My Latina Mom and Many More Latinos Absolutely Love Powder Laundry Detergent

Powder laundry detergents make up a small portion of the laundry detergent market, so many people may not even know that they still exist. If you didn’t grow up using the powders at home and go out of your way to look for them, you may never see them. According to a 2019 article in Chemical & Engineering News, a publication produced by the American Chemical Society, powder laundry detergents were still incredibly popular in “India, China, Latin America, and elsewhere in the developing world.” Further in the article, it states, “And even in the most modern U.S. cities, powders have their niches, particularly in neighborhoods where people may have grown up elsewhere.” 

When my mom was growing up in the Dominican Republic, powder laundry detergent was more affordable and more widely available in local stores. And in the humid, hard-to-reach landscape of her hometown, bringing home a large bag of powder laundry detergent once every couple of months was easier than making more frequent trips to pick up plastic jugs of liquid detergent.

Powder laundry detergent was also easier to use to hand-wash clothing before my mom’s family had a washing machine at home. She often helped my grandmother do laundry for pay in a small stream just behind her childhood home. Because powder laundry detergent is lighter than liquid detergent, it was easier to carry the right amount needed for the clothes they’d be washing that day. It’s also more shelf-stable than liquid laundry detergent, which can separate at high temperatures common in the D.R.

When she arrived in the U.S., my mom continued the custom of using powder laundry detergent. She uses a powder detergent today because she swears it cleans better, a 13-pound bag of powder laundry detergent lasts a very long time, and she enjoys being able to dissolve the powder in water to use across the whole home to clean.

My mom isn’t the only one who still stands by powder laundry detergent in her laundry routine. Horacio Perez Sandoval, senior account manager at CR, told me his wife uses powder laundry detergent at home and is a big advocate for this type of detergent. She says that in her experience, powder laundry detergent is easier to measure, dissolves better in water, doesn’t stain clothes, yields more loads of laundry for less money, and—because she buys her powder detergent in large bags—produces less plastic waste than liquid laundry detergent. 

Our associate director of social media, Daniela Nuñez, told me her brother recently switched back to powder laundry detergent. He felt that new formulations had been changing for the worse, so he decided to “go back to old-school detergent.” While this may not be the case according to CR’s lab tests, sometimes going back to an old way of doing things can feel like an improvement.

What we can confirm is that powder laundry detergents are very cost-effective. The least expensive detergent we tested cost just 11 cents per load of laundry, and the most expensive cost 32 cents per load—significantly less expensive than our highest-rated liquid detergent, which runs 88 cents per load.

As much as my mom would like to think that her clothes are cleaner because she uses this form of detergent, it just isn’t true. Even the best powder laundry detergent we tested didn’t do as well as the best liquid and pod/pack detergents in our lab tests. Tide Original Powder was the best of the bunch, but even so, was challenged to remove chocolate, coffee, and salad dressing stains from our test fabrics.

My mom’s favorite powder laundry detergent, Ariel Powder, fared worse. It received a top score only for removing blood from test fabrics. It was challenged with chocolate, coffee, salad dressing, and dirt stains.

I spoke to CR’s laundry expert, Rich Handel, for tips I could pass on to my mom to get the best results with her favorite powder laundry detergent. Here’s what he said:

• “Many people tend to use too much powder detergent, thinking more is better," Handel says. However, using the recommended amount can help prevent buildup in the detergent dispenser and improve cleaning performance.”
• My mom has been pouring her favorite powder laundry detergent directly into the washer drum because she was tired of cleaning out powder buildup from the detergent dispenser. To avoid this buildup, you must clean the dispenser regularly, “Some manufacturers also recommend running a cleaning cycle periodically to clear any residue,” Handel says.
• As for my mom’s habit of mixing a liquid detergent with Ariel powder, Handel says this is not necessary: “Using multiple types of detergents may lead to overdosing and waste. One type of highly rated detergent is sufficient for cleaning.”