Liquid or Powder?

United States
April 10, 2009 1:35pm CST
Do you prefer liquid or powder laundry detergent? I've always used the liquid. I once had a mishap with the powder when I was younger and it didn't dissolve in the water. Instead one of my pants came out with white powder all over it. But this week while grocery shopping there was a great sale on the powdered Gain detergent. The large box (180 loads) was only $10. I couldn't really pass that up! It's not so bad, I might stick with the powder now, so long as I always remember to put the powder in before the clothes!! Which do you use?
4 people like this
33 responses
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
11 Apr 09
Hey kats! I have had problems with powdered detergent too! So I have always used liquid! But, my bf loves tide powdered detergent so that's what he buys and uses! He also uses some of my liquid detergent mixed with it! I don't know why, but whatever! If he wants to pay for tide when it's on sale, I sure don't care! He does the laundry so he can do whatever he wants to! I just buy the chlorox! And he only will use chlorox! Not the cheaper stuff!
• United States
11 Apr 09
I've recently stopped using the cheap stuff myself. It just doesn't work as well. When you get the more expensive stuff, your clothes smell better longer. The cheap stuff and you can't be guaranteed they'll smell very good coming out of the wash!
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
10 Apr 09
I always use the liquid stuff. I know that powdered is probably cheaper in general though. I would not remember to put the powder in before my clothes and I would be pulling clothes caked with powder out of the washing machine.
• United States
10 Apr 09
Yeah, it is hard to remember to put it in first. Plus I tend to toss wet or really dirty things into the washer immediatly so it sits in there until I run a load... so there's always something in there already before I start the load. But for $10 I couldn't pass up the deal.
@silverglint (2000)
• Philippines
14 May 09
Here in our country we usually use powder laundry detergents. I think there are only a few here that uses liquid if there are any at all. there are a lot of different kinds of detergent powder here. What you might be referring to as powder that did not dissolve must be what we call here as chalk powder, some products use that mixed with real detergent powder in order to add weight to the pack.
@gemini_rose (16264)
10 Apr 09
I used to use powder too, but find that the cheaper stuff does not dissolve on a cold wash and the dearer stuff clogs my machine up!! I recently made a swap to the concentrated liquid, I buy the stuff that says it does 20 washes and I always manage to push it to 30 or 35 and still get the same results on my washes hehe!!
• United States
10 Apr 09
Good job! I always buy the stuff that says it does 180 loads and it never lasts me that long! It might last a month or two for me, that's usually doing 1 load a day, but I do the oversized loads and fill the cap to the very top!
@roctmom (42)
• United States
10 Apr 09
I prefer liquid.I have used powder and it has left spots on my clothes.Right now we have a high energy washer so,we only use liquid.Not sure if they make powder for those kids of washers?
• China
11 Apr 09
as for the children, it had better to use the soft and gently washing goods,because the childrens' skin is very easy to injury.and once injuried,they are very difficult to back to the normal level.so we should pay more attention on use these things on our children!!!
@Preciousgem (1182)
• Philippines
16 May 09
I prefer to use powder, because powder is much affordable than liquid, and it cleans all over and the freshness and odor still remains in the shirt.
@cherriemae (3370)
• Philippines
17 Apr 09
Hello katsmeow.. i prefer to use powder detergent because every time i wash my clothes, i always use the powder detergent, dissolve it then soak the clothes then after an hour i wash it with my hands..i dont use washing machine, specially the clothes of my child, it's so messy, it really needs to hand wash..there are lots of different brands now, but it differ on how you wash your clothes.. happy mylotting...
• Philippines
21 Apr 09
I always use powder soap. I havent even tried using liquid but i think its much better than powder coz there really some that doesnt dissolve well in water.
@Blondie2222 (28613)
• United States
10 May 09
I prefer liquid laundry soap. I Love the smell of differen't scents. I never used powdered b4 but I know some people that do n they really don't care for it much. I guess I just always been around liquid detergent so pretty much use to it...
@GreenMoo (11834)
2 May 09
I always use a liquid, though I was wondering if buying a powder might be a cheaper option. I was meaning to investigate the next time I'm shopping.
@jesssp (2712)
• Canada
17 Apr 09
We have extremely hard water here and I always wash with cold water so I actually have to use liquid. Because of our water the powder just wont dissolve, even if you put it in first. It's the same with the dishwasher; I have to use the gel, I can't even use the cream style liquid because it cakes up and wont dissolve - and that's in hot water! I want to get a water softener but I think that will have to wait until the next house because we really don't have room for the unit in this one.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
11 Apr 09
I do prefer to buy the liquid but it is so much more expensive out here where I live. Invazriably, I buy the powdered detergent and I always use much less than the recommended amount. This is because we change clothes frequently in the hot weather so pur clothes are not really dirty. Having said that sometimes the twin's clothese are very dirty! I woul dgo with what is the cheapest as long as it works for you. Blessings
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
17 Apr 09
I use the liquid it dissolve better then the powder. I use to use powder in my diswasher and decided to try the liquid and I find it works better there too. I also wash all the color clothes in cold water trying to help the evironment. I only use hot or warm on sheet, towels and whites. I also use a fabric softner instead of the dryer sheets because they are not good for the enviroment either.
• United States
17 Apr 09
I use to use powder detergent, until my hubby done the laundry for me one day to help out. Then i had to go back and redo all the laundry again. Everything had caked up powder on it and some clothes were ruined, so i switched to liquid, and figured that even he couldn't mess up the liquid.lol.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
11 Apr 09
I feel like powder cleans better, but I don't know why. Even though I put detergent in first, here are sometimes streaks left on my dark clothes from using powdered detergent that didn't dissolve completely. I don't have the patience to stand there and wait until the machine fills and agitates a few times to dissolve the detergent before putting in the clothes, so it would make sense for me to use liquid detergent!
@xbrendax (2662)
• United States
11 Apr 09
I use both! Actually I really don't care what I use just so it is cheap and gets my clothes clean. When I run out of detergent, I'll just pour in a little dish liquid and a box of cheap generic baking soda and my clothes come out just as clean and good smelling as if I used a top selling detergent! Here's a little tip I also learned: If you've got extra smelly laundry, just add some tomato juice to the wash along with your detergent and your clothes will come out fresh and clean also! Tomato juice is used to remove the smell of SKUNK, so you know it'll work on any smells you got!
@laglen (19759)
• United States
11 Apr 09
I use the liquid. I had a situation with powder not dissolving. I always put the soap in with the water before adding clothes but sometimes, the powder clumps. That is a good deal I can see why you couldn't pass it up!
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
11 Apr 09
I've always used the liquid. I've never even tried the powder. My mom always used the liquid too so I guess that is why. I've never thought about trying the powder. If it is cheaper maybe I'll give it a try. Liquid is probably easier though lol. I like easier. Dump it in throw all the clothes in and then go. Easy.
@HelloMickey (1655)
• Hong Kong
11 Apr 09
I only use powder laundry detergent. I never have problem with it, and as I have a box for the powder, so I would only buy those refill pack. It is much cheaper than to buy powder in a container in grocery.
• United States
11 Apr 09
I like liquid. I'm young and don't know powder very well. I like Dreft because the smell is so calming and I just love the scent! I think if powder is cheaper I would use it. My parents buy it, so for now it's liquid. But I bet when I get to college it will whatever is cheapest!