Abstract: Fabrics of wool and silk are gently washed with a liquid detergent which is free of inorganic builder salts and optical brighteners, has a pH value of from about 6 and about 8, and contains the following constituents:(a) from about 5 to about 15% by weight of the alkylglycolether sulfate sodium salt of primary C.sub.12 -C.sub.18 alcohols containing on average from 1 to 3 ethylene glycol ether groups;(b) from about 15 to about 22% by weight of sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate having a linear C.sub.10 -C.sub.14 alkyl chain;(c) from about 0.5 to about 5% by weight of fatty acid monoethanolamide of C.sub.12 -C.sub.18 fatty acids, of which the content of saturated C.sub.12 -C.sub.14 faty acids amounts to at least about 50 mole percent;(d) from about 0.05 to about 0.