Wash powder or gel or tablets?

[Dualipa]

Which do you use and which do you think is best?

I've always used powder but the liquid is on offer so wondering if it's worth trying.

Liquid, and I cycle down to the re-fill shop with an empty bottle to prevent plastic waste .

Powder. Gel and liquid seems to make my clothes smell horrible and gel pods didn't dissolve properly and left sticky bits all over my clothes.

@Thinkpinkstink your Fairy powder contains bleaching agents too. It doesn't have enzymes which is what makes it non bio.

I use powder for cloth nappies and liquid (which I buy from my local refill shop in a reusable container) for everything else. Works for us.

Powder, at least partly because it doesn’t come in plastic.
Used to use gel pods until I realised how they gunk up the machine with residue. Did 2 v hot (empty) washes with just soda crystals - masses of foam with the first, still some with the 2nd.
Always add some soda crystals now.
I put powder straight into the drum, crystals in the drawer.

Powder for whites. Liquid for colours. In Scotland so have soft water, so can use less of both than if they were in gel capsules or tablet form.

Also stopped using conditioner ages ago. Occasionally will use a squoosh of vinegar in a towel wash - it can't be smelt in the clean washing.

I have a new indesit machine it has specifically said in all the paper work to use liquid or liquid tablets never powder. I use only liquid kind and straight into the machine but I find I do have to do a machine clean cycle much more often then I did with the old machine or it will smell bad

Powder. I switched from liquid because it's recommended for cloth nappies, and easier to just use the same thing for everything. I'm irrationally scared of the DC eating the gel/liquid tab things, so won't even have them in the house.

@Harp1977 that's because liquids don't contain bleach, which kills off mould and bacteria.

I use powder with no fabric conditioner as this stops the machine going gunky.

Powder (although I use the special silk and wool Persil liquid when necessary).

We only use powder, one with bleach for whites and coloured powder for mixed colours. Most clothes are washed in 40, all bedding and towels are washed at 60. I also use about half what is recommended dosage on the side of the powder box and our machine is a large 9kg load one. Everything still comes clean and the big box of powder lasts for months (we're a family of 4).

Every couple of weeks I wash all the e-cloths and other cleaning rags etc at 90 with a tiny amount of powder. Never had a problem with plumbing or smells.

Always powder, the packaging has the least plastic (usually just the handle of the box). I’d feel very guilty using plastic bottles full of liquid or boxes of tabs. I think it’s usually cheaper and gets a good result. I can’t seem to find a plastic free/reduced plastic alternative for fabric conditioner sadly. I also really don’t like not using it especially on jeans, socks etc.

Bio powder, I can control the dose and it dissolves and rinses properly

Tablets are an overpriced waste of time and often don’t dissolve properly on quick washes.

Gel gunks up the machine

Oh and I buy it in the big 40odd wash boxes too. Cheap and better for the environment, I can recycle the box.

I use an EcoEgg which has "pearls" of detergent inside

I used to use an eco egg. Then DD's eczema went off the scale and my washing machine started to smell. I read an article that someone on MN linked to:

www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/washing-machine-smells/

I bought some Ariel washing powder and started using it. The smell disappeared, and a happy side effect was that the eczema disappeared as well.

It turned out that the washing machine had been full of mould and bacteria due to low temperature washes and not using washing powder. The Ariel destroyed the mould, which was causing the eczema and killed the bacteria and destroyed the cause of the smell.

We think we are doing the right thing for the environment with things like eco eggs and low temperature washes, but there is often a downside as illustarted in the article.

Incidentally it isn't the enzynes in bio powder that cause the eczema, but the perfumes.

I use gel pods. Love them, everything comes out clean, no smells and no gungy bits.