Liquid or Powder for Laundry Detergent: Which Is Best?
When you hit the laundry products aisle or shop online, there are dozens of brands of detergent all promising to make your laundry clean and fresh. While the choices were once limited to boxes of powdered detergent, you will be able to find plenty of choices of powder, liquid to even pods detergent these days.
So which type should you choose? And do you know the pros and cons of each? Let’s learn more about them!
 | |
| Liquid | Powder |
| – Double as stain remover – Less expensive than pods – Easy to use too much or too little – Least eco-friendly packaging | – Lowest cost per load – Recyclable packaging – Hard to dissolve in cold water – Must make paste when pretreating |
Liquid Detergent
Liquid detergents have hit store shelves since the mid-1950s and since then, they have become the most popular detergent format. The great parts about them are that they are so easy to use, easily distributes well in wash water, and come in a variety of scents.
Pros and Cons of Liquid Detergent
| Pros | Cons |
| – Perfect for using for spot cleaning. – Particularly effective on oil and grease stains because the liquid will penetrate the fibers of the fabric to help release the stain. – Less expensive than single dose pods. | – The measurement lines on most detergent bottle caps are difficult to read, causing people to use too much detergent per load, and leaving residue on clothes and washing machines. – Plastic laundry detergent bottles provide an enormous strain on landfills. – Liquid detergents limit the effectiveness of some cleaning ingredients, such as oxygen bleach, because they are not stable for long periods of time when mixed with water. |
Powdered Detergent
Liquid detergents have hit store shelves since the 1930s, and are relatively less expensive to use than liquid or pods per load. Due to the increase of choices of detergents from liquids to pods and since large boxes of powder now take up more shelf and space.
Pros and Cons of Powdered Detergent
| Pros | Cons |
| – Smallest cost per laundry load of any type of laundry detergent. – The packaging is recyclable and more environmentally friendly. – Most effective laundry detergent for areas with untreated hard water, thanks to additives that are more stable and easily added to powdered formulas. – Powder detergent formulas are more stable than liquid or pods. This allows ingredients to be added that perform exceptionally well on tough to remove outdoor stains like grass and mud. | – Large, heavy boxes are difficult to handle and store. The detergent must be stored in a completely dry area to prevent caking. – Powder detergents can be problematic in extremely cold water by not dissolving completely leaving residue on fabrics. – Pretreating stains is more difficult because a paste must be made first with the powder detergent and water. – Shipping costs are more expensive and make a larger impact on the environment. |
