oregpsnow said: You are certainly free to buy whatever you want. I am putting the money I don't spend on Persil into my retirement account. LOL! Believe it or not, I was a big proponent of Tide HE over Persil a few years ago. I even said the exact same thing you did - that people are crazy for spending so much on a detergent when they should be saving that money and putting into their IRA or 401(k)s. How well are all of our retirement accounts doing today, those of us who have anything left in them? I switched to Persil due to the fact that it cleans as well or better than Tide HE, the de facto leading domestic detergent, but doesn't cause skin irritation. My partner developed a sensitivity to Tide, and nothing else that I tried comes close to cleaning as well except for Persil. Bi-O-Kleen Premium does a good job, but it also lacks certain ingredients that prevent corrosion. I don't know if that's a big deal or not, so I'm proceeding cautiously in this regard. I don't want to use something that is not going to properly protect the metal parts of my washer, but then I don't even know if that's an issue at all. I had a choice of using a more sensitive detergent that didn't clean as well but also did not cause irritation, or using Persil which gave me the best of all worlds but at a higher cost. I chose the latter because I want clean clothes without itching. Persil Universal Megaperls contains five different enzymes to assist with stain removal, which I believe is more than most domestic products. Here is list comparing ingredients from Persil and Tide HE: Tide HE: Sodium Aluminosilicate Sodium Sulfate Sodium Carbonate Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate Water Nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate Alkyl Sulfate Sodium Percarbonate Sodium Polyacrylate Polyethylene Glycol 4000 Fragrance Diethylenetriamine Pentaacetate (Sodium Salt) Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonate Palmitic Acid Protease Silicone Modified Starch ÃÂ Persil Megaperls: ZEOLITE SODIUM CARBONATE PEROXIDE SODIUM DODECYLBENZENESULFONATE TAED AQUA (WATER) SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE SODIUM CARBONATE SODIUM SULFATE SODIUM CITRATE 2-PROPYLHEPTAN-1-OL, 7EO SODIUM ACRYLIC ACID/MA COPOLYMER SULFONATED POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE CELLULOSE GUM PEG-80 ZEA MAYS (CORN) STARCH ALCOHOLS, C16-18, 7EO TETRASODIUM ETIDRONATE SODIUM SOAP C16-18 SODIUM BICARBONATE PERFUME CORN FLOUR HEPTASODIUM DTPMP PARAFFIN SODIUM CHLORIDE C12-18 FATTY ALCOHOL 5 EO SODIUM HYDROXIDE OPTICAL BRIGHTNER SODIUM GLYCOLATE PEG-14M COLORANT HYDRATED SILICA PROTEASE HEXYL CINNAMAL LINALOOL BENZYL SALICYLATE LIPASE AMYLASE MANNANASE CELLULASE

This is so funny. The store in Chicago is actually Merz Apothecary, about a mile from my house in Lincoln Square. I wouldn't be surprised if @Roc remember this place. It's been there for ages. I'll wander in sometime soon and let you know if the Persil is sold in their retail location or only online. I've been in the store before but wasn't looking for detergent so may have missed it. Strangely enough, it's just down the street from Gene's Sausage Shop, which is our local German Market (which doesn't sell Persil).

One I forgot I had until comming across it in the deepest corner of the closet a few weeks ago. ..Mexican Pinol with Bleach powder...don't know if it has an activator but none the less its some good stuff. I ran out of Tide with Bleach and son dropped off a load of only white socks, I was impressed at how white they ended up. I used it on some white sheets and was well pleased. Min suds and second rinse was pretty clear. Sorry I don't know what alls in this stuff as I had dumped it from the bag into a metal tin.

I have used all of them. My preference is for the Persil Megaperls for whites, and Megaperls for colors. The Green Persil gel was marketed as for whites and lights the last time I bought it(years ago) and the Blue was marketed for colors. I used the gels years ago and found them to be very sudsy and harder to rinse than the Megaperls, and they don't go as far either. The Persil Universal powder is for whites and lights and not for colors since it contains too much oxygen bleach. Persil stain fighter is very good and I use that occasionally. It comes in handy if you need to wash something at 86F because it dissolves faster than the Megaperls, and it is a great pre-treater too.