Who Still Has the Smell of Clean?

[danemodsandy]

Can anyone point me to some high-quality detergents that still smell like DETERGENT, instead of like cheap perfume? I grew up on stuff like the original phosphate-rich Tide and the original, bleachy Oxydol. Now, everything smells like a cologne spill at Woolworth's. I'm using a Huish Sun liquid right now that has no real scent at all, just to be free of the gag-making smells of the major brands.

I remember when my grandmother used to do laundry with Oxydol and Clorox (in the brown glass bottles, no less). Things smelled clean, and they WERE clean- no germ or stain could possibly have survived that. My aunt was a Tide freak, and again, it was great to smell laundry that she'd done.

Don't get me started on softener smells- I'm back to cheap pink generic liquid just to get away from the stinky florals of the major brands. I'm a six-four GUY- why the hell would I want to smell like Paris Hilton?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[washerboy]

I agree...I've been seeing comericials for some thing...cheer I think.."vanilla fileds", "lylic days" or some such...like I want to smell like a Glade plug in or the lastest thing in douch. I'm faithful to Surf and Gain fabric softner. Seems to work best on my dirt and my teenage sons stinkey everything. Leaves a clean smell..or at least my son thinks so...and you know when one is 17 they know everything./m

 

[rolltideroll]

Have you tried any of the Purex products in the powder? Or the brand that I like that they sell at Sav-A-lot chains of grocery stores called "Powercycle." I used to use Sun but it gets old if you get as filthy as my ass does.

 

[hoover1060]

original Tide

I bought a huge-a** box of original flavor Tide from Sam's club. To me it smells like detergent, fresh but not perfume-y.
I pair that with supermarket brand water-y pink fabric softner, and I get clothes that smell like Tide.

 

[rolltideroll]

Hey Washerboy! Man I read your post and you sound like my wife. You gotta try Tides new Simple Pleasures Vannila & Lavender Liquid. My gosh, that stuff smells deliccccccccccccciuos. I have my clothesline near my bedroom window and we usually hang clothes out around dark to get a head start on the next day; as I usually wash late in the work day to test out a new machine from my shop that I have been working on. But anyways, it is like aroma therapy all night as that gentle Louisiana breeze blows that detergent smell into my bedroom window. Sorry, but it is that good to for me to go into such detail over a scent. LOL.

 

[danemodsandy]

I'll have to get over to Sam's and see about the original Tide- that's the smell I remember so well. I agree about Huish stuff- it could work a little better.

So far as aromatherapy goes, the smell of real detergent would take me back to childhood, and what more can you ask for? That's something that no amount of Zephyr Breeze, Vanilla Mango Kiwi Lavender Frappe, or Moravian Cathouse can give you.

 

[frigilux]

While you're at Sam's, you might want to try a big bucket of their generic detergent. It doesn't have a perfumy scent and it's dirt cheap. Cleans well, too.

My current favorite is SA8. Leaves clothes smelling clean. No perfume. Fantastic cleaning ability. But you have to order it online.

Having said all that, I still love to dose the toploader with Ariel (Mexican) from time-to-time. Very strong scented. Smells like a huge packet of Sweet-Tart candies. But that's probably just the thing you're trying to get away from.

Persil (German/Henckels) powder has a completely different scent. It smells of herbal; of fresh rosemary to be precise. Excellent cleaning, as well.

 

[oxydolfan1]

The only one off the bat I can recommend that smells the way you describe (to me) is the original Gain or Gain with Bleach. Tide HE powder isn't too bad either. Persil Sensitive has a moderate soapy smell but is expensive.

Your "Moravian Cathouse" description is hysterical! Yes, it has all gotten out of hand....hand dishwashing liquids are even worse.

I have a bottle of the Tide Lavender I got on sale, but I haven't tried it yet and I hope it isn't too overbearing...

The new Tide Citrus isn't too bad, but IS definitely weird and not detergent-like.

My mom uses ONLY Sears products for the light scents....it is
affordable and she probably is more sensible then most of us.

Try the big Tide....I bought a Tide with Bleach at Costco last week...God knows, you will smell the boxes on the pallet!

 

[oxydolfan1]

Frig....I will NEVER buy Mexican Ariel after your recent test results! (Yikes!)

The SA8 is unscented? Did you buy the soft-water formula?

 

[geoffdelp]

I, too, have been buying the big box of Original Scent Tide from Sam's Club; Home Laundry Size (for those of you who remember those)! Couple with April Fresh Downy; clothing smells clean. I like the fragrance, too, on the clothesline in the summer. Smells "Tide Clean".

Tide with Bleach smells like Oxydol did before it was sold to Redux. Boy ... when that hits hot water, you KNOW it has to be clean ... very powerful!

I'm afraid we can't replicate those classic detergent smells too well; drats.

We like everything so "perfumey" now. I'd like to know who those yahoos (detergent companies) talked to when designing these different fragrances; they sure as heck didn't ask me!!

 

[westytoploader]

I always try to keep many different varieties of powdered detergent in my stash, and I have to say that my absolute favorite is and has always been Fresh Start. I just wish it was available in more places, although I'm very thankful of the members that have hooked me up with some in the past in exchange for some other types.

If you can't find that, go with Original Tide w/Bleach or Original Tide. Nice, pleasant, detergent-y smell to them. Original scented Gain is also a good choice; the smell it has reminds me of bath soap. Bold Plus isn't too overpowering, either.

Hope this helps,
Austin

 

[westytoploader]

One more thing...

If you go for Purex, try to get the fine powder variety if that is even still available, not the "Quick Dissolving" formula. Last time I tried that (picked up a huge box before the December '05 wash-in), it didn't hold true to its name (ironically enough) and had a hard time dissolving in cold water, sometimes leaving residue at the end of the cycle. The tap cold water down here isn't exactly cold, either. Just a word of caution...

 

[vintagesearch]

my chioce,

original gain or tropical gain the tops in my opinion and of course origianl tide or mountain spring tide. Im allergic to some fabric softeners among other things so i dont really use them but if i would pick one or seven lol! hmmmm, downy mountain spring, snuggle purple fusion (the best), suavitel (makes my noise come off way too strong), or the watery .99 cents nice n fluffy mountain spring. those are my picks i pretty much like the mountain smell theme for some reason oh i forgot gain fabric softenrs are a real bang too!

 

[jasonl]

Original Tide

I agree. OT has that almost vintage smell and besides Fresh Start, it is my favorite detergent bar none even though now Tide makes very little suds at all :-(

Fabric Softener of choice: has always been, and will continue to be Downy April Fresh.

 

[frigilux]

oxyfan-- I got much better results in stain removal with Ariel when I coupled it with liquid chlorine bleach. I now use SA8 on those stained white loads and my stash of various Tide products, Ariel, Ace and Viva on other loads. Black loads get the Cheer For Darks treatment.

I didn't see a soft water formula of SA8. I just ordered the big of regular. As much as I disdain the company it comes from, I love that it's environmentally sound and cleans like a house afire.

 

[toggleswitch]

I am yearning for the smell of "Cheer" for the longest time.

Mother used "bold" don't quite remember that one, though.

 

[sudsdudeshane]

Danemodsandy~

I think powder detergent smells more clean and fresh than liquid overall. My choice for best smelling powders include Tidew/bleach,Original Gain & w/bleach and Cheer powder is nice as well. I also love Final touch fabic softener. I bought a few bottles today at the Stop&Shop..$2.99 for the large size!!!

 

[retromom]

My vote goes to...

Sandy:

Original-scented Tide with Bleach. I don't know if you have it in your area, but ACE detergent (Mexican Tide) is excellent. It just smells like good, fresh detergent; not too many floral overtones. The ACE Acti-blu that is lime-scented is to die for!

 

[MrX]

Ariel UK/IRL

Ariel powder [biological] used to smell quite nice in a classic detergent kind of way. P&G reformulated it as and relaunched it as "new kind of clean" with a new scent a few months ago and it now smells like a cheap pine car air freshner. So much so that I won't buy it anymore.

Persil's Powder [biological] (Unilever) is ok, fairly fresh odour - very light. I usually couple it with Comfort Pure (Unilever) which has a very mild smell too. Not at all overpowering. If there's one thing I don't like it's smelling like laundry detergent. I don't buy cologne to have it overpowered by something that smells like it should be freshening a taxi!

Bold Crushed Silk and Jasmine is quite nice too, it's the only P&G detergent I can stand the smell of in this part of the world thesedays. Haven't tried Daz in a while, although for some reason I don't think I'd like the smell of it

I find a lot of the P&G fabric softners (Lenor) have a Fabreeze like quality to their scents thesedays. I don't like it!

Oddly enough though, I like the smell of bounce!