Award For Worst Rinsing Laundry Detergents Vintage Or Modern!

[launderess]

Have to say top of my list is vintage Tide "ultra" detergent. Even with one or two tablespoons the stuff doesn't rinse will in large commercial laundromat washers, nor 1/4 to 1/3 cup in the Whirlpool portable. Have only used a bit of the box but it's being taped up and going back into the stash.

 

[whirlcool]

We haven't had any problems with the Tide Ultra powder rinsing out. Any other version of Tide could require up to 10 rinses before you get a "clean" rinse, especially the liquids!

In fact, we find most liquid detergents are hard to rinse. The powders just rinse cleaner faster.

 

[mrsalvo]

I bought a bottle of Cheer a couple of months ago, and had an awful time getting all the soap out. Though it cleaned okay, to much time went into each load getting all the suds out rinsing over and over. I won't buy it again.

 

[frigilux]

Tide, especially the liquids. I have super-soft water which exacerbates the problem.

 

[wringer]

Hmmmmmmmmm,

I bought up a lot of the "old" Tide original when they stopped making it. I have enough for a couple of years LOL. I use a Maytag wringer washer to both wash and rinse in. I rinse twice. First rinse has nothing but water and the second has the old fashioned pink liquid softener that comes by the gallon added to it. My first rinse water has a little bit of cloudy to it when done but the 2nd one is clear enough to see the bottom of the washer. There is never any suds on top of the water after agitating. I do have extremely hard water. I feel I get all of the Tide out of my clothes but maybe I am not right?

Jim

 

[sudsmaster]

I still have a bottle or two of Wisk HE liquid I bought over 12 years ago.

It has an atrocious fragrance that doesn't rinse out. On top of that, its cleaning ability is quite poor.

Back then, the Wisk liquid was the only HE detergent I could find in the local markets. Since then I've found far better products, as well as determined that STPP is the secret "long lost" ingredient that greatly enhances the cleaning ability of powdered detergents. So the Wisk has been relegated to a storage cabinet in the garage. I have no use for it... perhaps I'll donate it to the local laundromat.

 

[polkanut]

Rich,

Some senõrita would probably be tickled to death to get that bottle of Wisk.  It seems that some Hispanics love heavily scented detergents.

 

[sudsmaster]

Yes, some Hispanics. I once worked with a Mexican-American chap whose wife would overdo the scented fabric softener. It was not entirely pleasant, but preferable to the sharp body odor of another employee.

 

[whirlcool]

You could just go to any laundromat and put the bottle of Wisk on top of one of the washers and discretely walk out. I've done that before with a detergent that we no longer wanted.

At our old house we had a neighbor who always used Sauvatel fabric softener. On the days she used it you could smell it all over the neighborhood! Literally. I think it came out of her dryer vent.

 

[lordkenmore]

What is so interesting about heavily scented laundry products of today is that there is also a strong "no scent" movement in some offices, etc. I gather the no scent is more a perfume/cologne/heavily scented lotion/etc issue, due to sensitivities some people have. But it seems like laundry detergent that leaves clothes smelling like they'd been doused in a couple of gallons of cheap perfume might also be an issue in "no scent" environments.

Of course, there are unscented laundry products, and that's my personal preference during line drying season. Line dried clothes have a nice scent, better than anything any detergent company has come up with. Unless, of course, one lives next door to a pig farm or something. But I like LIGHTLY scented products--an endangered species, it seems--for winter when stuff is dried, one way or another, inside.

 

[mikeklondon]

Fairy Snow

For me in the UK its Fairy Snow washes very clean very soft but will only rinse if you re-set the machine to a 40C wash

 

[launderess]

Think There Are Two Problems

Highly scented laundry products and the rinsing ability of most modern front loaders is often wanting. This probably will only get worse in 2013 when USA government implements new standards for washing machines. Don't know how front loaders can possibly use less water than they to now, but we are soon to find out.

Of course there are simply also some product offerings that pack a powerful whiff that won't go away.

Case in point that case of Gain "Lavender" laundry detergent one nabbed several weeks back. The stuff leaves a pleasant enough long lasting scent on laundry, but the rubber boot/Miele washer reeks of it days or weeks afterwards, even when subsequent loads have been done with other products.

 

[alr2903]

I may not remember correctly, the Tide Liquid, "Mountain Fresh".   I finally used it up, washing pet blankets.  The scent was so strong,  it would transfer to the next dryer load.  One small bottle of it, and never again.  alr