We are gutting our laundry room. Ripping out drywall, tearing up tile, removing wallpaper and old junk. It is a slow process. See, our laundry room is original to the house, and is in desperate need of renovation. The wiring is not up to code and the room is dysfunctional. In addition to this, our washing machine is a late seventies model in an unattractive harvest gold color. Not that the looks matter. More importantly, the agitator no longer moves, so I often have to run loads through more than once once. This makes our adventures in laundry detergent more interesting.
*Review detergent c/o Eco Nuts
My latest experience in the Detergent Wars involves Eco Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap. (We already reviewed their surprising soap nuts.) This is a cloth diaper friendly brand and it is popular in the cloth diapering community. We of course love brands supportive of our parenting choices.
Eco Nuts laundry products began with soap nuts. Soap nuts are a berry like fruit from the Himalayas that contain a higher than usual concentration of saponin. Saponin acts a natural surfactant and reduces the surface tension of water. Basically, it makes water “wetter” which helps it penetrate fabric fibers so the fibers can release dirt and buildup. Saponin may not technically be soap, but it is a component when making soap.
The Eco Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap is basically a concentrated liquid made with the soap nuts and few other ingredients to enhance this action. This gives you more control over the concentration of ‘cleaner’ in your load, plus you don’t have to fish soap nuts out of your washing machine. Since this solution is fragrance free, clean rinsing, and hypoallergenic, it is a decent option for sensitive skin, baby laundry, and cloth diapers.
Ingredients:
- Organic Sapindus mukorossi (soapberry) extract
- organic alcohol
- organic glycerin
- organic cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar) gum
We use Eco Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap the same way we use any detergent when washing diapers.
Cloth Diaper washing routine:
- warm pre-rinse with a high level of water
- hot wash with medium level of water to ensure enough friction
- cold rinse
- extra cold rinse
If your machine allows for a warm rinse, I actually recommend that for most detergents, but few machines have that option. Eco Nuts rinses out cleanly anyway. Overall, I find the pre-rinse to big the biggest step, since it gets rid of solids and funky bits so that your wash water can do it’s job.
Eco Nuts also makes a powder version of their laundry soap containing the soap berry extract plus, softeners.
Eco Nuts Powdered Laundry Detergent Ingredients:
- sodium carbonate
- sodium percarbonate
- certified organic sapindus mukorossi*
- natural water softeners
- salt
I admit, I am partial to powdered detergents because I have been dealing with very hard water most of my life. Powdered detergents work better in hard water. I feel they work better than liquid for diapers and also athletic wear. As much as I like the Eco Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap, I am biased and love the powder even more. Like the liquid, this is free of fragrances, dyes, and non-GMO. It is safe for sensitive skin, cloth diapers, pet beds, and infant/child laundry. Both the liquid and powder work for diaper laundry, but if you have smelly poly-blend gym clothes with crusty armpits, I suggest a soak in the powder detergent.
Eco Nuts detergents come in plastic free containers of metal or paper for a more Earth friendly product. (The pump for the liquid is the exception.) So you not only get an environmentally friendly laundry soap, but packaging as well. If you need a bit more oomph for dirty clothes, they also have an oxygen booster. All formulas are low sudsing and safe for HE machines. If you are interested in an Earth friendly detergent that is competitively priced and goes a step further, give them a try. I also use their wool dryer balls, and love how huge they are compared to others.
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*review detergent c/o Eco Nuts. All opinions are my own.