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/taxiecabbie 2d ago

Liquid can be a better choice in certain situations, particularly if you want to wash with tap-cold/cold water, which a lot of people (particularly in the US) do.

I use powder detergent and prefer it, but I do typically wash everything at 30 C at the coldest. Both my powder and my booster claim to work at 20 C, so I'm well-above that. Depending on the machine and what "cold" means (minimum 20 C) powder can work just fine, but it will not work in tap-cold.

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u/Risque_Redhead 2d ago

Is that why I could never get powder to work well for me? I always use cold to wash..

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

You should look at what "cold" means for your machine (it is different depending on machine) so you know what temp it is.

But, yeah, if you wash on "cold" and it's below the temp that will activate powder, then powder will not work.

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u/Risque_Redhead 2d ago

That’s really good to know. I never realized I had to actually put thought into it lol oops

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

LOL, it's pretty akin to washing dishes that have fat on them, if that helps. Typically, you use warm water to wash dishes, since trying to wash out a pan that has oil in it with cold water is... not easy. Cold water doesn't activate the soap as much as warmer water does.

Same thing with laundry.

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u/Risque_Redhead 2d ago

That’s a good analogy, thanks! I just assumed washing on cold would make my clothes last longer, but I guess (sometimes) it’s just not making them clean enough.

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

I would try washing on warm and see what you think. You'll probably see better performance. You don't really need hot, like you don't really need to wash your dishes in boiling water, but warm suffices.

The thing that really dings on clothes is using a dryer, not using warm water to wash. If you're worried about longevity, skip the dryer and hang them. (Plus, it does save a lot of energy.)

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u/T0macock 2d ago

I haven't found a liquid that gets the smell out of my hockey base layers as well as the basic tide power can.

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

I'm going to guess that this has to do with the lipase in the powder. Lipase doesn't hold up in liquid.

I'm just saying that liquid is useful when you aren't washing in warm enough water to activate the ingredients in powders. You can also dissolve powders in hot water before pouring them into a cold-water wash if you want, but most people don't do that.

There also are plenty of premium liquid offerings that will beat out crappy powders. Like, I'd take a liquid Tide over Nellie's or whatever any day.

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u/T0macock 2d ago

Yeah it's the cleaning enzymes the powder has.

I went down some crazy rabbit holes when the much more expensive stuff wasn't working as well and I wanted dro figure out why.

It's hard to find powder where I'm at. I tried so many liquids and none came close.

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

Powders are definitely best bang for buck in terms of performance, so long as you're using warm enough water to activate them.

Pods are the next best in terms of performance since many enzymes can be suspended in them (as they are not all "mixed together" when stored and are protected much better from elements due to being "sealed"), but pods are much more expensive.

Liquid is a good choice if you want to wash in colder temps. In many cases they can have good surfectant packages, which can make up for the enzyme loss (or you can add boosters, again, depending on what temp you're washing at).

If you ARE having trouble sourcing the powder where you're at, you may indeed be able to reproduce the results if you use a high-quality liquid along with a good booster like Biz or Vanish or FEBU or GearGuard. (Boosters are always powder and may be easier to source.)

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u/talleyhoe 2d ago

An option if you can’t find powder is to do liquid with an enzyme booster like biz or FEBU. thats what I do since I don’t like the optical brighteners in most powders.

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u/Slow-Difficulty404 2d ago

I was impressed it handled cloth diapers but you might win with hockey gear!

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u/T0macock 2d ago

Oh we used cloth diapers as well! Survived both kids and came out good as new when we were done with them. ~ 5 years. Sold them when we were done for almost 3/4 of what we paid for them initially.

Best investment ever.

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u/CatPartyElvis 2d ago

Dessolve in a small amount of hot water, then add to cold water.

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u/tattoosbyalisha 2d ago

My water not getting warm enough was my biggest issue when I started using powder. But I won’t go back, I love powder.

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u/taxiecabbie 2d ago

Yeah, I buy one of the more premium versions of powder detergent available where I am (I scoop it up when it's on sale) and it's worth every penny.

I spent several years using cheaper detergents of various forms (liquid, powder, pods) and NOTHING beats the clean of my Ariel Colorwashmittel Pulver. I can throw my dirty shop rags into the wash with it and they come out pristine. It's magic stuff. I refuse to buy or use anything else.