Homeowner Forum / Cleaning / June 2005

I sometimes wash my laundry in a front loader but never paid attention
to the odor of my clean clothes.

Detergent residue may be worse for the skin than perfume.  It may be
that perfumes are added to mask the odors of residues, particularly from
powders.  Front loaders have several rinses, then spin the water out
better than top loaders.  Residues and perfumes should be less of a
problem with front loaders.  

Tide has Tide Free HE liquid.  Liquids don't clean as well as powders,
but they leave cloth softer.

All Free will work in a front-loader.  

Eurotech and Persil have perfume-dye-free detergents for front loaders.

I haven't heard of what dyes might bother the skin.  The dye I know of
is bluing, intended to keep whites from yellowing.  It wouldn't be in
detergents for colored fabrics.

David D. said:

Same here.  Sensitivity issues.  I've mostly used liquids as I've had
problems with residue from powders (especially in cold water loads).

I'm currently using Tide Free HE in my front loader.   I was leery of
trying it, a I found I could not use theregular Tide HE powder (came
as a sample with the washer), becausethe perfumes knocked me over
and even with extra rinses, regular Tide caused some skin irritation.
But the Tide Free HE works fine.

In the past, I've used regular Purex Free (does not suds much), and
sometimes Arm&Hammer Free (suds a little bit more than Purex but
not so much as to be a problem) in my front loader.  

I tried  All Free but it makes too much suds, and I've not seen an All
Free HE version.