Mexican Detergents/Fabric Softeners Disappearing From Shelves?

[sudsmaster]

Phosphated laundry detergents are generally legal in the arid western states: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc. They are generally banned in the wet-summer states: almost every place else, including esp the Great Lakes states.

This should help explain their disappearance from the shelves in Minnesota. Oh, and it's not a federal law. It's state or local law, so the Feds wouldn't have much to do with it.

 

[frigilux]

Since Minnesota is known as The Land Of 10,000 Lakes, we were one of the first to ban phosphates, if I recall correctly.

xyz-- There is nothing particularly special about Ariel. It's just a very good detergent with a unique, strong scent. I always say it smells like a big bag of pulverized Sweet-Tart candies.

 

[oxydolfan1]

"I always say it smells like a big bag of pulverized Sweet-Tart candies."

I could never identify that fragrance until you mentioned that, Frigilux!

 

[Unimatic1140]

Oh Eugene

After reading this post I decided to go out on a reconnaissance mission. While I have never bought Mexican detergent before I thought it would be fun to see if I could find it. The first and only place I went to was this Mexican Grocery at 29th and Blaisdell in south Minneapolis. Guess what Eugene, you're in luck, big time!

 

[Unimatic1140]

PEEEEEEE-uuu PHEW!
Lookie what I found there, and the shelves are stock full of it, it doesn't appear to be going out of style at this store. I put this stuff in the back seat of my truck and went to the gym. It cooked in the 90 degree weather for over an hour and my car smelled like a bubble-gum factory when I got back into it LOL.

 

[Unimatic1140]

I love this "Not For Sale in the United States". I wonder if the city realizes this, something tells me they don't.

So what can you guys tell me about this very sickenly-sweet smelling detergent? From the small amount I can read on these packages it appears they all have the word Phosphate in their ingredient list.

 

[westyslantfront]

Hi Robert. When I purchased 10 bags of Viva earlier this week and loaded them into the truck, it smelled like a
Mexican Laundromat.

Ross

 

[exploder3211]

Time for me to venture over to the kinda bad side of raleigh and go to save way

 

[~sudsshane]

Xyz~

"Thank you so much Mr. Clinton for NAFTA".



George H.W.Bush's government, along with the Progressive Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, spearheaded the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Bill Clinton signed in 1993.

source: Wikepedia.

So, I guess while we are at it, We should thank Bush Sr too for NAFTA..

 

[frigilux]

YAY!!! I know exactly where that grocery is, Robert; I have friends who live very near there. I'll be in town at the end of the month, so I'll go stock up. All my bags of Ariel also say "Not For Sale in the United States".

I really like the ground-up Sweet-Tarts smell of Ariel. It cleans well, but didn't score highly in my very tough stain removal test from a few months back. I just like the smell of my laundry room---and the whole lower level of my house, for that matter---when I use it in hot water to wash bed linens and bath towels in the top-loader. Quite high-sudsing. That bag of Ariel must have been around for awhile. All the new bags say Oxy Azul Max on them.

Viva, Ace and Ariel are all considered 'top-shelf' detergents. Foca and Roma are 'budget-line' detergents. Haven't used them myself, but Glenn does and he likes them.

Haven't seen 1-2-3 before. I'll have to pick some up when I visit the grocery store.

Thanks for checking that out for me, Robert!

 

[Unimatic1140]

My pleasure Eugene, I just washed a load in the '55 Unimatic with Ariel and boy does it make a HUGE suds cake.

Does any know what Lavadora de Ventanita mean (does it mean Front Loader)?

 

[oxydolfan1]

The aspect of Ariel that always intrigued me was how little I needed to use in my soft water to get clothes clean, compared to the directions on the bag. For the life of me, I could not figure out what a "practi-taza" was! (I think it was a P&G-issued measuring container.)

The water in Mexico must be much harder than ours.

The other memorable performance characteristic of Ariel is that it rinses well....VERY, VERY well, compared to Tide.

Even though the fragrance packs a wallop in the bag and in the washwater, I really don't find it's overpowering once the wash comes out of the dryer....I think Gain powder leaves a far more noticeable fragrance behind.

What WILL leave your clothes reeking like a Vegas wedding parlor is Mexican Downy!

I once tried a Mexican powder I've never seen mentioned here called Rindex, and it was very lemon-lime, but I wasn't impressed by the results.

 

[westyslantfront]

I have found that all Mexican detergents make suds cake if too much is used. I found the same when I was using Tide or Gain.
I keep a supply of carpet defoamer when suds cake gets too big.

Ross

 

[Unimatic1140]

I keep a supply of carpet defoamer when suds cake gets too big.

But Ross, "You'll Have Cleaning Failures Without Heaping Suds"!

I just let the Unimatic spin them away in a blink of the eye.

 

[mielabor]

lavadora de ventanita...

That's a washing machine with a small window.

 

[westyslantfront]

Hi Robert. I am trying to be more careful with the amount of
detergent I use and when in doubt, especially with front
loaders, I use Tide HE. Nate is so much better about
precisely measuring everything.

Ross

 

[polkanut]

My wife & I drove to Stevens Point which is about 35 miles south of Wausau for brunch this morning, and after we were done, thought we'd check out the Mexican grocery there. I snagged 4 650g bags of Viva "Fresh Lavender", and 4 600g bags of reg. Viva. So I'm happy for a little while, at least. The lavender scent is quite strong BTW.

 

[polkanut]

Didn't realize until now that 1-2-3 is also made by Henkel, same as Viva.

 

[westyslantfront]

Hi Tim. You are so lucky to find lavender Viva.
I searched high and low in Tucson but could only find
regular Viva. Lots of suds like most powdered detergents but
sure does a great job cleaning.

Ross

 

[brettsomers]

ventana = window. "ita" suffix meaning small