Laundry detergent that actually removes stains?

[oceanbaby]

I am getting super frustrated. When I used to use good ole unscented Tide, rarely did we have any clothes with stains. Now, every other shirt I take out of the wash is still dirty. I keep a bin for clothes that need stain treatment, and now it's constantly full and I can't keep up. I have tried Trader Joes detergent, Planet, and some other one, but none of them work.

Please, are there any natural detergents that actually get dirt/stains out of clothes?

[jrpbrown1]

:

Totally subbing to this.

I've tried Charlie's, Country Save (use this still for CDs), Planet, TJs, and Method.

I've started doing a prewash on DDs clothes with Oxiclean plus regular pretreatment with Shout stain remover. Depending on the type of stain, the sun does help.

[mamamelia]

you know the only thing that removes stains for me is good ole hand soap. i grate a normal bar of hand soap (that has tallow in it) and use it in my HE washer. it gets everything out - from grease to tomato to soil - nothing is too hard for tallow soap. my husband works as a mechanic part time and his clothes are absolutely disgusting by the time he finishes. the soap gets all the grease out and they smell really, really great (which is surprising since they go in reeking of grease and petrol). i don't know why people don't use normal soap for laundry? what's so bad about it? i always see recommendations for borax and washing soda (which totally wear out clothes and frankly did not get rid of stains for me) and hardly any for old fashioned soap.

try it!

[talia rose]

i've had good luck with an ecover stain stick
and bio-kleen detergent

[Attached Mama]

All I use is a small dash of Dr Bronners liquid soap in the water (not directly on clothing or it can leave oily marks) and my clothing comes out very clean. I also sometimes use a bit of vinegar or baking soda or non-chlorine bleach mixed with the dr bronners. No other detergent. I do check clothing prior to washing and treat spots with Ecover stain stick. Ecover detergent works awesome too - but Dr Bronner's is cheaper.

[oceanbaby]

Okay, you've saved me from breaking out the old box of Tide in the basement. I'll check out some of the recommendations here. If there are any more, please keep them coming. I cannot stand stained clothing!

[LaffNowCryLater]

One thing with natural detergent is I do have to pretreat stains. I have some Bi-o-kleen Bac-Out and some OxoBrite (from a HFS). I totally know what you mean though, b/c I used Tide too and never ever had to pretreat anything.

I also found the newer Arm and Hammer Essentials in the green bottle (the one made with veggie based soaps) works pretty good too w/o doing anything extra.