Bio/Non-Bio/Colour I'm doing it all wrong I think

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I feel like I'm totally cacking up this washing powder malarky at my great age .

I have :

Bio (green box) which I use for whites because I thought it had active ingredients like bleach
Non-Bio (blue box) which I thought was for gentle washing , like light colours and soft things
Colour(purple box) for colours and black , no bleach in it .
Sensitive (pink box) I don't know why , no-one has sensitive skin but I use it on things that are fragile
Eco Egg for wool

Then I read about the temperature which will activate or not if the powder needs to be at a given temp
Or too high will stop it working ..... and I'm now confused .

So- how does it work?

I think they all work ok at 30-60, but Bio detergs work best at 30 (and this saves you money, nicer to environment).
I use colour for anything with colours & regular bio for whites. I don't see need for the other types.

Non-bio is supposed to suit people with sensitive skin. And works best around 40 degrees.

I dunno about your other choices. Hope that's a small help.

Bio shouldn't be used at a high temp because it kills the enzymes in the powder that get rid of bacteria. I think you're right about the bio vs colour one. I use bio for whites and colour for colours. Those are the only ones I use.

... actually, we sometimes have non-bio for special sports fabrics; the Bio/colour are supposed to sometimes strip layers off of technical fabrics.

Wow what a headache!

I use non-bio only for all washes, and split it into lights and darks. It's always cleaned well and never had issues with staining.

Also only use non bio for most at 40 degrees!

Only thing that gets special treatment is White's when I add a scoop of vanish, and our white sheets I wash at 60-90 depending on hubbys sweaty stains!!!

I use bio powder for all my general laundry, I used to buy colour powder as well but I haven't noticed any fading on my clothes since just using bio.
I have a bottle of delicate hand washing liquid for stuff like woollens and soap based liquid for washing coats, waterproof, outdoor clothing as detergent based liquids and powders strips off the waterproof coatings.

I'm an utter detergent whore TBH.
I cannot use one product for all. (I must be an advertisers dream )

I have Waitrose Wool&Silk wash too for very fragile things.

I like the smell of the Tesco Non-Bio Liquid , I need to get some of that next time .

Sad

I just use method for everything, and have a bottle of wool wash at the back of the cupboard for the occasional hand knit/merino jumper wash.

I use bio powder at 40 deg for everything apart from woollens and delicates which I have a special liquid wool wash for, using the delicates cycle. I've not noticed any colour fading.

bio is fine for high temperatures.
most mashines are cold fill and until the heat kills the enzymes they work brilliantly and after that the soap part of the detergent takes over.
we have
-bio powder for lights
-colour bio powder for coloureds

• colour liquid for black jeans

-shampoo for wool/silk

I use Splosh bio powder for whites and Splosh bio liquid for everything else. I wash stinky stuff like underwear on 60 and everything else on 40.

I use a bio gel for everything. I sort the washing into like colours and choose the appropriate programme on the machine, rather than swapping the detergent!
I use a hand wash liquid for hand wash stuff.
Sometimes shove a scoop of Vanish into the whites load.

Both bio and non bio powders contain bleaches. Bio also contains enzymes to break down food stains. Liquids and gels don't contain bleaches and neither do colour powders.

I just use bio powder for everything tbh. Powder is supposed to be better for the machine than liquids/ gels/ pods because of the bleaches as they keep the drum cleaner.

I just use a non bio liquid and switch between 30 for delicates, 40 normal wash and 60 for bedding/towels. I run the occasional 90 cycle to give the machine a clean.

I just use Bio for everything apart from wools and delicates.
I like a simple life.

In a very brief nutshell - besides surfactants (stuff that removes dirt) and fragrances

Bio Powder - bleach, brighter AND enzymes
Non bio powder - bleach (often more than Bio), brighter NO enzymes
Colour powder - NO bleach, sometimes brightner, always enzymes
Wool/delicate/eco powder - usually none of anything - essentially just surfactants (soap) and fragrance
Sensitive powder - same as non bio but no fragrances usually (there are bio fragrance free detergents though)

Liquids, gels, pods, capsules etc (so "wet" detergent formats) - same as above except NO bleach in ANY formulation - ever! (Oxygen bleaches used in laundry products cannot be manufactured in to liquid based detergents - formula doesn't stay stable).

Enzymes - which are "biological" so what makes it a bio, work optimally at the same as body temp 37* (some of these enzymes are the same enzymes you have in your saliva and gut for food digestion - hence how they're good at removing "digesting" food stains).

Bleaches work at lower temps - but work far better in higher temps, so for ultimate bleaching of whites higher temps are better - hence "hot whites wash".

Hmm not so brief - but that's the breakdown

I'm no use. We can only use Surcare powder, not the liquid, as it's the only one that DH tolerates. It drives me insane as it leaves powder marks on everything if you use a lower temperature. We now have a fancy miele washing machine which optimises the temperature based on its own abilities so a 40 degree wash might be a lot cooler than 40, it washes to the equivalent of 40 degrees. That's no use when I can only use a powder that is probably not dissolving properly at lower temperatures.

What may help wax is to dissolve the powder in a cup of hot water (even boiling as no enzymes to worry about) before dosing - so essentially making the powder a liquid, then pour in the drawer

Is a faff though.

Ffs, why didn't I think of that!

Thanks for the tip.

You're welcome :) many a time I've followed the powder down the machine drawer with hot water from the kettle to make sure it dissolves.

you can just put the powder into the drum.