it's official for me too. i hate charlies soap

12 years ago

I'm certainly glad to know I'm not the only one who hates Charlie's soap. I've been using it for over 5 months, and it's ruined all my dark clothes, leaving a dull, grayish residue, that will not wash out...regardless. They all look like they'e had clorox smilled on them, but in a less obvious manner, more like spots that look faded and streaked. I called the company, leaving a msg. describing my problem. They responded via email with this:

"You must have inferior brands of clothing and/or material to have had this happen, we don't ever hear of this happening unless the fabric is inferior."

So, their conclusion, all my dark clothes, every piece, every color, whether it be gray, purple, black, brown, etc. etc. are ALL inferior brands or ALL of inferior material?????

I hardly think so!!!!!

I'd been using Charlies soap powder for over 6 mos. following all the recommendations on the label. Precleaning machine, etc. etc.

Over these 6 mos. it has literally ruined all my dark clothes.

Their answer was *NOT* an acceptable answer at all, since I've never, ever experienced this problem over the many, many years doing laundry, with all types of materials of dark clothes, either new or older items, many different fabrics and brands, with all types of laundery soap;EXCEPT with Charlie's Soap.

I'm 67 years old and know what I'm doing when using laundry soap products.

In the 47 years I been doing laundry, NEVER haveI ever had this problem, until the last 6 months of using Charlies soap. This is not a coincidence, this is the outcome of using Charlie's soap.

**Needless to say, I'm very upset about this and the loss of many items of dark clothing**

The email I sent using the email in their website bounced back...several times and now, they won't even acknowledge my phone calls.

This is how I responded:

I might be able to eschew this comment of your cust. service rep. if it were on just a few items, BUT NOT on ALL of them. You cannot tell me that all my dark clothes are inferior or has inferior material. I need to know how to get this off all my dark clothes, but it appears they are permently ruined, almost as if bleach got on them, exept not as white if it were bleach stains. This makes me sick, I have had so many articles of dark clothes completely ruined and no longer able to wear.

Charlie's Soap is the worst...without a doubt L/Soap I've ever used. I wouldn'tg even give it away for fear it would cause someone else the same problems. Plus my clothes are not at all soft, but stiff and coarse.

Please respond,

Anne P Murray

402-201-2094

Omaha, Ne.

CHARLIE'S SOAP YUK, YUK, YUK!!

IT WILL RUIN ALL YOUR DARK CLOTHES

CERTAINLY, NOT WORTH THE BUCKS,

CHARLIE'S SOAP

REALLY SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS!

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Comments (6)

elbits
12 years ago
I didn't like it either. Will never buy it again.
sshrivastava
12 years ago
@ ladeeanne

I'm laughing at your jingle at the end, but NOT laughing about what CS did to your clothes. Most people love the product or hate it. Initially I had good results and said good things about the product, but over time I noticed my whites greying and starting to feel stiff. I emailed Charlie's and they suggested I use 2 TBS instead of 1 TBS per load. That didn't do anything. I have soft, conditioned water.

I stopped using CS and went back to my trusted Persil. I've added Vaska and Clorox Green Works to the mix as well. Vaska, although a liquid only, is everything CS should have been. I'm sure CS works for some folks - there are many satisfied users. But because the product does not contain the usual ingredients you find in more mainstream products - soil suspension and color protection agents, water softeners and chelators, etc. - results will vary wildly depending on water conditions.

People often criticize the mass merchandise products (Tide, Cheer, etc.) for having too many and possibly toxic ingredients. However, those products also perform rather uniformly across a wide variety of water conditions. Once you take away those ingredients, you must make sure that what you're using is suitable for your water conditions. This is the reason that Charlie's Soap now sells a product to use with CS in hard water conditions.

A primary ingredient in CS is sodium carbonate. If you have hard water, that sodium carbonate will cause the calcium in the water to form a precipitate which will then settle back onto your clothes and washer parts. That may be what you're seeing in your dark clothes. Try soaking them overnight in vinegar to see if that can loosen or dissolve the calcium. You can also use citric acid, which can be purchased in your grocery store's dishwasher aisle as Lemi Shine. Throw a couple of tablespoons into your front loader and run a cycle with your ruined fabrics.
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Cavimum
10 years ago
CS probably won't perform well in hard water. The CS company now sells a water softener additive for laundry done in hard water.

Whites washed in only CS will get dingy over time, even in neutral water.. Ask me how I know. CS needs oxygen bleach added (like OxiClean) to keep the whites white. Our water is very neutral and it works great for our dark colors, because there are no added optical brighteners to gray out the darks.
cohoss
10 years ago
I had the exact same problem with Charlies when I was using it a few years ago. The company was very responsive trying to resolve the issue. In short, our hard water was the culprit and even with water softeners, the dinginess remained. The good news is that when I switched back to another liquid detergent, the white streaks eventually disappeared and everything is well again.

To be fair, i do have the same problem with Rockin' Green soap. It's great for whites and lights but does the exact same thing with darks. I now only wash dark colors (and even medium) with liquid detergent such as Roux Maison or Ecos. We have VERY hard water which causes problems with all of my detergents & cleaners. Keep re-washing with another liquid detergent and eventually they'll spring back to life.
hokie1999
10 years ago
I had the exact same thing happen with Charlie's soap. I had to throw out several dark items. Even after washing in other things the haze would't come out and the clothes became very rough. We did have hard water at the time. You would think a laundry detergent wouldn't ruin clothes though, even in less than ideal water.

Becca

it's official for me too. i hate charlies soap

Comments (6)

elbits

sshrivastava

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