European vs American "HE" Detergents

[liberatordeluxe]

Did we ever actually have any 'colour care' detergents say 1980's til early 1990's? I recall Persil Automatic being used by my parents to wash our clothes then and my Mum told me they didn't have 'colour care' back then. Is that right? We have so much choice today which I suppose is a good thing but can be confusing for some.

 

[liberatordeluxe]

Getting back to the original post I think the self dosing is a great idea will await to see it in Sainsbury's.

So Ariel is bring out compact powders and doing away with the tablets?

 

[paulc]

Persil in the 80's was marketed as safe for all laundry , including wool!! Here is the ingredients and dosing instructions for the Sainsburys compact

 

[paulc]

Ariel compact

As I said before, these are pics posted by a friend on facebook who appears to live in an area where new detergents are introduced.

 

[paulc]

Dosing

instructions

 

[launderess]

Colour Care

Sort of yes and no.

P&G repositioned Cheer as their "color" detergent in one wants to say the 1980's or so. Prior to that Cheer contained bluing agents and so forth (which some versions still do), but nothing so much to prevent dyes from transferring and prevent colours fading.

Then P&G came up with "Triple Colour Guard" which was supposed to prevent coloured laundry from fading, dye transfer..... http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=16003071

For most of history on both sides of the pond linens ranging from bed, table, bath and right up to blouses and shirts were either white or light colourfast shades. Nothing that would be harmed by say laundering in normal detergent with bluing agents and perhaps oxygen bleach. Chlorine bleach would be another matter however.

Today of course we have *linens* in all sorts of deep and rich colours such as carmines, reds, browns, blacks, etc... Frequent laundering with detergent that contain any sort of bleach or OBAs will affect these items. Indeed over the past twenty or so years there has been a major switch to using colour everywhere from our wardrobes to home.

In the old days you wanted white or light coloured *linens* because they would withstand the hot water and harsh laundering processes often required when using soaps and so forth. With modern automatic washing machines and detergents you can achieve "clean" in warm and even cold (86C) water, so the potential for damage to colours is less.

 

[paulc]

Laundress

Also, on this side of the "pond" in the 80's and before, ingredients in detergents were designed to work at different temperatures. All main brand powders contained oxygen bleach but this was not fully effective until temps of 60deg C or above were reached, so coloured items washed at 40deg C were not so affected by fading. With the advent of lower temp washing and oxy bleach that operated in cooler water there was more of a need for detergents designed for coloureds, although it could be argued the introduction of colour specific detergent was a marketing ploy also.

 

[liberatordeluxe]

Thanks for the postings laundress and Paul. Will keep my eyes peeled on the new compact powders!

 

[liberatordeluxe]

Thanks for the postings launderess and Paul. Will keep my eyes peeled on the new compact powders!

 

[launderess]

Sodium Perborate

Was the "Per" behind Persil and like the rest of "active" soap and later detergent powders used for washing sodium perborate is the "colour safe" bleach. That is the stuff requires temps of 140F or higher to really get going bleaching wise. Since few if anyone would be washing colours at boil wash temps, there you are then. Same thing with colour safe bleaches like the original "Clorox II"

With the development of oxygen bleach activators (TAED in Europe and NBOS in America) perborate or percarbonate bleaches became active at lower temps and thus the bleaching action started soon after temps reached >86F, therefore colours likely could be affected. Hence the need for detergent just for such items that di not contain bleaching agents.

Sodium perborate is in the cross hairs of EU regulators because of the damage borates cause to aquatic systems. If you notice many detergents on both sides of the pond have switched to sodium percarbonate. You'll also see many products making claims they are friendly to the environment as they do not contain borates.

Sodium percarbonte is known as the "cold water" oxygen bleach since unlike sodium perborate it does work in warm, cool or even cold water. It may take longer to achieve the desired results, but never the lass. In fact it could be argued activators aren't necessary with percarbonate bleaches, but there is a method to the madness.

In water activated (TAED) oxygen bleaches become Peracetic acid which is a more powerful bleach and antimicrobial than hydrogen peroxide. Peracetic acid is recognized in both the EU and North America as a powerful disinfectant. It is what brewers use to sanitize bottles before using them for beer. However the stuff is very unstable in pure form (it only comes as a liquid IIRC) and IIRC slightly dangerous. Activated oxygen bleach OTOH is far more stable for transport, shelf life, etc...

Peracetic acid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[jerrod6]

I am wondering, what of todays He detergents sold in the USA formulated for both front loading and top loading machines? The former type of top loaders using 19 to 21 gallons of water for each fill seem to be missing from the scene at least in the big box stores so It seems now days that the top loader machines also do not use as much water and both of these types of machines take a long time to get on with the cycle. The top loaders don't even have a manual timer so no telling how long they take.

So for todays environment are the USA He detergents still formulated for short wash cycles? If they are can they be working well with todays top loaders longer cycles, or are todays top loaders that are using less water still trying to wash in detergent formulated for short washes while they have less water to work with and take a longer time to complete even when the detergent says it's He?

Front or top loaders either one don't seem to use a lot of water, so thorough rinsing is still a concern for me- rash occurred last December after using Tide He Powder with bleach and liquid Tide He for two weeks in a row even though I have a machine that rinses well so I guess I most have tougher skin than I do.

Hey that's it! - I have the gentle skin of a baby and must be treated +well and with dignity. Yes.. I must remember that line for future use! not that anyone is gonna believe it.

Seriously though, why can't USA He detergents be formulated to be very low foaming, well rinsing, and still clean effectively?

 

[electron1100]

1980s non bleach powders

in the 80s if you didn't want your clothes to fade by using Ariel or Persil the only choice was Dreft automatic as it contained no bleaching agents.

I remember New System Persil in the 80s as being recommended for all temperatures as was Ariel.

I also remember the colour versions of Ariel and Persil being available in Europe long before they released them in this country

Happy days
Gary

 

[mrb627]

ALDI Markets

I have never been inside an Aldi Market, but was wondering if they had any brands of laundry detergent. Anyone know of them and having tried them post a review?

Malcolm

 

[mrb627]

Video Review

Found This.



Not sure how to respond to this review...

Malcolm

 

[frigilux]

Oh, my God.  I've seen and heard a younger, skinnier version of myself. I'm going trundle off to my room and have a nice cry, now. #WillAlwaysLiveAlone

 

[liamy1]

Aldi detergents

Mrb, over here in the UK, ALDI do have a detergent range called Almat (not sure if you have that over in your ALDI).

Almat here is actually a Which - (your Consumer Report I think) best buy. I think it only comes second to Ariel detergent in their ratings.

 

[jerrod6]

Not sure how to respond to this review...

Awww, I wouldn't mind having him for a neighbor. I mean --- I really would treat him well and everything.

I don't think I have an Aldi near me but from him we do know it has some brand of detergent in a bottle that looks like it came out of the factory that makes Tide.
No I don't need another rash from Tide like stuff.

I wonder if he has posted other vids.......

Frigilux - this really reminds you of YOU? Well thats OK if it does.

Everyone deserves kindness and consideration.

 

[ozzie908]

Aldi and Almat detergent.

is I have found a very good product for the cost if you consider that a 50 wash box of Persil is around £12 but a 25 wash box of Almat biological is about £2.50 they wash as well as each other and the scent is rather faint after washing but thats not an issue if you use FS.
I did find once that Almat was very sudsy but that may have been my heavy handedness with the measuring cup )

They also do a colour version with no OBA's or bleach and that works as well as any other colour powder, I tend to use liquid for colours only because I have found white powder marks on black items.

Austin

 

[mrb627]

As A Matter Of Fact...

There are a few other videos.



Malcolm

 

[logixx]

Disconter detergents by Aldi and Lidl are often almost or even as good as Persil or Ariel... just a whole lot cheaper. We went through quite a lengthy discussion in the German forum regarding ingredients. Turned out that one Lidl liquid conatins the same stuff as Persil.

We already have these new wersions of Ariel pictured above. The small boxes (16 loads?) are packed with enzymes. The version for whites has six and the Color&Style version has seven enzymes plus two color transfer inhibitors.

Alex