OMO Liquid (all varieties, excl. Professional & Sensitive)

Use our detergent dosage calculator for a tailored dosage amount.

Long-form detergent review

Experienced members of our community test detergents with cloth nappies and general laundry.

Excellent option for soft water. All varieties except OMO Sensitive contain enzymes and wash well at 40ºC.

OMO/ Persil is a leading brand of detergent across Australia and New Zealand. It’s reliable, readily available and performs well in liquid, powder, dilutables and capsules. 

Unilever (the brand owner) often reuses base formulas and tweaks them slightly to appeal to different consumer needs. This creates a new variant without needing to overhaul the formulation. Sometimes, the only difference is in fragrance profile, something that is not reflected in the public ingredient list.

Each variant performs similarly, with the Ultimate range performing slightly better on stubborn stains.

Product varieties

We scored the ingredients list on the Unilever website to determine which varieties contain enzymes.

Out of interest, we compared the listed ingredients for Active Clean F&T Liquid to Touch of Comfort Inspired Freshness F&T Liquid. There’s no visible difference in the listed ingredients between the two. Both contain the same surfactants, enzymes (protease, amylase, mannanase), preservatives, chelating agents, polymers, and colourants. 

Any differences are likely due to variations in the specific fragrance components, which are not detailed in the ingredient lists.

OMO Professional

We find OMO Professional performs similarly, but needs a slightly large dose of detergent.

Unfortunately, Unilever does not list ingredients for the professional range alongside their other products. We reached out to Unilever in both Australia and New Zealand to confirm which varieties contain enzymes. 

Long-form review: OMO Ultimate Sensitive Liquid Front & Top (Anastasia)

I’ve been reading more about the differences between sensitive, “eco” and mainstream detergents, and wanted to test a new sensitive option.

This is an excellent detergent, especially if you want to avoid fragrances. It washes very well at 60ºC degrees and it washes well at 40ºC.

I used a lot of detergent because I have harder water and everything in my house seems to get filthy. I also used laundry booster in both the first wash and main wash cycles.

How do I know when to add more detergent? I check the wash cycle about 30-45 minutes in, and add more until I see a decent level of suds. Adding more detergent (when needed) during the cycle ensures everything comes out clean, smell and stain-free.

When you open the bottle it stinks! Not like fragrance, but like raw surfactant. I remember this smell from my days making cosmetics, they smell horrible. But it doesn’t matter, because there’s no smell left whatsoever on your laundry. Win!

Advantages

• Low fragrance.
• Performs well.
• Good for soft water areas (because it is a liquid).

Disadvantages

The liquid stinks! However, items do not smell after washing.

You need to use a lot if you have filthy laundry or harder water. If you have filthy laundry and harder water you’ll need to use significant amounts. This means it would be a costly detergent.

Parent company: Unilever