Which Laundry Soap Cleans the Best?

A few months ago Adelle had to pepare a science fair project for school. Wes suggested putting fats on paper and seeing which one spreads the farthest (shows which foods are highest in fat). I instead suggested laundry soap and finding out which one cleans the best. I wish I could say my suggestion was all for science, but really it was a selfish reason. What Mom doesn't want to know which brand is best. Adelle was quite interested in my idea :)


I bought five different brands of laundry soap. We even thought of making a homemade soap, but after looking up a recipe and finding it had several exotic ingrediants we let that idea slip away. We took 5 different white rags and stained them with Russian Dressing, Ketchup, Mustard, and Chocolate Syrup. We let the stains sit 2 hours before being washed by a brand of laundry soap. All of the laundry soaps were able to remove the stains, except mustard. Nothing, I repeat nothing, could remove the mustard. We didn't do any sort of pre-treating. We just wanted to see the power of the laundry soap alone.

Adelle's theory was the most expensive laundry soap would work the best. Here they are in order of price:

1. Tide

2. Wisk

3. All

4. Kirkland (Costco Brand)

5. Sun

Adelle's theory was correct, but the price order didn't entirely determine how they all performed.

Tide in fact did clean the best. Too bad it is so darn expensive. I bought it on coupon and have been trying to get my hands on more of them :) It had the least amount of mustard left.

All was a very close second. It was a lot cheaper.

Wisk, while being second in price, was third in performance.

Sun, while last in price, came in fourth in performance. It is hard to see in the picture, but the mustard left behind was a pretty interesting color.

And to my absolute horror the Kirkland Laundry soap, which I have used for countless years, came in absolute last. I couldn't believe it :( Guess it is time to switch!

Adelle made her fancy poster and brought it to school. While she didn't earn an award, her teacher confessed that she was very interested in Adelle's project.

Adelle confessed that while she was very happy to do such a useful project for our family, she would rather do something more interesting next year. I guess the kids in her class were very interested in a child that did a project on what body parts have the most bacteria. I guess the bottom won. We will not be doing that one...I am certain. I did let Wes know that perhaps he should be her Science Advisor next year. I've filled that role for two years now. We've gone from mold last year to laundry soap this year (I must confess I preferred this year) and Adelle has worked hard. I am so proud of her!