Tide rep. told me on the phone that it is Total Care with a new name.

You know, Tide can't leave anything alone. Like the powder, always changing the formula or even worse, the scent.

Thanks! I sent them an email asking some pretty specific questions regarding what exactly changed in the Colorguard formula, and why the ingredients list is so different, so we'll see what they have to say when/if I get a reply back.

Did you mean 16 load packages of Persil Megapearls? They're available from persilstore.com .

(I don't use it; I just like to point out that there are options to Amazon.)

Thank you, Gary! I'm only seeing double packs of the 18 load powder there, but the price is quite nice ($34 for 2 bags, vs $19 for one like I previously ordered), so that just might be a good option.

Still curious about the Tide, though - it seems Total Care was very popular among GW users the last couple of years, so if the Colorguard formula is the same thing I just might give it a try.

Got a response back from Tide - unfortunately, the initial ingredients list I linked to is the correct one. It is very different from what Tide Total Care listed, so I'm not sure if this can be considered a direct replacement.

Shows how the call reps can lie because the girl told me the only difference was a name change.

sparky823, I know - it's frustrating to say the least. The email reply I received also contained a bunch of copy/paste marketing talk and answered only one of the questions I asked (ingredients list), without addressing any of the others.

A while back I emailed PG about colorguard and was told that the ingredient list available on PG's product safety site was for "PID colorguard" According to the rep, it means 'product in development'. She said that while the ingredient list is largely the same, there are a few things either missing or added but that it was pretty much the same formula and the effect on clothes would be the same. I've got a bottle but I haven't opened it yet. I'll wash a load in total care and one in colorguard and see if/how they compare.

Ughh, I emailed "Bob" back to see what they have to say about the PID labeling and whether the product info they sent me was 100% current and valid. How utterly annoying!

And thank you for being willing to experiment. I actually caved in and bought a small bottle last time I was at Target to give it a try, but haven't had a chance to test it out yet. And I have no experience with Total Care, so wouldn't be able to compare.

Consumer Report tested detergent-forget when this was a year or two back, and they tested the Total Care vs Tide Cold Water and they gave the Cold Water the most praise. The CW cost less per use than the TC and worked as well fade wise but cleaned better than the TC.

So after washing a few loads in TC and CG, I have to say I can't see any difference at all. The colors and scents of the two detergents are the same and the clothes have the same smoothness and softness that they had with TC.

Thank you for the update, andi2928!

I have since tried out the Colorguard myself, and did in fact find the scent to be on the overwhelming side. The first time I filled the cap to the lowest fill line and washed a load of darks on Wrinkle Free and ended up having to rewash a lot of the shirts because of the smell.
The second time I used about halfway to the lowest fill line and added borax to the drum and vinegar to the rinse plus an extra rinse - that load came out much less scented, and definitely *much* softer than with powdered Persil (for some reason no matter how I adjust the dosage, I still get fairly rough clothes with the Megaperls). I think I'm going to use it up on colored towels and such!

Yeah the scent is a bit much but I always set my machine to 3 extra rinses when I use it and by the time the clothes come out of the dryer, there is hardly any smell, if at all. Myself and others on this forum have found that the smell can be quite weird if a full dose is not used. Really odd, but I find it to be true.

I use CW on my 4 year olds clothes. I use the "hot" (really luke warm) on the normal cycle and the clothes look really shabby after a month or so. They are faded with a lot of piling. I need a strong detergent for his clothes so I guess that just par for the course.

Hmm, that's pretty interesting about the Cold Water doing that to clothes... I wonder if the results would have been any different if washing with Colorguard?

Fading is such a mysterious thing, though. We had been using a wash and fold service for almost four years before finally buying a washer, and while it made the whites super dingy, the colors were always fine, to my great surprise. I can't imagine they used anything other than a cheap detergent with OBAs, which are supposed to fade things over time? And yet the colors survived.

@recordaras - the laundry service probably used a detergent that had no OBAs. That would explain why the colors survived and the whites looked dingy. I used Charlies Soap exclusively for a few years and the whites turned gray. Irreversibly gray, although they looked brighter after I intervened with some All Free & Clear. It has OBAs!

All that happened before I found this forum and learned all about OBAs, oxygen bleach, etc., that OBAs can make colors look faded, and oxygen bleach is needed for whites.

Now I use CS for colors and Sears + an oxygen bleach added for my whites, and they are white. :-)

Cavimum, I was actually starting to wonder if that was the case - on the other hand they have those front loading Speed Queens, wouldn't they require an HE detergent? Judging by how much of a pain it is to find a non-OBA HE detergent I figured they were probably just going with something you can buy in bulk.

As an anecdote, here are two pillowcases from a set: the one on the left after 3.5 years of wash and fold, the one on the right after a Persil and sodium percarbonate soak and wash in the Miele. I was about to toss all of our old sheets, but decided to experiment a bit first. Now they are all white again!

*Double Post

This post was edited by andi2928 on Wed, Oct 29, 14 at 17:24

@recordaras - Wow! One washing made such a big difference! That is impressive.