohibitive amount of pre-treatment. I do, however, pre-treat stains on shirts, pants, and tablecloths, as those loads don't get bleached and they're usually done in warm or temp-controlled cold water.

I have both versions of Amway's pre-treat, but the aerosol version, made for grease-based stains, is the one I use the most. It's great for grease stains on shirts, ring-around-the-collar, that sort of thing.

I'm liking the new Tide stain treatment pacs. I washed a medium-sized load of kitchen whites, yesterday, in my Frigidaire top-loader, using hot water (well, about 125 degrees, which passes for hot these days), Tide with bleach alternative and 2 stain treatment pacs. Everything came out clean, although to be honest it wasn't a super-tough load.

I usually use liquid chlorine bleach on those loads (in the last 4 minutes of the wash cycle), but I wanted to see how the Tide pacs would do on their own. Not bad! I'll have to try it again with a really large, super-stained load and see how they perform without the aid of LCB. I'll probably test that load in my front-loader, as it would concentrate the power of the pacs in a much smaller amount of water.

I'm a big fan of using chlorine bleach, as I don't worry about cross-contamination when I wash kitchen items that have raw meat liquids on them, or when I wash kitchen items together with briefs and white ankle socks.

 

[spoodles]

Current crop:

1. Ariel powder for whites

 

[spoodles]

2. Bold and Ariel Gels

 

[spoodles]

3. An Eastern European Ariel stain remover spray and a couple of Lenor favourites.

 

[rayjay]

Eugene. Thanks for you comments. A while ago I called Amway, (Quixtar) and they told me the changed the formulation. I told them people were complaining and to bring back the old version which was rate #1 by Consumer reports 2 years ago. I do not know why they changed this, because it was the best detergent I ever used along with the TriZyme. I think it fell to number 6 of the ratings. They had such a good product. I do not understand this. I also agree it rinsed out the best in my LG frontloader, and I also have mechanically softened water. But...I am glad that you like the aerosol pre spotter. I will have to give it a try.

Did you try the TriZYme and all fabric bleach? It is quite good.

I to like to use Liquid chlorine bleach, and mix the whites like you do.

Let me know if you have used the trizyme and all fabric bleach and if you liked them

Thanks, Ray

 

[hoovermatic]

Am hooked on Ariel Gel (Bio and Colour)since it came out and have also tried M&S Gel and am pleased with that too but Ariel is my absolute fave. As the mains cold is about 18 degrees at the moment have been washing in cold water and am more than pleased with the results.

 

[mysteryclock]

SA8 no more

I used SA8 for years because it cleaned well and didn't break me or the boys out at all, which almost everything else did. Then sometime in the last year or two they reworked the formula because it really started causing problems for us... I ended up having to go on a Medrol dose pack I was so irritated at one point.

I switched over to Charlie's and haven't found anything that's better overall yet. I tried Sears UP but it wasn't that much better than CS at straight-up cleaning, and when I found out it had NPE I pitched it (that stuff is bad!) For "organic" / smelly stains that CS isn't so great at I add a bit of Biokleen Bac-out to the wash which both works and smells great.

I recently tried the Greenworks laundry liquid (lavender) and it was repellent -- ~hideously~ strong smelling and a bad cleaner to boot!

I am looking forward to trying some of the Vaska products when they come out into wide distribution since they are both "green" / gentile and yet effective enough to be used in a commercial environment which is where they got their start.