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What’s the Difference Between Different Laundry Detergents?
There’s like a thousand different bottles of detergent out there. Is there actually any difference? What should I use for my basic white and light-colored work shirts?
In a lot of cases the answer is going to be “no” — there isn’t a lot of difference between similar detergents from different companies. They will put a lot of advertising money into convincing you that there is, but it’s mostly the same product.
That said, there’s a lot of “features” these days that might not be the best for your shirt. All you really want from detergent is soap, and lots of it. Clothing, especially cotton shirts, clean great if you just soak them in soapy water, toss them around a bit, and then dry them — pretty much what a conventional washing machine and dryer do.
So if you’re doing loads of light-colored cotton shirts, use a detergent that doesn’t have lots of things like “extra-softening” or “wrinkle-preventing” or anything like that included. Those are just going to coat the cloth fibers in more chemicals that ultimately shorten the lifespan of the garment.
“Concentrated” soaps are probably the best for men with simple detergent needs. Just pour a small capful in and you should get more than enough suds and not much else.
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