Detergents Update: What are you using?

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My everyday detergent is Tide HE Turbo Powder, Original Scent. It performs beautifully in my old school top loader but also does equally well in the front loaders I've used at the laundromat for heavy loads.

My mother prefers Tide "Original" liquid, so there is always a jug of that sitting on top of the dryer as well.

I like Persil ProClean Original for towels, jeans, and other heavy loads. It does froth a bit, so I tend to use less of it. I absolutely love the scent of this one. It's simply fresh.

Work clothes get half a scoop of BIZ thrown in for good measure.

For fabric softener, I use just a small drop in the cap of Snuggle Blue Sparkle with the rest of the dispenser filled up with water. It leaves just enough of a pleasant scent behind without being overbearing.

I don't use softener every time or with every load. Towels get softener every other wash, my regular cottons get it every other or every third wash. I think the only thing I use it with every time is my jeans, but those don't get washed too terribly often these days since I don't wear them much.

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I use Persil Intense Fresh liquid or Arm & Hammer powder for everyday loads, and Boardwalk Huracan 40 for suds-sensitive/white loads. The Huracan 40 is great for pillows and mattress pads, basically anything that would act as a giant sponge and create air pockets which would cause suds to flourish. I made the mistake of using 1 or 2 tablespoons of Persil on pillows and the suds were phenomenal, and not in a good way.
 
Correction, I use the A&H with OXyclean. The plain jane stuff doesn't carry the freight otherwise. With regard to scents, I have no particular preference.

When using ammonia, I use 1/2 to 1C depending on load size. For instance when I wash 4 bathroom towel sets I might use less than half a cap of the detergent with 1 C ammonia. With that dose, the towels don't reek of ammonia when done.  Ammonia seems to be just the right amount of boost plus I can use it to clean my tile floors.

I've also taken to using vinegar in the rinse cycle.  Not sure how much I put in, once the bedding smelled like a jar of pickles but it sho' was soft.

I also use vinegar in the DW. My H2OH! runs slightly on the hard side, but not quite hard enough to warrant an total in house softener, not that I have any place to put it.

 

Dad's H2OH! on the other hand was soft as could be. He did not have a water softener. Run a full cap of A&H on any load in his SQ and it was suds city.  However he religiously used the 2nd rinse option no matter what.  And I do mean religiously. 

His formula was pretty straightforward

Hot wash..for everything  (verify WH is at 140 or higher before starting!)

Wash it all in one load, the more diverse the colors, the better. Throw in a few whites too for good measure.

Pack the darn machine full.  And if that isn't enough, grab a broom handle and stuff the thing like a thanksgiving turkey.

1/2 cap of A&H

2 cold rinses.

Dry on HIGH be sure to crank the dial all the way over to more more more more dry. Add 2 tennis balls to load in dryer.

put away, wrinkles and shrinkage and all.

Repeat with next load. Et cetera.

 

Oh and use the most aggressive agitation cycle cause by golly that is how mammaw's Maytag worked and by jove her stuff came clean. 
 
Have a big pile of detergents to give to charity this season...I do that this time of year every year. I enjoy buying this stuff too much but can't use it as fast as I would like, so I donate 12-18 bottles or boxes to a couple charities including the Ronald McDonald house in Charlotte.

I am currently using an old non-ultra Tide w/bleach powder in Clean Breeze scent, and a Tide w/Downy liquid, as well as Ajax pods. I expect to finish the Ajax this weekend and start my last bottle of Total Care Tide liquid.

Gordon
 
I used to think pods

were largely a marketing gimmick. I have, through real-life experience, changed that view.

I now use Persil Proclean "Power-Caps" in Original.

I had to move recently. I needed a new bathroom (no way at all to remodel my former bathroom..no way at all. Landlocked and not easily accessible.)

To get a bathroom I can use, I had to sacrifice my Maytag Dependable Care team. And my 2011 Whirlpool Gas range with self-cleaning and Accubake, which worked well for me...

This apartment building does have laundry rooms on each floor, I am grateful to say. "Commercial" Speed Queens, with an electronic money card reader on the backsplash. Three washers, a single utility sink, three dryers, and in the corner, a security camera.

Schlepping a jug of detergent or a normal size box is difficult when you're at #106, and the laundry room is at #113.

Therefore, I put a Persil Power-Caps in a zipping sandwich size plastic bag, and whatever extras--Oxi or Borax in with the pod, and throw it (without the reusable zipper bag) into the machine of my choice, which is almost always the lone front-loader.

As for dishwasher detergent-- I have only and always used Cascade Platinum and Jet Dry in this Frigidaire by Electrolux, and so far, no yibbles or rewash.
Even on the Energy Cycle!

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Here's page 2 of the MSDS for the detergent from Wausau Chemical giving the breakdown of % by weight of each ingredient.

 

Sodium Carbonate 497-19-8   51.7% 
Sodium Tripolyphosphate 7758-29-4   34.5% 
Sodium Metasilicate, Pentahydrate 10213-79-3   8.6% 
Alcohol Ethoxylate 900 68439-46-3   3.5% 

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I like to try different detergents, but lately have been alternating between Persil Fresh Scent and some variant of Tide. Usually go for Tide because it's on sale or has coupons more often. I loved Wisk, but obviously it's not available any longer. Right now I'm using Tide PurClean and I think it's fantastic! Cleans very well and smells good. Gain now has a "naturals" line so I may try that too. I have a bag of Mexican Ariel waiting for me next. I LOVE the smell of it. Have to see how well it cleans...and it's wicked cheap.
 
Lawrence-- I had great luck using pods in front-loaders and they are very convenient in situations like yours. Much easier than lugging a jug around.

Have been tempted to try them in the top-loading SQ. While I have my own washer and dryer in this apartment building, they're in a common area and our hours are restricted to 7:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. I find myself using the delay start feature a lot, so that a load is washed and ready for the dryer when I get home, which is sometimes later than 10:00. The dryer, fortunately is very quiet, so no one has complained when I run it after hours. Everyone on my floor would hear the washer's hum, so I always make sure it will complete the cycle by 10:00.

ANYWAY... I often think a pod or two at the bottom of the tub would be better than having fabrics in contact with full-strength liquid detergent for 8-12 hours before the cycle finally begins.
 
Tide

I have been using Tide plus Bleach Powder for a white now on anything white or rags. Any items that are colorfast and are washed in Hot get Tide powder Mountain Spring, which smells incredible paired with a Bounce Outdoor Fresh dryer sheet. Otherwise, all other loads get Tide PurClean. I have three bottles of this and love it. It cleans great and smells very good as well. I do not have any sudsing issues like others have mentioned. 1T of STPP is used in every load.
 
I forgot to mention, my next detergent will likely be Cheer powder. It is very similar to Tide powder but does not contain the OBAs. It doesn't make sense to buy three detergents when one can simply replace them all!
 
I tend to go between brands within a range. I still have a stash of Tide with Bleach HE powder in the original fragrance so I alternate that with Persil 2 in 1 liquid and the remaining stash of Persil Power Pearls, For kitchen cloths, rags and lightly soiled items, Surf powder in the "spring burst" scent does a creditable job and kind of smells like a vintage detergent. I was using the Ajax pods also, but those seem to have disappeared from all local store shelves - while the Fab and Dynamo pods remain.
 
lakewebsterkid, I used Cheer powder for a long time and found it to be an very good at cleaning, and I liked the scent too. I switched off of it due to the frothing / sudsing. Too many extra rinses in the SQ. But yes, it's a good detergent.

"It doesn't make sense to buy three detergents when one can simply replace them all!" Totally agree, but don't we all love trying different detergents!! LOL. I'm trying to find "my" detergent, the perfect one!! I'll probably never find it.

Decided for my Christmas present to myself that I'm going to try Rosalie's Low Sudsing. Just got to decide what "flavor" to choose from, unscented or the other. LOL.

Barry
 
Lawrence/Maytagbear--sorry to hear about losing the Maytag set! I know you really liked that set. Hope the new place will over all work out for you.

 

As for pods in apartment living, I've heard this before. On another forum, a college student praised pods for their convenience in his dorm laundry.

 

I'm not sure it's something I'd do (and this is only speaking for me, myself). I am such a control freak in the laundry room that I'd probably hate programmed doses! Plus I frankly think carrying detergent is (again speaking for me) the least of the coin operated laundry hassle.
 
I often think a pod or two at the bottom of the tub would be better than having fabrics in contact with full-strength liquid detergent for 8-12 hours before the cycle finally begins.

 

 

No! No! <span style="text-decoration: underline;">NO!!!!</span> We rescued you from the evil pod world, Frigilux, and YOU ARE NOT GOING BACK!

 

LOL

 
 
I use Persil 2n1 for color items, and have a stash of Persil Pro Perl's that is used for whites. Works well in my front loader.
With the revised 10 dimensions of clean formula the rinsing has improved, and on my current cap there are now more lines so that gives better control of the dosing. I rarely use the suggested amount and still get clean clothes and good rinses. Happy with it so far.
 
Right now, in my dishwasher, these, alternating between scents:

I had Cascade or Finish gels, which were twice as many, and also a couple boxes of, alternating between the two, with even as often as I do my kitchenware, I had a lot of, marked down from when I used to work at Walmart, and as in the more you buy, the more you save, as the large sizes these were, were priced like the smaller...

So, these, are almost, as many--likely to be a year, as opposed to YEARS, bought (also on sale) at my job at Kroger... And they, along with my DW, do, do a good job!

-- Dave

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