Biokleen Premium Plus is a good powder. It has no optical brighteners and leaves no scent. Mama is going to say it's a "whites" detergent due to the oxygen bleach content but I've never had any fading issues with it. I'd argue the oxygen bleach will help colors by deactivating the residual chlorine in your tap water.

Forgot about that one. Another good suggestion. Just don't wash in extremely hot water (rarely needed for darks anyway) and any bleaching effect from the sodium percarbonate should be immaterial.

LOL Greeny..I have not yet found out exactly how much bleach is in BioKleen...but don't they make a BioKleen without oxi? I thought they did.

Another vote for Cheer powder here! I'm actually about to purchase a big box of it for my darks now that I'm about to run out of tide purclean (another great det. for darks but expect to pay twice as much) I've also run across an opportunity to try Cheer liquid as I got it as an add on item in one of my recent Amazon Prime orders. It was 5$ so why not right? Love the light scent of Cheer powder so figured the liquid would be similar and can use it on my many, many loads of colors ( so many lol)

Mama, I checked Biokleen's website and all their powders have oxygen bleach.

I have been using Cheer powder for darks and am very happy with it.

I would say cheer, biokleen, or ecover. I did an ingredient check on all 3 and none use a bleach activator (Persil and Tide do). So the bleaching effect would be minimal in less than hot water.. I would say pretty low in modern 'hot' water as well. But it would neutralize the chlorine in tap water

I did verify that my box of biokleen free and clear powder (non premium plus) does indeed have bleach.. It surprised me too mama..since they advertise the 'bleach' in the premium plus.

Wait a minute...what is a bleach *activator*?

I don't *use* bleach in my whites and certainly not for darks -- which I wash in 'warm' with a cold rinse. Our water is neither hard nor soft. My small city is on Lake Michigan; local treatment plant.

Am I OK with the Persil for darks? There IS no *unscented powder* for darks?

A bleach activator is to activate the oxygen bleach in a whites detergent this way it is effective in temps below hot.

The Persil Pearls have oxygen bleach and a bleach activator and actually quite a bit of oxygen bleach. I would never use it on colors let alone darks.

Hopefully someone can help with a bleach free, powder detergent for darks..that's als o scent free.. LOL.

I understand Biokleen powder but...how do we know how much bleach Is in it...IMHO if it has bleach I'm not using it on darks. We try to preserve our darks..turning them inside out, not using hot water, yada yada so why use a detergent that has bleach. Some people have no fading I get that but it won't always be that way...one day you'll reach for those coal black slacks and BOOM...they now look dark dusty purple LOL.

Chisue im on the hunt for a scent free powdered detergent for darks...Lol

Chisue..I'm comming up blank considering it needs to be powder, unscented and formulated for darks..LOL. do you have a lot of darks? Like black and navy?

well there's always Charlie's soap <ducks>.

I personally have good results with it, but others don't. I'm a midwesterner as well with moderately hard city water.

If I give on one demand -- powder or unscented -- what's suggested for darks and colors?

scented powder = Cheer

unscented liquid = Green Works Free and Clear

Greenys choices for darks are good ones

For colors though you could use almost anything except a whites detergent.

My Target doesn't stock the GW Free and Clear. It's online order only :( And I believe GW in general is a Target exclusive

The Green Work Free and Clear seems to have limited availability. Good thing about Target right now is they are offering free shipping on everything.

I like Planet Detergent in the powder form. It's unscented. I use it for everything.

Carl..does the Planet have OB's??

No, I am pretty sure it doesn't: Here is the Product Description from Amazon:

"Planet "Ultra Powdered Laundry Detergent, HE, 64oz. A highly concentrated detergent that really goes to work on tough stains, but is gentle on skin. Like our 2x Ultra Laundry Detergent, our powdered laundry detergent contains no perfumes, dyes, enzymes or optical brighteners - additives that typically remain on your clothes even after rinsing and can cause skin irritation. Suitable for standard and HE washers."

Thank you all. I was hoping for something for darks that I could find in a chain grocery store. (Silly me.)

Why are customers lugging all this *water* home from the store instead of insisting on a dry detergent? Why are 'pods' (up-selling and more 'packaging') popular?

Chisue, is there a reason other than its a liquid you don't want to use Woolite for Darks formula? I've used it for years, buy it at Costco. All my dark pants, dark denim jeans, tops are washed in tepid water, Woolite for Darks. Maybe there are better products but this one has worked well enough for me I haven't had reason to look. It's the only liquid laundry product I use, I do use it for approx. two loads a week. And using less than the bottle tells me I need per wash.

I don't use pods other than my dishwasher - I don't want the soap companies measuring for me ;0)

Chisue...I keep forgetting what washer you have.....but IMO powder Cheer is the best you will find for darks..yes theres scent to it, but its light and an old fashioned scent, not that strong candy scent so many detergents have now days. Problem some people have is it suds too much in a FL...a TL would be ok...it is formulated for FL&TL so it may be fine as long as the water isn't soft, yours falls in the center...if you have a TL I'd recommend it...

As far as liquid and pods...its a new younger generation these days and this is what they want...its for sure sad that finding a great powder is so hard to do. My preference is also powder, but its getting harder to find any that stand up to the job and doesn't smell sickening sweet. I suspect its going to get worse.

Is Cheer actually available in stores? I've checked Fred Meyer, QFC, Safeway and Target to no avail.

This is a timely thread, as I've been meaning to pay more attention to detergents for darks and whites (been using Persil Pearls on everything) and I'd like to stick with powder so I don't have to keep putting the little dispenser tray in and taking it out (pretty much a quintessential first world problem). Another thread has me looking for LeBlanc linen wash too, for the new linen sheets and duvet cover I bought because of yet another thread. This is a dangerous place!

I use woolite for darks. It doesn't have the issues that made me quit using regular woolite years ago. I only see enormous boxes of cheer powder, too big to just try and I have no storage space even if I liked it. I don't see any non-OB and scent free detergent for darks out there...

Avatar, I guess it depends on your market. Cheer is available everywhere in the Milwaukee area (Target, Walmart, Meijer, Woodman's, and Pick n Save).