Fairy-ing well against Palmolive (Fairy Liquid)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Fairy Liquid
Date:	25/12/06 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cuts grease, rinses well, gentle on hands, good value

Disadvantages: Lemon doesn't smell as good as Palmolive

If you have an unpleasant job like washing dishes, why shouldn't you try to make the experience as easy and amiable as possible? Of course, the easiest answer is to purchase a dishwasher (which I did). However, even if you do, you're not going to be able to get away with never washing up anything again. There are always things that aren't dishwasher safe, or you just need to wash a couple small things. Occasionally you might not have room in the dishwasher for everything, and have to finish up by hand. So what do you do? If you're like me, you'll look for the best washing up liquid you can find to help you do the job. I've recently discovered Fairy liquid and here's what I think of it.

The most important thing about a washing up liquid for me, is how it cuts through grease. Up until now, I hadn't found any liquid that cut grease as well as Palmolive liquid. Although I had seen Fairy in the shops, it was in smaller bottles than the Palmolive and seemed to cost more. When we saw the Fairy on sale at our supermarket, we decided to try it. Well, I'm pleased to say that I found that this product does cut through grease very well. I didn't find frying pans or pots that I had any film left on them, and I don't believe I used any more effort than usual. In fact, I did notice that on one of my pans some of the old greasy buildup on the sides and bottom came off. That's an improvement over my Palmolive so Fairy gets full points for this.

It is also important that a soap rinses off your dishes well. I have never found soapy scum left on any of the dishes I've washed with this, nor have I found I have to rinse my pots for any longer to get the suds off. In comparison, do recall that there were times when I used Palmolive that I found I had to re-rinse something but with Fairy, this hasn't happened. This must mean that Fairy rinses off efficiently and I'll give it full marks for this as well.

Next, I like to use things that smell nice. I first tried the lemon-scented version, but this also comes in the original (just soapy, clean, boring), scent as well as Apple Blossom, Floral Breeze and Purple Herbal. I haven't tried the Purple Herbal one since I didn't like the smell of it in the bottle. The Apple Blossom one smelled okay, and when I used it, I found it to be a nice, "Granny Smith" type scent, which was a bit tart. The Floral Breeze liquid smells very rosy to me, and I really prefer it to all the others. (Unfortunately, I'm not alone in this, and I sometimes find it hard to find in the shops.) However, I have to say that I actually prefer the smell of the Palmolive's lemon-scented liquid as I find it more tart and fresh. Still, if I can't find the Floral Breeze, Fairy's lemon one will do. The original version is just too boring and doesn't make washing up as fun. By the way, Palmolive now has fancy scented liquids as well, but only their lemon-scented one smells really good. I'll give this four out of five, because the lemon one isn't as lemony as I'd like it to be.

By the way, Fairy now has a 'natural' line of liquids as well as an anti-bacterial line. I'm not totally clear what the advantage of these are, but they are far more expensive than the regular kind and I see no reason to try them. I mean, really, it's just for cleaning up dirty dishes, so what's the point? Perhaps the anti-bacterial ones are good if you don't have or can't use hot water, but the natural ones – well, you've got me there. Go figure, right?

Another important element of using dish soap is how it leaves your hands after you've finished washing up. Now, I hate using hand cream since it makes my skin feel slimy. That means that whatever effect this liquid has on my hands I will feel fully. After using Palmolive, I have occasionally felt that my hands were a bit on the dry side, especially when I have to wash a whole lot of pots. However, with Palmolive I never felt like my hands felt overly dry. With Fairy, I don't feel much of a difference than when I use Palmolive. My hands don't feel any rougher than after using Palmolive, but then again, my hands don't feel like I've just used a moisturizer, either. I'd say that Fairy is about as gentle on your hands as Palmolive – no better but no worse, and I'll give this product four out of five for this as well.

Finally, you might wonder just how much of this liquid you need to get your pots and dishes clean as compared to Palmolive. Once again, I can't feel much of a difference between the two. A small squirt of this on a sponge seems to make quite a bit of lather that can get me through several pots or a good stack of dishes. I don't think I'm buying more or less Fairy than I did of Palmolive, so if the prices are the same, then their value for the money is the same in my experience. The problem originally was that Fairy was – at one time – more expensive than Palmolive, but now that they seem to be about the same price, their value is about the same as well.

In conclusion, Fairy liquid washing up liquid cleans very well, cuts grease very efficiently, and rinses off a bit better than Palmolive. I do like the scent of Palmolive's lemon better than Fairy's lemon, but Fairy has some other scents that I prefer to Palmolive's. Finally, I believe that Fairy is equally gentle on your hands as Palmolive is, and seems about an equal value for the money. I'll unquestionably recommend this product and give it four out of five stars.

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © December 2006

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Technical Stuff:
Fairy Liquid is a product of Procter & Gamble UK, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 OXP, and their web page can be found at http://www.uk.pg.com/index.html where all information about animal testing and their products can be found.

The web page for Fairy liquid in particular, is http://www.uk.pg.com/products/products/fairyLiquid .html or http://www.freshliving.co.uk/range_fairy.htm

I found Fairy liquid on-line via http://www.viking-direct.co.uk selling two of the 500ml bottles of the lemon-scented version for £2.69 but if you buy three sets of these, it will cost only £2.49 – that is getting more than four bottles for free! They also sell the 750ml bottles in packs of two of the original kind, which costs £3.79 but if you buy three double packs, it costs only £3.49. They also sell the anti-bacterial version where one two-pack costs £5.49 and three two-packs cost £5.29. I can't believe you'd find a better price anywhere – even in shops, on special.
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Summary: A very good washing up liquid.