Detergent - Dry or Liquid???

So I learned something interesting today. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I was having trouble with my dishwasher so I tried the JetDry Dishwasher Cleaner. That didn't fix the problem to my satisfaction so I had a repair man come and check out my dishwasher today...did you know that it is better to use dry crystal detergent rather than liquid detergent?

This goes for your dishwasher and your washing machine. According to this repair man, unless you are using hot or extra hot water, liquid detergent doesn't completely dissolve. (And if you are trying to conserve energy as all politicians and Al Gore are telling us to do, then you are probably using cold and warm more often than warm or hot on your washing machine.) As a result, your dishes may have a slight film on them and your clothes might still have a little detergent in them, thus not getting as soft as you might like.

This was shocking to me because (as crazy as this sounds) liquid detergent seemed fancier or the "rich man's" way to go rather than dry detergent. But now it all makes sense. My mom and dad bought a pretty expensive and ultra-quiet dishwasher and it specifically says to use dry detergent only.

After finding out this information, I went to the grocery store and was amazed at how massive the liquid detergent section was and how few options there were for dry detergent. So why are there more liquid detergents than dry detergents?

If you know, please share because it seems like this is one of the many great scams of the world.

So here is the bottom line...on most occasions, use dry detergent instead of liquid!