Kirkland Environmentally Friendly Fabric Softener

[sudsmaster]

Kirkland released their "Environmentally Friendly" liquid HE laundry detergent some months ago, and I've generally been a fan of it. I use it on my bath towels, and it seems to keep them relatively soft.

I quit using the Kirkland regular fabric softener because the fragrance was pretty sickening. I had to re-wash a terry bathrobe I used it on, because of the aroma. I switched to fragrance free Down, but it's more expensive than the Kirkland product.

Now Kirkland has come out with a companion product for their laundry detergent - their Environmentally Friendly Fabric Softener. I sniffed the bottle (1 gallon) in the store before purchase. It seems to have a mild and inoffensive lavender scent. It will probably go well with the EF detergent.

 

[neptuneguy27]

YAY!!

I am very happy to hear this. I like their lavender scented detergent and wanted to find a fabric softner that had a similar scent in a larger quantity (oddly enough Safeway's "Bright Green" detergent & softner are the exact same as the Kirkland brand. They must use the same manufacturer). Hopefully my Costco will have it the next time I go in. Thanks for the information.

Christopher

 

[mark1973]

Hi Guys

Wanted to ask about the Kirkland Lavender Environmentally friendly liquid detergent.

Costcos here in the UK have just started stocking it as I found it the other day whilst brousing the detergent isle.

As its environment friendly does this mean it will not clean as well as normal detergent?

Does it clean well?

Thanks for any input

Mark
x

 

[toggleswitch2]

What does "environmentally friendly" actually MEAN in terms of FS?

Is this antoher B/S "let'd-hop-on the-bandwagon" marketing ploy?

Perghaps less wax more suds-supressing and clearing /neutralizing agents?

 

[neptuneguy27]

Kirkland cleaning..

The cleaning ability of the detergent is just fine if your laundry isn't heavily soiled. If it is heavily soiled you'll have to pre-treat and incease the amount of detergent. I mainly use it for the throw blankets and dark colored towels. It does leave them nice and soft.

Toggs, I'll have to check the fabric softner when I get home to see what is listed in the ingredients. I can tell you it has a much thinner consistency than Downey, Snuggle, etc. It also does not leave a very heavy frangrance behind either. Just a light scent.

 

[zipdang]

The key differences between environmentally-friendly fabric softeners, such as Ecover and Seventh Generation, and conventional products such as Downy and Snuggle, are that the environmentally-friendly products are usually plant-based and do not contain petrochemicals, animal products (fats), or synthetic fragrances. Additionally, some environmentally-friendly fabric softeners make claims to have minimal negative impact on aquatic life.

Haven't seen Kirkland's version yet, but I have been using Safeway's Bright Green softener and rather like it. The copy on the bottle, however, doesn't make quite as many earth-friendly claims as Ecover and Seventh Generation products do, so I'm not sure exactly how environmentally-friendly that particular product actually is.

 

[sudsmaster]

The Kirkland E-F fabric softener bottle states the following:

Biodegradable softening agents
Plant based formula, no animal by-products
Made from renewable resources
Concentrated formula
Contains no phosphates or dyes
Cruelty free, products never tested on animals
Safe for septic systems (safe for Aussies, too!)
Natural fragrance

Ingredients: Water, plant-derived softening ingredients, solubilizing agents, natural lavender scent, and biodegradable preservative.

I especially appreciate the absence of optical brighteners.

Still haven't tried it, but will the next time I do a laundry load.

I like that it is thinner than regular fabric softener. Less likely to cause a build-up in the fabric softener dispenser, I think.

 

[maytagmightyjj]

I use the regular Kirkland Brand liquid detergent and love it. I've been tempted to try the "Environmental friendly version, but I'm afraid it would not clean as well.

I also discovered the environmentally friendly fabric softner at Costco last week. It did seem very thin- and my experience in the past is it takes a lot of thin softner to work effectively.

I'll be watching this thread to see how you guys like it.

Oh-- If you don't want your fabric softner dispenser to get dirty or "clogged" up, get a Downey Ball-- those work great in a traditional top loader-- of course they cannot be used in a front loader.

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, I tried the new fs this evening on a new set of sheets.

First, the recommended dosage with thie softener appears to be no more than that recommended for a regular softener. Maybe even less.

The sun had already set when the load was finished, so I dried them in the gas dryer.

The result was more or less as expected. The new sheets are still a little stiff (600 tpi, Supima cotton) but quite soft to the touch. There is a residual pleasant lavender fragrance - a bit citrusy - but nowhere near the stench that the regular Kirkland softener leaves.

Overall, so far, I'd say I'm pleased with the result. More tests will follow with bath towels and street clothes - with the advantage that I know how these things turn out with regular softener.

 

[launderess]

Hmmm

By the list of ingredients, Kirkland lavender laundry products sound very similar to the Vaska products recently arrived at local mass drug store.

L.

 

[sudsmaster]

Did a load of towels and a new bathrobe last night. Had to machine dry them, again. But the towels seem nice and soft, with just a very slight lavender fragrance.

 

[lotsosudz]

enviro-friendly softners

I hope that their softner, and detergent(laundry) works better than their enviro-friendly dishwasher detergent. It sucks big time! It leaves a milky white residue on the bottom of cups, and does not shine anything metal very well at all. I had great hopes and expectations, but those were dashed right away. Just my thoughts

 

[qsd-dan]

I hope that their softner, and detergent works better than t

I tried a bottle of enviro-friendly soap in the dishwasher and got the same horrible results. It also suds-locked the hell out my reverse rack Maytag dishwasher, even when using 1/5 cup of detergent.

I have a feeling it's gonna be a quite a long time before enviro soap catches up and performs well in dishwashers.

 

[sudsmaster]

Since then I've done a load of whites in the Miele with the new EF fabric softener. The results are quite good.

I think I'm probably going to donate the rest of the regular highly scented Kirkland fabric softener to the local laundromat.