Aldi Washing Up Liquid

...at what percentage? Come on Aldi let's have some info! I tried to leave a message on the Aldi web site, but it doesn't allow that, so next time I'm in the store I'll try and speak to the manager. For some reason, I've got a bee in my bonnet about this. I'd never even have looked that closely at washing up ingredients, if it hadn't been for Ciao. "Oy, Dumville, get off yer soap box!"

Finally on the label is a return to store ...
...animals! It may be that Aldi have a standard declaration, that 'no products are tested on animals.' Some of their products clearly identify that the products have not been tested on animals, others don't. I'll let you form your own opinions why they wouldn't ensure it was clearly stated on all the relevant products.


Two quick tests before doing some washing up.
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Yes, for most of you females out there, it is a review about washing up liquid and by a bloke!

So It's Aldi's Washing Up Liquid Then
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Yep, it certainly is. For those that don't know, Aldi's have four of their own washing up liquids in stock today (14 May 2004). There are two normal liquids, coloured red and yellow (59p 500 ml). There's an antibacterial washing up liquid that's blue in colour (69p 500 ml), and there's the one I bought. This is Magnum, concentrated, lemon washing up liquid at 65p for a litre, and this is green in colour! Odd for a lemon variety don't you think?

The Bottle
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The bottle is made of plastic and stands at 265 mm x 85 mm wide x 50 mm deep. The plastic used is fairly sturdy and quite thick. The cap of the bottle is red, and lifts up as per usual washing up liquids, so you can squirt it into your washing up bowl. Again the plastic used is thick, and allows the cap to snap shut. This works very well and far better than some other brands I've used. The cap is screwed on to the bottle, as opposed to being a push fit.

The front label tells you what it is, and how much the bottle contains. Underneath that is a picture of some yellow crockery. This appears to have been taken with a photographic filter as everything's yellow. It's on this label that the product is identified as lemon.

The back label states that the product is, mild and gentle, cuts through grease and that it's fast and effective. There is hand care advice, which I think is standard on most washing up liquids in this day and age. These instructions tell you to rinse and thoroughly dry your hands after use, and if you have broken or sensitive skin to avoid prolonged contact with the liquid, in either it's neat or diluted form. Does that mean I can claim my skin's damaged, and get the kids to wash up more often? Yeah right, I doubt it too!

The ingredients list is interesting and I quote. "Amongst other ingredients this product contains. Less than 5 % Amphoretic surfactant, 15 - 30 % Anionic surfactants. Also contains preservative, Dye and perfume." What's so bad with the ingredients they can't list all of them? We know water, or Aqua, as manufacturers like to call it, will be the highest ingredient. Then there's 35 %, at best, of the listed ingredients. What's the rest made up of and at what percentage? Come on Aldi let's have some info! I tried to leave a message on the Aldi web site, but it doesn't allow that, so next time I'm in the store I'll try and speak to the manager. For some reason, I've got a bee in my bonnet about this. I'd never even have looked that closely at washing up ingredients, if it hadn't been for Ciao. "Oy, Dumville, get off yer soap box!"

Finally on the label is a return to store warranty. Basically if you don't like it, return it to the store you bought it and they'll replace it.

There's an ominous omission, in my analytical mind. It doesn't state whether or not the product is tested on animals! It may be that Aldi have a standard declaration, that 'no products are tested on animals.' Some of their products clearly identify that the products have not been tested on animals, others don't. I'll let you form your own opinions why they wouldn't ensure it was clearly stated on all the relevant products.

Two quick tests before doing some washing up.
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First, The 'sniff' test. Mmm, actually smells strongly of lemons. It maybe that the smell is too nice, so keep your little sproglets away from the bottle. You may find yourself taking your foaming at the mouth little darling, to your local casualty department! Should that happen don't forget to take the bottle with you as, firstly the medics will want to know what's been swallowed and secondly, whilst having a long wait you can do some washing up to pass the time away!

The second is the 'feel' test. If you were blindfolded and rubbed this liquid between fingers and palm, providing you didn't get a good whiff of the lemon, you could be excused for thinking someone had poured Castrol GTX on your hand! When I poured a few drops on my hand, I realised how thick the liquid is. It's almost the viscosity of a cheap 20/50 engine oil.

In Use
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When you squirt this into your washing up bowl be prepared for a struggle. Whether it's the combination of a dense liquid and thick plastic, I don't know. It needs a fair bit of pressure to squirt the stuff out, in enough quantity to do the washing up. As it's a concentrate, you don't need that much fortunately. Once combined with the hot running water the bubbles start forming. The bubbles are a clean white and form thickly, spreading out over the surface.

Glasses clean nicely and have a nice shine to them as does crockery, and cutlery. I like to put crockery straight into washing up water so it doesn't dry on the plate. My two horrors can't understand the logic of this, and leave their plates on the side. This liquid deals well with dried on food stuffs, usually without much of a soak. At the end of washing up glasses, cutlery and crockery there's still a fair amount of the original bubbles remaining.

A quick change of water for pans, etc. Again these scrub up well without any major hassle but as yet there's not been a serious test for the liquid has there? There is now. I made toad in the hole last night and deliberately left the dish overnight without soaking. When cleaning today, most of the pan cleaned straight away without soaking, but there was a few stubborn marks that needed to be soaked. I left the pan for about 30 minutes. This time the dish scrubbed up like new.

I also tested the liquid on a wok that I'd used to cook banana fritters. (Yes I even make my own fritter batter) As with most batter type cooking, you get fragments of batter that float away and weld themselves to the pan. This then was the ultimate test. I soaked the pan in a solution of washing up liquid and water for about 10 minutes. I then washed the pan in this same solution before emptying and running a fresh bowl of washing up water. I washed the pan as any other with a dishcloth, not a scourer. When I took it out of the water it was amazing. No caked on batter and no sign of cooking oil, and the bowl was still full of bubbles!

Overall
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It's over an hour since I did my last bit of washing up, and to test the bubble strength I left the water in the bowl. The bubbles are as I left them, there's been no deterioration at all. There's still plenty of them and they're still as clean looking as when I started. All in all, a good value washing up liquid to use. I've used more expensive liquids than this that don't have the quality this has. A bottle lasts me an eternity, well about three months actually. I don't have that much washing up though so it will differ from family to family, depending on your volume of washing up and how much of the stuff you use per wash. You have to keep the cap area clean or it clogs up and thickly. The concern that most people may have now is, whether or not it's tested on animals or not. If I can get an answer I will, of course, update this review.

The liquid is specially prepared for Aldi Stores, PO Box 26. Atherstone, Warwickshire, CV9 2SH 

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