FAQ
With the dosage table on each Persil pack, the necessary dosage amount for the garments to be washed can be easily seen.
The dosage amount depends on the degree of soiling of the laundry (shown in the columns) and the regional water hardness (shown in the rows). The dosage recommendations for all Persil products are based on a 10 lb load.
Every pack of Persil has a specific dosage recommendation. The optimum amount of detergent depends on the amount of laundry in the machine, the degree of soiling and the water hardness. If a prewash makes sense in the case of extremely heavy soiling, choose the lowest recommended dosage.
Only by dosing the detergent correctly can you help look after the environment, save money and avoid build-up in the machine and fabric.
If you do not know the water hardness in your area, you can ask your water supply company. Our tip: You can find your water supplier's contact information on the water bill or on the Internet.
You can order a dosing cup free of charge by filling out the following form: Click here.
The water hardness tells you the amount of dissolved lime in a liter of water, measured in millimoles of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). In Germany the water hardness is usually measured in German degrees (1º dH corresponds to around 0.19 millimoles of CaCO3 per liter of water).
This is important to be able to determine the amount of detergent that you are to dose according to the instructions on the packaging.
Lightly soiled:
No visible dirt or stains*. Body odor can be detected in some garments. Examples: Light summer and sports clothes (worn for only a few hours), t-shirts, shirts, blouses (worn up to 1 day), guest bed linen and towels (used for 1 day).
Normal soiled:
Visible dirt and/or a few light stains*. Examples: T-shirts, shirts, blouses (soaked with sweat or worn several times), underwear (worn for 1 day), towels, bed linen (used for up to 1 week), drapes with no nicotine stains (used up to 6 months).
Heavily soiled:
Clearly visible dirt and/or stains*. Examples: Tea towels and kitchen hand towels, linen napkins, baby bibs, children’s and soccer clothes (stained with grass and dirt), tennis clothes (stained with clay), work clothes (such as metal worker's, baker’s and butcher’s clothes, which can be washed at home).
Very heavily soiled:
A lot of ingrained dirt and/or stains*, clearly visible and possibly old, garments with strong odors.
Examples: the above mentioned dirt on table linen, linen napkins, tea towels and kitchen hand towels, cleaning cloths, mops, baby bibs, children’s, sports and soccer clothes (heavily soiled with mud, soil and grass), work clothes.
* Typical stains
Removable: Tea, coffee, red wine, fruit, vegetables
Containing proteins/carbohydrates: Blood, egg, milk, starches
Containing fat/oil: Lipids, cooking oils/fats, sauces, petroleum, waxes
Pigments: Soot, soil, sand
Laundry which is washed with too little detergent for the water hardness in the area will not only develop a grayish tint over time, but will also lose other qualities:
- It will gradually feel harder
- It will start to smell unpleasant
- Due to the build-up of lime it will get heavier and less absorbent.
- It will deteriorate faster
Unfortunately, heavy lime build-up cannot be reversed! So, if it is important to you that your washing machine and textiles last, you should ensure that you use enough detergent. “Less” in this case is not “more” and can become very expensive. The water-softening component in Persil (as well as other Henkel detergents) works to prevent the negative consequences mentioned above. The required amount of detergent can be easily seen in the dosage chart on the product packaging. If you do not know the water hardness, please ask your local water supply company.
Heavily and lightly soiled laundry should not be washed together. Heavily soiled laundry needs more detergent and a higher wash temperature, whilst lightly soiled laundry can be washed with a small dose of detergent and at a temperature as low as 20º C.
If the dosage recommendations are followed, water softeners are not necessary alongside modern Persil detergents.
All Persil products are designed to protect against lime build-up. So an additional water softener is no longer necessary.
Sustainable washing means washing “right”! This involves the right sorting of the laundry, the right stain treatment, the right loading of the washing machine, the right dose of detergent (according to degree of soiling and water hardness) and choosing the right washing machine cycle.
Fabric softeners like Vernel make your laundry extra soft, make it smell good, reduce static and help to protect your clothes. Laundry done with a fabric softener dries faster on the line as well as in the clothes dryer, is easier to iron and is kinder to the skin as the fabric does not rub as much.
Laundry and cleaning products do not have an expiration date, contrary to products like food where it is a legal requirement. Our laundry and cleaning products will keep for many years if stored in a cool, dry place. However, liquid laundry and cleaning products should not be stored at very low temperatures, i.e. do not expose them to frost.
The production code on our products will not give you as a consumer any information about the age of the product, as it is an encrypted code. You can tell if a detergent is still usable by its appearance, smell and consistency. For example, if the powder detergent inside the box is just a single hard lump, the detergent has absorbed a lot of moisture from the surrounding air. It can no longer be dosed correctly or dissolved in water and so should not be used.
If an older detergent like that described above still “looks normal” and can be dosed and dissolves easily, don't hesitate to use it. However, we recommend that you select the dosage for heavily soiled laundry, as the performance of certain ingredients, such as the bleaching agents and enzymes can deteriorate over time. If the product’s appearance and consistency are not right, please dispose of it accordingly.
Your jeans will stay nice for longer and will not develop unsightly white stripes (fading), if you only put three pairs of jeans in the machine at once and ensure that they are turned inside out.
Select a low spin speed and wash with Persil Color Gel on a delicates cycle. Shake out the jeans immediately after washing and hang them out to dry.
It is best to wash your ski suits and underclothes with Persil Color Gel. Depending on the recommendation on the garment care label, select a delicates or easy-care washing cycle and dose the detergent according to your local water hardness as when washing “heavily soiled” laundry.
Any marks on the cuffs, as well as the dark stripes from carrying the skis should be soaked with Sil stain remover spray prior to washing. Any unidentifiable food stains can be easily managed if you pre-treat them with Sil multipurpose stain remover gel. In both cases: Leave the product to work (max. 10 minutes) but do not allow it to dry, then wash the garment immediately.
Both detergent types are mainly designed for colored fabrics. Persil Color Gel is ideal for normal to heavily soiled fabrics, which can be washed on a color washing cycle with a wash load of 10 lbs or more. Stubborn grease stains can be removed with this high-performance detergent even at low temperatures. What’s more, stains can also be directly pretreated.
Mild detergents for colored laundry (e.g. Perwoll Color) are, on the other hand, special detergents for delicate colored fabrics. Fabric care and mild cleaning are a priority. For this reason, a maximum load of 5.5 lbs is highly recommended for delicate and easy-care washing cycles. If delicate fabrics requiring washing with mild detergents have tough stains, we recommend that the fabric be pretreated with Sil multipurpose stain remover gel, or that you add it to the detergent.
Not normally. Exceptions: extremely heavily soiled fabrics, e.g. work, outdoor sports, gardening and farming clothes.
White laundry 60° C
Persil Universal
Persil Sensitive Gel
Colored laundry 60° C
Persil Color
Persil Sensitive Gel
Delicates 40° C
Persil Sensitive Gel
Silk/Wool
Wash your drapes with dato drape detergent with anti-graying formula on a delicate washing cycle. Please bear in mind the following: Pay attention to the manufacturer’s care label, choose the dosage according to the degree of soiling and water hardness, load the machine with drapes up to a max. weight of 5.5 lbs and spin at a low spin speed to remove moisture.
Do not leave washed drapes in the laundry basket for long - this prevents unnecessary wrinkling. For colored drapes we recommend Perwoll Color. This will help maintain the intensity of both pastel and bright colors even after numerous washes.
The best option is Sil saptil. Add a strip of Sil saptil paste (approx. two inches) to approx. a gallon of warm water and dissolve the paste. Soak the laundry and then rinse.
The color can run from new fabrics. If you are not sure how colorfast the fabric is, it is best to wash the new garment separately at a max. temperature of 40º C. Colored fabrics should also be sorted and light and dark colors washed separately, that is, wash similarly colored garments together.
Spray the stain with a stain remover like Sil stain remover spray (use a spray with a benzene-based cleaning product) and then wash the garment with Persil Color Gel.
Choose the dosage for “heavily soiled” laundry according to the local water hardness and set the highest wash temperature possible as stated on the care label. If the stain is old and has been previously treated with other products, it may be necessary to repeat the process twice.
Sun cream stains in summer can be one of the most stubborn types of stains. The higher the SPF of the cream, the more difficult it is to remove the stain. If the dirty textiles stay in the laundry basket for a long time, this makes it extra difficult to wash out the stains. In particularly stubborn cases the stain can sometimes not be removed completely.
Tips on stain removal:
Spray the stains with stain remover (use a spray with a benzene-based cleaning product) until the fabric is soaked through.
Then wash with, for example, Persil Universal Megaperls®, adding a stain remover. Use the highest wash temperature possible as stated on the care label and the detergent dose for “heavily stained” laundry.
However, sometimes the stain does not come out in the first wash. In this case, repeat the steps above or leave the garment in soak overnight. To do this, dissolve approx. 3 fl oz Persil Universal Megaperls® together with 3.5 fl oz stain remover in 2.5 gallons of water. In the case of delicate pastel colors, it is necessary to decide whether removing the stain or preserving the color of the garment is most important. If pastel-colored fabrics are washed with a detergent containing a bleaching agent, their color may fade.
Such stains are often caused by so-called polyquats, which can be found in numerous hair products, among others. They can build up on the surface of the fabric and adhere strongly to the fibers. This effect allows them to attach themselves to the dirt that is loosened during the washing cycle.
If the detergent dosage is too low, these stains will be clearly visible, as the dirt particles will collect at these points. Due to the properties of the polyquats described above, such stains are very difficult to remove, if at all.
Try the following:
In each case, soak the garment in suds for several hours. Depending on the color of the fabric, use for example, Persil Universal Megaperls® or Persil Color Megaperls®, selecting the dosage for “heavily soiled” laundry and combining it with a large dose of bleaching agent such as Sil multipurpose stain remover salts. Finally, wash the textiles in the machine with a large dose of the products mentioned above (paying attention to the water hardness) at the highest possible temperature as stated on the care label.
The color of these stains can change over time due to the influence of oxygen in the air or after insufficient washing. What was previously a barely visible stain then has a brownish tinge.
Stains in white or colorfast garments can be removed with Persil Universal (Persil Universal Megaperls®) or Color detergents (Persil Color Megaperls®), adding 3.5 fl oz of Sil multipurpose stain remover salts. Add the Sil multipurpose stain remover salts to the detergent in the soap dispenser. Select the highest-possible wash temperature according to the care label.
Pretreat stains on delicate colored clothes with Sil multipurpose stain remover gel, allow the product to work for ten minutes and then wash the garment by hand or in the machine, depending on the care instructions, with a mild detergent (e.g. Perwoll Color), adding 3 fl oz of Sil multipurpose stain remover gel to the detergent.
If tough stains cannot be removed in the first wash, it is best to pretreat them before the next wash and then add a higher dosage of detergent.
Alternatively, you can soak the garment in a detergent solution overnight or select the soak cycle on the washing machine. For the detergent solution, dissolve approx. 4.5 fl oz Persil Universal Megaperls® or Persil Color Megaperls® in approx. 2 gallons of water. The Persil stain advisor can give you more detail.
These stains often contain pigments, for example, from coffee, tea, fruit, vegetables, spices, sauces, etc., which are not removed entirely in the first wash. These tough yellow to orange stains remain in the fabric after the wash cycle if the detergent dose was too low.
It may also be the case that the stains are no longer visible after washing. They may go back to their original state after a time due to the influence of oxygen in the air, for example, while the fabrics are stored in the linen closet. The pigments in these types of stains can be removed with Persil Universal Megaperls® (dosage for heavily soiled laundry), together with a bleach enhancer like Sil multipurpose stain remover salts, provided that the care label or color of the garment allows it.
To remove particularly dark or old stains, it is normally necessary to soak the garment overnight in suds containing a bleaching agent. The Persil stain advisor can give you more detail.
Problems with red wine stains in your laundry? Would you like to remove stubborn grease stains? Or do you need help removing tough blood stains?
The Persil stain advisor app gives you tips for washing all kinds of stains out of a wide range of fabrics and materials!
In the case of detergents for sensitive skin, it is essential to ensure that the detergent is extremely skin-friendly. For this reason, Persil Sensitive was tried and tested as a skin and allergy-friendly product by ECARF, the European Center for Allergy Research Foundation. Both our gel and Megaperls contain specially developed skin and allergy-friendly fragrances and no colorants.
Yes, even skin-friendly detergents like Persil Sensitive Megaperls® give you pure white washing.
No, many allergy sufferers can also use scented detergents, which can be tolerated by people with skin allergies. Allergy sufferers, who cannot tolerate these detergents, should choose products that do not contain any fragrances.
Furthermore, in accordance with EU directives, certain fragrances which are more frequently linked with allergies are named on the label on the back of the detergent. This helps consumers with known allergies to these substances to select the right product.
This is not the case. We would like to explain why our liquid detergent contains preservatives. Whilst solid detergents and cleaning products like Persil Sensitive Megaperls cannot contain any preservatives due to their chemical composition, in liquid detergents and cleaning products an added preservative may be necessary to guarantee the stability of the product. For this reason, we add preservatives to Persil Sensitive Gel to protect the product and in turn the consumer from microorganisms like bacteria, yeast and mold fungus.
Persil Sensitive was certified an allergy-friendly detergent by ECARF, the European Center for Allergy Research Foundation. Regarding the use of the preservative methylisothiazolinone, the ECARF seal means that only a very low dosage is used, below the threshold value of the amount that causes undesirable reactions. Find out more on the ECARF website. Furthermore, ECARF carried out tests to ensure that the preservatives are fully rinsed when the laundry is machine washed. This test involved a normal load inside the washing machine drum and the use of the detergent in the recommended dosage: https://www.ecarf.org/en/keine-reiz-waesche/ Thus, allergic reactions cannot be triggered by washed laundry.
Both of the preservatives used in Persil Sensitive Gel are named on the label on the back of the product, in accordance with EU directives. Said preservatives must be named regardless of their concentration in the product. This helps consumers with known allergies to these substances to select the right product.
No, as with all Persil products, Persil Sensitive already contains protection against lime build-up for both soft and hard water.
Yes, Persil Sensitive works at temperatures as low as 20º C.
No, Persil Sensitive should always be dosed according to the water hardness and the degree of soiling of the laundry.
For colored garments we recommend Persil Sensitive Gel.
No, Persil Sensitive is available to buy in numerous outlets such as grocery stores, drugstores and supermarkets.
This varies from person to person and it is impossible to give a general answer. Consumers can find out about the ingredients from the label on the back of the product packaging, for example, which fragrances or preservatives a detergent contains. This helps consumers with known allergies to these substances to select the right product.
Persil Sensitive was tried and tested as a skin and allergy-friendly product by ECARF, the European Center for Allergy Research Foundation. Both our gel and Megaperls contain specially developed allergy-friendly fragrances and no colorants.
Sort the laundry into white, light and dark colors. Wash white laundry separately. Wash the laundry on a hot/color washing cycle with Persil Sensitive Megaperls® or Persil Sensitive Gel. Pay attention to the degree of soiling of the laundry when dosing the detergent.
Persil Sensitive Megaperls® are suitable for white and colorfast laundry and Persil Sensitive Gel is specially designed for non-colorfast laundry and delicates.
Garments which come into contact with sensitive skin should be made of pure, untreated cotton or silk that has had as little color treatment as possible. Wool and synthetic fibers can irritate the skin and are therefore not recommendable.
Yes, baby clothes should be washed at the highest possible temperature before the first wear in order to remove any chemicals and harmful substances that the fabric may contain.
No, baby clothes can simply be added to your normal laundry and washed at the highest temperature recommended on the label.
Wash white and colorfast baby clothes with Persil Sensitive Megaperls® (choose the dosage for “heavily soiled” laundry according to the local water hardness) and add 3.5 fl oz of Sil multipurpose stain remover salts to the detergent. Wash colored baby clothes with Persil Sensitive Gel. Pretreat stains with Sil multipurpose stain remover gel (leave to work for 10 minutes max.) and then add 3 fl oz to the detergent. Always choose the highest possible wash temperature.
Yes. Fabric softeners smooth the surface of the fabric, not only making it softer but also helping to prevent skin irritation. Sensitive fabric softeners like Vernel Skin Sensitive are particularly suitable for babies and allergy sufferers.
To answer this question, we would like to draw your attention to a public source of information: the German website “Forum Waschen”, an initiative supported by specialists from local authorities, government ministries, research institutions, trade unions, detergent and cleaning product manufacturers and household appliance manufacturers, churches, environmental organizations, universities and consumer associations. In the brochure “Wäschepflege im Allergikerhaushalt” (Laundry care in an allergy sufferer’s household), available to download in German via the link
https://www.forum-waschen.de/verbraucherinfos-nachhaltig-waschen-abwaschen-reinigen.html, they state that: “If used as instructed, that is, if the correct dose of detergent is used, the risk of skin irritations and allergic reactions caused by contact with the consumer’s skin is extremely low. Traces of detergent on the laundry, which may remain even after washing the garments as instructed, will neither cause skin irritation nor allergic reactions according to current scientific knowledge. Several studies showed that in the event of intolerance to textiles, other factors such as the surface composition of the fabric, surface treatments or waterproofing were responsible for skin irritation.”
Further information on the new Global Harmonized Systems (GHS) hazard symbols or pictographs on Persil products by Henkel can be found at http://ghs-hinweise.henkel-waschmittel.de/