The top-rated response is a pretty solid one. People find it calming to see the washing action, even if they have no real mid-process control over it. It's all

The top-rated response is a pretty solid one. People find it calming to see the washing action, even if they have no real mid-process control over it. It's all about creating the reassuring perception that your clothes are getting super clean. Incidentally, this is also the primary reason why American laundry detergents are so sudsy. There is scant evidence that the formation of foamy lather has a significant effect on the removal of soil from clothing. It's mostly for show and psychological peace of mind. In fact, in many countries outside the US, laundry detergents are formulated without the abundant sudsing agents found here. We've been conditioned, over many successive generations of CPG marketing, to believe that more suds = more cleaning action. This goes way back to the days before laundry machines, when brand marketers at soap companies used suds as product differentiators. The experience of hand-washing clothes in a foamy bucket gave the impression that the soap was more effective.