Choosing the right laundry detergent for your household

Many customers often ponder the question of whether it matters what detergent you use for your laundry; the short answer is yes, it does matter as your choice of detergent depends largely on your personal preference, the type of loads you regularly wash & your allergies.

If you are the person in your home who is responsible for the washing of clothes, you might want to think twice when it comes to the choice of detergent.

Let’s first go through the three different forms of detergents & the benefits & drawbacks to them.

The 3 different forms of laundry detergent

Powder form

The most old school & everyday form of laundry is through a powder – it usually comes in a big box that can last a long time & be the most cost effective for a household. Using powders is not the best for stain removal but generally the best for everyday laundry to keep your clothes freshly washed – we’d recommend this type of detergent for a family that washes excessive loads per week – though not the best for specific stains, powder detergent is still an excellent choice for most everyday stains.

Cost: £1.50-£2.50/Kg

Examples of Leading brands:

• Persil
• Fairy
• Ariel

Liquid form detergent

Liquid form of detergents can usually be the most effective at removing stains, this is as you can use the liquid detergent as a  form of pre wash treatment to get rid of stains before putting into the laundry machine for a regular wash.

This therefore makes liquid detergent the most effective for clothes that suffer from stains such as food, oil & grease stains – especially good for baby’s clothing as we know how messy babies can get when it’s dinner time!

Be careful however, we don’t recommend having the liquid form of detergent to be your everyday detergent if you wash a lot of loads per week as it can be the most expensive out of the three different forms of detergent – we do believe it’s necessary to keep a bottle of good liquid laundry detergent instoorage to treat difficult stains.

Cost: £4-6/Litre

Examples of Leading Brands:

• Ecover
• Persil
• Fairy
• Ariel

Laundry pods/capsule

Laundry pods are the newest forms of detergent that have gained popularity in the past couple of decades due to the convenience of the size they now come in. Furthermore, pods are becoming more advanced by being ‘2 in 1’ which refers to the fact that It will come with the regular detergent as well as the fabric softener all in one pod or capsule.

Though it sounds ideal to have one laundry pod per wash to do the full job, there have been complaints amongst the community about having to put more than one pod for an effective clean.

This can make your load more expensive than first presumed so be wary of this when choosing what company to buy pods from & be sure to test different pods before settling on what brand to regularly buy from.

Cost: £4.50-£8/Litre

Examples of leading brands:

• Smol
• Persil
• Fairy
• Ariel

Bio or Non-Bio? Scented or Non-scented?

Once you have decided what form or forms of detergents you’d like to buy for your everyday laundry, your next decision is whether to buy bio or non bio detergent – you might be scratching your head wondering what all this even means..

What does Bio detergent mean?

Bio detergent refers to detergents that have enzymes. Enzymes are excellent at breaking down grease, fats & proteins which result in cleaner clothes.

Of course this would be the preferred option however enzymes are known to have bad impact on people that have eczema as well as other bad skin conditions. Therefore it is recommended to stay away from bio detergents for those whom have sensitive skins and look for less harsh detergents such as non-bio ones.

It’s worth noting that bio detergents can also damage delicate materials such as silk & wool so it’s best to use a less harsh detergent for these items of clothing or just handing them to a professional dry cleaner to clean them.

What does Non Bio detergent mean?

Non-bio detergents are of course the opposite of bio detergents and so they don’t have any enzymes in them – this makes them ideal for those who have sensitive skin issues.

Although it would be accepted that non-bio detergents are less effective than bio ones, non-bio detergents are improving all the time and now have the capability for excellent stain removal – with that being said, you still want to keep a good liquid for the more difficult stains.

For those who have extra sensitive skin, it might be best to go for a natural option that is non-scented – brands such as Ecover & Bio D offer this type of product which will help to reduce any chance of skin irritation whilst keeping your clothes freshly washed.

If your skin isn’t as sensitive then you can go for a scented non bio option.

Eco-friendly detergents?

Moving into a new generation, consumers are becoming more health & environment conscious – we are seeing a shift in new detergent manufacturers coming out with more natural & concentrated detergents to avoid waste.

Brands such as Smol, Ecover, Bio D & Ecoegg are launching new laundry detergents that suit the new swarm of consumers who aim to reduce the amount of waste in the planet through their everyday choices.

Detergents are becoming more concentrated, using more plant-based ingredients making them suitable to vegans & also making their packaging more eco-friendly. Smol for example has 100% plastic-free box packaging whilst Ecover packaging is made from 100% reused plastic.

Your choice of detergent depends on yourself

Consumers are spoilt with choice with the number of different detergents that are available to them in the market – we have seen many more health & environment-friendly options becoming available. Furthermore, the number of options available to those with sensitive skin has also increased over time.

Therefore the choice of detergent in your household largely depends on yourself, whether you deal with many food stains or not, whether you have sensitive skin or not & how conscious you are about the environment (we hope a lot!).

One thing to note is to never try to overdose in detergent to make up for ineffective detergents – only use what is recommended on the packaging and if it’s not good enough, test other detergents!

Get your laundry collected, cleaned & delivered!

If you want to free up some time in your life, why not get your clothes washed & folded for you as part of 1 Stop Wash’s convenient laundry pick up & drop off service.

We pick up & drop off nearly every day whilst also having a popular laundry subscription service; 1 Stop Bag which helps you to totally outsource your laundry needs.

Book a pick up today or contact us at hello@1stopwash.com for more info.