I am neurotic about laundry.....
While this thread went off on a little tangent, it is covering two topics that interest me....HE Detergents and Chlorine Bleach. Back 10 years ago when I was doing laundry in a top load Maytag washer and thinking I was "All That" I was mixing clorox and detergents in the wash cycle and complaining that nothing was "Made like it used to be" because stains would remain in white laundry. I bought a Front Load washer, stopped using Clorox, started using OxyClean, and thought I solved every laundry mystery. Now that I am more educated (thanks to many of you) and I have a Siemens Front Load Washer which dispenses chlorine bleach in the first rinse, I realize that I was making huge laundry mistakes early on. As for the HE detergents....I like powders. I believe that powders clean better and rinse cleaner (based on acutal tests here with my water, soil level, etc), but while Tide HE cleans great, it doesn't "Feel" like it rinses clean. Is there any low-sudsing detergent out there that cleans without over sudsing and rinses clean? I remember that my Grandma used ALL and loved it, but the new formula makes too much foam in my front loader. I tried the new Oxydol and while I like the scent, that makes too much foam as well.