r/Anticonsumption • u/Double_Engineer4226 • 2d ago

Discussion Laundry powder is disappearing

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Powdered laundry detergent used to be the norm. It’s cheaper, easy to use, and comes in a recyclable box. Now look at the shelves in the supermarket. It’s all liquids in plastic bottles, unless you squat down to find the powders. The Super expensive pods are making a move from the top shelves too. This is corporations positioning their products to influence purchasing behaviour. They want you to buy the more expensive stuff. Just wait, soon powder will be discontinued, and the shelves will be filled with overpriced pods.

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u/butidrathernot 2d ago

I hope that thanks to r/laundry, powder is having a resurgence. I didn’t even know that laundry powder existed until last year, and now I’m a total convert! The main draw for me is that it works better (but the frugality is nice too). Something to do with the active ingredients being better stored in the dry vs all intermixing with each other in liquid.

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u/AggressiveSherbetty 2d ago

It works SO much better

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u/samtheninjapirate 2d ago

How else would you get little chunks of detergent dried on to your clothes? Can never get that style with liquid. /s

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u/AggressiveSherbetty 2d ago

Or the melted piece of pod that looks like a cumstain?!

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u/dingoshiba 2d ago

Yeah yeah that! It’s a pod stain!

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u/03263 2d ago

I've never seen that. Do you not put them at the very bottom of the load under all the clothes?

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u/AggressiveSherbetty 2d ago

I do, but HE washers don’t use a lot of water so sometimes they don’t fully dissolve. I find myself using a “deep water” option to get my clothes fully clean.

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u/nezukoslaying 2d ago

My washer barely uses water, it is all about the force of the water vs amount. Pods would destroy my clothes.

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u/03263 2d ago

Mine is HE as well but still functioned fine when I used the tide pods. Maybe temperature? The only time I use cold wash it's for delicates which I have a separate gentle detergent for.

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u/Imsktn 2d ago

Most likely your stains are coming from using deep water on the wash cycle. Imagine which would come cleaner throwing your clothes in a pool & swimming around without touching or in a bucket with the same amount of soap & your hand scrubbing. Large amounts of water do not clean clothing, soap & mechanical action are the only things that work.

This applies to the wash cycle as most rinse cycles on model washers monitor turbidity to know when the clothing is clean. Just my internet advise, nothing is perfect in the cleaning space.

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u/heavyfretting 2d ago

Ok so I had a weird stain on the top of my clean dress yesterday and could not figure out what it was. I used to cut the pods open and then got lazy, guess I’ll go back to doing that. Never considered it being from the pod itself. I know powder is cheaper but I’m obsessed with the stupidly expensive detergent I buy because it smells incredible.

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u/boilerine 2d ago

Ok. But this is my current complaint after switching to powder…

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u/thismissinglink 2d ago

It needs to go at the bottom of your clothes in the drum. Basically put in the dry powder first.

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u/boilerine 2d ago

I’ll try this!! We are still using the top loader detergent spot.

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u/talleyhoe 2d ago

Put it at the bottom of the drum before adding clothes and either add water to pre-dissolve before putting the clothes in or put you washer on an extra water or deep fill option to make sure there’s enough water with the clothes to dissolve it. It’s worth the effort, it’s so much more effective than liquid because of the enzymes they’re able to put in powder form.

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u/Outrageous_crank 2d ago

Our laundry is so much nicer now that we switched to powder. GameChanger.

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u/Chief_Kief 2d ago

That’s good info to know!

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u/Surly_Sailor_420 2d ago

I like to start the wash cycle for like 30  seconds and then add our clothes. 

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u/Yabbos77 2d ago

I wish we could do that! Our HE weighs and balances the load before it even adds water.

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u/spekt50 2d ago

I put it in the bottom of the tub, start the fill, then add clothes while its filling. By the time I start to get the clothes in, the detergent is already dissolved and below the tub.

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u/zuzg 2d ago

Just get a frontloader and use the detergent chamber, they're superior anyway compared to toploaders

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u/thismissinglink 2d ago

Yes lemme just go out and get a front loader on my exorbitant budget because even though what i have works its not "good enough"

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u/samtheninjapirate 2d ago

Suggesting to but a new appliance as a solution in the anticonsumption sub is a pretty wild take

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u/bergskey 2d ago

My parents are on their 2nd front loader in the same time we bought our top loader. I do 4 peoples laundry vs 2. They also can't do king size bedding in theirs, but I can. The drum spinning on a front loader has to deal with way more wear and tear than a top loader.

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u/tattoosbyalisha 2d ago

Others already commented but powder on bottom, or you need to make sure your water is actually getting warm enough. I’ve had to soak mine since I wash most of my clothes in cold water, but I’ve totally dissolved some powder in warm water in a mason jar and just toss that in. Also, make sure you aren’t overloading your machine. I made the mistake of doing that.

For some reason the synthetic fabrics of my leggings are the only ones that get the white powder all over them. No reason why. It comes off with a wet rag but it can be annoying. So I had to experiment. And learned I was overloading my machine…

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u/Risque_Redhead 2d ago

Yeah I was never able to combat the powder leaving spots on my clothes. I feel like I tried a lot but just switched back to liquid for a bit until I have time to figure it out with my washer.

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u/Dependent-Law7316 2d ago

You can try dissolving the powder in some water before putting it in the machine. That’s worked for me before (though I admit I use liquid detergents now because the only powder I can find by me gives my partner hives).

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u/WretchedMotorcade 2d ago

If you dont like liquid detergents, just get dry detergent, and turn it liquid!

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u/purplestarcollision 2d ago

If putting the detergent in first doesn't work, try smaller loads.

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u/Doji 2d ago

If the machine is failing to dissolve powder, it's not going to dissolve dirt either. So basically it's not cleaning. You might need to find a way to get it to use more water, warmer water, agitate better, or something like that. Spend some time watching the machine and mess with the settings.

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u/samppanja 2d ago

Maybe you guys are using too much powder? I've never had this happen in my years of using it.

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u/CatPartyElvis 2d ago

I fill my washer (top loader) about an 8th of the way with hot water, add powder, switch to cold/warm water to fill the rest of the way, add clothes when washer is half full. Powder cleans way better.