Discover the liquid dish soap spectrum from high class to no class.
This is the gamut from high class to no class. That’s not to say they are all subpar. It seems like plenty of time was put into the exterior design of the packaging. You might argue that perhaps they put all their money into the product's development instead of packaging. I’ll let you decide that one.
Ajax.
Here we go. Starting in no particular order is Ajax. The Greek “god” was a prince of King Telamon, king of Salamis. He hung out with Achilles, Hector, and Odysseus. Ajax has been around since 1947, made by Colgate-Palmolive as one of its first brands. This would be my number four. It falls into the “thin” category, as opposed to the thick category. Now, you have to understand from my perspective, in this game, the thicker the soap, the stronger/more the surfactants. It makes sense. The more you have, the tighter the collection of molecules. Ask my nephew; he’s a biochemist. Shy as a rug. Some soaps have a stronger take on grime, while others (the thin ones) not so much. It takes more of the product with some to complete the washing than with others, etc. So the thicker, the stronger in this bunch. However, its scent was at the top level, for this writer’s sniffer. Scent does give an olfactory boost to the cleaning session. Obviously jazzed up to mask a possible putrid patch. These soaps seem to range from the ‘in-your-face’ smell, to the clinical, to the subtle (we are so badass we don’t need any fancy smells to smoke up our product). Seems self-defeating. Some cleaners thought that a ‘lasting smell’ could be a benefit to the work they put in on a cleaning session. Ajax has a very wooded glen to an ‘oakey’ smell. With a light amber color.
Seventh Generation.
Ladies and Gentlemen - ‘Seventh Generation,’ a high-class sounding name for sure. A bunch of fellows out of Burlington who got the hippie craze in 1988 and went eco-friendly. Well, hey, far out for you. The word “eco” these days seems to be a catch-all for “walk with us”, we know the path. Or something a guidance counselor would say to you. But hey, they seem to do it. Charitable donations and the whole schmear. But wait a minute, isn’t Eco and Hippies and a California thing? What do these offshore men think they're doing? I found it on the thin side, and it's the only specimen to have no odor. And it's clear. I would figure that a noticeable color, to cue you that you have an applicable amount of soap on your given sponge, brush, what have you. It’s like knowing you have a bullet in the chamber of a gun, not just an empty-spent shell. You don’t want to go in soaping half-bubble. This could lead to waste. And no one wants waste.
Joy.
Next, up for bids is: “Joy” on the Ultra side as well. I guess that suggests there is a non-ultra, that is more on the poor cousin side of cleaning strength. Yeah, well, Joy was on the thin side. So again, more is needed to get your cleaning done. But the scent was strong and lemony. A good lemon, not as if you bit into one, but as if it was a pie of sorts. With meringue as well. Blind bake crust. Mmmm. Lemon? Yes, yellow is the color.
The ultimate and versitle liquid dish soap...Dawn.
And now for the world champion of this article in soap. Yes, you guessed it, Dawn. Created by the company that Billy Proctor and Jimmy Gamble started in 1837. A couple of Irishmen who were into animal fats and made soap and candles for the civil war. Get this - they went into business on a suggestion of their mutual father-in-law. They each got hitched to the Norris sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth (very Edwardian names). Dawn came into the kitchen around 1973. Even the name suggests renewal. Like the morning. When a brand new day has just been unwrapped for you. All my friends use it. I use it. It’s got it all: thick and tough on grime. Not a surgical scent but more of a blueberry patch, or blackberry. Which is a lame point of reference, I know. Just think blueberry pie. And it even cleans little ducklings. After drunken Americans run their oil tankers aground, spilling said contents all over their innocent habitat. I mean, that is a hell of a marketing campaign slam dunk. Dark blue, so as many sponges which are mid-toned green or blue, so a darker color shows up better than a lighter one. So you know how much of it is on your sponge. See how that happens?
Smart Way
The lesser-known subject is ‘Smart Way.’ They are in the “Cleaning Household” department out of Kroger. This group has both an orange and a lemon scent. I was trying the orange on this trip. And found it to be more of a sherbet. Like you would get at a favorite five and dime on a hot summer’s day in 1884. It appears that most of these soap folk go down the dessert road of their chosen fruit neighborhood. Fine with me. Who doesn’t like dessert, right? The U.S. Pathological Liars Brigade rated the smell of “desserts especially ‘pie’ of the ‘berry variety” have an 89% “calming effect” on people that wash their own dishes. It seems like the term ‘you get what you pay for’ applies here. This sample was on the thinner side of the soap guide. Sudsy but needed more to get the average job done.
Palmolive.
And finally, ‘Palmolive.’ An ancient company with grandfathered soap standards. Started by the B. J. Johnson Company and was making soap from palm oil and olive oil, the formula of which was developed by Burdett J. Johnson in 1898. So hey, they named the company after their top-selling soap. Boom. Sales skyrocketed. They merged with Colgate and made 100 million clams in 1927. That’s 1.8 billion to you and me. I was hitting the apple blossom version. It had an almost decadent tinge of blueberry, again dessert cart here. Nice thought, pleasant. And this stuck and got me into cleaning mode. Palmolive has been up there for many years, and there is a reason why it sells that well for that long. Here’s to you, Palmolive.
SoapDish
The most amazing thing about all these soaps is that they have one single thing in common. Because of the way their bottles are made the same way in particular around the cap/lid area. Which is the same throat diameter and the same threading that SoapDish uses. So most liqiud soap bottles (and seen in another article, Shampoo, Conditioner and Lotion) can be screwed on it. This device can hold up to a 24 oz. bottle inverted. And gravity does all the work for you. ALL of the liquid soap flows out of the bottle onto the dish below. This liquid soap dispenser is the perfect kitchen gadget for getting the dishes done. And quicker too, because you do not have to tip the bottle.