As some of you might remember me telling you, Lulu is Amelia Bedelia reincarnate.  I no-likey anything to do with housecleaning.  Or cooking for that matter.  And that is why I am married to GR—the best housewifehusband in the world.  So, when I was so kindly asked to do a blog review for two competing dishwashing detergents, I almost broke out in hives.  I was going to have to wash dishes…in a dishwasher…for scientific research…and not just one load, but two!  Freak.  My biggest fear in life is GR actually finding out that I am fully capable of washing dishes and unloading the dishwasher, and therefore blowing my cover.  I see dish-pan hands in my future, people.

So, let me set up the fierce competition for you.

The Competitors

In one corner, we have Cascade Complete—weighing in at 4.68 lbs. and smelling like a fresh, floral bouquet.  Cascade has been ranked as the heavyweight champion for the second year in a row by an unnamed top consumer product guide.

In the other corner, we have Electrasol Advanced, also weighing in at 4.68 lbs. but smelling suspiciously like Pine-Sol.  Electrasol has been ranked as one of the top competitors of Cascade for several years running now.

The Tag-Teams

To begin with, I squirted (yes, squirted) mustard onto two dishes and let it dry outside in the blazing hot Georgia sun.  I wanted the mustard to be baked onto the plates, y’all!  I wanted it to be baked on like freaking glue!  I wanted the mustard to become one with the plate.  I wanted the competitors to really work for their money!  And I really wanted to take pictures of the tag-teams, but the thought of cleaning makes me dizzy, and I somehow failed to take pictures of both.  But I did take a picture of one…just to give you an idea of what we’re working with here:

Strategies

The heavyweight champion, Cascade, boasts that it

-cleans so well…no need to pre-wash!
-dissolves food!
-rinses clean!

The competition, Electrasol, claims to

-remove the toughest food stains from your dishes the first time!
-float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

Round 1: Electrasol is put to the test, throwing punches left and right and generally smelling up the place, but in the end is left looking a bit defeated in the face of the scorched-on mustard:

Round 2: Cascade comes out fast on its gel-like feet, wearing down the competition by using a combination of upper-squirts and fast hooks. And in the end, the baked mustard is dissolved into humiliation:

Decision

After careful consideration of both products, Lulu casts a unanimous vote—Cascade Complete is the reigning heavyweight champion of the dishwashing detergent WORLD!

So, enough with the silliness.  I really do think that Cascade did a better job of cleaning all of my dishes overall.  No spots or dried-on food to be found.  But to be fair, Electrasol did a decent job of cleaning as well…just not on the mustard stains.  And as far as Electrasol’s smell, well, someone should really think about doing some fragrance testing with that product.  But, seriously, what does Lulu really know about washing dishes anyway?

So, what’s your favorite dishwashing detergent?