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Does Tide Detergent Irritate Your Skin?


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No, I'm not gathering anecdotal evidence for a class-action suit or anything like that. I'm just curious.

Over the years, we buy Tide for a while, and every time, we have to stop after a month or so because it the laundry we wash with it irritates my son's skin as well as mine. We switch to a different detergent, and the problems clear up almost immediately. We have this problem even with Tide Free.

Obviously, there's something in Tide that does not agree with our skin, and it's equally obvious that it's not something that intereferes with most other people, given the detergent's popularity. But like I said, I'm just curious - does Tide irritate YOUR skin?

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I've never used Tide detergent on my skin...

But seriously, we go with the Arm & Hammer "Free" stuff with no perfumes or dyes, because laundry products with scents drive my allergies up the friggin' wall. There's nothing more miserable for me than sleeeping on "scented" sheets...

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Powder or liquid??

I haven't used the powder version of Tide in years, but even just a faint whiff of it (no, I'm not snorting it -- this is a serious attempt to answer a serious question), but even just a faint whiff of the smell of Tide powder - is guaranteed to irritate my sinuses like almost nothing else I've ever encountered.

Likewise, the smell of fresh laundry washed using Tide power, also bothers me.

Now the liquid version of Tide doesn't bother me a bit -- and, in fact, that's what we use. Our washing machine is one of those low-water-consumption models, so we have to use Tide "HE", which is a "low-suds" detergent. But back in our old apartment, we used to use the regular (non-HE) liquid Tide, and it never bothered me a bit.

If you're using the powder version, try the liquid - see if that helps.

(In fact, I was home with my Dad, showing him how to do laundry last month, and my folks had Tide powder - and I specifically remember noticing a burning sensation in my sinuses as I scooped some out, and poured it into the washing machine.)

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Weird, makes one wonder if they have changed the formulas through the years! Who heard of anyone being bothered by detergents? But we have switched to the "free" stuff a few years back...the sheets washed with the perfumed stuff started to bother me all of the sudden! Are they pumping growth hormones in them???:ph34r:

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Start beatin' those jeans on a rock down by da river.

I do a fair share of the task and always, no matter if it's semi-delicates or cold water only, put the Tide (yes, that one seems to work best) in the washer and go with 'hot' h2o for a minute with the machine on lo water and let it agitate to mix up the soap. Then proceed with the regular chore and even turning back the dial to start the agitation mode again with the tub full. I find that mixing it up before putting in the goods keeps the detergent spotting down and probably helps it to rinse away a bit better. And what b-3er sez... less is more.

I'm sure glad I'm not anally retentive or anything. :wacko:

And I find that if I play that 'QO' CD I just received the clothes virtually clean themselves! :g

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Yeah, that's good advice, MwtGA.

Back when I was in college, and doing laundry for the first time -- I'd stuff all the clothes in the washer, and dump the power in, on top of the clothes - and then I'd wonder why there would sometimes be undisolved grains of detergent in the folds of some of my jeans when I was done.

Always disolve the power in hot water in an empty machine, then switch to whatever temp you really want to use, and then load the clothes.

Or just use liquid. I really dislike the hassle of using powered detergent, and haven't for several years.

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Hmm, interesting in so many ways! First, Tide lets people badmouth their product on their website...and it does sound like something has changed in the products thru the years...some woman itches using the powder, doesn't want to pay more for liquid tide ! :rolleyes:

Best comment I saw...

I have been washing my hair with tide to stop hair loss :bwallace:

I would use cold water unless you don't care about your head shrinking... ^_^

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I do a fair share of the task and always, no matter if it's semi-delicates or cold water only, put the Tide (yes, that one seems to work best) in the washer and go with 'hot' h2o for a minute with the machine on lo water and let it agitate to mix up the soap. Then proceed with the regular chore and even turning back the dial to start the agitation mode again with the tub full. I find that mixing it up before putting in the goods keeps the detergent spotting down and probably helps it to rinse away a bit better.

Cripes, Arm,

It would be easier to make a nuclear weapon than follow your directions here. ;)

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Hey now hey! If I was a dead football coach, my name would be Tom Laundry - I've been doing the warsh (Deep East Texas pronunciation) for about 30 years now, 20 years for two, almost 18 for three, and 13 years for four, so I know all about the overstated "recommended" amounts (kinda like "Lather. Rinse. Repeat." - I don't THINK so!), powder vs liquid, and letting the soap dissolve. It ain't about none of that, trust me!

There just seems to be some ingredient in Tide (ALL varieties!) that irritates our skin, and it seems that some of you have a similar reaction to at least some forms of Tide, as well as other products.

You know what works best for us in all regards is Wisk. When we got one of those HE washers, we had to go back to Tide because that was the only HE soap that the supermarket we shop at carries, and I don't really care for "grocery" shopping to take more than one stop if I can keep from it. BUT - a few weeks ago, I was in Target (you know, Wal-Mart for humans :) ), and I was pleasantly surprise to see that they carried a "full" selection of HE detergent brands, including Wisk.

So know we're cool. I can go to Target every once in a while, buy socks, drawers, Wisk HE, and a random kitchen gadget. Life is good in America!

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Another vote for "free" detergents: even the Tide free works okay for me, but I usually use "All Free" liquid. But avoid things with "stain lifters" and especially "enzymatic action." The worst was the original ERA detergent (not to be confused with the Equal Rights Amendment, I guess, though it came on the market at the same time!) which pioneered those "enzymes" -- free samples left on doorknobs all over our small town (around 1970) caused horrible full-body rashes -- we didn't use it because there were already sensitive skins in the household but my father, a doctor, saw LOTS of emergency room cases -- including a father and son who had to interrupt their deer hunting because their long johns, newly washed in ERA, were killing them!

For stains and smells, I add plain old (20-mule-team) Borax (my only tip of the hat to Ronald Reagan) to the water before the clothes (the MWGA method -- hey, they didn't change "home ec" to "domestic science" for merely PC reasons!).

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