Powder has the advantage of not going bad. Liquid on the other hand can.

Also powder is less resource intensive to transport

a lot cheaper too

But liquide is easy tocuse for people like me. But I agree ease of use is not the best criteria. But when you are delivered to yourself and don’t know how to does nor nothing, a pod seems like a good solution, just put one in the drum and done. But after you buy two or three boxes anyone with two brain cells, sees it is a rip off.

Liquid is supposed to be concentrated, if you use too much and don’t rinse enough you won’t really remove smells/bacteria. As others mention, it is best to read manuals and instructions. If you don’t use enough your clothes will smell like the worst thing in the wash.

I hardly see powder for sale in any shops where I live, so liquid gets the convenience points.

When I do see powder, I buy it because it is useful for setting the delayed start on my washer. I used to do pods, but they are awful, especially the pods filled with liquid. The water is so hard where I live, maybe that had something to do with it.

It depends on the brands. Some wash better, some leave better scent, some have built in softner, etc. So maybe the product class alone is not enough to judge.

TechnologyConnections did a study claiming that the big name powders are enshitifying their products to push you to the more expensive pods.

They promote a full strength powder

youtu.be/DAX2_mPr9W8?is=nuoOIO-4qsa9wAZh

Not just promote, he designed his own dishwashing powder. I’ve never seen anyone who passionate about dishwashers as this guy

He made his own dishwasher powder? I was unaware of that, I’ll have to try to find that

It works great but in my experience it was too dry. Made me cough every time we opened the bag and detergent just puffed into the air.

I already make my own laundry soap, so I wonder if it’s that different

This one isn’t really his product, technically, though he did help design it. It’s an EcoGeek product sold at Good.store (which is an “all proceeds go to charity” seller started by John and Hank Green.

Here’s the link, in case you’re curious. I kinda felt like it wasn’t worth the price tag, regardless of whether proceeds were going to charity. It works really well though.

Yeah, I checked that out after you mentioned it existed and promptly stopped caring when I saw it’s > .50/load.

I haven’t had a need to make my own dishwasher powder like I have laundry powder, so I’ve been using boxes powder, but no way in fuck am I paying that kind of price for it. I’d make it myself for that price…

From the mention of stains I assume OP is talking about laundry not dishes.

My partner, who knows more about textiles and washing than I, has always claimed that liquid detergent is much better than washing powder and has always insisted that we get the liquid.

You’d be surprised what just sticking stuff on the line for the wind and sun (and rain) to clean can do with certain fabrics, mostly the naturals, and towels. Overnight in some cases, dew helps, I mean I wash them, but not as often. Dyes may fade, but is that worse than falling apart from washing?

I’ve heard before that powders/solids are generally easier to mix than liquids, because you can just have all the active parts go when water is added.

With liquids (or really water-based solutions), there’s already water in there, so you have to design the reactions, so that they only start when a certain water concentration is reached, which is a lot more fickle and limits you in what you can do.

I could imagine that giving powder an advantage, but I also don’t have scientific evidence. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I avoid pods due to microplastics.

I tried buying a box of borax for some ant control, but accidentally ordered a case. So I toss some in to every load or laundry these days and it’s really helped my results. I swear colors are brighter and the scent is fresher.

I switched years ago to using Nellie’s Laundry Soda and it’s been great for us. Significantly cheaper per load, cleans well, doesn’t overpower you with fragrance, doesn’t gunk up the soap tray in the washer with the slimy residue, and is easily vacuumed up if it spills.

It’s like $90 for an 800-load bucket that weighs 26.5 lbs (12 kg) from Costco. You use 1 Tbsp (15 mL) of powder per normal load, and 2 if it’s a large or really dirty load. I almost always just use 1 and never had an issue.

Our last bucket lasted almost 2.5 years, and we are a larger family with a lot of laundry. Bought our current bucket last November, so should be good until like February 2028. I have a small plastic container on the washer and then refill it from the big bucket once every couple months.

Pair the soda with OxyClean and it works wonders.

Also stopped using fabric softener entirely and found out it’s really not needed. Dryer sheets work well if you need something; no need for liquids.

Finally, I have rediscovered how awesome bleach can be for laundry, and it is also very inexpensive, so definitely recommend looking into that, too.

EDIT: One more thing— always do your wash cycle on at least warm for virtually everything you wash. Regardless of what soap you use, liquid or powder, it’s not as effective in sudsing and such in cold water as it is warmer. I’ve noticed better results using warm for all my colors and then hot for whites, towels, and the like. Cold is only for specific scenarios or garments. In my experience, ink bleeding really isn’t a thing anymore unless you’re making your own tie-dye shirts or something, which was the justification for using cold for colors back in the day.

Hey, it’s me, the body wash guy from the other post.

So as it turns out, washing powder for dishwashers and washing machines are functionally the same base ingredients with dishwashing powders containing a higher ph and powdered bleach. I’ve been experimenting with this and have a recipe for each that does an amazing job.

Unfortunately, my recipe for these does currently use other branded products in the form of Roma Soap and Zote Bar Soap, but this is primarily for convenience as they already meet my expected ratios. Hit me up if you want the recipes, they’re unreasonably good for how cheap they are.

Do you have a web, video, or Lemmy post about it somewhere? I’d be curious about the story?

lemmy.world/comment/25333491

I posted the recipe here, I did the research myself based on ingredient lists, break downs of ingredient functions, and trial and error to decide ratios.

I just use laundry detergent strips. Much more compact, works fine.

There’s a guy on YouTube that covers this. Powders can contain bleach and cleaning agents in the same mix since they are dry. This gives the best of both worlds. With liquids, the two interact and break down the coach resulting in a poorer result. Pods can keep the components separate but why pay the extra? Something like that anyway. Personal experience is that liquids leave a funky buildup over time that you just don’t get with powders.

Yeah. Pods is no good because it all goes in at the smae time.

For optimal results have some powder in the chamber and in the machine for prewash

That guy is full of BS. There is a noticeable difference in dishwashing tablets as well. I tested cheap tablets after seeing his video and it left massive stripes.

He’s one of those cargo cult scientists trying to make you believe he’s smart while he’s not

You talking about TechnologyConnections? Cause damn, dude. “I tested cheap tablets and my results didn’t match his so he’s full of BS” is a wild take. He specifically talks about formulation being important in later dishwashing videos, not all detergents are created equally.

But I have had great results switching to the powder version of a name brand.

Yeah that guy. He basically went “all the fancy color soap does nothin and all dishwasher tablets are basically the same” but that is most definitely false.

If my results dont match his claim then his research sucks.

You’re missing at least 2/3rds, if not more, of his dishwasher saga. He addresses and validates people’s poor results, providing possible reasons for the differences including water quality, detergent quality, etc.

But no, he’s definitely full of BS. /s

It’s been a while but IIRC he says “turn up the heat that’s most important” but it really isn’t.

It all depends on the quality of the product you buy. I tested good brands powder and liquid and they’re both good. Liquids are easier to refill in the machine. Powders are a bit better in value.

The comments here are interesting. There’s a very important detail you left out, and everyone is just assuming in their responses.

OP, what are you trying to wash? Laundry, dishes (in a dishwasher, or by hand), or something else entirely?

I read the manual for my washer and have followed that. It “prefers” liquid but can take powder. That being said, I have a few items of clothing that explicitly say powdered detergent only (water repellent material). I’ve found overall that the less liquid detergent I put in, the better it cleans stuff.

Every 20 cycles (my machine tells me) or 1 month, throw in a cleaning powder with either the clean cycle or a heavy hot wash. It’ll help keep it fresh. Also keep the door open when you’re not using the washer to air it out, same reason.

It supposedly has an edge in terms of pulling out oils in particular.

My problem is that, as you said, it’s harder to find, and I have a limitation in what I can use to begin with.

I can’t say, when I have used a powder vs a liquid in the past that the difference is so significant that I would bother to hunt down a powder that also fits my niche needs. But if you’re not limited, I would say it’s worth it on average

Haven’t used dishwashing liquid, just powder and pods, and the powder works a lot better. But maybe only because the powder also goes in the pre-wash section.

For clothes, I’ve used liquid and sheets, and the liquid works better than the sheets.

probably depends on the brand, but ive recently bought liquid, and seems to do the same thing, but the clothes smell a lot nicer

In my personal experience, both for dishwashers and laundry, powder does a better job.

I can’t say I’ve noticed a big enough difference to stop using liquid.