I am 49 and a qualified nurse. Very happily married and mum to 4 children mostly grown up now- 2 so...
I am 49 and a qualified nurse. Very happily married and mum to 4 children mostly grown up now- 2 sons and 2 daughters.
Member since:10.11.2008
Reviews:71
Members who trust:29
November for me sees the last of my garments blowing in the wind on wash days, before they are resigned to the clothes airer, or the tumble dryer, after emerging fresh and clean from the washing machine.
So this time of year affords probably the best opportunity to enjoy the smell of newly washed laundry indoors, so how fresh and clean the garments are really matters, as they are not going to get that outside freshness.
Well that's certainly the case for me here in Essex, but my frequent trips to the Outer Hebrides do see clothes clinging on for their lives on washing lines all year round, some ending up half way to the sea. The wind beats even the most robust of storm pegs! For this reason, and also because of my love of walking along muddy paths, a laundry treatment is needed which can cope with the stains that wayward laundry picks up. I have joined the locals in this quest to dry outside when I visit, and some of my undies have been rescued from the fields with newly acquired grass stains, so the product I am reviewing here has been tested in both areas, which is good because Scotland has soft water and Essex has hard water so it is interesting to compare and contrast the results.
Persil Gel tablets are biological, and you can find them in the laundry aisles of many supermarkets in an apple green box. In the right hand corner are the words "Just Washed Feeling " which on their website means that they are treated with Active Microcapsules - a new technology, which means that they have a freshness which lasts all day after washing.
I
bought mine in Tesco and they were on offer at £4 for 48 tablets which does 24 washes, making each wash work out to be just under 17p.This actually works out slightly cheaper than my normal liquid detergent "Surf" which I am mostly loyal to, so this was a bonus for the gel tablets.
Now another claim this product has is that it needs no pre- treatment for any stains at all. This sounds brilliant as it certainly cuts the cost of the laundry job.
Also the product can be used at 30 degrees, which means you can save on power and electricity running costs, but of course nowadays most competitors also have this attribute, as they simply have had to remain up to date, and to hold onto their share of the market.
The side of the box has a photograph of a young boy on a mountain bike. This infers he is going to arrive home caked in mud and grime. The text next to the image explains that no stain removers will be necessary, and that his clothes will emerge from the drum clean and fresh. The final caption I read is "Dirt Is Good"
So with all this positivity literally oozing from the box I had high hopes, and so firstly to my experience of using the product in Essex. Into the washing machine I piled all my husband's shirts, and my son also had a fair amount of laundry to add to this white wash, and I launched it off at 30 degrees, having first placed two of the gel tablets towards the back of the drum in the little string bag provided.
Each of the tablets are plastic wrapped in pairs. They look like giant Alka- Seltzers with a bottle green gel layer at the top, which contains all the stain removing ingredients.
On removing the laundry I was very impressed indeed. The shirts literally sparkled, and all the stains around the collars were gone. In many ways I felt this was probably the best results I had obtained with any wash I had done in the past. The only observation was that there was a small layer of residue from the tablets which had caught in the front of the door seal. This is something I often find when using any powder based product at 30 degrees. I simply don't think the wash generates enough turning power in the machine to fully dissolve the entire product before the end of the cycle. It is why I never use powders for coloured items because I find powdery residues can leave white marks on the clothes. This product is not for coloured clothes so any residue was not visible, and so I was more than happy as the machine itself has continued to smell fresh due to this residue left behind.
I have experimented washing at 40 degrees on a more aggressive cycle, and the product will then fully disperse, but of course this isn't what the manufacturer claims, and so it is slightly misleading to the consumer. Furthermore it is really important to place the tablets at the back of the drum to aid the dispersal process.
If you have very hard water and moderately to extremely soiled laundry it does suggest that you go up to 3 tablets.
In The Outer Hebrides my laundry created more of a challenge. Heavily soiled from a rather muddy wander through the peaty hills to watch sheep, I had a full load of rather muddy things. I wouldn't normally put coloured items in biological powder, but this was a job which needed something powerful. 40 degrees and 2 tablets produced outstanding results, and not a trace of mud or dirt remained. I also did a wash there of white towels and these came up lovely and clean at 30 degrees, but in tune with what I found in Essex a residue remained n the drum seal. A 60 degree wash of bed linen produced again outstanding results, and this cleared the drum of any residue from the less aggressive washes.
I think this product needs to be used with caution if you are using low temperature delicate washing programs with whites, as there will be a residue-it is sweet smelling and clears easily with an aggressive wash but it is something to be aware of.
The laundry comes out of the machine smelling beautiful. I think it mirrors the fresh smell some of the newer Daz powders have, and is certainly a match for my normal brand "Surf".
Certainly this product is not claiming it can match the 15 degrees advertised by products such as Ariel Excel Gel, but my machine does not have the capability to wash at such a low setting anyway, but some of the newer machines certainly do, and this is a consideration if you are trying to be greener.
The laundry I have dried inside after using this gives a lovely scented fragrance to the room, and it certainly lasts. I have noticed garments which I have placed in drawers several days later still have that newly washed scent, and this is despite not having used any fabric conditioner, which I purposely avoided as I wanted to really test the product capabilities.
If you like this product alternatives are available in the form of colour gel tablets for coloured items specifically.
I think this is a good product which is certainly going to be on my shopping list again. It performs well in every aspect and in both soft and hard water areas. It has one fault which is incomplete dispersal at 30 degrees on delicate wash programmes, so expect to see some residue in the door seal with continuous use at these settings.
This fault does concern me if the user has any kind of skin sensitivity to laundry powders. However many people with this do not use biological powders anyway as they tend to pose the most problems.
In conclusion I think this is an excellent product but has one fault which is why I have dropped a Ciao star from its ratings. It certainly does,however, save a fortune on pre-treatments, if you have a family who present you with a weekly washing challenge!
Summary: A product well worth buying.
This review is also published on Dooyoo by myself under my user name Machair1
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Nov 6th, 2009
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