Prowash Activewear 2X Liquid Detergent, 24-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 3)
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Customer Reviews of Prowash Activewear 2X Liquid Detergent, 24-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 3)
Customer Review: Good detergent for problems, not better or worse for regular laundry
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Using my long acquired scientific method principles, I tried this detergent in a variety of situations listed below. Additionally, I have enumerated my general thoughts on the packaging, dispensing, etc.
Packaging/Dispensing: This is not a convenient method for dispensing liquid detergent. The spout is very small and the first task of breaking the bond on the cap requires a rubber hand holder or something that will apply friction. My hands are too large to deal with such a small device. Measuring of the liquid is made easier by the outside markings clearly visible on the side of the container, but this is also its downfall. This is difficult to measure by pouring and then placing the flexible container on the counter and then scrunching down to view the liquid to see how much more to pour, etc. To finalize my thoughts on the packaging, I am not a fan of flexible soap dispensers where you must be so careful to not squeeze the liquid out of the top and still have hold the container tight enough to not drop it. I realize that this may sound petty, but the process of pouring in the detergent is ten times longer than that other detergent products.
Test #1: I continued to use my bathroom towels until I could easily smell the familiar odor of mildew or whatever that smell is. I washed the towels in an extra large load and put 3 oz of detergent in (the directions say to use 2 units or ounces for a top load, but they did not mention a top load with extra capacity) with the hot water. I usually put white vinegar with this situation, but in this case, I did not. The towels came out with a slightly earthy smell. I didn't mind the smell, but my wife did not like it.
Test #2: Laundering my whites (and my family's underwear) in another heavy load: I usually use Clorox bleach and detergent in the first wash. This I did. Then I wash again to remove the Clorox. However, that smell never really is removed completely, thereby reducing the life of the underwear as Clorox tends to eat away the fabric. The smell of chlorine was gone and the whites were white.
Test #3: I have a nice Helly Hansen GoreTex winter coat. When new the water would bead up on the outside. After my first washing of it, it has lost the beading up, although the jacket is still water proof. I was hoping that by washing it in this detergent, the former detergent would be removed from the fabric as it states in the marketing advertising and the beading up would come back. However, after using this detergent, the coat looked great, but the beading up did not return. So I can assume that my older, cheaper detergent can be used with similar results.
Test #4: My oldest daughter works out and has a bra that doesn't seem to lose its smell after washing. It did mask the smell, but she is not a fan of the new smell of the detergent left behind.
Test #5: Since this detergent seemed to be quite effective at removing smells and stains, although putting its own smell on the clothing, I tried it on an old cotton dress shirt that had wax spilled on it. I had already had it dry cleaned, and washed several times attempting to remove the blemish. Nothing worked. But this time I used ProWash as a pre-soak with hot water. The wax blemish was removed and the shirt looks great. Well, my daughters tell me that it would have looked great in the era that it was purchased, but much to their chagrin, I wore it around the house. Why waste a good shirt?
What my testing tells me is that this is a very good laundry detergent. It is too expensive for me to use it on a regular basis and give up my cheaper liquids that I use from Procter & Gamble, however, it is certainly worth keeping around for the odd use of rescuing a piece of clothing from any problems that it might be having.
Customer Review: This stuff is worth a shot if you've got stinky clothes
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is a lovely topic, but I have this thing where, sometimes, and only on some of my clothes, the fabric near the armpits ends up smelling like cumin or body odor, take yer pick. This happens within a few hours of putting on the shirt or sweater, and without working out. It's almost like the shirt once got sweat on it and it's never washed out, and the smell of it is brought out again when the supposedly clean shirt comes into contact with my warm skin.
Whatever was in my shirts that smelled like body odor, Prowash Activewear got it out. I've only had a chance to use it on one load of shirts and sweaters, but I've worn one of the sweaters that seemed to always harbor the stink, and it no longer smelled like cumin, though I wore it the entire day. Sweet! Also, I'm a woman but I still appreciate that Prowash doesn't have the heavily perfumed-floral smell that most detergents have.
I used to use Certain Dri religiously as a nighttime deodorant, but I haven't lately, been rather lazy about it. I must start using it again, or else buy Prowash Activewear in bulk.
**Update** I am rather hoping that they change the packaging for this product, if they haven't already done so. The detergent has a water-like consistency, so it isn't thick at all. The packaging is a plastic pouch with a spread out base to keep it upright.... rather like a Capri Sun fruit drink pouch, if you remember those! The packaging has a lot of positives: less materials needed to make the packaging, less fuel required to ship because the packaging doesn't add a lot of weight, and takes up less space in our landfills than other packaging might. But there's a big negative: It can be rather easy to tip over, more so than a jug of Tide you might otherwise buy. I haven't tipped it over, but if your teenage kid is going to wash his baseball uniform, sets the Prowash on the counter, opens the cap to pour it, then accidentally nudges it, the water-like Prowash can go everywhere. I have to be very careful not to do this myself. As I use more of it, it gets more "bottom heavy", so it'll be less likely to tip over, I think.
Now there's another negative I found today - the tip of the cap came off when I went to open the Prowash. As in, the part of the cap that covers the opening to keep the contents from spilling out, it broke/separated from the part of the cap that screws on to the pouch. I have no idea how this happened, I'm the only one who does laundry and I've never dropped it or been careless with the Prowash packaging, and we have no children who could have broken it. So now, I can barely just get the tip of the cap to hang onto a lip of the other part of the cap, so maybe the Prowash won't dry out. Also, I'll have to be very careful all of the time to not tip over the Prowash pouch, as there is no longer a cap on it to keep the contents from spilling. I'll probably end up wrapping Saran Wrap over the opening, it's my best bet. Maybe I just got a bum bottle, but I thought the cap issue was worth mentioning.
Customer Review: On its own or as a booster, it does a pretty good job
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I'm a guy, and I run about 2-3 times per week, and my running clothing tends to get extremely dirty. Sometimes I'll just use a plain white t-shirt while running, and I've noticed that my regular "leading brand" detergents just don't seem to do the job at getting them clean. This ProWash detergent seems to do the trick.
I tested this detergent on several different loads of laundry to try to gauge its effectiveness. With my running clothing, I used this detergent full-strength as a substitute for my other detergent. Those items definitely feel cleaner, and they have a fairly neutral scent -- there's no artificial fragrance hiding the hidden odors. The fabric seems softer (I didn't use any fabric softener or other dryer sheets). When I look at my white t-shirts, they're definitely brighter and seem much cleaner than they've ever been.
If I could describe it effectively, it seems that old grime and detergent residues have effectively been eliminated from the fabrics.
I then tested this detergent by adding a small amount to my regular laundry as a booster. For a full load, I added about a tablespoon of this detergent in addition to my regular detergent. I would say it really helps. The clothing just seems cleaner, and it feels different to the touch. I particularly noticed that lighter colors, such as whites and beiges, are definitely brighter. Again, this load was completed without any additional additives, such as fabric softners or dryer sheets, and I must say that the clothing is much softer than when using regular detergents and a bunch of other additives.
My final test was conducted on a load of bath towels, which I considered probably much more soiled than anything else, including my running clothes. The result was actually incredible, considering that I did not use any other additives. Bath towels normally don't wash and dry well without other aids, but I could feel a remarkable difference after removing them from the dryer. I would imagine this detergent could prove useful with all types of linens.
The package's cap was a little difficult to open, and I was worried that I was going to break the "bag". This product doesn't come in a bottle, it comes in a soft "bottle bag" with a twist-off cap. The measuring instructions remain confusing. The package has a measurement window that runs down the side, and you are instructed to use 2 units or less per load of laundry. The window has indicators for 24 units, so depending on how much you use or how you use this, you may only get about 12-24 loads per package. Read the instructions carefully, otherwise you could end up using too much or too little for each load.
I'd recommend this as a substitute/booster for all laundry load types. I was fairly pleased with the results. I just think the packaging and the instructions need a little more work.
Customer Review: I Like The Smell AND Performance!
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This stuff does pretty much exactly what it says it does: it rejuvenates "performance" fabrics and gets the odors out, too. I've personally used it mostly for regular loads of mixed laundry like jeans and t-shirts, since I really don't own any Under Armour or anything like that. It gets my clothes clean and I like the smell; not perfumy or cloying like other detergents which are usually targeted at women.
I gave a few loads worth of Prowash to a friend who is a hockey goalie. He plays one to two times a week, and one to three games in a row because sometimes he subs for other players who are absent. If you're not familiar with a goalies gear they wear these huge chest protectors, and pads on their legs and arms. Because he plays so long and so often his gear is usually SOAKED with sweat. Often, it doesn't get to dry out completely in the days between games. He wears tons of Under Armour garments under it all and they just marinate in the sweat for hours. Not to be gross, but it's true. Well, he did two washes of most of his Under Armour gear in the Prowash I gave him. He said the first time he washed them he could smell an improvement. A week later he washed them all again in Prowash and this time he said he finally couldn't smell anymore "stink". He was pretty surprised by this because he had just given up on those clothes ever smelling "normal" again. He couldn't really attest whether the performance of the clothes was improved because he wears them under such heavy gear. He did jokingly remark to me on the phone tonight that he was wearing a shirt he had washed in the Prowash and it was performing so well it was literally sucking the moisture out of his cellular structure!! Ok, so he exaggerates a little... By the way, he liked the smell, too.
The only reason I didn't give Prowash 5 stars was cost. It's a little too pricey no matter how good it is.
Customer Review: I put this laundry detergent through the gauntlet
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I put this laundry detergent through the gauntlet, I'm a runner among other things, and sometimes you need a little extra something to clean your workout clothes.
I was recently told that I could no longer use anti-perspirant so I sweat when I workout, and my hubby likes to where the same nasty t-shirt again and again until the thing stands up and runs on its own. I am shocked that this detergent even took the smell out of his nastiest t-shirts. Previously we were Gain users and on his t-shirts we'd have to wash them twice. I was surprised, pleasantly so.
The detergent also got out the smell from our cat urinating in the hamper, so that was a bonus destinker. (we used this on lycras, spandex, cotton blends, cotton, poly blends and neoprene - no visual signs of wear after three weeks use)
Cons - It's a pain in the butt to pour, in those bag things, I did take an old cup and measure on it where one and two units is for easier measuring, but the bag is awkward. The other thing, even though it most definately does destink even your most valuable workout wear it has a florally perfumey smell to it. I don't dig on the perfume smell, but it's not that bad, my hubby on the other hand was pretty annoyed with how pretty he smelled.
I would like to add, several months after I have switched to Pro Wash, we were out recently and my son dropped a piece of pizza on a much beloved t-shirt which happened to be white. We tried a number of stain removers no such luck, mind you the stain had been washed and even set in the fabric, as a last ditch effort I though I'll give this stuff a try - it came out, totally and completely, I could not believe it! I'm still sort of shocked.