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

@nellym - over the past month, I've tried both the Persil Colors and Sensitive formulas. In my experience, the Sensitive formula scent is not as overpowering, but it has perfume and it lingers, like the the Colors formula. In my brief experience with Persil, fiber content plays an important role, as well as your individual sensitivity to perfumes. Persil is an awesome detergent for cleaning and I wish they offered a perfume-free version.

I have found the residual scent of Persil to behave differently based on the fiber:

Cottons do the best, where Persil leaves a scent that diminishes a little with time but it is still there. (I am über scent sensitive and can even smell Charlie's Soap on freshly washed & dried laundry.)

On those garments that are synthetic, like my polyester faux suede jacket (Colors formula) and the athletic clothes with wicking fibers (Sensitive formula)with which I have used Persil, the scent lingers longer and smells more sickly-sweet to my nose. Go figure. I couldn't even wear them past an hour or two, and ended up re-washing all those items ALL F&C.

Alas, I think the perfume in Persil is causing my husband's rash and my itchiness, so we're going to have to toss it.

I hope this helps.

I like Vaska a lot for clothes, it does a great job cleaning and deodorizing and everything comes out nice and soft. I use it primarily for dark loads because I had issues with fading using other detergents. But it does very well for whites as well. I use the unscented version of Vaska - it actually has a very nice light lavender/herbal scent that doesn't linger much. I also love Vaska for delicates, including wool and cashmere. I generally do not use Vaska for sheets and towels - I tried it once and did not care for it for those items (in my mind, they need more heavy duty detergent - but that's just my opinion).
I've been using Dixan Classico (Italian Persil) for a few months now and while I like it, I would not spend the money to order it here in the US. The scent is strong and I don't see a meaningful difference in cleaning power that would justify the ridiculous price. I find myself reaching for other detergents more often (Sears powder detergent, or recently Foca for whites, or Vaska or Green Works).

I find it fascinating, how sensitive many people are to fragrance. I admit, there are several perfumes that drive me nuts & either give me a headache or just gross me out (Dior Poison, Giorgio Beverly Hills, Estee Lauder Youth Dew, Fendi, Polo)..but I have never smelled a laundry product that is that offensive. I do not like the super strong smell of Suavitel Softener, but it does not bother me.

In regards to Persil..it smells so clean, old fashioned and so German. I wish I could make the smell even stronger, and I would flip if Henkel made a Persil Fabric Softener. I accept that some of you do not like the smell of Persil, I just do not understand it!!! :)

Larsi, maybe Henkel could make a Persil perfume for you ;-)

In any event, I don't find the smell of Persil offensive and I like it in isolated whiffs, but if I wore something washed in it all day long it would be way too much. So I don't use it for clothes, but do use it for towels etc. I find that is true with most scents - a whiff here or there is fine but if I smell it constantly it just turns me off or gives me a headache. I like my laundry to smell clean, i.e. no smell at all.

@izeve - I wonder if we could mix Persil with something else that is a F&C formula, for a half-Persil scent? I may try that on towels and see how it goes. Worst thing that could happen would be the brand new washer explodes. ;-)

Cavimum, you should have no issues mixing, just make sure you do not overdose the detergent (especially if mixing concentrated and regular detergent). I've tried it a number of times and it works quite well (Persil mixed half and half with Foca or Sears powder detergent). Also, I don't know if you use fabric softener, but I have taken to using unscented FS with scented detergents and that helps. Scented FS added to Persil seems to make the underlying scent stronger (or maybe it's the mixture of scents that becomes overpowering). I also use Water Plus and Extra Rinse on my machine which helps both with washing performance and rinsing the detergent out so the scent does not linger much.

@izeve - I bought the Sears he Ultra F&C this week, and will try that with our Persil 'Sensitive' on a 50/50 of each recommended dose. I'm collecting quite an inventory of detergents which which I'm experimenting. For years, I only used CS and All F&C. This forum has been a very bad influence. (LOL) On the other hand, the information gleaned here has saved me from unwittingly experimenting with enzyme detergents on our wool socks and hubby's washable wool slacks!

We don't use fabric softener, so no issues there.

I like the scent of Persil too.

We use Vaska on our bed sheets and denims. We use the Lavender scented version. While it cleans ok we have found that you must pre treat any stains on the fabric before washing in Vaska. What we like about Vaska is that when your laundry is finished there is no residual scent, just plain clean smelling fabric. And whites washed in Vaska do come out clean and bright white, even though it doesn't contain any OBs in it.