LOL larsi, that's funny, but actually it's pretty true. Walmart is a store that values its shelf space. If it's not producing profit, the product mix is changed. Not all Walmarts will carry the same product mix either since some things sell well enough in one area to justify keeping it where others it won't. Few grocery stores here carry much powder at all. Many carry none. I was surprised to see Home Depot start carrying Ariel about 6 months ago. First I've seen it in this area. Mara, FYI Woolite and Cheer are both P&G products. Cheer Free has been used by a lot of people at least who used to hang around the forum and found it to be a very effective and low-sudsing product. They highly recommended it for FLs. A detergent does not have to have an HE symbol on it to be used in an HE machine. Actually, many detergents have been "HE compatible" and not true HE detergents, for example Charlie's Soap. I suspect that part of the issue of not updating the website is that they'll wait until it's rolled out. As I recall the liquid compaction conversion, the country was divided into something like 5 zones and introduced over the course of something like a year. It could be a similar situation here. I don't know how people keep saying powders are so much cheaper than liquids. The cheapest powder I've found that works acceptably is much more than the liquids I've bought. Let's see, I've bought Tide for 36â per 32 load bottle, ProWash paid me 75â to buy it, A&H was free, Xtra 32 load was $1.75, and I just bought 110 load Ajax for $5 and 150 oz Era for less than $7. A 40 load Great Value powder cost me something like $10 last time I bought it and it's not performing as well as the other detergents unless I use additives so I won't be bothering with it anymore. And yes, I probably have 2-3 years worth of detergent so I won't be buying any more. Just hope my washer keeps a chugging away!

Most of these chemicals, on their own, would require great big warning labels. Well, I don't know about "most" - most of these are pretty innocuous, not just the obvious ones like sodium chloride, but also the mysterious ones like linalool (a plant oil extract). Emulsifying surfactants like sulfonated benzine salts appear in virtually all detergents, if they do not either (a) oils are dealt with another way, for example by a solvent, which is arguably harsher - even if it is a 'natural' solvent like citrus oil, or (b) some kind of oily dirts (especially petroleum oils) won't get clean. Ingredients are put into detergents for obvious functional reasons - for example, DTPMP is a scale inhibitor, which is common in European detergents because of the heating element in most European machines. Now, probably not having this is not a problem for most of us in the US, but I don't think companies should be faulted for addressing the needs of their customers the best way they know how! Honestly, I'm NOT a 'better living through chemistry' kind of guy; we like simple solutions for laundry problems (Fels soap, pine oil, hot water), and when I worked for the US EPA 25 years ago people made fun of me for wanting to don the space suit for the most innocuous spills. I just think that in the grand scheme of things, the chemical composition of Persil is not a big concern except for those very few people who have a specific allergy to particular ingredients. - DR

I know several people who use Gain products and are happy with it. I tried it but I couldn't take the smell. Performance-wise, it worked just fine. I can't stand scented laundry detergents. I switched to Tide Free/Sensitive skin several years ago and haven't been disappointed. No need for the myriad of additives I had to use with other brands. I don't find that it's any less effective than the "original" Tide. I don't believe that perfume and dye contribute to cleaning. They still have enzymes in it so I doubt there's a significant difference other than pulling the stink and color out of it. I used to itch really badly from Tide so I didn't touch it for decades but after the compaction I tried it and it worked fine, no itch, but again, I couldn't stand the smell. When my clothes are washed I don't want them to stink - stench is when you're supposed to wash clothes. So I went to the Free?Sensitive and been happy. That's now changed to Free & Gentle but I haven't tried that version as yet but I suspect the name change was a marketing idea rather than a formula change, at least any significant change. I also have Era Free but haven't tried it yet. I'm sure I'll be pleased with it, and if it doesn't handle the toughest jobs, no problem. 150 oz jug only cost about $6 or $7 so I can use it for lighter duty if needed. I have so much laundry detergent built up that I won't be buying for a long time. Yes Tide is P&G's flagship brand. However, each of them have their own niche it aims toward. Tide of course is the big dog, do everything. Gain is for smell. It's formulated to hold smell longer. Cheer's market is toward bright whites and anti-fade. Dreft and Ivory Snow are targeted for babies and super-sensitive. Era was for stains but became the redhead stepkid until lately when they've decided to start marketing it a little more aggressively and gain back some lost market share. I used to use Era years back but then they upped the price so much I said nope. Now it's a bargain brand again. Personally, I think there were people who wanted to kill off the brand and that's why they dropped advertising and support for it until recently. Seems to be quite a coincidence that about the time of a CEO change came that they started pushing it more. Purely speculation, but makes sense to me. I'm trying to remember, maybe someone here will know for sure. Did Woolite used to be a P&G brand? I was thinking it was years back. I know it's not P&G now. I can't really find anything definitive on it either. I suppose I could contact Reckitt Benckiser but thought maybe someone here would know.

Greeny. Yes Tide is for sure a good detergent. Need something clean Tide will do it. I try not to judge a detergent by its scent..LOL... I just never understood why those that can't find a Tide scent they like don't just use Tide unscented, afterall either a FS can be used for scent or you can just have the best scent of all...perfume free...just fresh and clean. What could possibly smell better than the fresh scent of clean.