Those of us who care about our clothes know that finding the best laundry detergent for men can make a big difference on your overall self-presentation.
Pretty much everything is more expensive today than it used to be (thanks for nothing, inflation!), but by giving your clothes a little extra care, you can extend their lifespans by months or even years, and save a ton of money in the long run.
Unfortunately, the detergent industry still seems to have trouble believing that men care about laundry.
How can you tell? Because there are a lot of detergents marketed specifically towards women, and fragranced with the kind of floral scent and essential oils you’d normally find in perfume.
But it’s annoyingly difficult to find a good laundry detergent that’s designed specifically for men—or even one that’s just gender neutral, for that matter.
Fortunately, there are a few laundry detergent brands who are more sympathetic to the plight of guys who want both clean clothes and some different scents.
To help you find not just the best smelling laundry detergents for guys but the all-around best, in this post I’ve rounded up a handful of options that combine enough power to tackle tough stains, and clean laundry smells that fall on the more masculine end of the spectrum.
Quick Summary↓
You can learn more about each detergent below, but here’s a quick breakdown of our favorites:
- Overall Best Laundry Detergent For Mens Clothes: Persil ProClean
- Best Laundry Pods for Men: Laundry Sauce
- Best Eco Friendly Laundry Detergent For Men: Tide Purclean Liquid Laundry Detergent
- Best Natural Laundry Detergent For Men: Grab Green Stoneworks Laundry Detergent
- Best Laundry Detergent For Mens Underwear: Tide Ultra Stain Release
- Best Laundry Detergent For Men’s Work Clothes: OUT ProWash Workwear Odor Eliminator
- Best-Smelling Laundry Detergent For Men: Hiketron – “Suit Up”
F*ck Off, Floral Notes:
The (Absolute) Best Laundry Detergent for Men
Overall Best Men’s Laundry Detergent ↓
Persil ProClean
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Liquid
- Scents Available: 3
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Washing Machine? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
Sometimes you just want a good, all-purpose liquid detergent that will do what a great laundry detergent should:
Fight stubborn stains, combat odors, whiten whites, and just, you know, clean your damn clothes.
Persil Pro checks all those boxes, and has the added advantage of working well in both hot and cold water temperatures.
It’s available in three scents – Original, Sensitive Skin and an Intense Fresh scent – all of which are free of phosphates, and is formulated for high-efficiency machines (but works fine in regular machines too).
There’s nothing especially fancy about Persil, but it’s a great laundry detergent for guys who just want something affordable, effective and no-nonsense.
Best Laundry Detergent Pods for Men ↓
Laundry Sauce
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Pods
- Scents Available: 4
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
If you prefer the convenience of pods over regular detergent, Laundry Sauce is a great option.
Unlike some of the more popular pods on the market, which contain dyes that can stain your clothes (and apparently look delicious to morons), these ones are free of dyes, parabens and optical brighteners.
They’re also bigger than standard pods, which allows them to pack more of a cleaning punch without needing harsh chemicals to get the job done.
In addition to the cleaning power, the other big advantage of their detergent formulation is the range of natural scent options, which skip the artificial fragrances found in most pods in favor of natural ingredients.
There are four different options, two of which provide the kind of long-lasting masculine fragrance you’d normally only expect to get from cologne:
The Australian sandalwood scent has notes of wood, suede, musk and amber, while Siberian Pine offers top notes of pine and ginger, with middle notes of orange and dry notes of musk, tonka and oakmoss.
(It’s also worth noting that “Siberian Pine” is just an objectively cooler name for a laundry detergent than “Fresh Meadow” or “Moonlight Breeze,” which are both real scents offered by more boring different brands.)
Best Eco Friendly Laundry Detergent For Men ↓
Tide Purclean Liquid Laundry Detergent
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Liquid
- Scents Available: 2 (plus one unscented option)
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
Brands like Seventh Generation and Mrs Meyer tend to get mentioned first in discussions about the best natural detergent or cleaning products, but neither packs the same punch as Tide Purclean.
It’s made from 75% plant-based ingredients, so the ingredients list isn’t quite as pure as the name would suggest.
But that 75/25 split is actually what makes it a great choice for guys, because it combines biodegradable ingredients with the cleaning power of Tide Original.
Best Natural Laundry Detergent For Men ↓
Grab Green Stoneworks Laundry Detergent Pods
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Pods
- Scents Available: 5
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
As mentioned above, Tide’s Purclean product is eco-friendly, but (ironically, given the name) not purely natural.
If you’re looking for something more natural and completely free of toxic chemicals, Grab Green’s Stoneworks pods are a good option for day-to-day use.
They’re certified as a “Safer Choice” by the EPA and come in five different scent options, including two masculine scents – “Birch Branch” and “Oak Tree” – and a fragrance free version that’s hypoallergenic, which is great if you tend to experience skin irritation after using regular detergent or fabric softener.
Best Laundry Detergent For Mens Underwear ↓
Tide Ultra Stain Release
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Liquid
- Scents Available: 1
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
Without getting too, umm, gross personal, let’s just be honest for a second:
Sometimes our underwear requires a higher level of stain removal than most regular detergents provide.
Tide’s Ultra stain remover is formulated to tackle the toughest stains, making it great at removing both big and small amounts of—well, pretty much.
The New York Times’ Wirecutter blog called it “an exceptional stain remover” that provided the best results of any detergent they tried, and specifically praised it for “lifting more of a wider variety of stains.”
Best Laundry Detergent For Men’s Work Clothes ↓
OUT ProWash Workwear Odor Eliminator
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Liquid
- Scents Available: 1
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
Out’s Pro Wash is the best bet for guys who need a strong detergent that can tackle the dirt, grime, stains and scents that pile up on work clothes.
It’s specifically designed to remove body odor and other stubborn smells from the type of hard-to-clean fabrics that work clothes are often made from – including spandex, nylon, lycra and polyester – without harming the fabric itself.
And that’s especially important if you’re responsible for cleaning your work clothes, but you don’t own them, and your job expects you to give them back in good condition when you leave.
Best Smelling Laundry Detergent For Men ↓
Hiketron – Suit Up
Features:
- Type of Detergent: Liquid
- Scents Available: 4
- Good for HE (High Efficiency) Machines? Yes
User Scores:
Why It’s Great for Guys:
While big brands like Tide and Persil offer some of the overall best detergents on the market, Hiketron has some of the best scents.
They offer four different scents that are not only designed to provide a masculine and pleasant smell, but come with some equally pleasing (and extremely silly) names, including Bold Man, Voguish Man and—my personal favorite—Mambo Man.
But the best scent is also the one with the least silly name: “Suit Up.”
It’s got a woody oriental aroma that combines a citrus blend of lemon and grapefruit with mid notes of jasmine and patchouli, and a base of cedar and musk.
It smells more like something you’d expect to find in a bottle of cologne than in a basket of fresh laundry, which makes it a good choice for guys who want to step up the scent of their laundry loads.
The Recap ↓
Summary
There’s nothing especially fancy about Persil, but it’s a great detergent for guys who just want something affordable, effective and no-nonsense.
More Resources ↓
More Men’s Style Advice from Irreverent Gent:
- How to Shop for Men’s Clothes
- How to Dress Better for Guys
- Thursday Boots Review
- The 9 Best Boot Styles for Men
- The Best Smelling Laundry Detergent
- The 7 Best Natural Laundry Detergents
Banner Illustration: Irreverent Gent
