Detergents thread (August 2012)

[zanussi_lover]

What are you currently using to do laundry with?

I have a small 10 wash box of Daz Mandarin and Lime Splash for whites/sheets and towels, a 25 wash box of Ariel Colour & Style Powder for my Lights/Darks/Colours, and a 10 wash box of ASDA sensitive powder, which im trying out.

have Lenor Orange Blossom (My Favourite) for conditioner.

 

[polkanut]

I've been using quite a variety lately.  It's been Fresh Start, Sears detergent (orange box), Ariel Oxi Azul, Duz laundry "soap", phosphated Viva, and phosphated Foca & Roma.  And for softeners it's been Suavitel Morning Sun, and Member's Mark (Sam's Club) Spring Flowers scent.

 

For the non-phosphate detergents in my stash I've been adding 1-1 1/2 tsps. of STPP to give them a bit of a boost.

 

[marthalover4eve]

loads

im got a stash in my cupboard

persil bio 50 washes
bold ruby gel
ariel febreeze gel 25 or something washes
lenor orange
comfort strawberry
tesco fabric scents x 2

current using ariel febreeze gel with tesco fabric scents ( i bought 2 bottels of gell off ebay for £6)

 

[abcomatic]

I use Foca with phosphates. I go to the Mexican grocery store and buy a huge bag of Foca. It cleans well, not a lot of thick suds and it smells good, not perfumie.

 

[maytagbear]

Sears Ultra in the Orange Box

for me. Very good, and wonderful when the price per load is factored in.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[aquacycle]

Persil Colour, Almat Bio and Comfort blue 

 

[zanussi_lover]

@aquacycle

I haven't used Almat in a while, whats the Almat bio like?

 

[matthewza]

Well we used OMO auto liquid that finished today (not worth the price as the big bottle only lasted 2 wks with using 1 small cap in the 13kg samsung tl and half a cap in the LG 7kg fl) so we bought a bag of good ol' fashioned OMO multi active handwash today. Have used it in the fl before and know how little use not to cause over sudsing. Would like to get hold of X-Pert again - my favourite powder! I use a multi purpose stain spray and bicarb for stains. I add a cap of dettol hygiene liquid (the green 1) to the final rinse of towels and linen. And as we've been doing for ages already, use Skip perfect white on the whites (clothes + towels)
And we don't use softener at all!

 

[polkanut]

Forgot to mention the Radiant detergent that I received from Mattywashboy as part of a detergent swap that I'm still using.  I really like the scent.

 

Would like to get ahold of some more Aussie detergents.

 

[passatdoc]

Daily detergent (cottons, towels, sheets): either Gain HE powder or Tide HE powder. Because I bought/hoarded large amounts of Gain HE from Amazon over a year ago, I still have three or four boxes left. I have yet to purchase or try the new Tide HE Concentrated powder, I am using the conventional HE powders.

For light colored work clothes (office casual: khakis, button down Oxford cloth shirts), either Ariel Bio or Persil Universal Megaperls. Thanks to mrwash and mr boilwash, I learned that these are NOT to be used on dark clothes, in spite of the "universal" name.

For dark colored work clothes: Persio Megaperls color, or Via (Swedish version of UK Persil, by Unilever) Color powder. All of the European stuff was either purchased by me or brought over by friends visiting from Europe. On my last stop in UK last year, I brought back four boxes of Ariel Bio; I could not find either Ariel color or Persil color (central London stores were sold out) so I had to settle for Ariel Bio only, which is supposedly for whites/light colors.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Still using Tide

Liquid, original scent. I also found some 80's vintage Era, Surf, and Wisk I've been playing around with.
WK78

 

[ronhic]

The last 4 boxes of detergent have been:

- Aldi Almat
- Coles Ultimate
- Surf Tropical flowers with Ylanf Ylang

....and currently OMOmatic

 

[mattywashboy]

I am currently using:

OMO Pods (love the smell and how easy they are to use)
Ariel Bio (Whites)
Fab Sunshine Fresh Liquid (darks)
Coles Wool Mix (woollens and delicates)

Gain Original Fresh Softener (gotta love Gain!)
Duel Pink Explosion softener (serbian brand, very strong scent)

 

[frigilux]

1. Persil Bio powder (UK/Unilever) 50-wash size
2. Tide With Bleach (HE; powder)
3. Perwoll (for blacks; liquid)

 

[labboy]

1. Persil Colour (Henkel)
2. Dixan for Whites/Lights
3. Seventh Generation Lavender/Eucalyptus (for pet bedding)
4. Tide Liquid HE (for gym towels, cleaning cloths, etc)

Unopened
1. Persil Colour Liquid (Unilever)
2. Persil Colour Tabs (Unilever)
3. Persil Bio Tabs (Unilever)
4. Persil Colour Powder (Unilever)
5. Persil Bio Powder (Unilever)

I took an empty suitcase on my last trip to visit family in Ireland and stocked up on Unilever products.

 

[whirlcool]

Still using FOCA non-phosphate powder and finishing up the Ultra Tide Fresh Scent powder. While we do not like the Fresh Scent smell, we do like to relatively low sudsing and better rinsing of the Ultra Tide. If we can find the "Original Scent" next time we'll try it.

 

[MrX]

Right now :

Persil Bubbles - (Belgian Henkel Persil Capsules) and Le Chat sensitive/dermatologically tested conditioner.

Getting great results!

 

[dj-gabriele]

I have
Dixan Classico powder (the Italian version of Henkel Persil)

General powder (basic detergent from Henkel) that I use for rags and other non valuable stuff.

AVA Forza naturale Liquid (upmarket brand from Reckitt & Benkiser) sold as natural version of classic AVA liquid but natural is only in the name as the thing is enzyme laden plus millions of sufractants, optical brighteners and other stuff!

And my favourite Chante Clair Monodosi econcentrato which are detergent capsules from the Italian Realchimica, I adore that line because they clean SO good and smell real nice!

Other than these products I have a selection professional scented and non-scented laundry detergent got from my father that are VERY aggressive (you need only 4 to 6 grams per kg) and boys, it does get your whites sparkling clean! And not a single bubble while washing or rinsing!

The only softener I have is Vernel classic that I got on sale buy one bottle get one free hehehe. Otherwise I use unscented professional powdered and liquid softeners that I prefer as they leave the clothes with a much more natural feeling but I have finished my supply and need to replenish it!

 

[rolls_rapide]

I have been trying some cheaper detergents:

Lidl's Formil 3 litre liquid,
Jeyes "Easy" 3-in-1 liquid,
Jeyes "Easy" Midnight Inspiration Powder.

The same Jeyes of "Jeyes Fluid" and "Parozone" bleach.

I like the Jeyes products, they seem to have less perfume and the powder in particular creates very little foam - unlike P&G products. The powder flushes out of the dispenser drawer very cleanly.

According to the Jeyes powder product data, there seems to be very little zeolites, instead washing soda appears to be the chief ingredient. One enzyme, protease, and oxygen bleach. One surfactant, non-ionic, and no soap or anionic surfactants.

Cleaning seems to be fine. Rinsing is extremely good with virtually no foam.
I suppose you could achieve the same effect by using washing soda crystals and a scoop of Vanish stain remover powder.