
Here are our top laundry detergent picks to tackle every kind of mess and for every kind of load, based on our testing. After drying, each stain on the swatch is given a removal grade when viewed under standard lighting and we calculate an overall score for each detergent. After staining cotton, polyester and blended fabrics with 20 common but hard-to-remove stains, like blood and ink, we wash the swatches in our test detergents in hot, warm and cold water. That's why we put them through a rigorous gamut of tests in our Lab. It's the one cleaning essential that virtually everyone uses and there's always a constant stream of new ones coming our way.Īll laundry detergents claim to remove stains, whiten, brighten colors and generally just be "new and improved," so it's difficult to know which really work best. That's why laundry detergents are some of the most frequently tested products in the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab.
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Knowing how to do laundry the right way can be challenging and always getting clean results isn't guaranteed. If there's one thing we've learned about laundry detergents in all our years of testing them at Good Housekeeping, it's that no detergent gets out everything, but every detergent gets out something. Our top picks, based on testing notes from the Good Housekeeping Institute, remain the same. The prices below, however, reflect package prices in some cases, the prices listed are for multipacks.We updated this story in March 2023 to ensure the information reflected current prices, features and more. For more information, including details on other types of detergents, check out our laundry detergent buying guide.Ī quick note about pricing: In our laundry detergent ratings, we calculate the price per load based on what we paid. Although we test detergent sheets, we don’t include them here because they are a niche market that’s not ready for prime time (as our laundry sheet ratings reveal). We’ve also included the three worst-performing detergents. So we test to see which detergents perform best using hard water, as you’ll see in our ratings.īelow are our recommendations, based on our ratings, for the best liquid detergents and pods for a variety of laundry needs, from washing baby clothes to lifting tough stains.

Hard water, which has a high mineral content, can reduce the effectiveness of some detergents. The worst detergents? They’re barely better than water when it comes to removing most stains. The best detergents we’ve tested earn an Excellent rating for removing common stains like body oil and dirt, but they can also tackle tougher ones, such as grass and blood. Our testers use a colorimeter, a device that measures color intensity, to see how much of the stain remains on each dry swatch, then compare it with stained swatches that have been laundered using only water. (We don’t use a dryer because the heat can alter the stains.) (Even the best detergents can’t remove every stain completely.) Using cool water, we wash swatches in two identical washing machines with each detergent, then allow the swatches to air-dry. We use stains that are exceedingly hard to remove so that we can detect real differences among detergents’ performance. Here’s how we determine which detergents fight the good fight: In the lab, CR’s test engineers launder fabric swatches that are saturated with blood, body oil, chocolate, coffee, dirt, grass, and salad dressing. “Most detergents sold today are liquid, and their popularity-plus the increase in sales of pods-means that few powders remain on store shelves,” Moomey says.

As for powders, you’re likely to find your choices have narrowed in recent years.

Strips are better for the environment by reducing plastic but seem to lack the ingredients or concentration levels to do the job. Our tests reveal there’s a chasm between the best liquids, pods/packs, and laundry detergent strips, which tested poorly in our labs. And cleaning power also varies depending on the type of detergent.

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However, our tests find that even within a single brand, performance varies from one formula to the next (for example, Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release scores higher in our tests than Tide Plus Bleach Alternative). But generally, shoppers tend to fall into one of two camps: price-based-they buy what’s on sale-or brand-loyal, says CR market analyst Kelly Moomey. “The scent is extremely strong,” says another-and they were both talking about the same formula. How do you know which superlatives to believe and which detergent to choose? Some CR readers tell us they have strong preferences, especially when it comes to the detergent’s scent: “Great smelling,” one CR reader commented. And that’s not even counting so-called natural or eco-friendly options. Stroll your grocery store’s cleaning aisle and you’ll see a rainbow of products boasting Marvel hero-like superpowers-Ultra Oxi, Stain Fighter, Power Pods, O 2 Blitz, Boombastic Clean.
