Is Fairy Liquid a false economy? Blog discussion

wacko911

I've an idea inspired by the toothpaste company.... Why dont they make the hole in the fairy liquid bottle bigger - to sell even more faily liquid??

peter999

fairynough wrote: »

You only need to shampoo once,

Yes, I shampoo with Fairy Liquid as well. :rotfl:

peter999

Biggles

Martin, your analogy with toothpaste was spot-on.

A few years ago we discovered Theramed toothpaste. It came in a 100ml tube that had apparently won many awards for efficient design. It stood on its 'head', you popped it out of the base, squeezed a tiny blob out of the narrow nozzle onto your brush, and the self-cleaning nozzle retracted all the spare toothpaste into the tube.

We were very efficient using this tube and found they lasted ages. So long, in fact, that when we wanted some more last year, we found they were no longer on the shelves. I even emailed the manufacturer in Germany to have it confirmed that they no longer made them.

Hmm, am award-winning design, junked after a couple of years? I wonder why? Oh, yes, it lasts too long! They were simply not selling enough toothpaste.

On similar lines, I noticed that our daughter's electric toothbrush was very similar to our Braun but it was branded by a toothpaste manufacturer. I was mildly curious as to why a toothpaste manufacturer would want to diversify into electrical equipment, so had a look.

I noticed that, as well as the little circular oscillating brush (the same as our Braun) it had two fixed brushes, one either side, on the head. Oh, yes, of course, so that you can load it up with a completely unnecessary amount of toothpaste! Another question answered.....

bellis102

:money: Just to give the scientific reasoning behind this thread.

If you look at the ionic and nonionic surfactants in both fairy liquid and own brand washing up liquid, you will find that they are the same %'s. It is these surfactants that actually clean your dishes, grab hold of the grease and make it soluble in water etc. the bubbles are there just for asthetics.
In you fairy you will find that the formulation is 20% foamer, 15% surfactants the rest being perfume (1%) colour (0.05%) and the most important ingrediant, good old NaCl, table salt then the rest good old tap water.
If you get a bottle of the cheap washing up liquid and add a table spoon of salt to it, it will increase the viscosity and fool you into thinking it is fairy. (dont add too much or else it will go thin again!)So all that proctor and gamble do is make the washing up liquid, then add salt to fool you into thinking it is more concentrated because it is nice and thick. :rotfl:

So next time you are shopping, stop look at the label for the surfactants, if they are the same, buy the cheaper one! and if you must, add salt! :money:

bellis102

:money: Just to give the scientific reasoning behind this thread.

If you look at the ionic and nonionic surfactants in both fairy liquid and own brand washing up liquid, you will find that they are the same %'s. It is these surfactants that actually clean your dishes, grab hold of the grease and make it soluble in water etc. the bubbles are there just for asthetics.
In you fairy you will find that the formulation is 20% foamer, 15% surfactants the rest being perfume (1%) colour (0.05%) and the most important ingrediant, good old NaCl, table salt then the rest good old tap water.
If you get a bottle of the cheap washing up liquid and add a table spoon of salt to it, it will increase the viscosity and fool you into thinking it is fairy. (dont add too much or else it will go thin again!)So all that proctor and gamble do is make the washing up liquid, then add salt to fool you into thinking it is more concentrated because it is nice and thick. :rotfl:

So next time you are shopping, stop look at the label for the surfactants, if they are the same, buy the cheaper one! and if you must, add salt! :money:

Frapp

It actualy makes me use less, ill just use one squirt where as with a bottle of the cheep stuff i just whack half the bottle in!

I like the fairy, if you use it like they sujest (one squirt on the sponge) it will do a pile of dishes and leave them all sparkling, but if you put one squese into the bowl it wont last as long or do as much good.

Im deffo a fairy fan

peter999

bellis102 wrote: »

:money: Just to give the scientific reasoning behind this thread.

So next time you are shopping, stop look at the label for the surfactants, if they are the same, buy the cheaper one! and if you must, add salt! :money:

You can't stop human behaviour.

People judge washing up liquid on the amount of suds & whether the water feels soapy to wash dishes & remove the grease.

I wouldn't go with any propaganda from the Green brigade in telling us how to use our Fairy Liquid/Washing up liquid.

peter999

movanshow

I've just started using e-cloths that use no chemicals and they really work. Use them on kitchen surfaces, glass, floors ( with mop system) and washing up with little or no washing up liquid. http://www.e-cloth.com/

peter999

movanshow wrote: »

I've just started using e-cloths that use no chemicals and they really work. Use them on kitchen surfaces, glass, floors ( with mop system) and washing up with little or no washing up liquid. http://www.e-cloth.com/

I'm not sure how e-cloths can disobey the laws of science.
But if companies can jump on the bandwagon & sell these at a premium on back of Green agenda, good luck to them.

Placebo effect is very powerful.

peter999

Sir_Alan

I used Fairy, for all the reasons already mentioned (whether it was actually saving money, I could not say - it just did an excellent job with only a small squirt); but then I found out about Amways Dish Drops. This is sold through private distributors on a sort of pyramid scheme. It comes in 1 litre bottles, and is highly concentrated. You dilute it 4:1 with water in the calibrated squirty bottle, and it's very effective. I can't remember how much it costs - I have to refill so rarely that a bottle lasts for ages.

I recently noticed that Amways have also jumped on the bandwagon and increased the size of the hole...