After spending 35 hours on research, squooshing more than 40 fabric swatches through 22 different detergents, talking to two fabric and detergent experts, and petting and sniffing freshly washed wool until we almost had a contact high, we found that Soak is the best detergent for delicates. It’s more than good enough to unseat the old guard, Woolite, which requires rinsing, feels slimy, and costs much more per wash than our pick.
Our pick
A no-rinse whiz kid, Soak gently cleans with a minimum of handling and has an all-purpose formula that’s ideal for hand washing all your delicate garments.
In our tests, cleaning power was roughly equal among the detergents we tried. Our pick stood apart as one of only three no-rinse formulas generally available in the US, which means less work, less water use, and a lower likelihood that you’ll damage your dainty duds with too much handling. Unlike the competition, Soak uses an all-purpose formula that’s great for all fabrics, including wool, cashmere, and silk. It’s also fairly cheap at about a quarter per wash, and its five scents smell good.
Also great
This no-rinse detergent has lanolin, which softens and protects your wool and cashmere garments and smells great doing it.
Eucalan is a no-rinse detergent that contains lanolin, a natural oil that sheep produce to help waterproof their fleece coats; it also makes woolen garments softer and a touch more hardwearing. Eucalan cleans a bit better than Soak with the same minimum of handling, costs less than Soak at around 16 cents per wash, and also comes in five good scents. The major reason we made Soak our pick instead of Eucalan is Soak’s versatility: You wouldn’t want to use Eucalan on non-woolens, as lanolin tends to attract dirt and grime on other fabrics.
Also great
A cleaning powerhouse but a gentle giant, this is a great alternative if you don’t want a no-rinse detergent or don’t have to wash wool or silk. It costs only pennies per hand-washing load.
You can also use Tide. Really. You don’t actually need a dedicated delicates detergent; many garments can go in your washer on the delicate cycle with regular detergent, so you have no need to spend more money on fancy detergents if you don’t want to. But there is a caveat here: Tide contains protease, an enzyme that might break down protein-based fibers such as silk and wool. Tide is gentle enough for other delicate fabrics, and if you’re hand washing in the sink, it costs only about five cents per wash. The main reasons it isn’t our top pick are that you can’t use it on all fibers and you must rinse it out—that’s more work, more water, and more risk of damage, all things our top pick helps you avoid. Tide also doesn’t smell as nice as either Soak or Eucalan, but it does come in an unscented variety that we tested as well (Tide Free and Gentle).
