I am REALLY allergic to most smelly laundry soaps and am travelling in Germany and Spain, where I don't know the language all that well. Is there clearly labelled hypo-allergenic laundry soap or should I bring 3 weeks worth from home? I don't want to be all itchy for my big trip!
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Because this is important to your personal comfort, the least hassle thing to do is bring some with you, assuming you only require a small amount that can be put into a small container and placed in your checked luggage. If not checking luggage, you may want to buy over there.
Posted by
Boston, MA, United States
1806 posts
Find out the names of the top grocery stores in both Germany and Spain and go to their websites online and you should be able to see the choices they each carry for laundry detergents.
I have the same problem and was able to easily find and purchase this type of detergent in France, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Italy with no problems.
You are likely only doing laundry 3x your entire trip, so one small bottle purchased in your first stop should hold you over. Most European laundromats have front loader machines (compared to top loaders in America), so you need to make sure the detergent will work with that type of machine.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Kelley, the following are leading brand hypo-allergic detergents that you'd find at pretty much every grocery- or drugstore in Germany: "Persil Sensitive" and "Spee Sensitive". Of course there are many, many more but these are the two I've got on top of my mind. Spee is of very good quality and cheaper than Persil. Here's a picture of the bottle: http://www.spee.com/produkte/spee_gel/spee_sensitive.htmlIt comes in 1.5 liter bottles and is good for around 20 machine loads. They recommend you to put the right amount of this gel (half, one full or one and a half cap's loads depending on level of staining directly onto the top of your laundry. In Germany 99% of all washing machines are front loaders and you put the powder or gel into the middle compartment of the detergent drawer. But the Spee website suggests you just put it on top of your laundry before closing the door for even better cleaning performance.