Like most people, I used to use your standard dishwasher detergents like Cascade and Finish. These did a great job cleaning all my dishes, glassware and utensils, but once I had kids I immediately noticed how these strong chemical laden detergents left a strong smell and after taste all on my kids鈥 silicon dishes and drink ware. We would try and re-wash them without the detergent, but it was near impossible to get rid of the lingering smell and chemicals, so we had to throw out the affected items. Since then I鈥檝e transitioned only to natural dish washer detergents that leave no after effects on our dishes, especially the kids.
Nature Clean is my go-to, with their easy to use, fragrance-free dish pacs. Made without perfumes, dyes, phosphates and chlorine. They don鈥檛 clean as good as the strong chemical filled stuff, but I鈥檇 say 85-90% as good on average. For extra dirty loads I鈥檒l often throw in a second pac and I find that does the trick to ensure everything still gets clean with a single load.