I currently use Persil and am considering Charlie's Soap based on the many great reviews I've read. I like Persil but am always willing to try something new, especially if it works better and is less expensive.

Has anyone used both and can tell me your preference?

I am going to use it the same way I use PERSIL and everything else I've examined:
Temperatures of 105F or 120F
No additional additives
I will pre-treat any heavy stains on whites with Shout because this is what I do with PERSIL and others.
I will examine the water from each rinse as it empties into the laundry sink to determine how clear it is rinsing in my water conditions.

Folks say you don't need any FS so I will use Charlies without it.

My Charlie's is arriving on Monday (tomorrow). I can't wait to try it after having used Bi-O-Kleen for the past year. I'm happy with the Bi-O-Kleen, but still have to use fabric softener... I'm intrigued by the CS claim that FS is not required. We'll see... :)

Jerrod6, please let us know how you like Charlie's after you've had a chance to use it. I understand it takes a bit for the other detergent's residue to wash away before one can realize the cleaning power of CS.

I've read a bit about some children developing rashes from washing diapers in CS. Anyone have children and wash their diapers with CS?

I have read on other websites that some mom's do an occasional hot wash with the Charlies and oxi clean to get rid of the bacterial build up.

My two little ones aren't in diapers anymore so I do not know for sure if either will work, but I figured I would put it here just in case it helps.

Persil is my wife's favorite. My wife loves the smell of Ariel even more than Persil, but we just don't have the HE version of Ariel but are continuing to look for it. My wife doesn't particularly care for Charlie's because it doesn't have a smell (so she puts a small amount of the Ariel with it). Both Persil and Charlie's do a great job of cleaning from our experience. Charlie's is far less expensive, I get an 80 use bag for $6.99 (so far anyway unless its gone up recently). Persil is way overpriced in my opinion, but we do keep it around because we like it for some things, and it does do an excellent job.

Good luck.

I am surprised at the posts about Charlies leaving bacteria. I didn't think any detergent was antibacterial. I mean if it was why are people using the sanitize cycle so much. Maybe it is not even needed.

I am not surprised that Charlie's leaves germs behind if you use it in cold or warm water. No detergent without bleach would sanitize anything at low temperatures. I guess the people who tried Charlie's were very critical and tried to blame the detergent for their babies' rashes.
Well, all babies get diaper rashes at least ocasionally no matter if you use disposable or washable diapers. I would use a sanitary cycle for cloth diapers since bleach is not really a good idea for babies skins.

I agree that Persil is overpriced, especially here in the US. It is already one of the most expensive brands in Germany and then you have to add all the shipping costs. IMO it is not necessary to have detergents shipped to the US from Europe and it can't really be environmentally friendly to waste fuel on shipping detergents.

Bewtween Charlie's and Persil, I'd go for the Charlie's.

My first observation, and please don't think I'm crazy... the clothes appeared "wetter" in the machine. They seemed to soak up more water. The washer seemed to be filling a lot more and there was more water sloshing around in the machine. It was unusual enough that I noticed, but then again I could just be insane.

I didn't notice any suds during my 140° wash. The clothes felt squeaky clean when I pulled them out of the machine. They came out of the dryer light and fluffy without needing any fabric softener -- just as promised! I did a load of towels at 160° and noticed only a few bubbles at the bottom of the porthole, enough to count on one hand. The towels, unfortunately, did not come out light and fluffy. The towels weren't stiff or scratchy, but just didn't feel soft and fluffy. I suspect that the towels may require additional washes in Charlie's.

FYI, I am on a whole-house softener so my water hardness is ZERO. However, to achieve that zero hardness the softener must replace the CaCO3 in the water (calcium carbonate) with Na2CO3 (sodium carbonate). This sodium carbonate, or washing soda, is still present in the rinse water. It stands to reason that some sodium carbonate remains in the clothing after drying, which can cause a certain amount of roughness that no detergent can adequately remove because it is coming from the RINSE water. Perhaps vinegar in the rinse can address this issue?

So far so good! I'll report back as I have more experiences.

You mentioned more water in the machine. Was the water and any suds hitting the window and running down?

Can you tell us the make up of the first load you mentioned? Also did you clean your washer first by using 2 tablespoons of CS? Did you use Pine Sol?

What brand FS do you usually use?

My first load was rather conventional. The clothing was primarily dark colors -- blacks, browns, hunter greens, etc. There was plenty of water hitting the window, but as I said before, not a single bubble appeared under 160°F. At 160°F I counted maybe 5 or 6 tiny bubbles at the bottom of the window where the water tended to collect.

I did not clean the washer first, it seemed kind of silly given that I've been using low doses of detergent for years now. I also routinely clean the washer with a combination of Lemi Shine and Cascade every couple of months.

I did not use any Pine Sol, I wanted nothing else in the wash except clothing, water, and Charlie's Soap. I also did not use any FS, but I normally I would have used Downey Free & Sensitive.

I know you said you did dark colors and white or light khaki color towels but have you washed a really bright white load yet? I don't think darks and towels get all that dirty unless you drag them through a dirt mound or something, or they have specific stains, so I am interested in your experience cleaning bright white items. How about ring around the collar - stuff like that.

If I am washing non-elastic whites, I crank the heater up to 160°F. If I were washing germy diapers, I would wash them at 205°F and not a degree less to ensure that ever living thing on that diaper was wiped out. There's a reason they used to boil diapers!

Perhaps, in warm water washes, off-the-shelf detergents contain harsh chemicals that kill some bacteria which CS doesn't contain. That's plausible. So the way to compensate for that is with heat or by adding a disinfecting compound.

I've measured 122F water becoming about 106F with a highly insulated PEX line directly from the water tank to the machine (the near machine hose fittings start feeling hot within about 5 or 6 seconds of the start of water flowing). The cold drum and clothing soak up a bunch of energy.

I am in the middle of trying out Charlies so will be making some comments regarding my experience in a few more weeks.

As time goes on, and as we use various different products, I think it's easy to lose sight of what it feels like to have truly clean clothing against your skin. I hesitated to try Charlie's Soap initially because it lacked enzymes, but I don't know how that translates into real results.

I must say that my clothing feels much better against my skin, I haven't had a single bout of itching, and I'm amazed at how long my kitchen towels last between washings. My towels would smell bad pretty quickly before, but after washing them in Charlie's I find that they are more absorbent and resist smelling "foul" for a longer period of time.

For those who want enzymes, Shaklee makes a product called Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover. It contains oxygen bleach and enzymes. I haven't used it, perhaps someone else has? Does anyone know if it works, and if it rinses as cleanly as the CS?

At this point, I think I'm a CS convert. It took a couple of washes to completely eliminate the tomato stains on my partner's shirt (he had a pasta explosion in the kitchen haha), but I think that's a small price to pay for a totally natural product that makes my clothes and skin happy. Had I pre-treated the tomato stain, it probably would have disappeared in the first wash, but I'm lazy.

Jerrod, I hope your CS experience is as good as mine. Let us know!

Those are difficult questions to answer since I don't know your water chemistry. However, for hard water I think STPP (sodium tripolyphosphate) should yield good results. I've heard 1 TBL should work, along with the same amount of laundry detergent. I would suggest dissolving the STPP in your washing machine first, to get the water soft, then dissolve 1 TBL of Charlie's Soap into a cup of warm water and pour that into the wash after the STPP has thoroughly mixed.

The only thing I don't like about STPP is that it is a phosphate, and washing phosphates into the environment is not a good thing. Sodium hexametaphosphate (Calgon) works well as a water softener as well.

A good non-phosphate water softener is sodium citrate. I've never tried it, since I now use a whole house softener, but that could be the best solution to soften without putting undue stress on the environment. You can purchase a 9 lb. pail at The Chemistry Store for $27. Sodium citrate is also the water softening agent in most laundry detergents.

I have a 220v hookup in my laundry -- it was standard from the builder when I bought my new home. You couldn't pry my cute little 220v Asko washer from my cold, dead hands! :)