My laundry detergent isn’t getting sudsy. I probably have hard water, and will try to remember to pick some up tomorrow. My clothes come out looking clean, and smelling clean, but are they really clean? Are the suds necessary, or is the fact that I put in plenty of soap enough?
…pick up some water softener, that is.
Laundry detergents often contain defoaming agents to keep the suds down. The clothes still get clean. If you think you have hard water problems, get a box of Borax, try it, and see if your whites come out whiter and your colors brighter.
I remember reading (no cite) that many cleaners do not naturally suds up but the suds are an additive because people believe that they are necessary and wouldn’t buy products that don’t foam.
I always buy low foam detergents, but that’s required by my front-loading machine.
Oh, as an aside.
Never. Ever. use dishwashing liguid in the dishwasher! Sounds reasonable, but no. The suds question from the other extreme.
Take it from one who knows. 
Make that 'Two who know."
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Not even for bed linens?
Cascade has sheeting action, I’ve heard.
If I remember correctly back in Chemistry class, the test of water hardness was to slowly add a measured amount of soap to a sample of water. When the water produced suds with agitation, the minerals had all bound to the soap and the excess soap produced suds. So the suds are a sign of excess soap. The ideal is all the dirt bound by the soap with none left over and so no suds.
BTW, I read (no cite) that commercial laundries, being only interested in clean clothes and no extras, buy commercial detergents (not soap) that don’t have suds. Remember detergents are not soap and are much less likely to foam. It takes 1/8 oz of this commercial detergent to wash a load of laundry. The stuff we buy in the store is mostly filler simply because the consumer likes to feel they are getting something for their money.
lots of body soaps produce little or no lather but still do the trick, foam/lather/bubbles are often due to an added product.
In the book Soap Opera:The Inside Story of Proctor and Gamble author Alicia Swasy writes on this page that suds are irrelevant to cleaning, though consumers tend to judge how good a soap is based on the suds. On page 286 Swasy notes that Ace, a low-suds detergent designed for washign machines (and thus low-suds) was unpopular in Mexico because many women still wash clothes by hand there.
By the way, it’s an interesting book.
Soap has been around for thousands of years. Chemical surfactants (foaming agents) for less than a hundred years. Toothpaste also has sodium lauryl sulfate added so it foams and people believe it’s working. Since it often causes canker sores, other brands without this (like Tom’s of Maine) may be preferred.
If you ever do mistakenly add dishwashing liquid to your dishwasher, you can kill the suds with table salt. It can take quite a bit of salt (as much as a 1/4 cup), but it really, really works. This is also true if you put dishwashing liquid in your washing machine.
Low sudsing detergents are fine for things like washing machines and dishwashers, you put in a measured amount, and allow the machine to run. For handwashing, suds are more than just pretty bubbles, they are indicators of how much active detergent is available to clean with, and help define where it has been applied and rinsed from.
Frontload washers require low suds detergent since the bubbles cushon the impact of the falling clothes, and reduce the mechanical cleaning power.
GROAN That was painful