Top 4 Natural Laundry Solutions

Top 4 Natural Laundry Solutions

Natural Laundry Solutions

I LOVE wearing white. All of my top worn garments are white, and as you all know it is the most susceptible to getting dirty the quickest. 

These are my go to ingredients to keep my whites white.

1. Kind Laundry Vegan Stain Remover Bar

If I have a small food stain or mark on a garment, the only thing I need is the Kind Laundry stain remover bar. This is without a doubt the best stain remover I have ever used - forget Oxy-clean, Shout, etc. this is THE BEST solution hands down for stains. It gives unparalleled results when it comes to yellowing collars, cuffs and armpits of shirts. I have also used it on items like my white ball cap, white sneakers - honestly I use this bar on everything and the results continue to amaze me. 

Simply wet the bar and apply it gently to the affected area. If it is a potent stain, like tomato sauce, I gently rub it on the stain, leave it for 5 minutes, then rinse it inside out - as to push the residue out the way it came rather than pushing it through the fabric. I think this is an important technique no matter what you are using to clean. Then I do a second round of stain remover bar application and let it sit for a few minutes before popping it in the wash. 

2. Hydrogen Peroxide 

Hydrogen peroxide has shown to be an environmentally friendly disinfectant even in cool water without influencing the integrity of fabric. It breaks down into hydrogen and oxygen which make it environmentally sound naturally occurring elements. 

Hydrogen peroxide is amazing at lifting stains away from garments and specifically blood stains. Sorry if this is TMI but my love for wearing while extends to how my dress my bed. There have been some spills during my moon cycle and a combination of the Kind Laundry stain remover bar and few sprays of hydrogen peroxide, always leaves my sheets looking good as new. This is because hydrogen peroxide reacts with hemoglobin and oxidizes. Hydrogen peroxide is also great for cleaning items that cannot be washed such as furniture, rugs and delicates.  

3. Sodium Percarbonate aka oxygen bleach or safe bleach

Sodium percarbonate is a combination of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It is not the same as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or soda ash (sodium carbonate), however it is an adduct of sodium carbonate. It is an environmentally friendly alternative to bleach because it is non-toxic to aquatic organisms and biodegradable as a water soluble mineral. 

This is the newest addition to my arsenal, but so far I am very impressed. It continues to be active for 6 hours once it has been activated by warm water so it is best to soak overnight for maximum results. For 100% cotton or linen garments, like towels or sheets for instance, it is safe to use boiling hot water. 

4. Laundry detergent strips

Laundry detergent strips are highly concentrated, pre-measured detergents that are saving the word from those god-awful plastic jugs made up of mostly water. In North America alone over 700 million of these jugs are discarded every year. 

I am still on the search for the perfect laundry detergent sheet. I am currently using King Laundry Ocean Breeze strips and they work great for me. However, my partner, who works in construction - not so much. Now he comes home absolutely caked in dust from wood and cement and I always joke that he smells like a playground when he comes home. My welcome home kiss always sends me right back to playing in gravel as a kid. So in all fairness, I'm not sure if there is a laundry detergent suited to this level of dirt.

So far, I have tried Tru Earth and Kind Laundry and I am partial to the later. I'm not sure if it is the scent, the squishy foamy feel of the sheets or just the fact that it is from Toronto that I love the most but I have been using it for almost a year now. For me it does the trick for a regular soiled laundry load, it comes out clean but no overwhelming clean scent. This seems to be a common thread in laundry detergent sheets and it takes some getting used to. I find solace in the fact that I no longer have a combination of unknown chemicals that make up the word "fragrance" wrapped around my body since leaving conventional detergents behind. The other major bonus eliminating those huge plastic jugs both in my cupboard and landfills. 

Resources
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/1/195/htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/sodium-percarbonate
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/top-growing-companies/article-tru-earth-is-eliminating-plastic-pollution-one-laundry-detergent-jug/
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