I’m about to buy laundry detergent for my washing machine for the first time. Don’t ask, long story. (I prefer liquid detergents)
At the supermarket I noticed that there are so many different brands with very different prices, from cheap to expensive for basically the same amount. I know from experience that when I buy liquid dishwashing soap that the more expensive brands lather better and last longer.
So, what’s the dope on laundry detergents, are we talking about added perfumes, cleaning power, strengths in the prices?
Detergents are honestly not even all that important. Most of the cleaning comes from the mechanical action of tumbling/tossing around inside the washer in water. The biggest difference between detergents is going to be the price and the smell, and that’s about it.
When I was a bachelor I bought whatever was on sale. There was no smell difference that I noticed, especially after a cycle through the dryer with a Bounce sheet.
Unless you’re trying to constantly get out blood, grass or spaghetti sauce stains there’s no difference. My wife swears by Tide (Cold Water) and we’ve been using that forever, but my preference would to buy the cheapest product on sale. Most times you’re just laundering clothes to freshen them up again, not remove stains.
Yeah, and from this report, and as I alluded to “To test detergents, we use swatches stained with blood, mud, chocolate ice cream, grass, red wine, ring around the collar, and tea.”
doubtful, besides most laundry care guides suggest you pre-treat such stains before washing anyway. IME, the worst (dirtiest) I encounter are the bottoms of my socks, and I haven’t found any meaningful difference between detergents there. the only change I have made is using (liquid) cold-water detergents, 'cos they work fine and why waste the money heating water if it’s not necessary?
A number of years ago, my 8th grade classes were investigating the ability of detergents to interfere with water’s ability to form drops (cohesion). Detergents are thought to enhance water’s cleaning ability partly because they allow water to “come apart” and get into smaller cracks and crevasses, hence they permit water to dissolve and wash away more dirt. We devised an activity that we thought would permit us to compare various store brands, and we tentatively concluded that Dawn was best. There was some difference from one brand to another, so I would no longer say that the type of detergent you buy makes NO difference.
When I lived in southern New Mexico, I often saw vendors selling bags of Mexican market laundry detergent. Many locals swore that they were more effective than American market detergents, usually citing the inclusion of phosphates or some other chemicals that are supposedly banned in the States. Personally, I had my doubts it’s that much better, if at all.
I like those new pods. Easier on touchy hands/wrists than wrestling a big jug or box. Tide’s are good, so are Kirkland (Costco house brand, which is a MUCH better unit price).
Yes, I wanted to say the same – children do grind their clothes into the grass, into the mud, small children do like to eat chocolate ice cream while lacking the coordination to avoid spills. I don’t know the circumstances for red wine spills and ring around the collar, but I’m guessing it doesn’t happen to children, to make the obvious joke. Red wine and tea do stain white cloth very well, I suppose, we’re talking about tablecloths and fancy white shirts in this case. Ring around the collar, now that’s one I haven’t heard of for a while. I think this is a combination of hair products and fabric treatments, that made collars more easily stained, and we may have changed both as technology advances. Or as Wilma said in the movie, she just started washing Fred’s neck.
In fact, tea and coffee stain cloth so very well that they are used as home dyes. I remember reading about black women who stained their nylon hose with tea. Apparently, it was the custom to give the maid the cast-off nylons, and of course the nylons were some sort of light beige.
Are you asking if people commonly see all these stains on the same piece of cloth at the same time? No, probably not. But these are the common sorts of stains that people might experience on different pieces of cloth at different times.
I use Costco’s cheap Kirkland powder. I prefer powder because it doesn’t clump or dry up. I use about a third of the recommended amount because the clothes are not really dirty, they just have my sweat and body oil on them. For an actual stain I will use Spray and Wash on the stain. Everything is washed in warm water, no fabric softener in the wash, but a dryer sheet for all non-towels. Towels shouldn’t have dryer sheets because it puts wax on cloth which reduces absorbancy.
Although my gf and I cohabit, we each do our own laundry. She uses Tide, I buy whatever is on sale. She separates her clothes according to color, I do one large load. She uses dryer sheets, I do not.
We each are happy with our results, which is all that matters.
I buy very good detergent at The Dollar Tree, of all places, and just use a dollop, and it works fine for an office worker’s gently-worn clothing. Everything else, too! Pre-treat stains with something, maybe throw in a dryer sheet if they complain about scratchy towels. There are ‘sensitive formula’ detergents for those that need them. On one occasion hard water combined with a detergent (I don’t know what brand it was) left spots on the wash, which was the worst thing that ever happened.
I use a Norwegian brand, so my advice there wouldn’t be particularly helpful But I definitely agree that you can use far less than what is recommended on the label, particularly if you have fairly soft water.
I do find it helpful to use separate detergents for dark colors and light colors, particularly since one of the teenagers in our house lives in black T-shirts. Other than that, I chose the brand with the lightest scent, because I hate it when my clothes smell like detergent. I really don’t see a difference in cleaning ability between brands, just in how badly stuff stinks after washing. I only use fabric softener when there are synthetics in the load, and I use vinegar in the rinse water for towels and sheets.
But I definitely agree that you can use far less than what is recommended on the label, particularly if you have fairly soft water.