What laundry products do you use and why?

[oliger]

What laundry products do you use and WHY?
(Please mention powder or liquid detergent)
I would like to compare detergents, softeners, etc. without buying all of them myself.
I use borax with everything to soften my very hard water.
For heavily stained items: Powdered Tide and borax
For everyday clothes: Powdered Foca, and borax.
For whites: Powdered Tide, borax, and chlorine bleach.
For anything shrinkable washed in cold water, I use liquid tide.
Most things unless heavy duty clothes like overalls, I use snuggle fabric softener.
I prefer to line dry as it always smells nicer, and it makes whites even whiter. Fresh sheets from a clothesline are one of life's pleasures.

 

[wayupnorth]

I cant be bothered with this detergent for this and that for that detergent, etc.. Cheap ERA detergent, bleach in the hot stuff, Oxyclean in the dark stuff. I do not put any load in to wash until its full and all laundry is treated the same way. Fill Maytag, add soap only use fabric softener on the whites And always hang out in the warmer weather when its not crappy outside.

 

[iowabear]

Tide Powder with Bleach for everything.  I add liquid chlorine bleach on white loads only.

 

I do now have 3 small bottles (40 oz) of liquid Tide that I bought cheap at Dollar General after using their digital coupons.  A good bargain is hard for me to resist.

 

However I don't care for strong scent it leaves compared to the powder.  I will use it, but grudgingly.

 

I've never used fabric softener of any kind.

 

 

 

[mrsalvo]

HEB house brand Bravo for most loads, cleans amazingly well and not high sudsing.
Tide with Bleach powder for whites, cutting the chorine bleach due to the septic / gray water system. Woolite for Darks, cool wash, for really dark items, low sudsing as well.

I'm not opposed to using Free & Clear detergents. Winter months I sometimes switch to All Free & Clear as it's gentler on my dry skin.

Am not a fan of really strong scented detergents. I thought Persil cleaned well, but to strong scent for my liking. The scent lingered in the house for days.

Very limited use of fabric softener, due to septic system.

Try to line dry everything outside. Love sheets that are hung outside.

Barry[this post was last edited: 8/14/2019-00:16]

 

[thomasortega]

Tide with bleach powder for whites until the box ends, maybe 5 loads more, then migrating to Persil Discs because of the far superior brightening power>
Kirkland pods for colors. I'm not a fan of pods, I actually hate them, but I had a ton of guests a few months ago, then I decided to try something cheaper to do their mountains of laundry (10 Jiu-Jitsu kimonos that had to be washed twice a day) and I kinda liked it.
Cheer powder for blacks.
Tide 20x for rags (I bought it and I didn't like it)

Also:
White King detergent booster for everything
Purex 2 powder detergent booster (Honestly IDK why I'm using it. Maybe because it's super cheap but I don't really see an absurd difference.
Washing soda sometimes on whites for the same reason above.

Oxy Bleach (Until i finish the jar) I purhcased sodium percabonate that i'll start using instead.

Depending on the load, none of the above. I use just 2 scoops of Rosalie's Zero Suds. I LOVE that thing.

Downy fabric softener (the pink one) for everything, tons of it. never less than a full cap. 2 or 3 capfuls for loads of towels.

matching downy dryer sheet. 2 sheets for clothes, up to 5 sheets if it's a load of towels or bed sheets just because I love strong scents. (and I clean my dryers very often because of that)

 

[askolover]

Bold powder or Mexican Ariel powder with a little Clorox for whites and Tide turbo botanical rain pods for everything else.

Walmart's Great Value blue fabric softener for colors and Yellow Suavitel for whites.

Occasionally a splash of ammonia for really dirty colors.

Shout or Dawn for stains.

 

[DADoES]

 
Persil ProClean Power-Pearls (until I run out of it) for whites, usually with powder Biz added, and chlorine bleach.  Yeah, I know chlorine bleach contras with O₂ bleach and enzymes but my HE toploader has a timed bleach dispenser so the enzymes get sufficient time to work first.

Persil ProClean 2-in-1 liquid or Cheer powder or Wisk liquid, with Biz sometimes added, for everything else.

Once in a while Foca powder in my non-HE toploaders.

Snuggle Lavender and White Orchid softener on some loads.

STPP on all loads.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Tide, Gain and sometimes Persil liquid for regular wash.  Clorox for cotton whites. Oxy spray for spot cleaning. Gain fabric softener sheets.

 

[ea56]

Tide liquid/bleach and Oxi Clean for whites, and Gain original liquid for everything else. Sometimes I'll use bleach, like when I wash the rubber tub mat and nylon shower curtain liner. Once in a while I will buy a bottle of Persil Intense Fresh for a change. Never use liquid fab softener, but do use Gain Dryer sheets, which leave no build up like the LFS does. I usually just use some of the liquid detergent to pre treat stains.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 8/14/2019-10:03]

 

[48bencix]

Lazy and practical

Our municipal water is mostly from wells and has some hardness. My only whites are my towels and socks. At this point I do not sort and just dump in what I have into my Speed Queen 2017 model, hot wash with one cold rinse. I use Liquid Tide Original Scent HE with bleach. I use the manufacturers recommendation which is a pretty small amount. Everything gets clean, although not really dirty to start with. All the colors have been washed so much they do not run. I used to do separate loads and used to use chlorine bleach, but now I have simplified everything. If the load has some extra dirty items I will turn off the machine for about a half of an hour and let it soak in the hot wash water. I get the newspaper and there is always a coupon for 2 to 3 dollars off at the beginning of the month, so the Tide is not expensive overall. I really think it does clean the best, has optical brighteners which make the colors and whites look brighter.

 

[lotsosudz]

SIMPLE METHOD FOR ME

I use liquid All with OXI on everything. Liquid bleach on whites, with White King detergent Booster and Water Softner on everything. Downy liquid on all loads. I swear by the White King on all the loads. Sacramento has fairly hard water, and it makes a night and day difference on final results.
Hugs,
David

 

[dermacie]

I use Tide powder no bleach with a scoop of BIZ for whites and towels. I use Persil liguid for my Sunday best and work attire and I use All liquid for everything else. I use Liguid Fabric softeners.

 

[launderess]

You mean right now?

Vintage Cold Power powder with a scoop of Tide In Wash stain remover (basically oxygen bleach with enzymes).

Have a huge stash of laundry day supplies but am attempting to use up some of the vintage powders before they totally go off. More so Cold Power and others that are loaded with phosphates.

Have to say am quite loving CP. Even at 1/4 cup it doesn't cause froth issues in the Miele, AEG, Hoover TT or even washing in tubs. Cleans very well and leaves a light fresh fragrance. What laundry once smelled like before some clever chops decided we all wanted to smell like a cheap knocking shop.

What one does love is how cleanly this stuff rinses. Water is clear by second or third rinse (Miele or AEG) which indicates to one at least a heavy reliance upon phosphates instead of washing soda. And of course zero Zeolites.

Did a load of whites the other night and things came out luminously bright.

 

[oliger]

Launderess

Please tell me more about old fashioned laundry smell.
Have you found anything modern that comes close to it?

 

[directdrive]

I try and stick with powder as much as possible... still cleans the best imo overall. I detest laundry pods, too many cases of them not dissolving properly.

For most loads of clothes Original Tide powder. For Whites I add a scoop of Resolve Oxi. Regular coloured clothes get Tide Original powder too. I use Downy Cool Cotton liquid fabric softener on clothes and sheets. I generally find the scents of softeners to be overpowering for me, this is about the only scent I can stand. I used the Downy Free & Gentle for a long time before discovering this scent. For towels and anything else I don't use softener on I use Gain Original powder... I love the lasting scent!

I don't use dryer sheets at all, I find them annoying and usually end up balled up stuck in the door glass of my dryer. I actually only machine dry towels (only way I can consistently keep them soft and fluffy), everything else is line dried outdoors in good weather and indoors over winter. I have never noticed any build up at all from liquid softener, but did from dryer sheets.

I recently picked up a bottle of the Tide Studio Darks & Colours which I use on my jeans, and also have a bottle of Woolite for delicate things.

I also do not use any softener on pet stuff or towels ... for these I use white vinegar and wool dryer balls in the dryer with the towels.

I never have used bleach, I don't like what it does to fabrics. But I do also have 2 Euro style front loaders (machines that actually heat the water, not the excuse for what passes as hot or warm in North America now!), and wash the "European Way" ... whites, sheets, towels and underwear are all washed at 60°C (140°F). Coloured and delicate things are washed at 40°C (104°F). I don't believe in cold washes being as effective. Occasionally for anything extremely soiled, I will select the 90°C (194°F) temp, but rarely. I have no issues with fading, shrinking or fabric damage.

 

[iej]

Miele Ultraphase 1 & 2 autodosed component detergents

I’ve been using Miele’s auto dosing Ultraphase 1 & 2 detergents for a good while and I’m finding no real reason to change. They’re not that astronomically expensive and seem to last ages and the results seem pretty good to me.

I’m finding my t shirts and jeans and other highly coloured items are lasting much, much better than with the typical Persil and Ariel products I might have used previously. Whites and light clothes come out very well for a liquid system when it adds a shot of bleach and I’m seeing no pilling and excellent stain removal. I do almost all my normal laundry on a 1 hour cycle at 30 or 40 C and towels etc get washed at 75C.

I stuck with it largely because because it works, it’s extremely convenient and not messy and I really like the scent compared to main stream detergents.

Basically, I’m lazy when it comes to these things and I find I prefer a nice neat and tidy laundry room without splashes of detergent gloop or powder spilling.

 

[frigilux]

Tide Plus Stain Release HE (liquid) for general loads
Persil Proclean Power 2-in-1 (liquid) for general loads
Perwoll Renew Black 3D (liquid) for loads of black clothes
Rosalie's Zero Suds mainly for bath linens

Rationale: The Tide and Persil detergents are top-rated for cleaning/stain removal by Consumer Reports. Perwoll keeps black clothes looking black through multiple washings (I wear a lot of black clothes for gigs.)

Rosalie's Zero Suds is awesome for heavy bath towels, which love to hang on to suds. Unfortunately, it's out of stock right now at the website, so I'm being very parsimonious with it. Absolutely love it, especially when using the Normal Eco cycle on the Speed Queen, which uses spray rinses rather than a deep rinse.

Am phasing out the Persil detergent, as the recently reformulated Tide removes tough stains in non-HE conditions (SQ top-loader) and rinses out better than Persil, especially when using Normal Eco cycle.

NOTE: I always fill the washer with true warm or hot water, then switch over the to the Normal Eco cycle whenever I use it. If you choose warm or hot water with that cycle, you get a couple of inches of warm water and then the tub continues filling with cold.

 

[appnut]

I bought a bottle of Tide HE Heavy Duty 10x last spring.  And was more than pleasantly surprised.  Began phasing out my Cheer and Tide w/Bleach alternative powders.  I just recently bought Persil ProClean +Stain Fighter and another bottle of aid Tide, each with a $2.00 off coupon.  With the Tide, I have discovered I won't have to use Biz much, maybe for kitchen cleaning cloths and meal napkins.  I also use Snuggle Azur Blue fabric softener for all loads.  Wash only in 104, 127-130, 132, and 158 F water temps.  

 

I am enjoying the use of my Precision Dispenser on my Duet, only took me 7.5 years to use it and liquids.  

 

[frigilux]

Bob— I agree that the auto-dosing system Whirlpool uses (cartridges on my 2015 Maytag) is very precise and, obviously, very convenient.

It always seemed to use just the right amount depending on the cycle, load size and soil level selected. I noticed the jugs of detergent lasted longer than when I dosed it myself.