Woolite Recall

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cleanteamofny

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<h1 class="content-title"> </h1>
<h1 class="content-title">6,200 Bottles of a Classic Laundry Detergent Recalled for “Serious” Risk</h1>
voluntary recall of 16,200 bottles of Woolite Delicates detergent sold in 50 fluid-ounce units.

The products were manufactured by the Woolite brand’s parent company, Reckitt Benckiser LLC, and sold on Amazon.com in January 2025. Though it’s not explicitly stated in the recall notice, given Amazon’s pervasiveness in the United States, it may be presumable that the affected products are being recalled nationwide.

Further details about the recalled detergent include:

<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal">SKU: 62338-72724</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Lot codes: S24364, S24365 and S24366</li>
</ul>
Check your stock if you recently purchased it.

 
Dreft and FEWA were first synthetic detergents created to cope with issues of using soap in hard water. However great these light duty detergents were for dishwashing, house cleaning and so forth they were only good for "light duty" laundry.

At some point in USA and maybe elsewhere Dreft became a product for baby's laundry, this replacing soap based products such as Ivory Snow and Fairy Snow. In Europe and elsewhere Dreft remained a light duty laundry product.

https://www.wipeout.ie/blog/laundry-detergent-history.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreft... Gamble,including the Netherlands and Belgium.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Dreft_(Washing_Powder)







Woolite was invented in early 1950's by Harvey S. Hewitt in response to complaints from Mrs. Harvey S. Hewitt about laundry detergents that shrank her wool sweaters.

https://archive.ph/K903U

Like FEWA and Dreft original formulas Woolite claim to fame is near neutral pH formula.

Character Johanna of FEWA basically goes on in adverts about how the product is "neutral" thus won't harm things.



 
Where Woolite went off the rails happened when "Machine Wash" powder was introduced.

Packaging was basically same as Woolite in canisters or bottles of old, but formula isn't same. Bit more aggressive in cleaning as contains all sorts of things one should not have near woolens or silks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/152497548699

Largely due to confusion between original Woolite formula and "machine wash" whispers began circulating that all Woolite products harmed fine washables, or at least woolens and silks. Consumers not reading packets carefully didn't notice difference and you can guess the rest.
 
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Mom used Woolite liquid in the 60s into the early 70s for "good clothes."  My memory of it is very highly-sudsing.  The wash water wasn't slippery, which even then I recognized as an indication of proper conditioning.  The suds apparently were expected to do the job.
 
Woolite, Dreft, FEWA and other light duty detergents then as in original formulas were anionic surfactants, and nothing else. Well maybe a bit of scent and for liquids some sort of preservatives.

Anionic surfactants possess all the cleaning qualities of soaps but none of drawbacks (reacting with hard water to form scum). Yes, they are high frothing, but depending upon end use that may or may not be a bad thing.

 
I’ve been using the various iterations of Perwoll designed for blacks/darks for years. Think the latest is called Perwoll Renew & Repair for Darks. It’s spendy, but have generally considered it the gold standard for washing black clothes.

However, noticed the local grocery store carries Woolite Darks Defense, so will give that a try. It’s a fraction of the cost and is available locally.

frigilux-2025051705333903502_1.jpg
 
Hesitated to say this but what the hay

It’s not unusual for people to compliment me on a polo or rugby shirt. I’ll say oh, well it’s 30 years old.
Q: How did you keep it looking new?
A: I always machine wash knit shirts with Woolite.
Invariably, they scoff and proclaim oh that’s ridiculous, Woolite is way too expensive and detergent is detergent, it’s no different than anything else just outrageously expensive!
Whatever. I don’t even bother to reply well if they’re all the same then why do you recognize that my 30 year old shirt looks like new? And isn’t a $12 bottle of detergent that will last a year or so worth it compared to every load of wash containing about $300-500 worth of clothes?!
To me it’s a no-brainer.
I tried using Cheer instead and in time found that it didn’t work as well.
And surprisingly Woolite is no slouch at cleaning even though it has no enzymes for stains.
 

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