Tide & Downy turned me into a Clothing Doctor #PGMom

I wash my clothing in cold water because I feel like it is the environmentally responsible thing to do, and the fact that it reduces my heating bills is a great bonus! I’m not willing to sacrifice my clothing though, so I have been using Tide since I made the cold water switch several years ago. In the past, I reserved the more expensive Tide for big stains or severely soiled laundry because I knew my regular detergent couldn’t handle it. Little did I know, I was costing myself more money in clothing by using the cheaper detergent. I saw this with my own eyes when I had the chance to visit P&G’s North American Head Office.

I was introduced to all of the different varieties of Tide, which includes Tide with Downy, Tide for Cold Water, Tide Ultra, Tide Sport, Tide with Bleach Alternative, Tide with Febreze and Tide Pods. One thing that they all have in common is that they are made to clean, protect and enhance your clothes.

The dresses shown above demonstrate the difference between Tide and the competition. The dress on the far left was washed ten times in the competition’s detergent while the dress in the middle was washed with Tide Pods. You can see the difference in the white of the dress…it appears almost yellow in the dress on the left while remaining white in the middle. The dress on the far right was first washed ten times in the competition’s detergent and then washed another ten times with Tide Pods. You can see the white is nearly restored to it’s original white, although the black lines are not as crisp as the dress in the middle.

The images below show the actual fibers from the first and second dresses shown above. There is quite a bit of dirt left in the fibers from the dress washed in the competition’s detergent. The fibers washed in Tide have a small amount of dirt remaining and appear to be smoother.

Here is another example of Tide’s healing powers. The image below on the left shows fibers from a garment washed twenty times in value detergent. The image on the right is a second (same) garment washed twenty times using Tide with Downy. The average life span of a garment is thirty washes but you can see here that using the right detergent and fabric softener can increase the life of your clothing.

So you can see that washing with Tide and Downy can not only make your clothing last longer, it can also help repair clothing that has already been damaged. The shirts below demonstrate this beautifully. The shirt on the left was washed with Tide. The shirts in the middle and on the right were washed repeatedly in the competition’s brand. You can see the discoloration in the collar and button area on the middle shirt. The shirt on the right was washed with Tide several times after the washes with the competition’s brand, and it looks almost as good as the shirt on the left. Tide is like CPR for your clothing!

Downy ensures that your clothing smells nice beyond wash day. It leaves microscopic scent beads on your clothing that release scents when there is friction with the fabric and the beads break. You can see one of these tiny scent beads below, before and after breaking.

With the cost of clothing these days I want to keep it looking and feeling good for as long as possible, and I now know that Tide is the right tool for the job.

Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom/mamanP&G. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own.