I tried Vaska on my sheets but it didn't do very well at stain removal. My dog left a couple of spots of blood on my duvet, and after washing in Vaska w/ Vaska oxy bleach the stains were faded but not removed. The next time this happened I washed the same duvet in Persil Universal Megaperls and the stains were completely removed. I have a whole house softener and used half the recommended dose of Vaska. I also use about 1/2 the recommended dose of Persiil.

I can only recommend Vaska for lightly soiled and delicate items. It isn't good at stain removal, and also doesn't contain enzymes. That's good for sensitive skin and gentleness, but not so good for removing protein, starch and fatty stains.

I agree with using Vaska for lightly soiled and delicate items. I think Vaska smells delightful and leaves clothes with a very soft feel, but if I have something that is really dirty or stained I use Persil or Tide.

I wonder if using liquid Tide would give sheets, etc., a softer finish? I may have to try that next.

My favorite brand of everyday bed linen is called Matteo. I prefer percale but love their linen sheets as much. I hate sateen! So, I'm with you on individual likes/dislikes regarding fabric. I'm a Persil cult member (though I find Tide almost equally efficacious.) Anywho, I tend to think about softness success as a process; it's more about the type of fabric than any one detergent (or machine, temperature, etc.) :\

+1 on Vaska for delicates, especially wool and silk, but I have to be very careful with the amount I use or I'll end up with a door full of suds in the FL washer (not kidding.) But since Vaska doesn't have enzymes it is less effective on the kind of industrial-grade filth my 7 and 5-year-old boys come up with, so I too use Persil Megaperls for that. Even so, I still pretreat the most egregious stains (with a little Persil Color Gel) to guarantee they come first time, every time.

I like emzyme detergents for sheets. Even though I shower before bed, you body release oil and it gets on the sheets and can be difficult to get out. I change mine twice a week in the summer because I have oily skin. I love white sheets and they show everything!

Vaska suds way too much for my taste using the recommended dose of one capful. I recently tried a new detergent for conditioned/soft water called Lanosoft. It does an amazing job and my clothes have never felt softer or fluffier. This product does not contain any conditioning or water softening ingredients, and the suggested dose is 2 TBSP. This product contains natural soap and I love the feel of my clothes. I highly recommend this product for folks with whole house water softeners.

I have recently started using Vaska (unscented) and have zero suds in my LG FL when using 1 to 1 and a half capfuls. We are on city water that is fairly soft (1-3 gpg). I also use Sears powder detergent and do not get any suds at all. Vaska does leave everything considerably softer than the Sears detergent and even though it is unscented there is enough residual lavender/herb scent in it to make it really pleasant to use. I add a small amount of unscented liquid fabric softener to my last rinse, both with Vaska and with the Sears detergent. Vaska does a good job at cleaning, except for oily stains on dark fabrics. I started using Vaska because I noticed some fading of dark fabrics with the Sears powder. Sears powder plus some Ecover oxygen bleach does a great job on whites though.

I have never used fabric softner for nearly 30 year of doing my own wash.

In pursuit of real "soft" towels, I was willing to start using fabric softner... I did 1 load of wash with Persil detergent (always used at my house) and 1/2 of recommended dose of Downy free and Clear. I hate the smell of detergent residue. Well... Downy left waxy slippery feeling to the towel, which I cannot stand. I think there is a reason why I never used fabric softner. I just had to be reminded....

How do you get the "soft" feeling of towels without the slippery waxy feeling on the towel?

Is Vaska the game?

Vaska fabric softener does not appear to leave any residue on the fabrics. It just makes the laundry smell and feel very nice. There is no "feel" to the laundry besides just real softness.

"natural" (ie. soy) based softeners work a little different than conventional ones. They do not "coat" the fibres the same way. I have been using this kid (different brands) for a few years now and wouldn't switch back. I'd go without before I'd go back :)

I have found that Tide Total Care and Woolite leave my laundry feeling noticeably softer than other detergents. Haven't used any Persil formulas.

Tide Total Care deposits silicone onto your fabrics to help them feel soft. P&G calls it an "advanced fiber complex" or something like that. The question is, do you want silicone on your clothes?

Where does one purchase this vaska?

Albertsons

I got my Vaska at Target but not all Target stores carry it. Of the two in my area only one has it.

I'd recommend the Persil. Just got done answering an old thread about Purex Crystals which is pertinent here.

Persil leaves clothes softer for 2 reasons:
1) It rinses very thoroughly.
2) It contains aluminium silicate aka bentonite clay.

Bentonite is a natural fabric softener. It doesn't coat the fibers like tallow, fat, soy or silicone based softeners. It basically plumps them up. The drawback is you have to get the fibers really clean for it to work. So you may need a few loads of Persil, Charlies Soap, etc. to remove the remnant detergent in your laundry before it really works.

If you use a clean rinsing detergent that you like already, for me that's Costco's Enviro Friendly liquid detergent, just add a bentonite clay softener to your load. The most readily available one in the market at the moment is Purex Crystals.

Tide w/ a Touch of Downy is another choice that already has bentonite in it. It just doesn't rinse as cleanly as some other detergents.

- IT Geek

Just bought a bottle of Purex Crystals. You add them WITH the detergent, NOT in the softener tray. I've done 3 loads so far...pretty impressed. Smells clean, fresh and clothes are noticeably softer. Not as soft as when using Downy...but these might appeal to a lot of people, since there is no softener being dispensed and left on clothes. I found the blue bottle to smell the best. The lavender and the yellow/orange bottle smelled very sweet, "perfumey" and strong!