Healthy Tot

I should have written about this a while ago, and was reminded about it when my sister in-law with a new baby on the way asked me which detergent to use. I am a self professed laundry maven, so I like to think she came to the right place. I have long been picky about how my laundry is done, so I am the laundry lady in my house and have no problem with it. Years ago I stuck by Tide, and used Gonzo for bad stains, used Woolite for my hand washables. Then 10 years ago with more and more green household products hitting the market, I started using those - mostly because they were better for the environment. But I wasn’t totally committed- like a lot of natural household cleaners, (esp. in the beginning) it was lots of trial and error, I found while better for you and the environment, they just didn’t work that well. So sometimes I was going for the lesser evil, All Free & Clear (of perfumes and dyes).

But when my daughter was on the way I wanted something good for the environment, worked well and gentle on her skin. So I again searched and sampled many of the greener brands that would get out tough food and milk stains, be gentle and better for the environment. (these are the brands sans petroleum, dyes, perfumes, phosphates, formaldehyde, etc.) I tried many, but a few varieties that I gave second+ chances to were Ecos, Seventh Generation, and method. Ecos had one of the better prices so I have bought it quite a bit. Seventh Generation is consistently the most expensive and Method falls between. And I have found them all to be pretty good at cleaning clothes. I like that there are no funky chemicals against my daughter’s skin or going back into the water, but they are on a whole more expensive than many conventional brands which I think makes it hard for many to switch. I recommend any of these three, and use them (mostly bought by which is on sale). And I use Oxyclean spray on really bad stains. Something like hot cocoa, blood or grease is just too tough for any of these detergents.

I have to admit, I still use All (scented and F&C) on my husbands work clothes. He is an engineer and is outside on a lot of his projects, getting dusty, dirty, sometimes grease, etc on his clothes. So they are a challenge to even an expert laundry lady much less the greener cleaners. Until I find something natural and very hardy- I have to stick with that.

There are a few I haven’t tried and have always wanted to Charlie’s Soap (supposed to do a bang up job on cloth diapers), Dropps and Soap Nuts (mostly because I am intrigued)… they are not kicking around at Whole Foods and I can only find them online so I have hesitated on trying them out. But given how great Charlie’s is purported to be on dirty diapers, I have wondered it they can take on my husband’s work clothes…