Good news, we have an updated laundry detergent review so you can get the best cleaning detergent for your money.
We’ve started a new thread to capture any thoughts, questions or concerns, but you may be interested in reading through the previous laundry detergent post here. Some common questions that we get about this test are about how we manage the process, which we detail on our website. How we test is an interesting area, and more complex than you might think to put together a standardised, scientifically sound lab test.
The other concerns commonly raised are around sustainability and ethical issues, and that’s why we apply the Shop Ethical rating so people can delve into the detail here as there are a number of facets to consider. You can use the filters on the left to sort by ethical rating, and we’d love to hear your experiences if you do choose an eco-friendly detergent.
Many keen-eyed readers will notice that the scores can change over time. This can be due to a number of reasons. Sometimes, manufacturers may adjust their formulation or there may be supply chain changes. Occasionally we may update our methodology to reflect a new trend, new technology and so on. Recently, we’ve also encountered product shortages during testing periods. We try to capture as much of the market as possible, but if there is a new product we are missing, or you have any other questions be sure to leave us a comment!
I would like some way of filtering the table for a particular stain removal score. Blood removal is more important than any other stain; given thinning skin, blood thinners etc. Blood seem highly variable, from about 7% to 95%.
Be interested to know what is different between top and front load detergent aldi brand almat sunshine fresh in your tests front loader has a higher percentage than top loading. Im curious to see if front load wash better than top load. On my preference i like front load better than top load. Anyone have insight or opinions about quality between the 2 types of machines.
It appears that front loaders wash better, as the top performing, recommended detergents were based on their results in front loaders. Where a detergent was tested in both front and top loaders, the results were lower for top loaders.
I use Dirt. liquid. It comes in a plastic sac accompanied by a glass pump dispenser. When the sac is empty, I return it to Dirt and get a refill - nothing goes into any bin. I use both washing machine and hand washable types.
I find that powders and liquids tend to cake up in my machine and clog pumps etc. I have gone over to the OMO Pods and have excellent cleaning without the gunk! Yes, they are more expensive but so is replacing the pump in your washing machine! BTW I regularly clean and descale my machine but this does not remove the powder or liquid detergent residue.
The price of laundry detergents has absurdly escalated in recent years - Rises are often camouflaged by a ‘half-price’ special. The following week they’re a further few dollars up. What’s the manufacturers excuse? In my growing up years there was no aisle filled with high cost detergents and cleaners - It was Persil and Bluo and a cake of Velvet Soap.
Rather than speculate using the known reasons products come and go from various reviews, @BrendanMays would you please, or tap @MattSteen or @airedale to reply?
Hi @PhilT , I didn’t do this test but I spoke to the person that did - basically we had to cut the number of products in this round of testing for logistical reasons, which meant capsules (being a small section of the market) and a few other products were left out.
Take heart though, we did order enough soiled fabric swatches to enable us to test capsules and other detergents we missed later on in the year, and the results will be readily comparable with those in the current test.
I only recently switched to Dynamo based on Choice’s last review, and I’m very pleased with its performance. Interesting it isn’t even recommended in the updated review. I’m wondering what changed. No liquids made it to the latest Recommended list, even though liquids are recommended for front loaders.
Hi there, You should definitely continue to use the detergent of your choice if you are happy with its performance.
CHOICE tests don’t control any manufacturer changes so all we can do is keep our testing consistent year on year. In this case, the lab equipment, testers, most swatches, loads, machines - as many variables as possible - are consistent.
However, in this particular test, we included back in mineral oil and tomato stain swatches, which can be problematic for some detergents.
We had skipped them from the 2021 detergent test because of supply chain issues - a common enough thing over the last few years.
That had settled down enough to include them back in - and we’ll do so again in the next laundry detergent test - assuming supply chain issues don’t create further chaos.
It’s worth noting that mineral oil and tomato only make up 8% of the score in total, which is why I mentioned that we cannot control manufacturer changes, nor do they give us any insight into their formulation changes. There is no requirement for them to display ingredient changes for labeling.
Undoubtedly they’ve been influenced by supply chain issues as well, and sometimes we suspect their suppliers don’t even let them know what’s changed in the background of certain chemical supplies.
Each year at CHOICE we learn how complex the supply system is, and certainly the recent pandemic exposed a lot of logistical hiccups.
Of all the variables and properties would it be possible for Choice to assess the scent/s added to a product? We noticed a dominant fragrance attached to our dried laundry after washing away from home with a different product (OMO brand). The Earth Choice powder we regularly use leaves no obvious fragrance on the dried laundry.
Assumes only some products deliberately add a scent. Pointless if the residual fragrance is not carried through the wash. Also a concern if it is noticeable and considering the chemicals used to create the fragrance.
The number of fragrances is confusing and I did wonder if it was only a marketing ploy, the actual detergent being the same. Choice testing does indicate differences in efficacy, but minor; the differences between Front & Top loaders being greater.
Why do we need Fab in Intense Fresh, Indulgence Velvet, Oriental, Cotton seed & Red cherry blossom etc.? Maybe a point of difference to brands like Omo’s bland Sensitive, Ultimate etc.
We’ve looked into this a couple of times, but the subjective nature of fragrance is confounding when it comes to a definitive outcome test. The biggest variable is the nose. Mine is not great, despite it’s size. Despite that, walking down the laundry detergent aisle in any grocery store leads to a cacophony of smells for me.
Intensity of smell, type of fragrance, allergic reactions - all of these would be great to have but the variables in fragrance are quite complex and humans are affected by any number of them.
Some people might be great for ability to discern different smells, but how do we define this, or find this person. What happens when this rare individual gets a cold? We contacted commercial labs about this recently and they were a little wary of suggesting anything in particular as the difficulty in defining smells as an absolute is not something they knew how to do.
At the moment we haven’t been as focused on the smell side of things (we’ve been implementing Shop Ethical ratings lately more widely across our categories) to do more investigation, but I do have it on my list to get in contact with Firmenich to see if they might shed some light on a simple methodology around this - our sister consumer orgs haven’t nutted anything out yet - and they have more resources.
The other opportunity is to have ratings for them from the consumer perspective. So when people put a review, they mention the smell, but our reviews system isn’t great for keeping those details as we do a whole of market approach each year, so all the old reviews disappear for laundry detergents (FMCG cleaning content is the only one this happens to).
So it’s something we are thinking about, but we still haven’t come to a good conclusion for it.
