Denim: those powdered water softening agent often tend to leave a white residue behind - especially with modern, ultra-low-water-level washers. Even more so, if the washer is overloaded. Since denim is a rather stiff fabric, it needs more room to tumble than regular fabrics. In case of an overstuffed washer, powdered detergent (the softener) remains in the creases. All-denim loads should not fill the drum more than approx. 50%. Quick wash: yes, liquid detergent dissolves faster. But I think, since US washers start the cycle with already warm water, even powder should dissolve fairly quickly. Comforters: if filled with real feathers, one should use a down detergent - such as available from Miele - in order not to overly degrease the filling (so I read on automaticwasher.org). Again, powdered can set and remain in the creases of bulky comforters. Alex (who's looking forward to more videos ;-) )

I cannot tolerate the regular Persil scent (although many on this board LOVE it). It is strong for me and I think I just don't like it. I've used it on my kids' clothes and days later they still smell and it bothers me. I do, however, really like the Persil Sensitive scent. Much more tolerable. Fresh and light. I use the Persil Sensitive Megaperls for whites like socks or tea towels. I read this about Persil Gold, "The Persil gold color products with luminosity formula ensures radiant purity and bright colours." http://www.persil.de/produkte/persil-gold-color.html I use Clorox Greenworks for my kids' laundry. No optical brighteners (which I prefer) and it seems to really get their things clean. They smell fresh and clean even days after washing. I LOVE Vaska. I use it for sheets/towels/delicates/swimwear/etc ... I find my white towels and sheets look white and smell clean. I also add oxygen bleach to keep things white. After I read the following I assumed it must be cleaning or these hotels would not be happy. "Royal Laundry of South San Francisco washes one million pounds of laundry a week for more than 150 hotels throughout Northern California. Royal's president Don Luckenbach says he is pleased with the switch to botanically based products to do the laundry for his luxury hotel customers in the San Francisco hospitality industry, including the Joie de Vivre group, Kimpton Hotels, the Fairmont, and the Ritz Carleton." Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Laundry uses Vaska

clean_laundry_lover, Traditionally, Persil Universal Powder has always been the "regular" non-concentrated formula and Persil Universal Megaperls has been the concentrated product. Even if the Universal Powder is less concentrated, it all comes down to price per load. If you can find the Universal Powder at a good enough price where your cost per load is less than Universal Megaperls, then the choice is pretty clear. I don't take a resellers recommendations on how many loads I can get - I rely on the manufacturer for that information. According to Persil.de (translate via Google if needed), your dose for a normally soiled load in a 4-5 kg machine under medium hard water conditions is 135ml of Powder or 85ml of Megaperls. Megaperls are about 50% more concentrated than Powder. That should be enough information to compare each product at a given size and price and determine which is the better deal on a cost-per-load basis.

I don't mind most scents in products, but with clothes nothing beats the smell of clothes dried outside on a clothesline. I guess I remember my mother hanging sheets and other items outside. And they didn't smell like fresh linen or fresh cotton artificial scents. Persil is very expensive around here at the grocery store. I tend to get what is on sale. If Tide is on sale I snatch it up. It cleans most consistently especially whites. I still wear white undershirts under dress shirts and don't like them getting dingy.