Palmolive Dish & Sponge Fresh Dish Liquid Review

by Taylor

I've gotten lots of comments recently from readers about Dawn dish soap causing smelly sponges and dishrags so when I saw this Palmolive version in the store recently, designed to keep your sponges fresh smelling, I just knew I needed to give it a try for everyone.

Stinky sponges can be a big problem, and there are some ways to combat it like always wringing out your sponge thoroughly after each wash to let it air dry, and also cleaning your sponges regularly.

However, if you've ever picked up a nasty smelling sponge you know it can be gross. Real gross. The smell gets all over your hands and won't go away, plus who wants to wash dishes with that, and smear who knows what all over your supposedly clean dishes?

I think Palmolive saw a need here and tried to fill it.

I will confess that I don't really suffer too much from stinky sponges myself, doing the things I mentioned above regularly to combat the problem. However, my (wonderful) husband doesn't always remember to wring out the sponge and often leaves it laying at the bottom of the sink to stay nice and moist, the perfect breeding ground for odors (and germs).

That's why I gave him the job of testing out this dish liquid and reporting how it worked for him. What follows is his opinions about the product, which I've summarized and added.

First, in regard to the smell, he liked it, it smelled kind of sweet or like candy, although not an identifiable scent. It was not too strong, and not unpleasant.

Next, in regard to washing dishes it appears to work as well as other Palmolive products for cleaning and removing grease and food particles from pots, pans and dishes.

Finally, and most importantly how does it work to prevent stinky sponges? Pretty well, actually. Although he left the sponge wet and sometimes even with unrinsed food particles on it it didn't have that stink to it that it would most likely have developed otherwise.

I (Taylor) am still personally squicked out by this though, since even though you can't necessarily smell the yuckies in the sponge with this stuff, I don't know that they're not there!

So I will now resume dishwashing duty more regularly, and keep my sponge rinse out and then dried out regularly, as well as cleaning it periodically to clean and sanitize it.

The bottom line, however, is that if you suffer from stinky smelly sponges and it makes dishwashing unpleasant for you, this may be a good soap for you to try. It seems to work well for dish cleaning and if it gets rid of an offensive odor at the same time, it seems like a win-win.

Has anyone else used this product? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought of it as well. You can share your review here of this or any other brand or type, telling me how it worked for you.

I Actually Thought It Made My Sponges Smell Worse!

by Stacey

I like using the soap filled dish wands with replaceable sponge heads.

I learned long ago sponges have to be kept in a dry place when not in use, no matter what soap you use or they'll get grosser faster.

I have personally never had that problem with any of the Dawns...yet.

I will at time use Palmolive but one of them that I found was nasty from the get go was the one they specifically advertise for sponge odor. Lol, kind of ironic.

It smelled like beer while using it and then all my brand new sponges STUNK AWFUL!

Love It But Hard To Find In Stores These Days

by Sparkle
(Bayonne, NJ)

Sparkle says:

I love this product. It is the only dish detergent that doesn't make the sponge or dishcloth smell.

The only thing is that I can't find it in any store. That includes Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, etc.

Where can I find it?

This is the only dish wash detergent I will use.

I recently bought the new one called Dish & Sink. It smells nice but my sponge and dishcloth smell horrible after one day.

Believe me, I clean the sponge, etc. all the time. Tell me how I can get this Dish & Sponge Fresh.

Taylor says:

I hadn't realized it until you sent in this review Sparkle, but it appears this product has been discontinued.

As you say, now Palmolive has a new Dish + Sink soap, but it isn't designed to deal with stinky sponges, but instead stinky dish drains so it is unsurprising that it doesn't work as well for your sponges as the previous variety.

That stinks, literally in this instance!

Ah well, such is life! They discontinue products all the time. Nothing we can do. So tell me in the comments which soaps you use that you find don't make your sponges stink so quickly, so those that had been using this variety can switch to something else.

You can also share your dish soap review here for this brand, or another, and I'll add it to the site.

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