Blues, sorry I missed your post up there ↑↑asking what good MOL detergent without enzymes there are, I don't know lol. I'm thinking maybe All...I bet Sparky can tell us lol..

I would love to know, too. I use mostly Gain powder, which I was disheartened to see scored so low in recent Consumer Report tests.

Lizzie, Gain is P&G's MOL detergent, its not to bad of a detergent except for the scents IMO

I don't know... I kinda like the Orginal scent Gain. Although, all of my Gain stash is from 2012 or before, so the scent may have changed.

All Small & Mighty liquid is enzyme free, and a very good performer. Even that Yellow Tide Bottle scores decently well in consumer reports testing. Just needs some better scents.

I think arm & hammer liquids are enzyme free as well.

Aand H liquids do have enzymes, Mitch. I just picked up a couple bottles of my old favorite-"clean meadow" and a new one "odor blasters fresh burst"-to test on hubs gym clothes.

It's been years, since I've looked at those Liquids. Although.. I think I have a bottle somewhere here ;). Some of the scents, smell really nice.

I didn't know arm and hammer has enzymes. Last time I looked the liquids didn't have enzymes, except the version with oxi. I will have to check that out too.

Probably a dumb question, does it say enzymes in the ingredients or something else?

Paw it will say enzymes in the ingredients list, its required by law.

I think A&H powders have enzymes, and only a few of the liquids have them..I think the basic A&H liquids are enzyme free. But it will say enzymes on the jug, its required by law to list enzymes on the container.

Some of the newer A&H Liquids will have enzymes, seems like Church &Dwight has different levels of A&H detergent, not just different scents.

You do know that the Refreshing Breeze Tide scent is a discontinued version of Era scent wise.

I like All F&C detergent but the brightener in it leaves colored clothes looking faded over time, the darker the quicker they fade. For colors, for me, it is just Cheer powder, maybe Woolite if need be. I just never give that a second thought.

Sparky, there are a few scents that I loath with a passion Surf and tides refreshing breeze head the list..I don't ever remember Era smelling like this but there was a time when I didn't take a wiff of Era for quite awhile.

The All Free, are you talking about the liquid, powder or both? I know neither one is the greatest choice for darks but even though the doctors have told me detergent is not a trigger for Chips asthma, I'm not taking a chance..do you know Sparky if the Cheer liquid Free has OB's?

Not sure about the Cheer Free but I think the only Cheer without brightener is the powder.

I forget now what the scent was called with Era but this Tide is sure it. For me, out of all of them(cheap Tide) this one is the best and cleanest smelling, but that is just difference in people.

I would just do the grandsons colors in Cheer powder and rinse twice since he doesn't have a problem with smells. I think I have already told you this, but I read once about allergies asthma etc and soaps and (Hold on) they recommended Sun Free/Clear liquid because it is a plant based detergent and rinsed very well. You might try that in a small bottle sometimes. If you dont like it you have spent very little and can use it on rugs. Try the Sun for darks I mean not everything. Oh I about left this out--part of the article recommendation was they said a lot of people are allergic to petro-based (or whatever they call them) detergents and said that plant based was much better for people with that sensitivity.

Sparky, we all sure do have different sniffers...I bet you also like Ranch Dressing, most of the world does and oh my, it gags me, lol..I know detergent and dressing have nothing in common lol.

I know I could wash Chips clothes in something else but its not just his asthma, he has very sensitive skin, like our Pat here. only 2 bath soaps I've been able to use on him without him getting itchy and looking like welts..Kirks and Dr. Bronners..yep Castile plant based. He mostly uses Kirks from head to toe. Sparky have you ever used Kirks bar soap? Its such a great soap light scent no perfumes and mounds and mounds of lather....actually with all the bars I have its without a doubt my favorite. maybe I will shock everyone and try Sun Free for this child's darks. So if it doesn't work great I can doctor it up with sodium percarbonate and use it on the boys bedding, they get a bath nightly before bed, and their beddings done every 5 days,so not heavy soils. I will run to my little Walmart and Family Dollar after dinner clean up, but I bet they have all the Sun except Free. Lol

Tom's of Maine sensitive soap is one of my favorite bar soaps. No itches and a nice scent. I can't use the castile.

I just buy the brand Costco has on sale. I have not liked the cleaning power of Arm & Hammer liquid or ordinary All liquid. Greasy stains do not come out unless I pretreat them. I find that a pain. I think Tide powder and liquid are the best current cleaners in my experience. Both use enzymes, I believe. I bought a giant drum of stpp but the only time I added it to a load, the washcloths seemed to be stiffer and faded. Probably just my imagination. Currently using All liquid and have a box of Tide powder in the garage waiting its turn.

What about Purex liquid? My picky, picky housekeeper swears by it. Does anyone use it? Is it more "pure" in any way? Does it have enzymes?

They have a "naturals" version but I am not up to date on the ingredients.

Pink: LOVE ranch dressing but the made up kind. Can tolerate the bottle but rather have made kind.

Have never used the Kirks soap. I use Dove all the time. Tried several oatmeal soaps you get from these folks that make them from goat milk etc. Some were ok but some eat me alive, claw and claw. Worst soap I have ever used was Olay thinking it would be as good or better than Dove and it was awful. Scratch till you bleed. That went in trash and back to Dove.

Not sure I have ever seen Sun Free at WM. I see it at a grocery store around me in a 50 oz bottle little over $2 but then Big Lots has had it in the huge jugs. You may have to check several places.

Nerdy, when you use STPP do you reduce the detergent amount?

Poppy my local pharmacy does sell Toms if Maine soaps, I will have to grap some to try. I wish my pharmacy sold Toms toothpaste, that's what my boys use but they have been out for a few weeks and using Crest..I like Toms toothpaste for these boys its truely all natural and they have never had a cavity even in a baby tooth. Their dentist is not a fan, but my boys, I also have never allowed them to have a floride treatment..no cavities, I know they are young but my daughter never had a floride treatment and never had a cavity until last summer after she turned 19, it was very tiny the dentist was surprised we knew it was there lol. And I have to blame Amiee for that not the floride, she eats all night long and if she finally is able to sleep she doesn't get back up to brush..lol. ( no she's not overweight from all that eating lol, she's a whopping 84 pounds) wow I sure can ramble on at times..you'd think I don't have anyone to talk to ..oh wait, I don't except kids. Lol lol

Wal Mart did have Tom's toothpaste.

FWIW Haven't tried Tom' s of Maine toothpaste, but am a fan of their natural aluminum-free deodorant. Seems it's a love/hate relationship with many people... but you won't get the yellow underarm build up on shirts if it works for you. There's a fragrance free, an apricot, and a lavender.

Tom's of Maine toothpaste is an excellent product in many flavors with and without flouride. Notice there is no high fructose corn syrup or other sweetness that PG thinks we need in toothpaste. Shocking when you first read the label, sugar in toothpaste? I can't use mints, menthol or wintergreen. Tom's has a cloves and cinnamon toothpaste that is my favorite.

Mama- any new info on this? Have you tried any more enzyme free detergents to see how they do on towels or light duty loads? I am very interested in trying tide simply in the cool cotton sensitive version. Did you try the tide simply detergent that you pictured? I know the smell of that variety isn't the best, but I am curious how well it cleaned. Also, thanks for taking the time to help me with this. :)

Blue, no I didn't do my experiment yet, lol seems I don't really have any detergent without enzymes that I can tolorate the scent of..I did do a load of colors with the Tide simply, but omg the scent as they were washing gaged me, like cheap men's dollar tree cologne spiked with more men's dollar tree cologne lol...I rewashed them without taking them out of the washer.

Do you not have All Free Clear liquid? No enzymes there.

Sparky, yes I do have All free liquid, I didn't think about that lol. I have a ton load of laundry today, I got behind yesterday running around, and I have a few beds to change today, but I'll try to do a load of jeans in the All Free lliquid.

Also next time I clean the detergent closet out I'm making a inventory chart, lol

What I also need to do is write down what each detergent is for whites, darks ect..so Amiee knows what's what if something ever happens to me, although she will come straight to you good folks, and of course you will know its her since her names BabyPinky..lol

Sparky, yes I do have All free liquid, I didn't think about that lol. I have a ton load of laundry today, I got behind yesterday running around, and I have a few beds to change today, but I'll try to do a load of jeans in the All Free lliquid.

Also next time I clean the detergent closet out I'm making a inventory chart, lol

What I also need to do is write down what each detergent is for whites, darks ect..so Amiee knows what's what if something ever happens to me, although she will come straight to you good folks, and of course you will know its her since her names BabyPinky..lol

I do just fine without all the enzymes. I guess it depends on your laundry needs. We don't get a lot of stains in our clothing for the most part and do fine without them. I am allergic to the enzymes in Tide detergent. No matter how well I rinse the clothing, it leaves some behind. Then, the enzymes designed to attack protein stains, attack my skin when I perspire or use a bath towel on my wet skin, etc. as the moisture re-activates the enzymes. My skin gets very very angry. I switched to All Free & Clear and have not looked back. On occasion I have purchased a few other detergents like Whisk, Era, Arm & Hammer, etc. I seem to do fine with those but I have gotten used to the Free & Clear and no longer desire the strong fragrances in many detergents as I am not used to them, and after being away from them, I am no longer nose dead to them and they seem overwhelming to me. If we have a greasy stain or food stains I take care of those with either a bar of fels naptha, or grannies lye soap (made from lard & lye and zero fatted and slightly lye heavy) or regular dish detergent. I make my own grannies lye soap for the stain remover, and can't recommend a brand to anyone regarding that. I have made it a practice to attack a stain when I remove my clothing before placing in the laundry. I just wet the stain and rub in either dish detergent or one of the laundry bar soaps before I throw in the hamper. This keeps them from setting in waiting for laundry day around here. I find that mascara, food stains, oil stains all come out of even my white washcloths by doing this. Seldom do I have any issues with stains or bio funk of any sort. The only exception to this rule is in the summer when I am doing a lot of heavy gardening and my white sports socks might have a lot of ground in dirt and grass. Since I bleach my whites and hang clothes on the line all summer, just after a few washes, the socks are pristine white again. I don't bother to work on those stains.. the sports socks are just garden socks after all anyway. I have never ever had an issue with any funky bio film in the form of smells or yellowing of pillowcases or sheets. Our sheets are washed every week (or two) in warm water and a cold rinse. Depending on how dirty you get your clothing and other items in your house your mileage may vary. We simply have never had an issue not using detergent that has non to minimal amounts of enzymes, but have had issues due to skin allergies with heavy enzymes.

P.S. Edited to add: We have dry skin in our household. We have never washed our sheets in hot water, ever. Your mileage again may vary with sheets, if you have oily skin or perspire a lot when you sleep. This is not an issue in our household. We also shower nightly before bed, and do not go to sleep with dirty or greasy hair.

WHat does zero fatted soap mean ?

You know I hope that a body doesn't have to sweat a lot nor do you need to have oily skin to have body oils rubbing on the sheets and clothes.that's a fact of life.

What us the temp of your warm water, I ask because most washers put out at best tepid water for warm. Also which All free do you use?

Curious minds want to know lol

Zero fatted soap means no left over fats after the saponification process in soapmaking. Most cold process soap is anyplace from 2% - 10% superfatted.

I don't use a thermometer to measure the warmth of my warm water. It is simply a mixture of hot and cold water when the laundry tub fills. It is warm to the touch so above my body temperature of 98.6 degrees.

I use the All Free & Clear liquid that is sold at Costco.

P.S. I was stating about body oils to discuss conditions of our home and to be clear about what I deal with and why what I do works for us and may or may not work for others, as mileage may vary. Yes, bodies do put out some oils and also at the same time, how oily your hair and skin is, does make a difference. Those with oily skin/hair do leave more residue behind. I can smell rancid body oil on sheets, pillows and people that have oily skin as it builds up in fabrics and can add that odor. It is almost like a musty rancid cooking oil smell but not quite.

Enzymes are no longer active after about 4 hours..I've never heard of skin allergies to enzymes only respatory...but still enzymes do not reactivate on sweat or water after they've *spent*.

Educate me please this interests me

From a biochemistry point of view (and former formulator of cosmetics) that would not be true about them only being active for 4 hours. Biochemistry is the same across the board whether it is formulating for personal care or industrial purposes. If that were true about them only being active for 4 hours, once in suspension in a detergent in a liquid form, they would be inactive by the time they hit the store shelves and adding them would be a moot point. This would also be true about them becoming activated again when they are held in a product meant to re-constituted. If they couldn't be re-activated from a dried form, adding them to a product to be re-constituted would be a moot point. Now, they may work on a stain for only 4 hours after they start to become ineffective in the same way that a surfactant can only hold so much oil/dirt with the fatty chains not being able to hold onto oil/grease/dirt molecules because you have reached saturation point with how many active chains that have not been consumed, by dirt/oil/grease. As far as re-constituting on sweat and moisture they certainly can in the same way surfactants can if there is a residue left over and water is introduced once again. Same way goes for enzymes, if there are any free enzymes (have not reached saturation point) are left on clothing.

Please visit this link to read up about re-constituting enzymes.

http://www.worthington-biochem.com/tissuedissociation/working.html

P.S. Please refer to the article I am about to link to about what it means to be hygroscopic. If you refer to the previous article, it cites not to open enzymes in a humid environment as they are very hygroscopic. This means that any left over enzymes that have not been washed away and have not become saturated, because they are hygroscopic and can become re-activated or re-constituted if you will, can cause skin reaction to those with sensitivities. This is why enzymatic detergents are not recommended for cloth diapers. Babies go pee, and the enzymes activate and they develop skin irritation and sensitivities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygroscopy

So yeah, in a nutshell and in simple language, I am allergic to the particular enzymes that Tide detergent uses in their formulary.

This is ridiculous IMHO. Enzymes have a limited lifecycle once activated. I'm sure and I won't argue the point their could be residual carry over, especially those that insist on LOW temperature washing. However, once exposed to the extreme heat of the dryer, I highly doubt there will be reactivation. Using an enzyme based detergent on diapers is no different that using a heavy caustic alkaline based formula. Improper and incomplete rinsing is the main cause of skin reaction. And I certainly don't disagree their are a number of individuals that are simply immune compromised and allergic or sensitive to many environmental influences including soaps, chemicals, latex. I don't buy the enzyme reactivation theory.. Some of those very enzymes are produced naturally in the human body!

Not everyone uses hot water and or uses a clothes dryer through the year. That would be the case at my house. And, there are many many different types of enzymes. One can be sensitive to one class of them or even just one enzyme. There are also many bacterias in the world, and some are living in our bodies right now too, but we are humans are reactionary to some. So, just because there is bacteria in our body does that automatically make us immune to all of them? NO, that is hogwash. The same holds true for enzymes.

We are all entitled to our opinion. Have you ever been tested to rule out what exactly your allergic to? Your allergic to some ingriedents in Tide, but what's hogwash is you don't know that with any medical scientific certainty, only a perception. Those were very interesting links. And I do empathize with people who suffer from reactions. The reactions are immunologic responses from the immune system. Body views the foreign substance as an intruder and histamine is released causing the response.

You are entitled to your opinion, and I know how allergies work, thank you very much. I have been tested for allergies, thank you very much. I am not allergic to any of the surfactants or fragrances, thank you very much. I only react to detergents high in enzymes, thank you very much... I only use HALF the required amount of detergent, as I live in a soft water area and rinse my clothes very well in a top loading washing machine with plenty of water. A person can have allergies to enzymes, that is a known fact. A person can be allergic to a multitude of otherwise inert substances, that are GRAS (generally recognized as safe). I only break out from enzymatic detergents in areas that I sweat. It is not from any residual surfactants from not rinsing well enough. It is in fact, from the enzymes in laundry detergents why I have a reaction. Specifically, the enzymes used to treat protein stains such as blood, grass, etc.

As far as them living in liquid and powder detergent they are chemically protected, wrapped so to speak to prevent them from activating until they meet water, after that they become inactive around 4 hours or so, which is why an enzyme soak is only beneficial for arounf 4 hours

@xhappyx - you have to do what inherently works for you.. Enzymes have there place in the laundry as does a good many other chemical preparations. It's all task specific based on type of load, soils, and wet side stain removal. The protein enzyme associated with protein is usually protease. You also mentioned Tide specifically, but not all of Tides products are enzyme based. I sincerely hope you find products that meet your needs and circumvent an allergic reaction.

Over the years I have read about enzymes causing lots of problems with babies and peeing and it would really chaf them. All of this can be found on the baby sites/forums. They even list brands for a lot of problems that they cause.

@sparky - in comparison years ago when detergents did not contain enzymes, newborns, toddlers, and children in cloth diapers always was a challenge. Diaper rash and chaffing were all too common. Fast Forward - disposable pampers and the same problems still exist. Lol I remember the diaper pure, dreft, borax, desitin days of child rearing very well. Not much has changed today, different products, same problems. There's a lot of those "hypo allergenic" products that are nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Perception and illusion sells. The real root cause of diaper rash then and now is prolonged exposure to urine or stool which can irritate a baby's sensitive skin. ... which has a high ammonia content. Combined irritation from stool and urine. Chafing or rubbing, Irritation from a new product, Bacterial or yeast (fungal) infection, Introduction of new foods, Sensitive skin, Use of antibiotics.Then they blamed the bleach since really that's all there was. Now they blame the enzymes. In 20 years it will be something else, but the core cause will remain the same.

Babies have sensitive skin, detergent residue could cause skin issues, but enzymes, no way, those diapers are washed, rinsed, go thru a drying time either in a dryer or on a line, after activated enzymes die in 4 hours give ir take a few. Enzymes don't deactivate, than activate again. Once the enzymes are spent they are permently done.

Ammonia in diapers are a real challenge to 100% get out.. a pee'd diaper can take minutes to burn that tender skin, pee is curosive..I never believed that bull about enzymes being the cause of diaper area skin rashes. Its caused from the ammonia in pee...that doesn't make most parents neglectful, most parents can't be expected to change every wet nappy within seconds of it getting wet. but detergent residue, excluding enzymes can be a issue, if cloth diapers are used its important to do a lukewarm prewash, followed by a hot wash followed by enough rinses to remove every trace of residue detergent and ammonia.

I saw a new scent for Tide Simply Clean. I dont remember the name, but it had a lemon smell and reminded me of dishwasher detergent. I did not think the smell was offensive at all. It might be worth a shot.

I Seen one also last night the scent I think was called clean linen,it was another highly cheap scented gag me scent...lol. I'll keep a watch for the lemony one...I love lemon scents.

Tide Simply Clean and Sensitive smells quite nice. It is the white and pink one, I believe. Simply cotton is the scent of my mind serves me right.