Grew up using ONLY Blue Dawn, and my mom still will only use this. I agree with Mitch about the mildew growth! I am not a fan of Dawn myself.

My favs are Ivory and Palmolive, and I LOVE German Pril!!!!

I use original blue Dawn because it is a great grease-cutter; this is what is used on wildlife after oil spills. I also use it on stubborn grease spots for laundry. I put a small drop on the stain, massage it in with fingertip, let it set 5 minutes, and start laundry.

The Dawn with Olay is much easier on the hands. I also use that and it smells nice.

We do not use a sponge or dishrag for dishes, so No mold problems there. (well, I use a dishrag on the good crystal but that is only ONCE A YEAR! - LOL)

We use only a "Tuffy" scrubber or a vegetable-scrubbing type brush.

Photo of SOS Tuffy scrubber

Both go into the dishwasher if they ever (which is rarely) look yucky.

I use Lemon Ajax for dirtier dishes grease cutting and smells good to me. I love Lemon though, just love it. I hand wash all my pots and pans to preserve them and my dishwasher is just not that great. I use gloves and i change out sponges weekly. I buy sponges at Dollar Tree 12 for $1. I also always have a bottle of Seventh Generation or mrs meyers on hand for the other things. Right now i have the lemongrass 7th gen and it's like aromatherapy for me. Certainly helps get the job done and kills some of the drudgery of cleaning up the kitchen at night. (music helps too!) Glass of wine standing by is helpful as well. :)

Miami- I totally agree with you about the lemon smell. I came across Joy detergent and it had a nice lemony smell but I knew nothing about it so I moved on. I need some more hand washing detergent but there are so many to choose from and I don't really know which ones are the best. I am enjoying all the suggestions, keep them coming! :)

Mitch: If you have any Foodland stores in your area or that carry their products, they may have Sunlight dish liquid. The one I go to does. My Mom used it for years. Most time I get Palmolive or Dawn. I need to get some Sunlight and try again. Do you remember Dermassage? It smelled like almond extract to me.

You should try Joy. It does well and has been on the market for years.

Yes sparky my grocery carries small bottles of Sunlight and it smells GREAT! I buy it sometimes too but it's such a tiny bottle I go thru it pretty quickly as I cook for 5 people most nights and theres always a ton of dishes. They also make a d/w powder and d/w tabs that have that same nice lemon-y smell.

Current fave is German Pril which does great on grease and will remove tomato sauce stains from plastic. I get from persilstore. Tried it once & hooked. But also use Mrs. Meyers. They made a lilac fragrance for target. Or, I use Geranium. I don't like food fragrances in products or candles.

I forgot about Ajax. Haven't used that stuff in years... but, the last time I *did*.. I was helping someone clean up after a dinner party, and my hands felt... horrible afterwards. It smells extremely pleasant, but you better be wearing gloves.

I'm one of those, who refuses to wear gloves while handwashing. So.. I can't really wine about that. It's my fault... but I can definitely tell, Palmolive is gentler. And for me at-least... it cuts through grease and makes a ton of suds. I like it.

I did try the Dawn W/Olay Hand Renewal in the Pink Bottle. It smells okay... but, I couldn't make myself use the full bottle. Just.. something about the scent, made me feel.. sick. I don't know what.

It's been a while since I've used Sunlight... But it smelled really good, and rinsed well. If you like Dawn... you'll definitely like Sunlight :-)

@rococogurl, if you let plastic soak overnight in Dawn, it'll do the same. I really, really try to use Glass Pyrex storage containers or Corningware for storing that stuff.

There was also this stuff a few years ago, that worked wonders ;)

I think Sunlight comes in a laundry detergent also, but not in the US..lemons my fav also, love sunlight and Joy..but I'm not loyal to hand dish soap either lol. I buy whatever smells good to me at the moment...I expecially like Palmolive with oxi.

Cute joke: mom told daughter to wash dinner dishes, she got to the pots and couldn't get the stuck on food off, her mother told her, use elbow grease, a few minutes later daughter yelled to mother, where us it, its not under the sink.

@LaundryMitch - I don't have any Dawn and don't plan to get it. Don't like those fragrances. Don't own Corningware. Started with glass storage containers but they are too heavy and don't stack.

I'm a terrible curmudgeon when it comes to my house. I get it worked out so it's easy and the cupboards aren't jammed up. I forget what I can't see. Or, I just lived on take out and restaurant food for 30 years so I'm just accustomed to those containers. Periodically I try to throw them out and get better ones but I always go back. Nasty NYC habit.

I hate plastic..I use mostly corning ware, and reserve plastic ware for detergent lol

Roc sent me a lovely food storage container from take out lol...but the treat inside was even lovelier.

German Pril, along with P&G's Fairy, aced the last consumer magazine test of diahwashing liquids, cleaning twice as many greasy plates as the worst products (Palmolive being one of them). That said, I love my Palmolive because of the scent and because the dishwasher does 95% of the dishes anyway. Since I am currently using dishwasher tabs, I also put a teaspoon of Palmolive on the DW door for the prewash. I don't like all that grease being sprayed around in there with no detergent, so a good drop of diahwashing liquid comes in super handy.

@sparky, tried googling, and there's no food lands near me, such a shame.

I can't say I remember Dermassage, although... the bottle looks like Ajax.

@rococogurl, I may be a weirdo... but I could never stand the feel of Styrofoam. Loved when more & more restaurants stopped using the stuff years ago, for plastic.

I won't try to change your mind. But... if your using the microwave, please put stuff into glass or something else before hand. Don't use plastic.

@laundrymitch - No styrofoam. Ick, never. I'm talking reusable microwaveable plastic containers, not the cheesy ones. Styrofoam is evil as it doesnt biodegrade.

Yes, mama, i keep detergent in those containers. I can see what i have and nothing breaks when i drop it.

Pril kills it. i tried it on a flyer along with the Vernel and other Perwoll liquids and I was surprised at how it cleaned things the others didnt do well. But my secret weapon is Astonish.

While we are on the topic of dish washing...any thoughts on LemiShine? I put STPP in the bottle of LemiShine; maybe that's overkill.

LemiShine

Lemishine is amazing. Love that stuff! I use it in my dishwasher once a month to clean it, and when someone buys the wrong dishwasher detergent I use Lemishine in the wash and it really makes everything spotless and perfect.

I prefer Fairy liquid. The original green one smells kind of like bug spray but I like it, it's a nostalgic scent. I also like Fairy clean&care rose&satin scent. Method's clementine is nice as well.

I think German Pril is the same as our Tolu. I don't like the gel consistency or the pull top, makes it much messier to use. I prefer flip tops like in Fairy bottles.

I don't have a dishwasher (unfortunately) so I handwash everything. I have a habit of buying new detergents to try to make dishwashing more enjoyable which doesn't really work. I have at least five bottles to choose from right now, lol.

I like the scent of Ivory liquid the best of all the grocery store brands and use that one the most. On occasion, I buy a special scent from Williams Sonoma (e.g. their Spiced Chestnut for fall). Cooks Illustrated rated Mrs. Meyers lavender liquid dish soap as top (if I remember correctly!), but I find the scent too strong.

My first criteria is 1) how gentle on my hands and then 2) grease cutting. So mrs Meyers, dove and Dawn that are creamy looking. Don't know their formula names. Loved Joy but too darned harsh.

Bright I remember Ivory dish soap, before it changed, isn't it a clear color now? It used to be white with a true classic ivory scent, I loved it.

Yep, mama my Ivory liquid is clear but I think it still smells good! I also loved Ivory Snow (powder detergent, but that seems to be gone, and the liquid doesn't smell the same). Do you know if there are any true classic Ivory scents left? I don't know if I even remember that scent!

Palmolive pure + clear works for me. I put it in a clear glass container though.

Bright..Ivory bar soap is still original, but with P&G cutting 100 of their products and they haven't given a complete list yet that I know of I grabbed some Ivory bars just in case lol.I did see a few boxes of powdered Ivory Snow on amazon, I was going to order it but can't afford to right now. If your interested you should try to grab one before their gone..they were discontinued a few years ago.lol

I use Dawn in my laundry for grease stains, but I use Ajax for hand washing and hand soap.

Pink...that is the detergent my dear mom used back in the 50's...Ivory Snow! Just had a walk down memory lane...(and she had fels naptha soap you referenced recently )

There was slso Ivory Flakes, which came first, it was flaked ivory soap, which was before detergent hit the market...and if I'm not wrong and I might be lol Dreft was the first marketed Detergent in the US.

Mama, I just saw the Ivory Snow is selling for 164.99 for three 15 load boxes! Outrageous! IF you find out which products P&G is going to slash, please let us know!

Dreft I know is labeled for babies, but its actually a pretty powerful detergent, it has to be in order to clean poop lol. I know its pretty pricey but does a wonderful job on whites...but wait we were talking about Ivory lol

Bright there was a single box the other day for under 20 maybe its gone dang it lol

Dreft makes a pre wash spray(like Shout) that is really good.

It was Ivory "Flakes"! The only bar soap dad would use was bars or ivory...no fragrances for him! Think Archie Bunker lol