Laundry Detergent Reviews

Consumer Reports publishes the best review of laundry detergents, with an evaluation of 39 high-efficiency (HE) and standard detergents. Laundry soap is tested for cleaning performance, ability to keep dirt off and effectiveness at keeping dye off. Editors tested laundry detergents on common stains including grass, chocolate ice cream, red lipstick and blood. We expected to find great information and testing of laundry detergents at Good Housekeeping magazine, but editors don't appear to have conducted a large test of laundry detergents. Instead, Good Housekeeping offers a small series of video reviews, each of which compares from two to four products. Although older, we found a great informal but well done comparison test at Slate.com, where Eliza Truitt devises torture tests for laundry soap to test for color fastness, odor removal and stain removal.

We found many other informal tests in which one person does laundry with different laundry detergents and compares the results. Some of these tests are performed for television shows or newspapers, while others are published exclusively online. The Associated Content website has several articles in which a writer describes the pros and cons of a detergent, but these amount to just lengthy versions of the user reviews you'll also find at Amazon.com, Drugstore.com and RateItAll.com.

Alternatives to laundry detergents

Laundry is periodically the subject of some new "alternative" to standard powdered and liquid detergents. Some of these, such as Wisk and Tide laundry tablets, work well in testing but others don't.

In 1999, the Federal Trade Commission issued a Consumer Alert regarding reusable balls, rings and discs that are filled with a liquid intended to replace regular detergent. The alert states that, "At best, they're marginally better than washing clothes in hot water alone, and not as effective as washing them with laundry detergent. At worst, the products are completely useless."

The OxiClean Toss-N-Go Ball (*est. $9.50) contains laundry detergent pellets in a mesh sack that is put into the washing machine and left there for up to 25 loads. However, in measured comparison tests, the OxiClean laundry ball does a poor job of cleaning. In a report by Cleveland's News Channel 5, the two testers were not impressed with the OxiClean detergent ball and even had to rewash some clothing. This product has recently been discontinued by the manufacturer, but it is still widely available in stores.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Tide laundry detergents are reviewed the most and most reviews say they work the best overall, even if they are more expensive than others. Tide with Bleach Alternative does a good job at cleaning, keeping dirt off and helping colors to stay bright. SA8, an expensive HE detergent, is only available through Amway representatives and online. Almost all of the detergents that were tested clean well and would be fine for lightly soiled garments. Ratings are often based on additional factors such as scent, feel of fabric and brightness of colors. For instance, in formal testing, Wal-Mart's Great Value laundry soap works nearly as well as Tide for much less. The same can be said for Costco's Kirkland Signature Ultra HE detergent. Among green laundry detergents, we found the best reviews for Seventh Generation, which can be used in both standard and HE washing machines.