washingpowder
Well-known member
As I am opposed to any animal testing, and as much as I can try to avoid certain chemicals in my household, majority of under-the-sink kind of products were substituted for their *better* siblings.
However, finding a laundry detergent that would cope with one's needs is still in progress. Gone through probably most of the stuff available, and is there actually anything that gets the job done?
For delicates the Ecover liquid seems to be doing a good job, completely outperforming Planet. It doesn't stand up to Vaska, but as the latter labeled as delicate-safe rather than designed for woolens and silks one can't be certain and will not experiment.
Mrs. Meyers 64 Load Detergent (big bottle) is mediocre at best. Scented with *fragrance* rather than essential oils it leaves quite a lot of smell - and that's it. The 68 Load (flip-top-cap bottle) seems to be decent and loaded with plenty of enzymes, borax and so on. However it's extremely concentrated, and while the suggested dosage doesn't cut it, any drop more and one may end up setting a fourth additional rinse, mind you in a top-loading machine. It seems some ingredients cannot be concentrated (think borax) and will need to be used in decent quantities to do their job.
Vaska does outstanding job on everything but coffee- and oil-based stains such as cooking surprises and ring around the collar(well, spf 50+ leaves it's marks). For darks, especially denims and sportswear, there doesn't seem to be anything else better, since it's only surfactants.
Seventh Generation powder (white flower and bergamot scent) was ok, with the help of soaking and oxygen bleach whites were almost acceptable, pastels too. Unfortunately it's discontinued and the new edition's ingredients aren't too convincing.
Planet Powder does nothing in terms of brightening whites (although some Amazon reviews claim it fades darks like bleach). Although the fabrics *feel* clean, most of the stains were left behind. Even the Whole Foods Lavender Powder performed better while being very so-so.
CitraSuds Lavender Liquid, while being completely enzyme-free, did an almost acceptable job on colors and darks with heavy pretreating.
Whole Foods Baby Liquid, loaded with promising ingredients, did nothing. Completely, utterly nothing in terms of stain removal; however everything seemed to be perfectly clean otherwise. Maybe with the home-mixed stain remover (water, ammonia and dish liquid for oil-based stains, hydrogen peroxide, dish liquid and baking soda for anything else) it would have done better, but there was absolutely no time to spare for such a wonderful joy.
All the 'organic and certified and what not' detergents seem to be based on soap nuts and blends of essential oils, nothing promising at all - and so were the results, as if washing in plain old water alone, regardless of dose. No stain removal, no softness, no clean feeling, no nothing. Absolutely, utterly nothing. Silly to believe any of that one was when picking up the first and last bottle. Same goes for organic dishwasher detergent. In fact, those two seem to have almost identical ingredients. How is it profitable to even keep them on the shelves?
In fact, the natural dishwasher detergents seem to be a bit more forgiving. Method is definitely the leader, Ecover tabs right after. Trader Joe's packs do better than their powder although sharing exactly the same ingredients (and the dosing was heavily experimented with). Ecover powder was very acceptable.
Only the organic stuff and Wave (Ecos) did completely nothing.
However, finding a laundry detergent that would cope with one's needs is still in progress. Gone through probably most of the stuff available, and is there actually anything that gets the job done?
For delicates the Ecover liquid seems to be doing a good job, completely outperforming Planet. It doesn't stand up to Vaska, but as the latter labeled as delicate-safe rather than designed for woolens and silks one can't be certain and will not experiment.
Mrs. Meyers 64 Load Detergent (big bottle) is mediocre at best. Scented with *fragrance* rather than essential oils it leaves quite a lot of smell - and that's it. The 68 Load (flip-top-cap bottle) seems to be decent and loaded with plenty of enzymes, borax and so on. However it's extremely concentrated, and while the suggested dosage doesn't cut it, any drop more and one may end up setting a fourth additional rinse, mind you in a top-loading machine. It seems some ingredients cannot be concentrated (think borax) and will need to be used in decent quantities to do their job.
Vaska does outstanding job on everything but coffee- and oil-based stains such as cooking surprises and ring around the collar(well, spf 50+ leaves it's marks). For darks, especially denims and sportswear, there doesn't seem to be anything else better, since it's only surfactants.
Seventh Generation powder (white flower and bergamot scent) was ok, with the help of soaking and oxygen bleach whites were almost acceptable, pastels too. Unfortunately it's discontinued and the new edition's ingredients aren't too convincing.
Planet Powder does nothing in terms of brightening whites (although some Amazon reviews claim it fades darks like bleach). Although the fabrics *feel* clean, most of the stains were left behind. Even the Whole Foods Lavender Powder performed better while being very so-so.
CitraSuds Lavender Liquid, while being completely enzyme-free, did an almost acceptable job on colors and darks with heavy pretreating.
Whole Foods Baby Liquid, loaded with promising ingredients, did nothing. Completely, utterly nothing in terms of stain removal; however everything seemed to be perfectly clean otherwise. Maybe with the home-mixed stain remover (water, ammonia and dish liquid for oil-based stains, hydrogen peroxide, dish liquid and baking soda for anything else) it would have done better, but there was absolutely no time to spare for such a wonderful joy.
All the 'organic and certified and what not' detergents seem to be based on soap nuts and blends of essential oils, nothing promising at all - and so were the results, as if washing in plain old water alone, regardless of dose. No stain removal, no softness, no clean feeling, no nothing. Absolutely, utterly nothing. Silly to believe any of that one was when picking up the first and last bottle. Same goes for organic dishwasher detergent. In fact, those two seem to have almost identical ingredients. How is it profitable to even keep them on the shelves?
In fact, the natural dishwasher detergents seem to be a bit more forgiving. Method is definitely the leader, Ecover tabs right after. Trader Joe's packs do better than their powder although sharing exactly the same ingredients (and the dosing was heavily experimented with). Ecover powder was very acceptable.
Only the organic stuff and Wave (Ecos) did completely nothing.
