Cruelty Free Laundry

Washing is the bane of my existence. For two people, my boyfriend and I create a shit tonne of washing. Does everybody create an endless pile of dirty clothes?

Growing up I was (and still am) one of four siblings. FOUR!!! I have no idea what my parents were thinking. I have vivid childhood memories of my siblings and I playing in the gigantic piles of clean washing pretending we were bears, singing ‘The Bear Climbed Over The Mountain’ song. Children are weird, but the point of my story is that the pile of washing was so large, we made it into a literal mountain. I now understand why my mum always used to tell us off for putting clothes we had only worn once in the wash. Washing for six people… I can’t even fathom it.

Making my laundry routine cruelty-fee was one of the easiest changes to make. All the supermarkets in New Zealand stock at least two cruelty-free options for you. Organic stores, some convenience stores and even the odd dairy here and there will stock Ecostore. The cruelty-free world is expanding and it’s very exciting!

Here we are talking about my laundry routine. Wow, the exciting life I lead!

So where do you start with your cruelty-free laundry?

The two cruelty-free options you will almost always have are EcoStore and Earthwise, both are New Zealand owned companies and both are environmentally friendly (double win). I initially starting buying Earthwise as it was a little cheaper than the Ecostore products. I tried their powder and then moved onto their liquid. I think I try to fit too much in my washing machine and found the powder sometimes left a residue on the clothes. The liquid does not do this. I am however almost 100% convinced that the liquid doesn’t go as far as the powder. So something to bear in mind. After experimenting with the entire Earthwise range I decided to fork out and try the Ecostore products. I definitely prefer Ecostore laundry liquid, and this is solely because I love the smell of their Geranium and Orange range; its lovely and fresh, but also subtle. The Earthwise ones are also great, it just depends on what you like your washing to smell like and/or your budget.

One thing I have noticed since using these brands is that they don’t have the stain removing power that some of the mainstream brands do – probably because they’re not full of harmful chemicals.  This can be a little annoying. I’m sure if you wanted to soak your stained items prior to washing, or do a stain treatment, the stains would come out. Neither of these options do I have the time or the patience for. Hence the lightly stained clothing you may occasionally see me in.

Earthwise product range includes:

• powder and liquid detergents
• fabric softeners
• stain treatments
• oxygenated whitener

Ecostore product range includes:

• powder and liquid detergents
• fabric softener
• laundry soak and stain remover
• wool and delicates wash

I have fine-tuned my laundry routine over the years and have found my perfect combination of cruelty-free products. I use Ecostores Geranium and Orange washing liquid, the Earthwise fabric softener and the Earthwise  whitener which I sprinkle in with my white loads. I have never had a reaction to any of their products, but if you tend to have skin more on the sensitive side, both brands have a sensitive skin range which is fragrance-less.

Both Ecostore and Earthwise have refilleries, which I think is pretty great. You can take your empty bottles down to the Ecostore shop in Freemans Bay and refill them. You can also take your empty bottles to the Goodfor refillery in Ponsonby; they stock a great range of the Earthwise products for you to refill (if you haven’t been to the Goodfor shop yet, get there! They have organic extra virgin olive oil on tap!! I might actually do a blog on a zero waste shop from there). I personally love doing this; I feel as though I am saving the world one plastic bottle at a time. There’s a bit of a downside to using the refilleries and its definitely a game changer for some people – they actually end up charging you more than the supermarket does for the same product. My personal opinion on this is that it should be cheaper, but for me reducing my waste is worth more than the extra $1 or $2.

Thats all from me today folks and if you have any of your own laundry hacks (cruelty-free and environmentally friendly of course) please get in touch. I’d love to hear them.

Until next time,

Anita xx