Perfumed Persil (Persil Washing Powder)

Member Name: MALU

Product:	Persil Washing Powder
Date:	09/07/09 (197 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: the best

Disadvantages: the most expensive

Can I hire you? Are you trustworthy? If you've got a Persilschein, you've got the job.

A brand has made it if its name has become a term of the colloquial language. Like Persil. The product was invented in Germany in 1907, the first syllables of the two ingredients per-borate and sil-icate were connected to form the name, Persil. For many years it has had a market share of 30% in Germany, in 2008 it won the top brand award in the category detergents. In the UK it's also the leading product in the field of detergents.

'To have a clean record' is 'to have white vest' in German. Persil washes whiter as every German knows, so it's no surprise that when someone doesn't have 'a white vest', the idea of Persil as the little helper comes up. Is the vest clean again, the person in question has got a Persilschein*, i.e., a free pass, they're absolved of all responsibility. The term was widely used after WW2 as a nickname for a denazification certificate, nowadays it simply means a free permit to do business, for example. (I've found the German term in an English dictionary but I doubt that it's widely known.)

The German firm Henkel exports Persil to 26 countries, the UK and Ireland get their Persil from Unilever, though. To explain this in detail would go too far.

What is so special about Persil, what does it have that other detergents don't have? That's a tricky question for the simple consumer who doesn't have a chemical lab at home to compare the different brands. The German firm prides itself in washing 2,2 mill (!) stains every year and then analysing them. Quite impressive and obviously successful. Every time detergents are compared, Persil comes out top in quality - but also in price.

I used a different detergent for a long time which was cheaper but also effective for our washing. We've got a two-person household, no coal miners here, chimney sweeps or road construction workers smearing tar on motorways. Then one day my husband brought home Persil and put it in the washing machine before I got home. I sniffed when I opened the door, a hitherto unsmelled odour hit my nose. I can't say that I disliked it but as I had never smelled the washing powder I had used before I thought it was something I could do without. We stuck with Persil, I can't really say why, and meanwhile I'm so used to the smell that I don't notice it any more. Maybe we've got hooked and are now conditioned into buying it uncritically, who knows.

Am I content with the result? Of course I am. I should add that I never use pretreating stuff unless there are tough stains which I spray with a stain remover before putting the thing in question into the washing machine. White things become as clean as coloured ones, I can't complain. But as I've already said I have no problem clothes to wash and I know that other detergents do the job as well. The kind of Persil we use corresponds to the British Persil Non-Bio Capsules. It's (from the homepage) 'specifically formulated for sensitive skin. It is dermatologically tested, and for extra reassurance its skin care research is validated by the British Skin Foundation.'

I used to wash my things at 60°C but was scolded by my online friends when I mentioned this in a rev. I was told 40°C would also do the job. The Persil people tell me that 30°C are enough because of the great cleaning power of the detergent. The low temperature doesn't just save energy for a brighter environment, it's also kinder to my clothes is what they say. BUT, "Dust mites lurk in many places in the home, and they particularly like beds and carpets. . . . To kill dust mites wash bed linen and clothes at temperatures of 60° C or above." Even above! How would I know which temperature kills off my very own dust mites? Maybe I should catch some and send them to the Persil lab.

As is the case with many firms nowadays, Persil has also jumped on the bandwagon of charity by joining Save the Children in the 1990s.

Something else I'd like to quote from the homepage, "As the first laundry brand to launch a detergent and to feature a man in our TV advertising, Persil has always been at the forefront of innovation." I can't see the logic of equalling a detergent and a man, but there you are.

I can only recommend the British homepage, the Persil people don't only give 15 hints on how to wash most effectively (No 13: "After washing, don't allow your clothes to lie around wet any longer than you need to - bacteria can grow in the moisture, leading to unpleasant smells" [first dust mites, now bacteria, good grief, the horrors of everyday life!]), they also inform you on how to iron and even pack your ironed things properly into a suitcase. What a service!

The English ad slogan is, "Tough but gentle." The German one is, "Here you know what you've got". Find out yourself what applies to you.


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* Schein = ticket, permit (pronounced 'shayn')

Summary: the best washing powder from Germany