An Effective Clean, At Home or On the Road
This product is comparable to putting a capful of Woolite into a sink to hand-wash your clothes. It’s pure detergent, without any water in it, but water-soluble, so you can just drop one or two sheets into the sink, swish the water around until the detergent dissolves, then you can scrub your clothes by hand. It uses less water, isn’t laden with unnecessary perfumes, and doesn’t leave a heavy soapy residue. It’s just pure, compressed cleaning.<br /><br />Notice, this is a detergent, not a soap. This means you don’t have to use hot water to maximize cleaning; you can achieve best results with cold water. (Though if you’re hand-washing, you may want to use lukewarm water for comfort.) If you have a conventional double kitchen sink, you can wash in one, rinse in the other, and hang your laundry up to dry. It requires very little water, and no electricity, to do your laundry with this product.<br /><br />Chances are, if you’re considering buying this product, you’re probably considering it for its travel qualities. I’ve used this detergent in the kinds of washbags or hand-cranked washing machines that many people take camping with them, and had equal success. Of course, camping washers do develop an odor over time, and this detergent doesn’t eliminate that odor; you need to use the recommended washing agents that will remove odor from high-efficiency machines.<br /><br />I’ve read a few people complaining that you need a large amount of this detergent to produce suds. But I respond that this isn’t accidental: manufacturers put lathering agents into many soaps simply because customers associate suds with clean. If you’ve ever watched your laundry in a glass-door washing machine, you already know that most commercial detergents don’t create suds, because suds don’t actually clean. They’re ornamental, nothing more.<br /><br />You still need to take the usual prewash steps, such as pretreating stubborn stains. This product won’t remove anything set-in or persistent, just like a standard washing machine won’t. Sad to say, I failed to do this with a couple of shirts, which now have their stains set for life. If you want to use this product for maximum efficiency, you need to remain just as diligent about prewashing and stain-treating as you would if using an electric washing machine.<br /><br />That said, if you travel or camp frequently, or if you prefer a low-electricity lifestyle that favors hand-washing clothes, this detergent should work well for you. I’ve used it for some time, both at home and on the road, with consistent success. As long as you treat the product as seriously as you would with the detergent you’d put into a conventional electric washer, you’ll get clothes that are clean, minimally faded, and comfy to wear.
Rating: 5 stars