Be real-do any of the “better for the environment/sustainable/green” detergents actually work?

[Anonymous]

And by work I mean can get the stains out of little kid clothes? Every time I have tried to make the switch I end up with clothes that have stains that they just can’t get out. I keep going back to regular detergent because I need to have a reliable solution. I read the reviews on these detergents that our more eco friendly and the reviews are always talking about how well the detergent performs on stains but that hasn’t been my experience at all. So tell me-for real-have you found one that is actually effective?

I’ve tried about 5.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Bronner's Almond castille soap gets stains out - if you're willing to scrub the stains and rinse off sosp before loading into the machine. For the machine, I use Dr Bronner Sal Suds. 1 tbsp. for warm, 1.5 for cold.

[Anonymous]

I use Charlie’s soap, and for tough stains I pretreat. No issues.

[Anonymous]

I use Tide powder in a paper box.

That way there are no plastics. The box is recyclable.
It works just fine.

The most dangerous detergent ingredients were outlawed ages ago.

[Anonymous]

I use oxygen stain remover

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use Tide powder in a paper box.

That way there are no plastics. The box is recyclable.
It works just fine.

The most dangerous detergent ingredients were outlawed ages ago.

What were those?

[Anonymous]

The most dangerous detergent ingredients were outlawed ages ago.

What were those?

Phosphates was one that isn’t allowed in US sold or produced detergents

[Anonymous]

When kids were little, I found Seventh Generation worked better than Tide.

As a PP said, I'm not clear there are huge differences between detergents these days, though, given that phosphates are banned.

[Anonymous]

PP again. For true stains though, you have to pre-treat them. We used OxiClean spray.

[Anonymous]

No.

Those detergents don't work.

[Anonymous]

No, they don’t work.

To get stains out and properly clean body oils from clothes, you need enzymes. Most liquid detergents on the market these days do not have enzymes because it’s expensive for manufacturers to formulate them for liquids. All POWDERED Tide formulas have enzymes in them.

I highly recommend checking out r/laundry. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole recently, and our clothes have never been cleaner. I wouldn’t have said they were dirty before, but now that they are fully clean, I realize they weren’t before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The most dangerous detergent ingredients were outlawed ages ago.

What were those?

Phosphates was one that isn’t allowed in US sold or produced detergents


I thought that phosphates were fine for humans, but problematic for fish and frog under certain circumstances.

[Anonymous]

The issue I find is that when I wash ny husband’s or son’s shirts with the free and clear detergent, they still smell like their deodorant afterward…or that musky “guy” smell - and clothing does not smell fresh. And it’s the same with the scented “green” detergents.

The scented Tide, etc smells so strong when I walk down the grocery aisle that I imagine it’s toxic, though.

[Anonymous]

My daughter did her high school science fair project on the effectiveness of different detergents. Several of the “green” detergents did worse than the plain water control. A few were slightly better than plain water, but none were even close to as good as All or Tide.

Tide was the best.