It cleans well in our Whirlpool front-loader. With San Francisco water, we don't seem to have a significant residue or odor problem (I have always left the door cracked on the washer though). It doesn't stink. Clothes don't seem to significantly fade, nor do we have any objectionable texture issues. Nothing "godly" nor "devilish" about the Tide product.

We now use Mrs. Myers (liquid) for our clothes and the Tide for the rugs and towels the dogs use. Dunno which is better or worse. We're trying Charlie's Soap next in our pursuit of a scent-free, HE-compatible laundry detergent.

sfjeff, please get back here, or somewhere, about your comparison of Charlie's to Tide Free after you've used it a few times. I am very interested, and I'm sure others are also.
Thank you.

I'm pretty happy with Tide Free liquid, but it has enough of a scent that my wife doesn't like it. Tide worked better for me than the Kirkland unscented HE liquid. Mrs. Myers works pretty well for us, but there is no local supplier for the unscented and the shipping is as much as the product.

The main reason I'm looking for something else is to go with a powder rather than a liquid.

I'll let you know in a few weeks what we think of Charlie's. I'd be up for trying Persil, but it seems that it isn't available unscented.

Have you tried Purex Free? It is liquid but I know it is made (or owned) by Henkel, the people that make Persil.

I like All Free with a little oxi if needed.

We've been using Charlie's for about a month now and like it. My wife thinks it's awesome; she thinks the clothes are whiter and softer. I'm less convinced, but do think that it is doing a good job.

Some observations:

* There was no real "acclimation time" to go from Tide Free to CS.

* CS doesn't have any really noticeable smell to me, where Tide Free, though unscented, does. As a result, the washer smells like wet clothes, rather than the vague "laundry" smell it used to have.

* The towels are softer with CS than they were with Tide Free (we didn't use fabric softener or dryer sheets with towels in the past either).

* Clothing is acceptably soft without any fabric softener or dryer sheets. (We do not have a problem with static in general in San Francisco, so I can't comment on that.)

* The clothes come out acceptably clean. I think comparably so, my wife thinks CS is cleaner.

* We continue to use Clorox liquid bleach with our white towels

* We like the ease of storage and dispensing of the powder over the liquid. We use an Oxo pop-top storage container that holds a bag at a time (high humidity in SF).

Oxo pop-top storage

Check the size; we have the 1.5 qt. one.

I'm glad it's working out for you so far. I use Charlie's too, but I had used Tide Free in the past. It seemed to do an OK job. I could just never really justify the price for the performance for us. I had tested a lot of perfume and dye free detergents before I had even heard of Charlies with various stains on new cotton diapers. It didn't seem to clean any better than the others so I ended up switching to the all free clear and arm and hammer free as they were more economical. This was before I had my front loader.

I had tried the Tide Free HE in our front loader, but no matter how little I used, I could never quite get rid of the suds. The same thing happened with the All Free HE (although I will still use this in a pinch since it has no enzymes). Arm and Hammer doesn't have a Free HE formula, so that was out. I had tried the Sears Free powder too, and that was fine as far as sudsing went, but after a month or two, the loose powder clumped into little pellets and wouldn't dissolve right. Thank goodness I was a member here as this was the first place I heard about Charlie's and I am happy I did. It has worked out for us quite well.

Thanks for the pic of the storage container you use. It's pretty cool looking. I use a storage container too. I don't know how to put pics in posts but I use the Snapware AirTight Round canisters, and they work quite nicely. Link for what they look like below.

http://www.snapware.com//product_buy.asp?dept%5Fid=6003

Happy Laundering : D

I've been using Tide Free/Sensitive Skin for about a year and a half, almost exclusively. I'm using the liquid version simply because I got it so cheap that I couldn't turn it down, but in a couple years when I need more I'll probably try the powdered version. I'm very sensitive to smells, perfumes and the like and have no trouble with this. I've given some to my sister who is also very sensitive and she loves it. Gave some to my cousin with psoriasis to try out and it's one of very few detergents he can use. We all agree it's the best cleaning of any detergent we've used.

To be honest I don't personally know anyone who likes Purex. It's cheaper than a lot of detergents but simply doesn't work well. If your clothes don't get dirty it could work out for you, but then again, there's also cheaper alternatives than Purex too in that case. Dial makes a lot of good products... but IMO, Purex isn't one of them. And Purex CERTAINLY is NOT the same as Persil! LOL

Oh and for those who didn't know, both Henkel and Unilever manufacture their own versions (in other words, different formulations) of Persil.

cynic,

I forgot, do you have a FL or TL? Maybe its just the HE version liquid that has caused me probs with not rinsing out. I've never tried the reg free powder or liquid in my FL.

I have a toploader. And I'm using the non-HE Tide Free/Sensitive. I'd suggest sticking to the HE for Tide though with a frontloader. However, Cheer Free, although not technically an HE detergent is HE compatible and works great in FL machines. It has enzymes as do virtually all if not all P&G detergents. ERA now has an HE version (liquid). I'm a firm believer in the benefits of enzymes since using enzyme and non-enzyme detergents. There's no comparison from my experience.

I prefer fragrance-free detergents also, but, I swear, Arm & Hammer Clean Burst powder is better than fragrance-free. It is so very light in scent as to be almost not noticeable at all. And I have not found a powder detergent that cleans as well in hot or warm water. When I am finished with Charlie's, I will buy A&H Clean Burst in a very large box when on sale. I love it and the very, very slight smell it leaves on my laundry. Heaven. Since I switched to hot water and powder detergent, my clothes have never been cleaner; and I'm as old as dirt!
Pat

Cheer does have an HE version in the Free/Clear liquid. I also saw an HE version of Era Free at Big Lots.

cynic,

Thank you for your response. I may try the Tide free liquid HE sometime again and see how it goes. I have read on other websites that P&G solved alot of the sudsing and rinsing issues with their liquid HE detergents. It seems like I am okay with any detergent that is perfume and dye free.

Right now I have plenty of Charlie's so I'll probably use that up first.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

And Purex CERTAINLY is NOT the same as Persil!

That may be the understatement of the year, LOL.

We don't have sensitive skin issues, but a dear friend does. Since she bought her HE washer, she says All Free HE gives her the best cleaning without any skin irritation.

When she had a regular washer w/agitator, she liked Arm & Hammer detergent, but says the Arm & Hammer HE doesn't clean her family's laundry like All Free HE.

Please reread my post---I NEVER said Purex was the same as Persil. I just said that Henkel owns them.

Relax. Reread the other posts. Nobody said you said Purex was "the same", but the statement you made could easily be mistaken by someone and that's the clarification that needed to be made. "Have you tried Purex Free? It is liquid but I know it is made (or owned) by Henkel, the people that make Persil".emphasis added Asking if they've tried something and emphasising it's made or owned by someone can certainly be misconstrued as a suggestion you may not have intended. Not really sure what the point is that they're affiliated companies anyway. Was there a point that we missed? Kind of like someone asking about Volvo and saying it's owned by Ford! Understand? Sometimes you need to word things more carefully. Merry Christmas!