German and European detergents

[alldim]

Hello,
Firstly I would like to wish Merry Christmas
I am Polish who lives in Germany for a year. Previously I lived in Budapest Hungary.
Not so long time ago I discovered interests in detergents (beyond washing machines since I was a kid). I try to get detergents from different countries.
What I found recently is that German detergents have opinion to clean better than East European laundry detergents. I personally can’t see any difference. They seem to clean exactly same. The other things is that there are barely any scented detergents in Germany. In Hungary and Poland you can buy scented Persil, Ariel etc. In Germany such detergents are not available. I miss it, because I love scented products - not only laundry detergents. I was in Lisbon few weeks ago and I bought scented skip and lidl capsules - I am very curious about the scent. What I noticed there are many scented detergents in Portugal and I love. I will try to bring some scented detergents with me to Germany from Poland as I’m visiting my family right now.

Do you like scented detergents?
What is your opinion about German and European detergents? What do you like and dislike? I would love to know your opinion about Germany detergents and detergents available in different markets.

 

[yuccadew]

Merry Christmas/ Wesołych Świat!

I live in the US and it’s been a while since I’ve been to Europe, but I love European laundry detergents, and buy them in local European markets. For some reason I think some of the imports I see in the Polish markets are from Germany too, but I could wrong on that, and will check on that (and check out the scents) next time.

But if I were in Europe I’d travel around and check out the different products, too! I like the ones from overseas so much better than the American ones, particularly when it comes to scent.

 

[volvoman]

I second Yuccadew's comment...

I find that Polish and German detergents have a clean, "detergent" smell to them, much like the ones of our youth. The American offerings are heavy-handed in their scents, to the point where it is nauseating. As an example, the only version of Tide that I can tolerate, is the "Mountain Spring" powder. The other varieties/scents are just horrible.

With that being said, I've noticed that a LOT of the European liquids smell close or identical to each other. For reference, I just purchased Ludwik Color & Black liquid detergent...which seems to smell like Miele Color Detergent...which seems to smell like Persil Blue (Germany). Go figure.

(And as a side note, I noticed that the Ludwik liquid contains 5% Phosphonates..)

 

[mrboilwash]

Hi there and Merry Christmas!
I have never had a chance to use eastern European detergents so cannot compare them to the German ones.
I like my clothes to smell good too but unlike you I find most German detergents sufficiently scented, well at least the big brand names.
But whenever I use the cheaper store own brands which by the way are usually excellent detergents here in Germany I have to add something like Unstoppables to get the desired results.
The "Fresh" scent ones are my favourites at the moment and I hate their famous "Aprilfrische" with passion ;-)

 

[foraloysius]

I don’t like strong scents, they take my breath away. My favorite is Una from Aldi Nord. Formil from Lidl is too strong for me.

 

[novum]

It all just comes down to personal preferences. There are slight variations in the formulations of detergents in different EU (and non-EU European) markets.

 

All I could suggest is sniff around!

 

Just as an example, to cover the two main TOL brands here:

 

Ariel as sold here for example:

Powder - Always found the scent quite overwhelming. It's like pine/citrus and rather synthetic. I can't quite describe it. 

Liquid - Always had a quite odd undertone that I can only describe as 'Ariel' - It's a strong, non-floral scent. Quite strong though.

Pods - least pungent of the scents in my view anyway - tends to smell just 'fresh'.

 

Persil (Unilever)

Bio Liquid - synthetic uplifting fresh scent. Not sure how you'd describe it - pleasant, not floral.

Non-bio liquid - smells a bit like maybe milder Dove shower gel - rather non-synthetic smell.

Non-bio with aloe vera - more natural scent.

Colour liquid - slightly like the bio liquid, but not quite.

 

Pods (oddly all 4 types smell different)

Bio - quite a nice scent, has a very slight hint of something almost musky to it - fresh though.

Non-bio - similar to the liquid - quite 'Dove'

non-bio with aloe vera - similar to the liquid.

Colour: rather sharper than the bio pods - synthetic scent, quite pleasant but not as lingering as the universal bio pods.

 

The closest thing I've smelled to Persil non-bio is one of the Dove range of shampoos. It's a very cosmetics scent rather than detergent scent. I'm actually quite fond of it as it's not overpowering at all, yet still has a scent.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

scented detergents

I love scented detergents, including Finish and Persil.

 

[alldim]

Thanks everyone for help

@yuccadew - it may happen you could see German products in Polish shop, we like German detergents

@volvoman - we have Ariel Mountain Spring in Poland, I loved it, the laundry smelled so fresh. Ludwik is polish very old brand, they produce laundry and dishwasher detergents nowadays, I just tried only Ludwik Sensitive, because it is barely possible to buy this brand abroad

@mrboilwash - can you tell me which brands you find sufficiently scented? I can barely feel any fragrance that disappears when the clothes are dry.

@novum - I have never paid attention to different fragrances of pods, liquids and powder within same brand. I will check it next time

Btw. I used turkich persil with Rose fragrance and I dried it in garden some time ago and it smelled wonderfully! I must try more Turkish detergents. Did you use it?

 

[mrboilwash]

It`s pointless to recommend specific products because the perception of scents is a very individual thing.
Means whatever smells heavenly to someone might stink to high heavens to another one, but if you can barely smell any fragrance on your clothes it might be a better idea to switch products frequently instead of always looking for stronger and stronger scents because we get used to scents quickly and thus don`t notice them anymore.

 

[alldim]

Yes I agree with you. I was just curious what you find scented so I could compare perceptions. I am quite new in Germany so I’m very much interested in local market

 

[mrboilwash]

I find liquid Ariel and Ariel pods have a very strong scent. To me liquid Persil is quite heavy in scent too but their pods for some reason aren`t.

Among the budget brands I found Aldi`s liquid Tandil the most disappointing. While it is an excellent performer, maybe even better than Ariel the light citrus scent just won`t do it for me.
Certainly not targeted to consumers who are into stronger scents but there`s clearly a considerable market too for those who haven`t already wreaked their sense of smell with heavy scents like we obviously did. LOL

Cannot comment on powders, I`ve had some Universal Persil on hand for a long time but I hardly use powders anymore so it might have even been replaced with a different scented newer version by now. [this post was last edited: 12/29/2023-03:09]

 

[alldim]

I used Ariel pods and indeed the scent was strong, but very nice.
I will try Persil liquid and powder, because I used only capsules for this moment and it performed well, but no scent.
I also have now portugese Skip with soap fragrance and lidl capsules with marseille soap scent. I was in Portugal twice and noticed that have big market of fragrances detergents

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Ariel pods

My absolute favorite detergent. Yes, they have a strong scent, but it smells better than a majority if US detergents. Plus the Phosphodiesterase does wonders. I have considered ordering more but the cost is just crazy.