laundry soap roundup

Over the past few months, I have been testing three different laundry soaps that are readily available in my area. I'm pleased to say that I am happy with all three although I have made the decision to stick to one particular brand. Here's the summary.


I focused on the Arm & Hammer Essentials Powerful Natural Laundry Detergent and the Nature Clean All Natural Laundry Liquid in earlier posts so I'll talk a bit about the Method Laundry Detergent. This one is compatible with the new High Efficiency washers that are now readily available. The bottle is tiny, which means less waste, but I wasn't sure it would actually last the 32 loads it claimed to on the bottle. But it did, and it did a great cleaning job as well. I tried the unscented one, called "free + clear" but there are also a couple of scented varieties and a baby formulation.

In the end, I have decided to make the Nature Clean my detergent of choice for a few reasons. First, it is readily available in the grocery store I normally shop in. Second, out of the three I tried it probably had the best cleaning results, although it was really close. Third, it is made by a Canadian company and I am trying very hard buy as locally as I can.

As for price (in Canadian dollars), the Nature Clean is $12.99 and claims 52 loads. The Arm & Hammer is $5.69 for 32 loads and the Method is $9.99 for 32 loads.

So that will wrap up my quest for a green laundry detergent...for now. I still intend to try other products as I discover them. But for now, I'm happy with the outcome.

laundry soap

Cleaning products is the first area I am trying to tackle. As I finish the products I am currently using I plan to replace them with ones that are safe for the environment and healthier for humans. I needed laundry detergent so I checked out the options at my grocery store. I came across Arm & Hammer Essentials Powerful Natural Laundry Detergent. After checking the price (not too much more than my regular detergent) and reading the tag line "Better for my family, better for the environment" I thought I'd give it a try. The label claims that it is made from 100% naturally derived surfactants, is made from biodegradable plant-based soaps, is dye free, contains no phosphates or bleaches, is boosted by baking soda and is safe for septic systems. Sounds good right? But there's also a warning indicating that it contains an irritant. The tiny print on the back states that it may irritate eyes and skin. So what I don't know, because ingredients lists are not required on laundry detergent, is what those irritants are and how dangerous they might be. Nevertheless, this stuff is probably way less harmful than what I was buying before.

I've done several loads of laundry with this stuff and I am impressed. It cleans just as well as my previous brand and the scent is lovely. (Although I don't know how "natural" the scent is.) And the bottle is recyclable.

What I find odd, is that there is no mention of this product on the Arm & Hammer website. You'd think that they would be promoting the product heavily with the environment being such a hot topic.