What Is a Mild Detergent and Where It Can Be Used

So, what is a mild detergent? A mild detergent is a gentle detergent for clothes or a soap for laundry or dishwashing containing only surface-active agents that dissolve dirt and grease. Unlike ordinary detergents that can contain enzymes or abrasives, depending on the product. Can do best in a wool laundry in cold water.

Even at home, we are surrounded by different cleaning and washing chemicals. However, most of them tend to irritate our skin. Below you will find some useful tips on how not to get lost among the variety of mild liquid detergent products and choose the best and safest ones.

There is plenty of washing liquids today and sometimes it may be difficult to choose the one that is most harmless not only for your clothes but also for your skin. A win-win option will be to pick a mild detergent.

What is considered a mild detergent?

It is a washing product that only contains surfactants and it works as a dissolvent for dirt. For those who don’t know, the main quality of surfactants is that they destroy connections between different solids which makes them indispensable when you need to wash something oily or greasy.  Unlike many strong washing liquids, this kind of product does not contain any aggressive elements such as builders which makes it safer for our skin. Also, mild washing products are usually very foaming.

In a household, mild cleaning detergent is widely used every day. We can apply it either for dishwashing or when doing our laundry, as well as other cleaning purposes like washing floors, for example. There can be both fragranced and fragrance-free detergents which are good if you don’t like any specific or strong artificial fragrances.

Mild Detergents vs Soaps. Is There a Difference?

In fact mild detergent for cleaning and soap are pretty much alike. They both have a similar structure and contain the same elements that make these products so efficient in performing washing and cleaning tasks.

The active cleaning agents that both soaps and detergents have are usually used to make the surface more washable so that all the dirt could be washed away easier and more thoroughly.

What Is a Mild Detergent
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Dishwashing Soap for Cleaning the House

Good old mild dishwashing liquid, or simply a dish soap, is a perfect example of a mild detergent. Though it is mostly used in the kitchen for scrubbing pots and pans, it can be applied for surprisingly more cleaning tasks, both outdoor and indoor!

What is considered a mild detergent
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  • For example, you can use it for washing the floor. A couple of spoons of dish soap added to a bucket full of water will make your floors shine. It is especially good on such surfaces as linoleum and vinyl, by the way.
  • You might not know, but dish soap is very efficient at washing any oil stains from clothes. To get rid of the stain, simply rub some product into the damaged area and then wash it at the highest temperature allowed for a certain kind of fabric.
  • If you want to keep your kitchen surfaces clean, dish soap is a good choice, too. What you can do is to mix some mild dish soap for cleaning with warm water in your spray bottle. Works well for counters, windowsills, etc.
  • You probably know how fast kitchen appliances get dirty. To solve that problem, use ordinary dish soap to clean your toasters, ovens, blenders and other “kitchen helpers”.
  • What else can you make clean by using your dish soap? Kitchen drawers, windows (or any other glass surface), metal window blinds and even – you won’t believe it! – air conditioner filter! Only be careful when you wash your air conditioner: make sure you are using a soft toothbrush and warm water to rinse and dry it.
Mild Detergents vs Soaps
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As for the outdoor cleaning chores, dish soap can be successfully applied to help you to deal with dirty garden chairs and tables, both plastic and metal. However, you shall never use it for taking care of any wooden furniture!

Your favorite grill that the whole family uses for a barbecue can also be cleaned by simply using a mix of water and dish soap. Only make sure you prepare a really strong blend and remember to rinse everything thoroughly with water afterward!

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Probably, the most unusual sphere where dish soap can be applied is jewelry cleaning. As for this one, be careful and make sure that all your jewelry items are ok with any washing products, even the mildest ones! Some of the gemstones and metals may get ruined when getting in contact even with the gentle chemicals.

What Mild Detergent Is Best to Use at Home

This is probably the most worrying question for everyone who takes care of his or her health, especially for those of us who have babies. Which mild detergent for clothes would be the best one? Which one to use for bath or cleaning?

Well, if you have a little child or a baby in the household, you know that their skin is extremely sensitive. In order not to cause allergy or skin irritation, it is recommended to use such safe and mild laundry detergent as Dreft, Puracy Natural Laundry Detergent, Purex, Eco Nuts Detergent (organic) and ECOS Laundry detergent when washing your child’s clothes. They are safe for a baby from the first days of its life.

If you need to choose a bath wash, give preference to well-known labels like Johnson’s or Puracy. Also, Dr.Bronner’s Castile soap established itself to be a safe product (besides, it is unscented).

Concerning this, people often wonder whether such popular washing product brands as Tide and DAWN are safe and mild. So, is Tide or DAWN a mild detergent? Well, let’s say that they do work when you need to clean something troublesome.

DAWN is especially good at it as it can cope with almost anything starting from Vaseline and oil and ending with killing fleas. However, it contains ammonia which is a bit toxic. As for Tide, it has a mild and gently product called Tide Free and Gentle liquid laundry detergent.

However, if you want to buy an efficient and safe washing product for your home, no matter whether it is for cleaning or laundry, you’d better choose one of the organic brands. Luckily, there are plenty of them nowadays.

16 thoughts on “What Is a Mild Detergent and Where It Can Be Used”

  1. Which is the best mild soap? I have pretty sensitive skin and it’s always been a problem to find a product that’s gentle enough. Can you advise something?

    • Hi! I can advise you Dove, Cetaphil cleansing lotion, and Oil of Olay cleansing bar. I tried each of those and I was very satisfied as an owner of sensitive skin!

  2. I’d like to ask for a piece of advice, especially if there are moms with kids here! What is the most gentle laundry detergent? Something that would be safe for the little ones?

    • Hey there! I tried Persil Pro Clean Sensitive, Tide Free&Gentle, and 7th Generation Gree&Clear. All seemed quite all right to me, but I know there are several more exist.

      I just stopped experimenting since I found what suited me.

  3. What is considered a mild soap? How to figure out which bar is mild in a store? I mean, I can’t unwrap or taste it, so how do I know? Thanks!

    • Well, I can say that those soaps that have strong scent are not mild, also, antibacterial ones don’t belong to this category. Colored soap bars are also better to avoid. 

      In general, mild soap must contain conditioning and moisturizing oils, and no added fragrances.

  4. Is dawn the same as Fairy? I sometimes see bottles that look like Fairy but they state Dawn on the label.

    • Actually, they are produced by the same company, but the bottles can’t be the same: the shape is significantly different.

  5. Hey! Maybe, my question will seem odd but can I use shampoo to wash dishes? Thanks!

    • You’ll be surprised but yes, you can use shampoo for washing dishes! I tried it once when I ran out of me dishwashing liquid, and it worked perfectly. Besides, shampoo is gentler to the skin. 

      However, if like me, you’re using a pricey shampoo, that’s probably not the best alternative to the common detergent!

    • Fairy Antibacterial Action does kill bacteria, but I don’t know about the other products of this brand.  

  6. Thanks. We just got a quartz countertop installed with a new sink and needed to clean it. I needed to know what an example of what to clean it with and love your suggestion of warm water and Dawn detergent. Thanks so much for answering me.

    • Hi Roxanne, thank you for your question! In most cases there should be an instruction, which tells what kind of detergent can be used and which one to avoid with a particular item. You can clean it with With mild dish soap and a soft rag to avoid any damages on the surface.

  7. So, a mild detergent means one that contains only surfactants. That would be a helpful definition to anyone who happens to know what things are surfactants and what things are not surfactants. For example, Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid’s label says it contains “biodegradable surfactants.” But it does not say that it contains nothing else. The ingredients listed on the label include methylisothiazolinone, phenoxyethanol, sodium chloride, c9-11 pareth-8. Are those things surfactants? How is one to know? Dawn Direct Foam dishwashing solution says it contains “biodegradable surfactants.” It does not list any ingredients by name and it does NOT say that it contains ONLY biodegradable surfactants. So, how is one to know whether either product meets the meaning of a “mild detergent?”

    • Hello. Surfactants are a primary component cleaning agents contain. Surfactant is a surface active agent that stirs up activity on the surface you are cleaning, helping to trap dirt and remove it from the surface.

      A mild detergent is a detergent that only contains surfactants that dissolve dirt/grease. It contains no builders or harsh ingredients. But there is no formal definition for what constitutes a “mild” detergent or soap. 

      Generally speaking, it’s a detergent that one can use with bare hands, and not experience skin irritation.

      Usually, mild detergents include baby shampoos, liquid dishwashing detergents, liquid hand soap and certain laundry liquid detergents

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