Personally I find both work for different jobs and use both. I also add STPP to my wash for added performance.

I prefer powder because I had two different washing machine repairmen tell me that liquid detergents are bad for the machines. I have stuck with powders since then.

Powders, just because every Miele tech has told me they keep the machine the cleanest! Also, as long as you do regular hot washes and monthly or every few months a Hygiene Cycle (Clean Machine) using liquid fabric softener will cause NO problems.

IMO you cannot beat Tide with Bleach Powder. If your towels seem to need another rinse just double rinse or maybe try using less detergent depending on how much you use to start with. Then you use the All in your wearing clothes? Difference there is powder All free has enzymes where the liquid does not.

My experience with most 'he' liquids is that they make too many suds, even at reduced doses, in our machine and water. The only liquids that don't have oversudsing problems in our FL are Woolite for Darks and Charlies Soap.

Until recently I was only using liquid. Mainly because there are lots more liquid options and cheaper prices for liquid at my grocery store to choose from.

Also liquid jugs with the push dispenser is easier for me to use. When using my FL machine, it just takes 1 small push on the liquid dispenser button for the perfect amount of 1 tablespoon. But then I have to go wash the spoon because it gets yucky.

I recently started using powders. I'm liking them better because (after opening the box) there is less mess when I get a little scoop out per load.

This is all I have to choose from for powders.

I've always used powder primarily. My water is soft and liquids are too sudsy. I do keep a bottle of liquid around for pretreating if I have a lot of oily stains on clothing. In that case I usually end up pretreating everything and adding no extra detergent. Powders seem to do better on mud, clay and grass which is most of what we end up with on our clothes. If your clothes aren't very sweaty or dirty I don't know if it matters much either way.

Paw, what kind of powder detergent is that between surf and tide free, second shelf down from the top?

Hi Pat, i primarily use powders, i think they do a better job cleaning and leave less scent behind, however i do use liquids if i have oily/greasy stains to get rid of, or just because im in the mood to switch things around. But i agree with Dadoes, different water chem, requires different detergent, some people just have better results with one or the other.

Mama- that detergent is one of the Kroger house brands. I haven't tried it. I do use that brand for other products, namely coffee. That little owl in the upper right corner with the speech bubble is saying "P$$t...big savings...pass it on"

Thank you Jess, no Krogers around me, but its a cute box lol.

Mama, that is the Kroger brand powder. I have a box. I use it for the dog bedding. Seems ok.

I have a love/ hate relationship with both.

I love liquid because it is less messy and it is easy to pretreat stains with a liquid. Cons: I have the worst time dosing liquid (especially because I have a FL). I have hard water and it is super tough to figure out how much to use without having to do 85 rinses to wash it out.

I love powders because they do a great job and they are easier to dose. Cons: I hate the HUGE scoop they give you to measure with. Talk about annoying! Also, I have had many problems with powder making my clothes rough. Since I do wash in cold frequently, I worry about how the powder is doing "behind the scenes" in my machine.

I will say that when I had an old school top loader a couple years ago, I never had so many problems. It was hard to overdose in that machine and everything came out wonderfully clean.

I use both, usually liquids for clothes and sometimes stain removal and powders for sheets, cleaning cloths and towels. I might use only powders if there were more exciting options. It seems that new scents and products are mainly liquids and pods here and I am a sucker for new things, lol. That's why I have more liquid detergents than powders.

Using the larger scoop included with powders is not required. More accuracy and "granularity" is garnered with a smaller device such as a tablespoon. I've saved a few of those smaller 29.6CC/1oz scoops included with oxi-powder.

I use both - mostly powders for clothes and liquids for towels/sheets/delicates/jeans, although I do switch it up every now and then (just did a load of white clothes with my new Ariel liquid to test it out).

I find that liquids leave clothes softer, and also leave behind a stronger scent, so that's why I prefer to use them on sheets and towels. In terms of cleaning power I generally trust powders to be more heavy duty, although I have to say that there have been times when the Tide w/Bleach liquid really surprised me and took out stains I didn't think it would tackle.

I also find that liquids tend to suds much more, especially if you add STPP or borax.

Overall I like variety!

I am all for variety lol. I do have my favorites that I use most of the time but sometimes I look around on the shelf and think wow I haven't used this in awhile. Powders are my fav. But I've accumulated a lot of liquids thru the summer and really should start using them more, I don't think they have the shelf life that powders do.

Liquid works better for me in our hard water. I tried some powders just to see and will use them up, but do not know if I will purchase any more. I can use them on my home clothes and towels. Work clothes and sheets require liquid (lower temp with dark work clothes and I feel like it just doesn't get washed out of the sheets due to their size). A study I have linked to before says that when using liquids, hard or soft water does not affect it's performance, but when using powders, if you have hard water, it takes more powder than called for to achieve the same results as you get from powder in soft water (up to 30% more).

Pat, I have wondered the same thing and probably still don't have a satisfactory answer. My philosophy differs from my practice a bit. IMO, both work well and can be equally gentle to clothing, depending on the formulation.

Generally, I would assume powders have a higher Ph. I guess I thought that makes them perhaps less gentle and/or better at cleaning?? It's probably not accurate, just a non-evidenced based judgment I made. Also, powder often includes sodium percarbonate (which can fade darks but can keep whites bright without chlorine bleach).

But, one example doesn't fit: Miele UltraColor is a powder that does not have a very high Ph and does not include sodium percarbonate.

Liquids, OTOH, have a lower Ph, and do not include sodium percarbonate.

So, I reason that most liquids would be preferable for darks and clothing that can't handle aggressive cleaners, and most powders better for whites and textiles that can be washed more aggressively. Again, this is purely speculation.

In practice, I have found all liquid detergents that are not "green" or fragrance-free, are way too fragrant for me to use. I have tried a bazillion, and I am just too sensitive to the scents. I used green liquid detergents, but they didn't clean as well for me. In my experience, powder detergents have and leave a milder/better scent on laundry. So, I used original Tide powder on everything but delicates (they also gets a powder, Forever New), until Tide's scent changed. Now Tide powder is as fragrant as the liquids. FWIW, I never had any problems using Tide powder on darks/colored clothing, even though it contained sodium percarbonate, and it was not too harsh.

Now I am testing different detergents, and I plan to try fragrance free Tide liquids and powders. Since scent will be a moot point, I will be able to see if there is any noticeable difference in cleaning ability and fabric feel between the liquid and powder.

Bright, pretty darn good assessment on liquid vs powders. But remember some powders, like Cheer use only a small amount of Sodium percarbonate, just enough to deactivate the Chlorine in tap water but not enough to fade clothing.

Also that Tide Professional with Oxi was formulated for hotels that wash textiles many times and need to keep them healthy, this detergent does have a boat load of Sodium Percarbonate to keep whites - white, it was also formulated to be less Alkaline, and near neutral PH in order to keep the hotels textiles healthy longer. at lesst this is what P&G says lol.

Sodium percarconate has no bleaching effect in cooler temperatures. Unless clothing is being washed in hot water there isn't anything to worry about on dark clothing.

Depends on what Sodium percarbonate were talking about Sandy..Sodium percarbonate in lets say Tide with bleach or Persil perls have an activator, in which case even in cool water will work its magic.

Pure Sodium percarbonate without a activator works best at hot temps, but can and will work at cooler temps, it just takes much more time.

In either case it could cause fading. Unless the Sodium percarbonate amount, like in Cheer powder is low. So it doesn't really matter the watet temp. There's always a chance of Sodium percarbonate. ..on the other hand the Chlorine in tap water will also cause fading, seems like its a never ending battle lol.

Mama and sandy, thanks for the feedback! Sandy, I used to wash darks in warm water but I recently moved and new washer's hot is barely warm (95ish). So I wash everything in hot and sometimes add boiling water to whites in mamap fashion!

Mama, I think you should write a cheat sheet for your little ducklings!! ;)

very interesting re: the Ph of tide pro. I definitely found it left my sheets and towels softer, more cared for, then the Miele ultra white. Although both cleaned and whitened well.

Yes, you are right about powdered cheer. The formula reminds me of the Miele ultra color, but I am one of the few who doesn't particularly care for the scent of cheer. Btw, mama I have the Miele powder ready to send for you as soon as I get to the post office! It's been a busy week.

Aww Thank you Lisa, no rush sweety, you take your time and mail it when you have some time and can take a breather. I know what its like to try to fit things into a busy life.

Cheat sheet..Hmm something for me to think about lol..my kids want me todo a sorta laundry 101 in a comedy fashion for Utube, I'm not rushing into it, if I agree everything must be perfect, outfit, hair, accessories, laundry room..and of course the script..all perfect..so I'm thinking about it..lol...

MamaPinky Live From her Laundry Room....LOL.

OMG mama, that would be hilarious!! What a great idea, please do this!!

A few years ago, I created a chart for my laundry routine to figure out all the variables that are not intuitive to me (like which items should be washed with enzymes, brighteners, etc.) and which products work for each category. I tend to be a creature of habit, but a very finicky one. So once I find what works (which may take a long time!), I stick with it. I can't find my chart now, so I need to start a new one now that I am tweaking my system.

mama-I can't wait for you to be a Youtube star! The Julia Child/Erma Bombeck of Laundry!!

2 of my favorite women by the way-as are you!!

Aww Jean Thank you...your also one of my favorates..hugs thrown your way.

Ok Lisa and Jean...I'm thinking on it, I think it will go into filming in February. It will be a rated PG13 that much I know oh and the leading lady will be yours truely MamaPinky. Hehe. Only thing I really know so far is it must be tears rolling funny, and it must be based on laundry facts...oh and no way can I mention Stpp..lol.

So, clean_and_bright, how are you liking the Tide Free powder and Tide Free liquid that you mentioned trying above? You were interested in checking out cleaning ability and fabric feel with each formula. I loved your post above and really interested in your thoughts.