Our Product Review - Laundry Detergent
Brand Name: Nature Clean
Product Name: All Natural Laundry Liquid 
Cost: $12.00 for 3-L jug
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: The
Collective Conscience, Natural health food store
Tester: Tamey and Patti
Rating (out of 5): 5 and 4.5
Comments by Tamey: This really clean, made in Canada product
hits the "spot". I only wash in cold water and I'm very pleased
with the product it works as well as the mainstream brands, but without
the harsh chemiclas that I prefer not to "wash" my families clothes
with. It is scent free which is great and comes in large jugs - wonderful
as the laundry room and I are very close!
Comments by Patti: This is my current laundry detergent
of choice - I use a capful of the liquid detergent and add 1/2 cup of Borax
washing soda and find I get natural and clean results.
| Ingredients: Water, Fatty Polyglycoside (from cornstarch and palm kernel oil), Pure Castile Soap (from soya and canola), Coco-Bentaine (from plant source), Sodium Citrate (salt of citric acid), Cellulose Collides (from cotton and wood), Potassium Sorbate (food grade preservatives) |
Brand Name: Soap Nuts
Product Name:
Cost: $22.95 for 1 kg (smaller sizes available)
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: Planet
Botanix
Tester: Tamey
Rating (out of 5): 4
Comments: You may ask what is a Soap Nut. Well in a "nutshell"
they are a fruit from a tree (Sapindus Mukorossi) which grows in India and
Nepal. The shell of the nut contains saponins which are released in the
presence of warm or hot water. This product can be used for clothes and
your hair and body! I bought the soap nuts to use at the cottage fearing
that many of the ingredients in my other products (this pre-dates Pure Know
How by 3 years) would harm the lake. I like the products as it cleans well
and left my clothes soft. Of course the down side is I needed to make my
own soap.
| Ingredients: Soapnut |
Brand Name: Mule 20 Team
Product Name: Borax Nature's Freshener
Cost: $6 for 2 kg
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: Large grocery store with a
natural food and products section
Tester: Patti
Rating (out of 5):4.5
Comments: I love this stuff. I have been struggling with
the cleaning power of natural detergents, particularly on my sporty, sweaty,
stinky boys hard worn clothes and towels. Sometimes after a wash, the clothes
stilled smelled. I am committed to kinder gentler laundering products but
needed more cleaning action. I was put on to adding ½ cup of borax
with the natural detergent and I am very happy with results. This is my
new standard. I have been scoping out other type of "washing soda"
and will try them as well. This brand has been in manufactured since 1891
- it has staying power - see the website for 20
uses for Borax.
| Ingredients: naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. |
Brand Name: Nature Clean
Product Name: Powder Laundry Detergent
Cost: 8.99 for 2 kg
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: Planet
Botanix, Natural Health food Stores, large grocery store with a natural
food and products section.
Tester: Patti
Rating (out of 5): 3
Comments: This detergent is really clean - it is free of
phosphates, chlorine bleach, dyes, perfumes and optical brighteners and
uses natural salts for its cleaning action. I'm not so good at following
directions for this powder detergent, as I didn't let the washer fill up
with water before I put clothes in. This resulted in a lot of clumping and
I had to rerun the wash cycle. Oops. I realized that I am never really likely
to wait for the washer to fill with water, as I am always "putting
a load in" between this and that. So I will likely stick to liquid
detergents.
| Ingredients: Sodium Chloride (a sodium salt), Sodium Carbonate (washing soda), Fatty Polyglycoside (from corn starch and palm kernel oil), Silicates (from salt and limestone), Zeolite (non-toxic mineral), Sodium Citrate (salt of citric acid), Cellulose Collides (from cotton & wood) |
Brand Name: Simply Clean
Product Name: Laundry Detergent - Liquid
Cost: $ 13.99 for 3.78 L
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: Large grocery store with a
natural food and products section.
Tester: Patti
Rating (out of 5): 3
Comments: Simply Clean Canadian distributors are transparent
with regards to the ingredients used in their products. They list the ingredients
on the website and post Material Safety Data Sheets for each product (MSDS
are prepared by the manufacturer and contain more information than a product
label - it states what the hazards of the product are, how to use the product
safely, what to expect if the recommendations are not followed, what to
do if accidents occur, how to recognize symptoms of overexposure, and what
to do if such incidents occur.) Kudos. That's all good. I liked that this
product is not using phosphates, NTA, EDTA, APEP, NPE, and volatile organic
solvents. The last 2 ingredients listed are "proprietary" and
likely preservatives. The performance was good and I would use this product
again based on performance but without really knowing what's in the preservative,
I would choose a different natural detergent.
| Ingredients: Water, Ethoxylated alcohol (from coconuts), Ethyl alcohol, Sodium Citrate (rock salt), Coco-glucoside (derived from coconut oil and fruit sugars), Cellulose Gum, Tinopal (benesulfonic acid - whitening agent), Potassium Sorbate, Planteran 2000N and Incronam 30 (proprietary combinations of natural ingredients). |
Brand Name: Seventh Generation
Product Name: Natural Laundry Detergent
Cost: $16.00 for 4.43 litres (a big bottle!)
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: The
Collective Conscience, Natural Health food Stores, large grocery store
with a natural food and products section.
Tester: Patti
Rating (out of 5): 2.5
Comments: Seventh Generation is a company that is dedicated
to natural products. When I bought this brand I was looking at it for performance
and its size - it says it does 55 loads! - and we do a lot of laundry at
our house. The performance - as a liquid detergent dissolved easily and
had lather. Now I know why - the product uses a petrochemical surfactant
agent, sodium lauryl sulfate. This is an ingredient that I have chosen to
eliminate from my personal care and household products as it is a skin irritant.
I was surprised to find it in the reputable natural band so I contacted
customer service who was very helpful and sent me an explanation as to why
they choose to use SLS. Here is the reason: "Thank you for contacting
Seventh Generation and for asking us about SLS. There has been a lot of
misinformation circulating about SLS and we found a web site that we feel
summarizes the SLS debate quite well. It is Paula
Begoun's Cosmetic Cop Web site. That's not to say that sodium lauryl
sulfate isn't a potent skin irritant, because it is, and it's considered
a standing comparison substance for measuring skin irritancy of other ingredients."
I appreciate there response but will likely look for a natural laundry detergent
that does not use SLS's or other petrochemical surfactants."
| Ingredients: water, sodium lauryl ether sulfate, coconut alcohol ethoxylte, borax, sodium gluconate, sodium chloride, savinase 16L enzyme, termamyl 300L enzyme, calcium chloride, orange oil (natural), surcide-P |
Brand Name: President's Choice
Product Name: GREEN Coldwater Laundry Detergent - Liquid
Cost: $4.99 for 950ml
Where did we get it? Where have we seen it?: Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore.
Tester: Patti
Rating (out of 5): 1
Comments: I bought this to try a mainstream product that
touts itself as "green". The label states it is "green"
in that it is formulated for cold water use (thus less energy used on hot
water) and that it is concentrated (which means it comes out thick and jelly
like) and thus uses less packaging. All good things - but what about the
ingredients used to make this product? They are not listed on label and
the Loblaws Web site does not talk about ingredients that are in it OR the
ones they don't use. So - this detergent is a pass for me.
| Ingredients: Not on label or on Web site. |
