Wow...I've seen that on the shelves but never gave it a sniff.
Now I'll have to.
Thanks for the heads up. I love the original April Fresh Downy.

I went to 2 Target stores, and I bought ALL I could find (I got 6 bottles) and will keep buying it, as I see it. It is the EXACT, I mean EXACT smell as Original April Fresh Downy. Oddly, in the bottle, it only faintly resembles April Fresh, but after washing....it is just 100% identical.

I dumped about a 1/2 bottle of Sweet Sizzle into a full bottle of unscented Downy softener. Let them dissolve, gave it some good shaking...and now I even have April Fresh Downy Softener. Today was a very, very good day for a totally laundry OCD person like me!! :))

Oh Larsi, I love you! I will pick some of this up on my next trip out and about. I have been using unscented downy, too. The new downy makes me want to gag.

): Sad me. They don't carry this at my local WalMart. Will check grocery stores and Target next.

@ Geo...Welcome. It smells SO good!

@Covcat...Keep looking, or buy online. NO joke, I am seriously & honestly going thru my linen closet and washing EVERY towel and all sheets and all blankets. For the first time in years, my house is smelling like my childhood!!

Amazon has it as does Target. I bought 3 bottles. What size bottle of US Downy are you using (how many loads or oz) to premix?

Thanks.

@Ccat....My Unscented Downy bottle was full, and it is 60 Loads (51 ounces). I am seriously walking around the house, washing everything and anything I can find (I dump some Sweet Sizzle pellets directly in the wash drum...DO NOT put them in any detergent trays & then I use my newly crafted Downy softener. HEAVEN. My spouse just thinks I am a lunatic...but is used to it! LOL

Well I went out and bought the gain sweet sizzle fireworks and tried it...does it smell like the orginal april scent downy. NOOOOTTTT!!! It absolutely STINKS to high hell! I washed some towels in Tide clear and free and added a capful of sweet and stinks like Sxxt scent and OMG its just plain nasty. The new downy smells better than that mess. Im glad it to working for you Larsi cause right now mine is going in the trash

I had to rewash the towels, couldnt stand the smell when I took a shower and dried off with them. I see on the down website Larsi that you put your discovery on there. I guess I will have to try another downy scent

@gates1...I am so sorry you do not like it. I have had 2 friends tell me the same thing, that it smells EXACTLY like the old, original April Fresh Downy.

And....I DID NOT post anything on the Downy website about my "discovery". The last time I posted anything on the Downy website, was well over 1+ year ago, when I complained and expressed how mad I was with P & G for ruining my beloved Downy. Someone else that thinks the Sweet Sizzle is great, but it was NOT me!

Thats interesting that someone else did the same thing that you found out about the gain sweet sizzle. I sure wish I did like it because I like so many other miss original downy.Yo uwould think they would get a cluse since the April fresh scent is the lowest rated scent, maybe two stars max

Larsi, this inquiring mind wants to know: Do/did you go around taking lids off FS bottles in the store and sniffing their scent? :)

I used to use Downy and loved it. But when we joined a warehouse club (BJ's) and a huge jug of Snuggle was SO much cheaper, I had to try it. Surprise! I love the scent just as much.

I also really like the scent of Suavitel, which is also much less expensive, especially in bulk. ALL of these FS's work equally well on my laundry.

@gates1... I saw the post on the Downy website about the Sweet Sizzle. I'm on Los Angeles, that poster is in Watertown, NY. But, I agree with them 100%. I am in love with Sweet Sizzle. My family is visiting from Germany for 2 weeks, and the first shower they had...they told me how great my towels smell (they said they have smelled the same for over a decade :)

@ mara 2008...YES!! I have been on a smelling & buying crusade since Downy killed & ruined the Original April Fresh Downy. Snuggle and Suavitel do no smell bad, but to me, they are much stronger smelling & do not smell soft & powdery like the original April Fresh. Sweet Sizzle Gain is the closest and best I have found!! :)

Larsi, like many things, this issue undoubtedly reflects the nose of the sniffer, lol.

Snuggle and Suavitel do not smell as strong to me as Downy did. Whenever I use FS, I fill the dispenser halfway with vinegar first, so the scent is cut even more. I really love saving money and still getting great results!

I'm w/Larsi on this one. It may not be exact, but its the closest (to me anyway) of what's out there. After switching to non scented fabric softener I have to say that even a little bit of the sweet sizzle seems to go a long way for me. First load was towels and pretty full so I filled it to the higher line. Second load now and I'm reducing the amount to the lower line.

A few more loads and I hope I will find the right mix for our household. Enough to say "downy April Fresh," but not DOWNY APRIL FRESH, B*TCHES!"

lol

You go Covingtoncat!! LOL Yes, to me it is SO close to the Original April Fresh, that it is Identical to me. When I close my eyes, and breathe into a freshly laundered towel or shirt washed with Sweet Sizzle....BAM!! Back to childhool Memories. Scent is such an amazing time transporter!!

Because its a scent booster and not a fabric softener, its ok for bath towels, right? It would be so nice to have that as I do not use FS on my towels. I have already, so I will see soon enough.

Today is laundry day and I am exited!!!

YES!!! It is ideal for bath towels, kitchen towels and REALLY good for active wear (moisture wicking gym clothes). This Sweet Sizzle has NO fabric softener, so it will not affect absorbtion at all. I LOVE it for my gym clothes. But, I must use some softener for bath towels. I hate the way they feel without some softner. But now I have liquid original April Fresh Downy thanks to Sweet Sizzle dumped in a bottle of Downy Unscented softener! :))

So far the formula working best for me is between 1 1/2 tsp to 1 Tbs depending on the size of the load and what it is. I use the higher amount for towels. Much more than that and its too much. I have a Euro sized Miele (T 1413).

I am going to "convert" a bottle of unscented FS next and will start with 1/4 of the container and can add more later.

Thanks again for this wonderful find!

I have to say that I do agree that it smells like the Original Downey of the 80's/90's!
I've washed a small load of whites with towels and opening up the closet gave me that "Oooo I just love that scent!"
I will have to buy this stuff in bulk before they take it off the market!
Thanks Larsi, you've made my wallet lighter and my clothes smelling real good!

@ Cleanteamofny....YAY!!! You're a convert & believer too. I just bought more today at Target. Each time I go, I buy what I can find! I think I have about 15 bottles now, and I will keep buying, since I am fairly certain P&G will try and add a "fresh twist" to this product or just cancel it! I LOVE it!!

So happy to make other people happy, and bring back old/childhood scent connections! Honestly this Sweet Sizzle find has made me so happy, it's insane!!! :))

Just opening up my towel closet reminds me of mom hanging laundry in the back yard or me waiting for the rinse cycle to begin in my mother's 24" Kenmore top loader, 3 cycles, one water level and water temperature adjusted at the main faucet!

Doing laundry is awesome now that mom would be proud!
LOL

Thanks again for making me a convert!
Oooo so good!

I just went out and bought this gain sweet sizzle after reading this!! I hope it works. I also emailed downy last night a not so nice paragraph explaining my frustration that everyone is complaining about the new april fresh scent.. but their only answer is oh we are sorry pick something else!!

Wow!!! it is the same scent!! I just called my sister and told her to get her some!! thank you!!

Yay too cmk7482!! I use it for every load...and it's great for workout clothes and items that Fabric Softener cannot be used. I get the classic April Fresh Scent, and my gym clothes smell fresh each time I take them out of the closet.

I hope P&G keeps this product!!!

Hi. I'm new here. Just wanted you to know: per your suggestion, I purchased some Gain Sweet Sizzle, used it on my towels/sheets. Yes! It does remind me of the Downy of my (very long ago) childhood!

I noticed the scent too. I know a lot of people who are buying it like crazy. It makes you wonder why P&G just doesn't bring back the Original April Fresh Downy.

Thanks for the heads up. I recently moved to an area with very hard water and the laundry needs help with that somewhat sour mineral smell. Imagine my surprise to not find Downy original.

Way to destroy a brand, P&G. Generations of us have been brought up with that scent and you yank it? Are they not teaching the New Coke debacle in B school anymore? I get brand extension and shelf placement and all of that but why can't the original stand alongside? Not to mention the headache just from standing in proximity to all of the new perfumes.

Don't get me started on the withdrawal of original Lysol.

P&G, ruined GAIN Sweet Sizzle in wash scent beads a while back. They changed it to the EXACT awful, candy, sweet, chemical smell that ruined April Fresh Downy. I know I've said this 10x, but I think P&G lost the rights to the original April Fresh Scent, that a famed French perfume house created in the 60's/70's. When I ask P&G about this, they will not comment. There are 1000's of complaints, and consumers begging P&G to return April Fresh to it's original soft, powdery scent...but they do not, they cannot. They even just recently changed the Downy April Fresh Dryer sheets....they too, are the new, awful scent!! :(

D*mmit. But thanks, I was just about to crack the canister open, it's going back. I didn't think you could patent a scent rather like not being able to copywrite a recipe but I am not an intellectual property lawyer. I truly think that these consumer brands have just lost their way. You would have done well to short P&G stock lately and I don't see the sentiment changing.

Everyone is talking about SCENT, which I also liked, BUT DOES THIS STUFF SOFTEN THE CLOTHES? Softening is most important to me. Our detergent, (Era) has a very nice scent. If this product you are talking about clashes the other scent and does not soften, then what else would be a better product for me?

I had not realized what a difference the water makes until moving to where the water is hard, enough so that it almost imparts a sour smell to the laundry aside from leaving it stiff. I use borax as a detergent booster (20 Mule Team for those of us a certain age that remember the ads on black & white TV) which takes it 80% of the way. The Downey is for smell masking and the crystals are a waste of money.