Way back when I had a job in a restaurant kitchen. One of my jobs was washing pots, and practically the first thing the chef told me was to put the detergent in the sink after it was filled, not during. His rationale was simple and quite obvious: Soap that is floating on top of the water, is not in the water working on the dirt.
The same is true of laundry detergent. The purpose of detergent isn't to make pretty bubbles. It's to break the chemical bonds between the dirt and your clothes.
Suds are simply a side effect of the fact that detergent is hydrophilic (tends to be dissolved in water), and air is not. They don't actually accomplish anything—except, on front-loading machines like clothes washers and dishwashers, to place unnecessary pressure on the door that might damage it.
See, I know it’s often said that suds don’t accomplish anything, but as I said earlier, I don’t buy it.
I understand the nature of surfactants and what they do. Facial cleansers which produce suds remove more oil and dirt compared to non-sudsing ones. I have curly hair, and I know from experience that washing it with conditioner is going to retain more of the beneficial oils in my hair than washing it with a lathering shampoo, which strips oil.
Sometimes I want those properties, sometimes not. But hair and facial skin are not garments. I want suds in my washer to clean my clothes. HE detergents were invented for the purpose of being “green” and environmentally friendly. I’ve never bought into any of that stuff, and I’m not going to start by believing that a spoonful of non-sudsing HE soap is going to get anything clean. Sorry.
And if a washer is so temperamental that the pressure of some suds can damage it, that’s another reason for me to skip it. ;)