By Zach Pozniak, VP of Operations at Jeeves of Belgravia New York and fourth-generation dry cleaner · @jeeves_ny
Last reviewed October 2026 · based on my lab tests of three Arm & Hammer formulas in 2025, with earlier results from 2022 and 2024 · As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Quick answer: Arm & Hammer Deep Clean liquid scored 21.7 in my lab test, against Tide Hygienic Pods ↗ at 100 and plain water at 1. I also tested their pods and their liquid with OxiClean, and all three ended up in my bottom tier. It is cheap, at 18 cents a load when I reviewed it, but I cannot recommend it for getting clothes clean.
If price is the reason you buy it, Persil Advanced Clean ↗ scored 87.2 at 15 cents a load when I tested it.
| Product tested | Arm & Hammer Deep Clean (liquid) |
|---|---|
| Performance score | 21.7 |
| Measured against | Tide Hygienic Pods ↗ at 100, washing with water alone at 1 |
| Also tested | Arm & Hammer pods and Arm & Hammer liquid with OxiClean. Both landed in my bottom tier. Deep Clean is the formula with a number on my board. |
| Cost | 18 cents a load, below the average |
| Ingredient safety | Better than Tide, but still a little irritating for people with sensitive skin |
| Verdict | "I cannot recommend Arm & Hammer due to its really poor performance." |
| What the score covers | Stain removal, and nothing else |
A viewer asked me about Arm & Hammer in July 2025, and by then I had tested three of their detergents: the pods, the liquid with OxiClean, and the newer Deep Clean formula. They all fell really short, and I was shocked, frankly. The one with a score on my board is Deep Clean, at 21.7. For a brand this large, that is unacceptable.
The same review covered price and ingredients, and it did not split those notes by formula. The good news is that it is inexpensive: 18 cents a load, which is below the average. As for ingredient safety, it is better than Tide, but still a little irritating for people with sensitive skin. I said at the time that the products are inexpensive and relatively safe, which is nice. It does not change the verdict.
This one breaks my heart a little. We were an Arm & Hammer family when I was growing up. It also confuses me, because Arm & Hammer is owned by Church & Dwight, the same company that makes OxiClean, which is probably my favorite laundry product out of everything. I feel like there is a disconnect there, and I hope they figure it out.
I run every detergent through the AISE laundry detergent testing guidelines, the industry standard method. Cotton swatches get stained with 18 stains across five stain families, washed, dried, and then read with a spectrometer that measures the color before and after, so I can see how much of each stain actually came out. The result is averaged across cold, warm and hot water. I do not judge results by eye, because eyes are unreliable. In 2025 I put about 78 detergents through this.
One caveat goes with every score I publish: this is purely performance. Price, formulation, ingredient safety and packaging all belong in your decision, and none of them are in the number. With Arm & Hammer the price is in its favor and the cleaning is not.
At the end of 2025 I named the worst detergents I tested that year, and Arm & Hammer Deep Clean was on it. I went from worst to best, and Deep Clean was the last of the nine I named, so the other eight scored lower still. I still called it inexcusable for a brand of this size. I know they are a budget brand, but Church & Dwight makes OxiClean, and they have to do better than this. I said the same at the 2025 award show a couple of weeks later.
2024 went the same way. When I updated my detergent rankings that November, I noted disappointing results from Purex and Arm & Hammer: both come from powerhouse companies and just could not get it done. Arm & Hammer was on my list of worst performing products for 2024 as well.
The oldest result goes back to my first detergent experiment in 2022, a smaller test of seven detergents with an earlier version of my method, all washed in cold water. Arm & Hammer with OxiClean came in dead last. It had a 70% chance to finish second to last or last, which shocked me, because the oxygen bleach in it should be good at pulling color out of brightly colored stains. My theory was the cold water: oxygen bleaches usually work best at higher temperatures. I said then that it was time for Arm & Hammer to revisit the formula, because the future of laundry is cold water. My washing temperature guide covers why I wash cold.
The board I showed in September 2026 still has Arm & Hammer Deep Clean at 21.7.
In February 2024 I was doing stain testing with Arm & Hammer pods, and a single pod in a cold wash cycle made enough suds to cause a mess. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried again the next day, and it happened again. It took about an extra hour, and an unbelievable amount of extra water, to rinse it all out. My guess was that this batch was missing its anti-foam agent. Most high quality detergents include one so this does not happen, and inexpensive brands skip this step because a lot of people still believe more suds means more clean. It does not.
In an earlier pod dissolving race from 2022, an Arm & Hammer pod took 3 minutes 24 seconds to dissolve in cold water and 18 seconds in hot, seventh of the nine pods I timed. That was a fun test of dissolving speed, not of cleaning, so do not read too much into it. If your pods are leaving residue, my guide on pods that do not dissolve has the fixes.
It is cheap, at 18 cents a load when I reviewed it, and on ingredient safety it came out better than Tide. Those are real points in its favor.
Every Arm & Hammer detergent I tested landed in my bottom tier, and the one on my board scored 21.7. Every detergent in the next section cost less per load when I reviewed it and scored far higher.
These are detergents I have tested that cost the same or less. The prices are the per-load costs I worked out when I reviewed each one, against an average of about 20 cents a load.
| Detergent | My score | Cost per load |
|---|---|---|
| Persil Advanced Clean (liquid) ↗ | 87.2 | 15 cents |
| Kirkland pods / Kirkland liquid (Costco) | 97.4 / 80.0 | 15 cents |
| Gain Plus (liquid) ↗ | 95.2 | About 12 to 15 cents |
| Foca powder ↗ | 56.9 | 10 cents |
| Ariel 2X powder ↗ | 102.4 | About 7 cents |
| Arm & Hammer Deep Clean (liquid) | 21.7 | 18 cents |
Each of those comes with something to know. Persil Advanced Clean ↗ is one of the few liquids I actually use, but its ingredient safety came out at 5 out of 10 because it has quite a few skin sensitizers, so make sure it is properly rinsed. Gain Plus ↗ is extremely fragrant, which is the whole point of the brand, and I will not be using it myself. Foca ↗ needs warm to hot water to perform well and is full of perfume. Ariel 2X ↗ is heavily perfumed too, so skip it if you have sensitive skin. Kirkland is only sold at Costco, and the liquid I tested was the free and clear version. My Kirkland review and Persil review go into more detail, and everything I have scored is in my tested laundry detergent rankings.
If what you liked about Arm & Hammer with OxiClean was the oxygen bleach, I rate powdered oxygen bleach on its own 9 out of 10: it is inexpensive and very effective for brightening whites and removing stubborn stains. My oxygen bleach rankings cover which ones I would use.
Not for stain removal. Arm & Hammer Deep Clean liquid scored 21.7 in my lab testing, against Tide Hygienic Pods ↗ at 100 and water alone at 1, and the pods and the liquid with OxiClean landed in my bottom tier too. It is inexpensive, at 18 cents a load when I reviewed it, and its ingredients are relatively safe, but I cannot recommend it because of how poorly it cleaned.
Three: the pods, the liquid with OxiClean, and the Deep Clean formula. All three were in my bottom tier. Deep Clean is the one with a number on my board, 21.7.
It landed in my bottom tier in 2025. In my first detergent experiment back in 2022, a smaller test of seven detergents washed in cold water, it came in dead last. My theory was that the oxygen bleach in it works better at higher temperatures than cold water allows.
Church & Dwight. They also make Xtra and OxiClean, which is part of why the results confuse me: OxiClean is probably my favorite laundry product out of everything.
When I tested their pods in 2024, one pod in a cold wash made enough suds to cause a mess, two days in a row, and it took about an extra hour to rinse out. My guess was that the batch was missing its anti-foam agent. Most high quality detergents include one, and inexpensive brands skip this step because people still believe more suds means more clean. It does not.
At a similar price, Persil Advanced Clean ↗ scored 87.2 at 15 cents a load, and Kirkland's pods and liquid scored 97.4 and 80.0 at 15 cents a load. Gain Plus ↗ scored 95.2 at about 12 to 15 cents, though it is very fragrant. Ariel 2X powder ↗ is the top of my board at 102.4 and about 7 cents a load, but it is heavily perfumed.
Arm & Hammer is cheap and relatively safe, and it does not clean well. Deep Clean scored 21.7, the pods and the OxiClean liquid sat in the same bottom tier, and it has turned up on my worst lists in 2024 and 2025. For about the same money, Persil Advanced Clean ↗ and Kirkland both scored far higher in my testing.
At the end of my 2025 worst list I said to every brand on it: make a better product and send me the new one, because I only want them to get better.
Or ask about any laundry or garment care question
Zach Pozniak is VP of Operations and co-owner of Jeeves of Belgravia New York, the Madison Avenue dry cleaner serving New York since 1979, and the fourth generation of his family in the trade. Zach posts garment care techniques as @jeeves_ny on TikTok to over 900,000 followers, and his book The Laundry Book, co-written with his father Jerry Pozniak, was featured on Good Morning America in October 2024. Jeeves NY's clients include the Metropolitan Opera, the Met Museum, and FIT, and the business has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine.