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I had originally planned on including these reviews in yesterday’s post about Eco-friendly laundry tips but I quickly realized that it would be way too long. When I decided to review various products to help create a more Eco-friendly laundry routine it was really important to me that I support work at home moms and North American made products. Therefore, I did not include any mass produced products by large companies. I might review some of those later, but for this post all of the products are made by small businesses. All of the products are available on Etsy and I have provided links to each store.
I think I have spent more time on this post than any other I have written. I have literally washed dozens of loads of laundry! One of the things I found most impressive was the quality of the products- they worked just as well as anything I have purchased at the local grocery store. I sorted the products into categories but they aren’t in any particular order.
Laundry Detergents
If I had to pick a favorite all-purpose laundry soap these would be it! Niffer’s laundry powders come in scented and unscented versions. I really liked the lavender one! The powders cleaned really well and left my laundry feeling fresh. They came in recyclable paper pouch which I thought was really great. Niffer’s store started as a hobby but when they lost their income it helped support their family until things turned around. I love that her store has such a great story behind it!
Amber’s herbal laundry soap would be my pick for cloth diapers. It handled tough blood stains really well and left everything smelling light and clean. She has even provided a coupon code you can use to save 10% off your order: Magnolia2013. Amber considers herself an expert on natural laundry care and diapers in particular so this is one I think you can be confident will handle your toughest cloth diaper challenges.
Jess’s soap would be my pick for people who want to try homemade laundry soap but prefer a liquid soap. The powder is made with Zote soap and the liquid used Fels-Naptha soap as the base. The liquid cleaned well and had a pleasant but faint scent.
Dryer Balls
I think I was most excited to try out dryer balls and I was not disappointed! The Woodland Hills dryer balls came packed in the pretty striped bag shown below. They are very soft and very high quality. They are about the size of a tennis ball. I found that they shortened drying time and greatly reduced the static in my laundry. I’m also obsessed with Alpacas so that’s an added bonus 🙂
The dryer balls made by M and M Ranch were smaller and less tightly woven than the Woodland Hills Alpacas balls. I don’t think it makes a difference performance wise- it’s just an issue of preference. These dryer balls are roughly the size of golf balls and I found that these also reduced drying time and static.
Laundry Stain Stick
I put this stain stick by Vintage Lathers to the ultimate test: I used it on my cloth menstrual pads. It worked as well as Spray and Wash did on my pads- it got out most of the stain but not quite all. This is glowing praise since this was a REALLY tough challenge! I like that this stain stick worked just as well as my “less green” store bought product.
Conlusion
Even though this was a lot of work, I’m really glad I did it. I found that I had preconcieved notions about homemade laundry products not cleaning as well. I put these products through the ringer (pun intended) and they really surprised me by just how great they were! They proved to me that you don’t need the extra chemicals present in many commerical grade laundry products to have clean, stain free clothes. I hope you all will check out some of the Etsy shops and do your own laundry experiements. Let me know what you think!
Awesome! Can't wait to try some of these! 🙂
Yes, Niffer's Soap actually cleaned my work shirts! Very impressed. I was actually tempted to use more than recommended because I was SURE it wouldn't work as well as tide. I was wrong, I used the recommended amount, and VOILA! Clean clothes!