Oxydol Powder...the most expensive detergent in the world?

[danmantn]

In my recent quest to try just about every detergent that resembles being vintage, I landed on a box of Oxydol powdered detergent. I bought 100 oz for 6.99. It had a great traditional smell and had a 1 CUP (wowzer) scoop inside. The instructions were very vauge other than to tell you if you have dirty clothes, use a full scoop. I figured that was the amount for a large load. The box failed to indicate number of uses...so, class, let's do a cost analysis.

100 ounces divided by 8 ounce per cup = 12.5 large loads. 6.99 divided by 12.5 uses = 56 cents per load! Wowzer. I like the look and the vintage-ness of it, so I'll keep it on the shelf...it did a great job cleaning too...but it won't be my daily driver in the detergent section. Anyone else use Oxydol powder? (it's getting harder to find compared to Oxydol liquid). I like the powder better in terms of cleaning and scent--of course it does have bleach in it.

 

[whitekingd]

I absolutely LOVE Oxydol powder! But, I admit, it is spendy.

 

[supersuds]

Well, yeah, but...

1) It's often on sale (at Food City) for $4.99.

2) You don't have to use a full scoop. The instructions say "for embarrassingly dirty clothes" fill it to the top. They are trying to be be clever with the instructions -- it was being marketed as a "cool" brand when Redox started out and while that hasn't worked out, the box has remained unchanged.

In any case the Oxydol scoop is smaller than an Arm & Hammer.

 

[strongenough78]

So in other words........

it's politely saying if you're an absolute piggy slob, use a full cup lol.

 

[danmantn]

Hey Supersuds, I bought mine @ Food City, in Knoxville...must've been the 1 week it wasn't one sale. I'll keep my eyes opened for it the next time. One can never have too many varieties of detergent.

 

[earthling177]

I'll ask the dumb question: have you *weighed* the cup of detergent? One of the things the Imperial System annoys me (I grew up with Metric, dontcha know?) is the confusion between fluid ounces and ounces (weight). I ask because most detergents weigh less than 8 oz per cup. And the 100 oz they refer to is by weight.

My recollection is that Tide and Cheer are usually the most expensive ones on the shelves around here, Oxydol was mid-line. I have never bought it in the new incarnation because I've been buying HE detergents and didn't want to risk that it might be high sudsing.

 

[polkanut]

I would try Oxydol powder if it was also available in a bleach-free version. I prefer to add bleach only when I need to.

 

[mrb627]

White ONLY!

I would use it as a WHITES-ONLY detergent, because of the bleach.

How is the sudsing? Would it work in a FL?

Malcolm

 

[andrewinorlando]

The bleach component in Oxydol is oxygen bleach, not chlorine bleach. It's safe for any fabric.

 

[danemodsandy]

Worth It!

I love Oxydol for its ability to get whites nice and bright, yet not attack colours. Very good stuff.

It's also excellent on odour removal. When I lived in Atlanta, I would end up with extremely stinky clothes after spending an afternoon working in the yard - there was half an acre, and 96-degree heat with 100% humidity isn't unusual there in the summer. And I don't just perspire, I schvitz. Copiously. Oxydol would leave things smelling good again.

 

[DADoES]

As Paulo points out, the 100 oz. package is by weight, but the measuring scoop is 8 oz. by volume. Not the same kind of oz.

 

[danmantn]

OK, then how does one measure a cup of powdered detergent? Assuming you used the full amount of the scoop, how many uses would a 100 oz package yield?

 

[mrb627]

Powdered Detergent

I would imagine a cup of detergent would weigh different amount depending upon granularity of the powder. Sounds like a good experiment thread should be opened.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

Is Oxydol low sudsing? I think the original was.

 

[earthling177]

Dan says: "OK, then how does one measure a cup of powdered detergent? Assuming you used the full amount of the scoop, how many uses would a 100 oz package yield?"

Dan, you measure it by volume usually. The problem is that 8 fluid oz (fl. oz.) of detergent, that is, a cup, will usually weigh less than 8 oz because it's less dense than water. If you want to know how many loads, you need to measure one cup of detergent and then dump the detergent on a kitchen scale to find out how much it weighs per cup. Say it weighed 5 oz / cup. Then you'll have 100/5=20 cups or 20 loads if you used one cup per load (most people use less, I take it.) -- either way, if you compare it to Tide, you'll probably find it's cheaper than Tide. Although I've been wrong before, just so you know. ;-)

 

[supersuds]

Sudsing

In my experience, Oxydol is pretty low-sudsing in a DD Whirlpool. I have a floor drain near the washer outlet -- suds boil out of it if I use Tide or Bold (not that Bold seems to be on the shelves any more) but there are no suds with Oxydol or Fab powders. That's my unscientific take on it. Even with STPP.

I would have thought Food City would have lots of branches in the Tri-Cities, Dan, since they're based in Abingdon, but I haven't been up there in awhile. It's neat that they have brought back some old-time local brands like Kerns bread and Kay's ice cream.

 

[danmantn]

Oh, they have it in the Tri as well (all over the place), but happened to be in Knox that day. I toggle between the two towns. My SQ is down there, my WP is in the Tri.

 

[alr2903]

Kroger brand detergent

Try some Kroger brand detergent in the plastic pail. I have not read all the label or who makes it for kroger, it is a white powder with blue/green specks and looks like vintage oxydol used to look, It is definately lo-suds but no mention of HE on the label. Smells clean like 70's detergent. alr2903

 

[supersuds]

The specks are intriguing. I know they don't make any difference, but I think Oxydol should have them darn it, and Cheer should be blue!