May 2008
Review of laundry detergents
The packages are smaller, but do the cleaners stand tall?
CLEANING UP Test swatches reveal how each of the 34 detergents we tested handles a range of different tough stains.
In recent years TVs, refrigerators, and cars have bulked up in size, but laundry-detergent packages are getting smaller. The
big, hulking boxes and plastic containers you used to lug home from the store have been replaced by smaller packaging as manufacturers
offer concentrated versions of their detergents.
Many detergents have been reduced to a half or a third of their former volume—you'll see 2X or 3X on the containers—yet wash the same number of loads per package. The most common size sold in this country is a 20- or 30-load package.
Why the shrinkage? The major forces behind the move to concentrated formulas were Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. The largest detergent maker and the biggest retailer of these cleaners wanted not only to cut packaging and shipping costs but also to appeal to more environmentally conscious U.S. consumers.
Sales of standard-concentration detergents have been declining, while sales of double- and triple-concentrated detergents are booming, according to ACNielsen, a marketing research company. (Annual sales of laundry detergents total more than $3 billion in the U.S.) The changes required finding new, affordable ingredients for the concentrated formulas.
Our tests included 34 cleaners-23 conventional and 11 high-efficiency detergents. The Ratings (available to subscribers; prices in the Ratings are based on the largest-size container available) show that laundry detergents vary in their ability to get clothes clean, with stain-cleaning scores ranging from good to excellent. None use the surfactants called nonylphenol ethoxylates, chemicals that help detergents gets clothes clean and which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes as toxic to aquatic plants and animals.
How we tested. To measure detergent performance, we used 306 8x16-inch industry-standard cotton flags (shown), each with eight swatches. One swatch on each flag was left unstained; the other seven were saturated with blood, red wine, sebum (ring-around-the-collar stuff), dirt, chocolate, grass, and tea stains. Then we machine-washed the flags in hard water with each detergent in 6-pound loads.
Using a special instrument called a colorimeter, we determined how well each detergent cleaned the stains, how it kept washed-off soil from redepositing on white swatches, and how it kept dyes from coloring white swatches.
What we found. Some products performed especially well on certain stains. For example, among HE detergents, SA8 Premium is excellent at removing ring-around-the-collar, grass, and tea stains, while Gain 2X excels at getting out chocolate and clay stains.
But because you're likely to see a wide range of stains, you'll want a product that does well overall. The good news is that all of the cleaners we tested did well overall. While all were decent at preventing dirt in the wash water from resoiling clothes, there were few, if any, differences in dye transfer.
HOW TO CHOOSE
Essential information: Read our latest report on washers and dryers, and then refer to our Ratings of front-loading and top-loading washers and dryers (both available to subscribers) to find the model that's right for your home.
Many detergents have been reduced to a half or a third of their former volume—you'll see 2X or 3X on the containers—yet wash the same number of loads per package. The most common size sold in this country is a 20- or 30-load package.
Why the shrinkage? The major forces behind the move to concentrated formulas were Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. The largest detergent maker and the biggest retailer of these cleaners wanted not only to cut packaging and shipping costs but also to appeal to more environmentally conscious U.S. consumers.
Sales of standard-concentration detergents have been declining, while sales of double- and triple-concentrated detergents are booming, according to ACNielsen, a marketing research company. (Annual sales of laundry detergents total more than $3 billion in the U.S.) The changes required finding new, affordable ingredients for the concentrated formulas.
Our tests included 34 cleaners-23 conventional and 11 high-efficiency detergents. The Ratings (available to subscribers; prices in the Ratings are based on the largest-size container available) show that laundry detergents vary in their ability to get clothes clean, with stain-cleaning scores ranging from good to excellent. None use the surfactants called nonylphenol ethoxylates, chemicals that help detergents gets clothes clean and which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes as toxic to aquatic plants and animals.
How we tested. To measure detergent performance, we used 306 8x16-inch industry-standard cotton flags (shown), each with eight swatches. One swatch on each flag was left unstained; the other seven were saturated with blood, red wine, sebum (ring-around-the-collar stuff), dirt, chocolate, grass, and tea stains. Then we machine-washed the flags in hard water with each detergent in 6-pound loads.
Using a special instrument called a colorimeter, we determined how well each detergent cleaned the stains, how it kept washed-off soil from redepositing on white swatches, and how it kept dyes from coloring white swatches.
What we found. Some products performed especially well on certain stains. For example, among HE detergents, SA8 Premium is excellent at removing ring-around-the-collar, grass, and tea stains, while Gain 2X excels at getting out chocolate and clay stains.
But because you're likely to see a wide range of stains, you'll want a product that does well overall. The good news is that all of the cleaners we tested did well overall. While all were decent at preventing dirt in the wash water from resoiling clothes, there were few, if any, differences in dye transfer.
HOW TO CHOOSE
- First, choose a detergent that's right for your type of washer. Manufacturers recommend HE products for front-loading washers
and high-efficiency top-loaders because those detergents are made to work with smaller volumes of water. Use conventional
detergents in a conventional top-loading machine because HE formulas would be too weak.
- Then see which products fit your budget. Among the lower-cost good choices are Cheer 2X Concentrated Color Guard for High
Efficiency HE, Gain 2x Concentrated Original Fresh HE, Tide 2X Concentrated Coldwater, and Gain 2X Ultra Concentrated with
Bleach Alternative.
