Review of OxiClean Free Detergent

I have a small confession to make. I have dingy towels (the horror!). When we purchased our home, I was very excited to buy a new bathroom set, complete with beautiful white hand towels. Unfortunately, over time, the white hand towels have slowly started to turn a yellowish-gray, especially in the center where they get the most use. I've tried bleach, but to no avail. Zout, a stain remover that works on almost everything (I kid you not, ketchup, mustard, even motor oil), could not bring my pretty towels back to their original white color. A friend of mine swears by OxiClean, but as far as I'm concerned, I try to stay away from products that the television yells at me to buy. An additional concern is that as a highly-allergic person, some detergents and cleansers severely irritate my skin.

Several days ago, I was wandering through Target when I saw "OxiClean - free" on the shelf. They now make OxiClean with no perfumes and/or dyes. I was sold. You have to think that a $6 investment is better than purchasing all new hand towels, right? I followed the directions very carefully. I dissolved one-quarter of a scoop of the OxiClean in 16 ounces of water, and then poured/rubbed the mixture on the dingy spots of the hand towels. I even added some of the OxiClean to my washer cycle, as the water was pouring in and before I added the clothes, as the tub instructed. Though it looked like quite the comic feat in my laundry room for a few minutes as I was adding clothes to a washer filling with water and suds, I was certain that my towels would never look better.

They didn't. I was convinced I had done something wrong. There was still a yellowish-gray look to the center of the towel. The whites didn't look whiter. They didn't look brighter. They looked exactly the same, and I was out $6. Or was I? Never one to give up, I did just a cycle of the towels this time, figuring maybe the OxiClean needed less articles on which to focus.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. The towels came out looking exactly as they did before they were put in the wash. The dye and perfume-free OxiClean didn't do a thing for them either time. I'm disappointed, but I'm glad I tried. I am, however, left wondering if regular OxiClean (complete with scent) would have done a better job. I will never know, and now I'm off to the store in search of some new hand towels. I think I'll choose a pattern or color this time. Versatile stain remover, my foot.