Liquid and powder laundry cleaners are the same, right? It often appears the only real difference is the size and colour of the packaging, but it may come as a surprise to learn that each provides unique benefits for your washing. Learn more about the laundry liquid vs powder debate below.
Laundry Powder
Price
Per load, laundry powder is usually cheaper than its liquid counterpart. Being substantially lighter makes it less costly to transport and often easier to manufacture, making it more affordable and the preferred buy to get the most bang for your buck.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Working in the yard or kids playing outside? Laundry powder is particularly suitable for outdoor stains like dirt, mud, or blood. The powdered formula can carry far more bleaching and brightening products than its liquid form.
Some powder detergents can leave a white, powdery residue on your clothing, notably darker clothing. This sometimes requires an extra rinse cycle to wash out, causing unnecessary wear on your fabrics, so be careful not to use too much powder.
Pre-treating
Before heading to the self-service laundromat, you might need to pre-treat clothes with unruly stains. Laundry powder is effective for pre-treating clothes, but it can be a hassle. First, you will need to dissolve the powder into a small portion of water to create a paste. This paste is then applied to the stain to break it down before washing.
Laundry Liquid
Price
Laundry liquid is, on average, more expensive than its powdered counterpart, yet it remains a massively popular choice. There’s clearly a trade-off between cost and cleaning benefits found in laundry liquids.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Prefer washing your clothes in cold water? Then laundry Liquid is for you. All the ingredients in laundry liquid are already dissolved instead of fine powder that must dissolve during the wash cycle. This makes it gentler on delicate fabrics and more suitable for cold washes. Liquid detergent is also great at removing oil and grease stains, a bonus for anyone with oily-skinned teenagers.
Laundry liquids struggle to keep bleaches and other strong cleaning chemicals stable, however, requiring some sacrifice on their ability to tackle tough, settled-in stains. If you find your liquid is under-performing in this area, simply pre-treat areas of your clothes that need a boost.
Pre-treating
The greatest strength of laundry liquid is that it can be used as a pre-treatment for stubborn stains, removing the need for other laundry products. Far easier to use than powder; all you need to do is pour the liquid solution directly onto the problem area and let it work its magic.
Further reading
From Powder to Liquid, Which is Better?
Picking the right product from the many options at your local supermarket’s laundry aisle can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! Hopefully, this blog post has cleaned up your laundry liquid vs. powder ideas, making sure you can walk into the laundromat with complete confidence in your washing cleaner to get the job done and have you walking out with fresh, clean clothes.
