I’m pretty new to this sub and recently went down the laundry detergent rabbit hole. I came here thinking “what detergent should I use?” would be a simple question, and then immediately found myself reading about enzymes, lipase, powders vs liquids, hard water, optical brighteners, citric acid rinses, etc.

It’s a lot.

Quick transparency note: I exported/read through several detergent threads from this sub and had ChatGPT help summarize the recurring advice and draft this post. So this isn’t meant to be expert advice or my own original research — it’s my attempt to turn the common patterns from those discussions into a beginner-friendly starting point. Please correct anything that’s wrong or oversimplified.

The basic takeaway seems to be:

If you’re overwhelmed and just want a strong starting point:

Try a Tide powder.

Especially:

• Tide Clean & Gentle powder if you want fragrance-free / sensitive-skin friendly
• Tide Original / Ultra Oxi / With Bleach powder if scent isn’t an issue and you just want strong cleaning
• 365 Unscented powder if you want a solid non-Tide option or want to avoid optical brighteners

And then don’t overcomplicate it at first:

• Wash on warm when odor is a problem
• Don’t use too much detergent
• Skip fabric softener and scent beads if clothes are holding odor
• Use an extra rinse if things feel irritating, stiff, or residue-y
• If you have hard water, that may be part of the problem

The biggest thing I didn’t realize

A lot of “bad laundry smell” seems to be less about needing more fragrance and more about not fully removing body oils, sweat, residue, and buildup.

That’s why people here talk so much about lipase. From what I understand, it helps break down oily/greasy soils like body oil, sweat funk, food grease, pet oils, etc.

So the goal isn’t really “make laundry smell stronger.” It’s more:

>Get the actual soil out first, then decide whether you want scent.

That was helpful for me because I was used to detergents that smelled strong but didn’t actually make clothes feel clean.

Powder vs liquid

My understanding is:

Powder usually wins for best all-around cleaning because it can include things like oxygen bleach and a more complete enzyme/cleaning package.

Liquid is still fine if you prefer it, have an auto-dosing machine, wash mostly cold, or just hate dealing with powder. But it sounds like liquid often benefits from a booster if you’re dealing with odor or heavy soil.

Pods seem convenient, but not ideal as the default because you can’t really adjust the dose.

Things I’m probably going to stop doing

Based on what I’ve read here:

• Stop using fabric softener on everything
• Stop assuming more detergent = cleaner clothes
• Stop using scent to cover up odor
• Stop washing everything cold if odor is the problem
• Stop assuming “free and clear” automatically means high-performing
• Stop assuming “natural” or “simple ingredients” automatically means better

My current beginner plan

I think I’m going to start simple:

1. Use Tide Clean & Gentle powder
2. Wash odor-prone stuff on warm
3. Use a modest amount of detergent
4. Skip softener/scent beads
5. Add an extra rinse if needed
6. Clean my washer
7. Look into hard water / citric acid rinse only if I’m still having issues

Does that sound like a fair newbie summary?

What would you change, add, or warn people about?

Also curious what people here think the current best “default detergent” is for a normal household in North America.