High-Efficiency Washers Put Soap Companies in Spin Cycle

After buying a high-efficiency washing machine, Stephen Asbel found that adding his usual amount of detergent turned his family’s clothes into a sudsy mess. So he cut back on it. And then cut back some more.

The experience is typical of people who own the new washers, and it’s bad news for detergent companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Church & Dwight Co., which are already struggling with declining sales. Their product -- once lavished onto clothes with overflowing capfuls -- is no longer needed in the same quantities.