"He" Laundry Detergent

Updated on April 27, 2010
A.V. asks from Three Forks, MT
12 answers

Is 2x concentrated laundry detergent different than 2x concentrated he (high efficiency) laundry detergent? My new washing machine says I have to use he detergent, but I'm wondering if all 2x concentrate is essentially the same?

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So What Happened?

Guess I'll stick with the "he"detergent! Thanks!

Featured Answers

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L.A.

answers from Chicago on

HE is made specific for the high efficiency washers. Since the new HE washers use less water the HE detergent will create less suds.

1 mom found this helpful

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A.K.

answers from Pocatello on

I've always read that if you have an he washing machine, you should ALWAYS use he marked laundry soap because it is formulated to not suds up as much as the non-he detergent. Too many suds is bad for your he machine. So, if it's not marked as he detergent, I wouldn't use it regardless of if it's 2x concentrated or not.

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A.C.

answers from Cincinnati on

my understanding is that you must use HE detergent in an HE washer or it will ruin the washer. not all 2x detergent is HE - you need to see the HE symbol

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H.A.

answers from Dallas on

The "he" stuff produces less suds. It doesn't use as much water, so you could end up with suds or soap residue in your clothes and is like using too much detergent. Meaning - it makes your machine work harder, more wear on your clothes, stains won't come out, they will attract dirt, towels won't be as aborbant.

If you just got a new fancy washer - I would use the detergent it recommends in correct dose and see what you think. After putting that money out for new, I would use what it's supposed to have - personally.

Also - I've read a TON of articles lately that we tend to use too much laundry detergent. In fact, one quote from the maker of 7th generation products said that many loads need no soap at all, since the agitation cycle is enough to remove the dirt. With that in mind, if you're trying to save money you may cut in half the recommended soap amount and see if you're clothes still come out as clean. If so, you've just made your detergent last twice as long.

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T.W.

answers from Denver on

They are different and it IS a racket. The good news is, we have had an HE washer now for a year and I have discovered that you can use 1/4 the detergent (or even less) than the bottle for HE recommends. It is awesome! The detergent lasts forever.

Enjoy!

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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

You need the HE stuff. It has less "bubble" stuff in it. Since the machine uses way less water it can't deal with the bubbles. you will end up washing each load 2 or even 3 times to get the soap out.

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K.B.

answers from Cincinnati on

My mom has had her HE washer and dryer for 6 years now, never uses HE stuff and they are still in great working order.
I just got new washer and dryer and didn't really notice the difference. I would have to say I do use the cap to measure the soap instead of the max line in the washer.

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S.W.

answers from Pocatello on

The other detergent make to much suds for those machines.

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K.D.

answers from Denver on

According to All's website all their 2x is HE, even if the website doesn't say so. I have always used it and have never had a problem.

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J.S.

answers from Cleveland on

What Leslie says is correct. If you don't use he detergent, you may be left with soap suds when you open your washer. I had some left when we got our new machine and gave it a try - had to rerun the machine on rinse to get them all out.

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S.G.

answers from Saginaw on

when I bought my HE washer they told me to only use HE in it. The salesman said it had something to do with how effecient it is compared to other washers so the soap was made differnet and you needed less or something like that! That proly wasnt much help but my salesman said to use it so we did!

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M.H.

answers from New York on

Bought an HE washer/dryer a few months ago and it wouldn't let me use the regular detergent..I kept getting an error message that there was too much suds so it had to run again. The manual states that the regular detergent will create too much suds (which I could have clearly seen), so I switched to using the HE. My problem now is, does Dreft make an HE detergent?

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