How to Pick out the Best Laundry Detergent: Get the Best Clean

Laundry is one of those things that everyone has to deal with on a regular basis. It’s unavoidable if you want to wear clean clothes. So, that begs the question: how do you pick out the best laundry detergent? Well, we’re here to help you answer that question.

First, let’s consider what kind of things you need your detergent to do. Of course, you want it to clean your clothes. However, not all detergents are made equal, and that shows in repeated tests. Let’s dig into the how, why and which detergent you should be using for your clothes.

Best Laundry Detergent

A Note on Laundry Pods

To start, we’re going to quickly cover laundry pods before we dig into the best detergent brands. Laundry pods have a few issues that aren’t exactly laundry-related that are worth disclaiming. Due to the appealing colors and feel of laundry pods, they can often result in accidental exposure to children and adults with dementia.

In fact, of the six reported deaths from laundry pod exposure, four were adults with dementia. As such, homes with young children or adults with dementia should consider not keeping laundry pods in the house. These can cause serious harm if ingested or exposed to the skin for too long.

Best Practices

Before starting your laundry, make sure you prepare your clothes well. The best detergent in the world can’t help you if you’re not using it right! Namely, make sure you’re measuring how much detergent you use. If you’re just liberally pouring detergent into the washing machine, you could be wasting money. Or, worse, you could be leaving a film of detergent on your clothes over long washing cycles.

Another tip: though it might seem a bit excessive, you need to sort your laundry. Keep red items away from white ones unless you want them to turn pink. Keep you sweatpants and towels away from your sheets so they don’t pill. Finally, make sure you wash your jeans inside out so they don’t fade as quickly.

Don’t Overstuff

A lot of people think their detergent is to blame for under-washed laundry. However, sometimes the issue is that they’re overstuffing their washing machine. Your washing machine has a maximum effective capacity, and if you’re consistently going over that then you’re likely not getting your clothes very well washed.

Finally, make sure you’re pretreating stains before just throwing clothes in the wash. Even the strongest detergent isn’t going to take out dirt, wine or blood stains on its own. Pre-treatment products like Shout are ideal for this as they help to begin breaking down the stain before you run it through the wash.

The Brands

Based on our experience, these are some of the best laundry detergent brands. This list is made up of the detergents we’ve found have the best overall performance in cleaning and eliminating stains.

Tide

First introduced in the mid 1940’s, Tide has been household name in the detergent game for decades. They are one of the highest-selling brands of detergent in the US and they have a number of products suited to any and all laundry tasks.

From Free and Clear options that contain less irritants to bleach alternatives that won’t hurt your clothes, Tide has what you need. If you’re looking for a thorough and affordable clean, you can’t go wrong with Tide.

Seventh Generation

Seventh Generation is a green-focused detergent that is interested in sustainability. While they are a bit more expensive than some other brands, we can recommend them highly. Their high-efficiency detergent doesn’t just save the planet, it saves you money.

The only thing better than saving money is getting your clothes extra-clean, and Seventh Generation has you covered. Their HE detergent can even be used in normal washing machines, so you don’t need to upgrade to a high-efficiency washer to use them. That said, you should absolutely invest in an HE washer, but that’s a story for a different day.

Arm & Hammer

Arm & Hammer is a well-known brand around the world. They’re most well-known for their baking soda, which has notable properties in cleaning. Specifically, in the 1970’s they introduced a number of cleaning products like detergent for normal household use.

Since then, they’ve become one of the most dependable laundry detergent brands. If you’re looking to get your clothes extra clean with the power of baking soda, Arm & Hammer has you covered.

In 2006 the company acquired OxiClean, and their Arm & Hammer with OxiClean product has remained one of the most popular detergent brands ever since.