Detergents with Optical Brighteners and Darks

9 years ago

I'm currently using Vaska on all our laundry and it's not getting my husband's work clothes clean. I'm planning on using Tide on those and when I run out of Vaska, I'm thinking about switching over to Tide or Tide F&G for everything. However, I'm worried about the Tide fading our clothes since it contains optical brighteners. Does detergent with optical brighteners fade clothes?

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larsi_gw

9 years ago

Most would agree that over time, Laundry Detergents with Optical Brighteners will lead to clothes fading. Although, I have several black and navy t-shirts that are almost 8 years old (that are so soft and I love:) and they were washed most of their lives in a Miele or Electrolux with either Persil or Tide....and while they are of course not a dark as when new, look pretty damn good!!! Cheer (he) powder is now available, and it has no optical brighteners. It cleans and rinses very well. I do not think it is as "tough" as German Persil or Tide, but it will and does clean MUCH better than Vaska. I believe Cheer he powder is only available at Walmart, sadly. I have a big box of new Cheer he powder. It smells very light and clean (it smells NOTHING like any sweet, candy Tide offering), and I really like it. I do not love it, but it is very good. I use it for our daily work and casual darks and brights. I do not use it for our 8 year old's clothes, as I found stains and marks are not totally removed, as when I use Tide he powder or German Persil (yeah German Persil, NOT Walmart Persil, LOL) ;)

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Comments (8)

Harlow
9 years ago
My hubbies work clothes are dirty, he sweats like nobodies business. So I use tide with stain release on his clothes, haven't really noticed fading, and everything is so clean. I know tide has a color guard formula, it has a small amount of oba's but tide says that its small enough not to fade, but enough to brighten. Does anyone know if tide color guard helps to eliminate chlorine, which in turn helps with fading?
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Sounds like one of those claims we will never be able to confirm or quantify because the detergent manufacturers do not have to disclose their ingredients. This is why I applaud Procter & Gamble for disclosing all ingredients in their Tide products. Now you can get a quick list of ingredients right online, with each chemical labeled and explained. I won't buy a product if I can't get a list of ingredients. Interestingly enough, Vaska refuses to disclose their specific ingredients citing "competitive reasons". I don't like that.
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I try to avoid optical brighteners whenever possible because of potential allergies or toxicity to skin. Charlie's Soap has been serving me well and it does not contain any of the nasty stuff you'll find in other products. As far as BI-O-KLEEN goes, it shouldn't have any optical brighteners. I'm looking at my box of the "Premium Plus" powder and it does not contain any optical brighteners. Make sure you are looking at the same product: http://biokleenhome.com/ Folks who are using STPP are most likely doing so due to hard water conditions. STPP is essentially phosphate and it's been outlawed from laundry detergents in many states due to pollution issues. Some people will tell you that in the overall scheme of things, industry and agriculture produce far more phosphate pollution than domestic launderers. However, any phosphates we wash down the drain makes the problem worse and I don't want to be a part of that. I've read that Charlie's Soap does not do well in hard water conditions. I have a whole house water softener stocked with potassium pellets. I believe this is a much more environmentally responsible and cost effective way of softening my water without any phosphate worries. Your garden and house plants will also love water softened with potassium! :) If you have hard water, I might recommend exploring some non-phosphate alternatives to softening your water. Sodium carbonate and sodium citrate are phosphate-free additives that can be used to soften your water chemically. Your best option is to utilize a whole house softener. I hope this answered some of your questions. These are just my ideas and viewpoints, I'm sure others will have other views and suggestions.
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I've been using the Cheer Bright Clean Powder recently. It is low sudsing. I even did a suds test on it. It sudses no more than the Sears HE powder did when I tested it last year. One or two tables spoons of the Cheer powder should be just fine. I tested it in my Frigidaire Affinity as well which hardly uses any water with half the scoop full. It was a little too much (way more than what I usually use for an average load that isn't heavily soiled), but no suds came shooting out of the machine and it was all gone with a couple extra rinses. Other detergents that are HE with no optical brighteners are Charlie's Soap (I would recommend the powder and only use 1/2 the Tbsp scoop that comes with it.), Seventh Generation powder at about 1 or 2 Tbsp, Country Save Powder at 1 to only 1/2 TBSP, and Planet at about 1 to 2 Tbsp for liquid and powder. There are more natural brands out there you can check on, but these are the only ones I know of that I have tried. HTH : D
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sparky823
9 years ago
I read a review that said that Tide Coldwater detergent prevented color fade as good or better than the Colorguard version.

I have seen the Cheer Powder at Target in the 120 load size. Wal Mart only has the 80 load(think it is 80) size box.
larsi_gw
9 years ago
@ Sparky823...Our 3 Targets have the 120 load Cheer Powder, but it is not the new "he" safe formula. Around here, only Walmart has the "he" powder.
sparky823
9 years ago
The newer version Target gets will be HE I bet. I believe they are only going to be having one formula(powder) from now on. I also noticed on Dreft Powder it has the same HE safe now, whereas it was only in liquid form for HE before.
whirlpool_trainee
9 years ago
What is the name this Cheer HE? I've been looking at the ingredients of Cheer brightClean HE Liquid, Cheer Stay Colorful Free & Gentle HE Liquid and Cheer Stay Colorful HE powder and the liquids all contain brighteners and the powder oxi bleach.
sparky823
9 years ago
It is the Stay Colorful powder now--Brightclean was before that in a lighter blue box. Box now is Navy. I think the oxi bleach in the powder is to counter-act chlorine in household water supply(prevent fading) That could be wrong but I think I have read that before about Cheer.
whirlpool_trainee
9 years ago
I have heard that as well - although I thought it were optical brighteners that counteracted chlorine. I read through the ingredients of liquid Tide Total Care and it also had brightening agents in it, as did Cheer brightClean for Darks.

Detergents with Optical Brighteners and Darks

larsi_gw

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Harlow

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