Got a box of Tide powder detergent...

[thespiritof76]

So here is my personal opnion.......

I had been reading this thread, and come payday I strolled down the laundry isle of Dillons (Kroger). I looked at the Tide, and decided to get a small box of original powder, just to try. Here are my thoughts.

I paid $14 and change for that small box, I usually pay $6 and change for a large box of Surf, or Sun. I have been using my wringer Maytag lately because my Automatic is in need of repair currently. After filling the machine, and turning on the wash action, to add the detergent, then the laundry, I was slightly less impressed with the amount of suds that was produced. I was expecting, a good head, and lots of bubbles. But in reality I got no more then the Surf I have been using for years

I am not overly crazy about the scent. I do two rinses in that machine. Both in clock cold water, the first rinse with a dose of Borax. The sent was still there but manageable, just not necessarily to my own taste is all.

My laundry in the end, after both rinses, and good wringing, and being dried, did come out clean and fresh. But so does my laundry with my regular Surf. So, in the end it really comes down to price for me. I cant see anything magical about Tide to spend $14 again. Also may I ad, that the small box of Tide was $14 and change at the grocery store, but the same size is $18 and change at Walmart!!!! Unbelievable! That's almost robbery. So, that is my finding, as far as my household is concerned. Just my 2 cents.

 

[yogitunes]

too many factors to rule out one over the other....finding what works best for you and your budget can be a key factor....

too many variables when it comes to water conditions, detergents, clothing, soil level....

what may be too strong for you, may not be strong enough for another...that goes for cleaning and scent...

water conditions can really weigh in when it comes to detergent scents....if my PH tanks go out of whack, that alone will knock out the scent the second it hits the water, there is nothing left to smell once the load is complete....

I get the chance to experiment with a number of test loads from diapers to greasy mechanics clothes, and odors from someone working in a clam factory to heavy smokers...

when it comes to someone working in an office setting, Woolite is overkill at that point...

with that being said.....turn your thinking around....

not washing the same load with different detergents, wash different loads with the same detergent!...your outcome will change...

if scents are the issues, almost everyone has a 'Free and Clear' of some form...

prices for detergents vary by area....a small box of Tide/Gain, around 23 use, falls under 6.00 around here......Surf/Purex around 3 to 5 bucks....

cleaning ingredients for something like Tide include enzymes......most bargain ones don't, not to mention we have seen what effects cheap detergents can have on a machine as well.....you may save on one, and pay for another over time...

note too.....if I am washing with a TLer, you can smell the detergent all over the house, but if I use a Fler, only outside when the dryer is on can you smell anything...

YMMV

 

[thespiritof76]

I understand your very concisley written point.

I was just saying what I found for my household. =)

 

[thatrobguy]

Prices for Tide seem to be all over the place. Walgreens sells that 20 oz (the little little boxes) for $9 and I've seen Walmart sell the 95 oz boxes for $13. Target's prices are stranger still. They have the massive 143 oz boxes for $17-20, with the Tide + Downy being the cheapest.

The HE detergents are designed to have very little foam. When I had my previous washer, an evil Maytag with a "Power agitator" when I used a full scoop of tide powder and it was on deep fill there was very little sudsing. The LG FL that I have now can get Tide and Method liquid to foam up a lot, Cheer powder when I use enough to actually clean the clothes, and all the "bargain" brands as well. Arm and Hammer was the absolute worst when it came to foaming, and it just wouldn't break down.

That all being said, finding the detergent that cleans well for your conditions is important. In the winter our clothes get a bit muddy, and can smell like outside when we shovel or plough. The summers are much harsher for them. We own and operate a small golf course, so there is a lot of hands on stuff happening. I had relied on Tide Ultra for quite a while to get our stuff clean, but found that regular Persil for summer was adequate, and the 2-in-1 was great for the really dirty stuff. With a lot of grass and mud stains a powder just doesn't do it. It'll be interesting to see how well the Ultra Free and Clear works, we're starting to get to mud season now, and I have a bunch of Ultra free and clear pods. If Persil is getting reformulated again I'm a bit nervous about the scent profile, their power caps have always left a strong perfume on them compared to the liquids.

I just want clean clothes.

 

[yogitunes]

Clean clothes...that's all anyone wants....seeking that bottom line is a bit of a challenge for some...

sometimes no rhyme or reason to come up with issues from one, and not another....

when I worked in a laundry, we had 'chemical'....whether you dumped in 1 cup or 3, it was just a concentration of chemical, no suds about it...

growing up, we used DASH, non suds, rinses clean...

what it basically boils down to is 'controlled suds'.....our own Jon created Rosalie's detergent, suds free, and will knock down any suds from other detergents....

so if he can do it, why can't all HE detergents be deemed suds free...no matter what machine or condition you use it under...even if you over dose it...

wasn't that the point of HE detergents in the first place, to be used in these HE machines....at this point, go back to the original formula...

granted FLers were not as popular as they are now, but there have been a number of them in use, simple instructions were to use less than a TLer, usually 1/3 to 1/2 cup....wringers started out with a cup, and add 1/2 cup for every reuse of the water...

when I got my first Neptune....the only HE detergents were Tide and Wisk, at a higher price than the regular formula.....they both suds up....at that point, I went back to the regular formulas, 1/2 dose gave great results, and rinsed clear....

of course that was from the days you could buy a 200 ounce bottle of Tide for 9.99...

depending on your area, shop around for competitive pricing....BigLots and Family Dollar are inexpensive...Dollar General is about the best, their regular price is usually cheaper than most stores sale prices, plus they have sales, digital coupons, add on a manufacturers coupon, and a lot of times DG will knock off 5.00 for spending over 25.00...

Tandil at ALDI's is actually Tide....orange bottle blue cap....same color and viscosity, same scent...same clean....1/2 the price...

its great to see some of you guys experimenting....if you can find a better clean at a lower price, share your ideas and finds...

and people think life is getting simpler....its more confusing than ever

 

[DADoES]

HE detergents can generate suds but typically the suds dissipate more quickly than non-HE products.

Are there any more true non-HE detergents on the market? Majority seem either HE or "HE-compatible/for all machines."

 

[lordkenmore]

>Prices for Tide seem to be all over the place.

I was reminded of that yesterday when I got my most recent detergent (a bottle of liquid Tide). I'm not 100% sure--I haven't carefully checked prices--but I'm thinking their daily price is higher than my regular store's price, and the sale price was definitely slightly higher than a regular sale price at my normal store. I frankly got the detergent mainly because it was something I can't get (at least in that size) at my regular store--if my regular store had the same thing, I'd just have waited in hopes that a slightly better sale would come along in a week or two.

What mildly surprises me is that there are people who (apparently) must pay higher prices. Admittedly, at some stores, there is a chance that an item just doesn't sell in between sales. But I've seen stores that probably never have sales that still presumably sell Tide at a much higher price than one would pay at a store across the street. Although I suppose some people have enough money that they don't care about saving a few dollars.

 

[yogitunes]

there were two Non-HE detergents I came across.....

Purex and Oxydol powder......1 cup formula, yet HE compatible, by using 1/2 cup as per the instructions...

there were a few off name brands at dollar stores that had the same wording...

I find directions on some of these detergents a bit odd:

Arm&Hammer liq....fill to bar one for medium loads, fill to bar 3 for energy saving cold wash setting

Gain/Tide pow/liq....line 1 for medium loads, line 3 for large loads, line 5 for HE full loads...

Purex/Ajax.....fill to line 3 for medium loads, line 5 for heavily soiled...

 

[DADoES]

Cheer powder follows that pattern. The included cup, line for an "HE full load" is 12 tablespoons (!), if my test was accurate. I've not used that much but sudsing is very minimal at the stated dosages for smaller loads.

 

[iowabear]

I've used Tide Powder with Bleach for years, it's $12.96 for a 53 load box at Walmart and it's the only place that sells it around here.

 

I've often wondered if I could get by with something cheaper but since I only wash for myself the savings wouldn't be all that great.

 

My rationalization for buying it has always been that clothes are more expensive than detergent and if using TOL detergent prevents them from being tossed out early from stains or sweat odors it's worth it.  Plus I hate shopping for clothes.

 

[helicaldrive]

Tide scent

I guess I don’t remember what the Original Tide scent was, and I’m curious when it changed, and what the difference is.

Maybe I’m an old man or Zicam fried my olfactories but I don’t think laundry detergents have even the smallest fraction of the scent they used to have. When I was a kid and laundry was going, especially Oxydol and Cheer powders, you KNEW it! Years ago the laundry aisle almost choked me; today I don’t smell a thing. Is it me?

Or is it that in the old days the standard dose of non-concentrated powder was close to 2 cups whereas today we use far less?

To me, Tide smells just like college dorm laundry rooms. Even though it’s a cheap and unsophisticated scent, compared to Persil, it has a comfort value to it.

Persil is my favorite but it seems to be beneficial to switch off to Tide occasionally. Tomturbomatic said one time that he thinks it’s good to switch around occasionally; kind of like shampoos, whatever residue one leaves behind another will seem to clean up (even if it leaves something different behind).

 

[yogitunes]

I miss the aroma throughout the house when laundry was being done...

detergent aisles from years ago were lined with mostly cardboard boxes of powdered detergent....the scent just seeped right through....the variety was endless...

and most homes had either a wringer or TL machine.....not really a sealed unit, and add in the idea of steaming hot water....again, the scent spread throughout the house on laundry day...

if you have a TLer, you may still get these effects, but if its a FLer, the aroma is limited...

back in the day, there was only one scent to a detergent, and you knew once you gathered a whiff which one it was....I can't count how many scents there are for Tide, Gain, Downy, Final touch, etc...

 

[thatrobguy]

I think that some of the reason for the suds in household detergents is because people want to see them, that is what they perceive as washing. (See post 67) I was watching a video on youtube about someone reviewing a portable washer. One of those 5 or 6 gallon two tub jobs. She started with a half a capful of Gain, then added another half capful. So a full capful of Gain. That is way too much soap for the amount of water. I'm finding that with the detergents that I have if there is no suds, things just don't get clean. The Cheer powder I'm using is like that. A tablespoon in a small load isn't enough, in trial and error I found that I needed 1 3/4 to get stuff clean. What comes with that? Suds. Everything is getting a second rinse on them now. I do miss the old Cheer, it cleaned really well, and wasn't too strong in scent.

Also the Tide Color Defense has a very strong very long lasting "fresh scent" to it. It is just pungent. But I'm sure there were a few Karens that loved the smell of it. Unfortunately I have a whole bunch of it to go through. It did clean golf polos just fine. But I see zero reason to get that over Ultra Stain Release Free and Gentle and just finding a dryer sheet that has a scent that I like.

 

[mrboilwash]

Suds

Every laundry detergent has a primary and a secondary washing effect which are both equally important.
The primary one is what we see immediately after the wash cycle is finished when visible stains have disappeared or not.
The secondary one will only show after numerous repeated washings. If whites get gray or when clothes develop a musty whiff while sitting in the closet for a longer period of time then it is clear that something went wrong with the secondary washing effect. This is also called redepositing.

If you use a sudsing detergent and don`t see suds it is very likely that redepositing happens. Stains might still vanish satisfactorily because not all stains require a lot of surfactants to be removed. Other non sudsing components of a detergent like alkali or enzymes might do the trick even if the detergent is severely underdosed. The problem is the stains are not rinsed away but rather evenly distributed on the whole wash load which might show sooner or later.

So seeing suds is an excellent way of judging if you have used enough detergent to keep oils suspended and rinsed away.
In a commercial setting on the other hand when you know exactly what type and amount of soil you are dealing with things might be different.

Also a good consumer magazine would never judge a detergent only based on test stripe results. (Primary washing effect only)

 

[DADoES]

Many folks on another laundry discussion board I follow are so paranoid about (over)sudsing that they panic if there's more than two or three little bubbles. Some have reduced to ONE TEASPOON of detergent for a full load.

 

[frigilux]

Wow, one teaspoon for a full load? That seems fairly extreme.

The self-dosing Maytag front-loader was parsimonious with detergent in softened water. I went ballistic with dosing when the 2017 SQ top-loader arrived, because I was freaked out by the amount of water the recommended dose had to contend with.

I’ve tempered my dosage substantially now that I use the spray-rinsing Normal Eco cycle for almost everything (after filling with true warm or hot water, of course) and have no complaints about the results.

 

[thatrobguy]

Lowes has the "Heavy Duty" on clearance right now, was able to get the 115 oz bottle for $9.95. Good price for Tide regardless. I was surprised how well it cleaned. It did a whole lot better than Tide Ultra, and the stuff was THICK. Scent wasn't too bad either, and did not leave a lasting scent. And most importantly, very very minimal suds. I'll wash another load tomorrow, and see how much suds it produces.

Persil was also on clearance for $7.98 for the normal sized bottle.

 

[launderess]

Tide Heavy Duty

Who knew?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tide-Heavy-Duty-115-fl-oz-Original-HE-Laundry-Detergent/1000776676

https://tide.com/en-us/shop/type/liquid/tide-heavy-duty-liquid

Have not seen this version at any of local shops/supermarkets. But then again aren't exactly looking for yet *more* detergent to bring home. However am wildly curious!

So far looks as if only Lowest and Wally World have this version of Tide. Wonder if this is going to turn into another limited distribution Tide product like Target and Tide Ultra Free/Clear.