Sustainable Laundry Swaps
Imagine this – it’s Sunday, and you have a mountain of laundry ahead of you. You’ll likely spend the entire day washing, drying, hanging and folding each article of clothing.
While this daunting task might be something you dread (or secretly love!), it can be something that isn’t at the expense of the environment or your health.
This week we wanted to run through some of our favourite laundry swaps:
Powdered Laundry Detergent or Laundry Strips
Did you know that the residue from traditional detergents can linger on your clothing and sheets for hours? This is because detergent is hardly ever fully rinsed from fabrics in the wash. In turn, we end up inhaling and absorbing these chemicals.
Ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), dyes, ammonium sulphate and more are just a few culprits found in traditional laundry detergent that you should try to avoid. Sodium lauryl sulphate, for example, was first developed as a garage floor degreasing agent. Now you can find this in numerous shampoos, soaps and detergents, despite it being known to cause skin irritations and reactions – especially if used with warm water when your skin absorbs more into its protective barrier.
Instead, leave your clothes clean and fragrant while ditching the harmful ingredients with powdered, all-natural laundry detergent that can wash down your drains without polluting our natural waterways! Our favourite laundry soap is made with simple ingredients such as Epsom salt, baking soda, and Castile soap. Another thing we love about this detergent is that it is perfectly scented with lavender and lemongrass essential oils instead of artificial fragrances with unknown ingredient lists.
Next up are zero-waste laundry strips that you can use for up to 32 loads! Jam-packed into concentrated, hypoallergenic and pre-measured strips, you can easily toss them into your washer without any fuss. The best part is that they are biodegradable, completely zero-waste and leave no chemical residue in comparison to liquid detergent.
Bleach is a product that we see plastered in ads as a friendly cleaning product you can use all over the house. Most of the time you’ll see the models in these ads happily pouring cups of bleach into their laundry and spraying surfaces in their house unprotected.
However, this is a stark contrast to the reality of how you should be extremely careful when handling and using bleach. Even the manufactures warn those who use bleach to use it with personal protective equipment such as gloves, goggles, and an apron to protect yourself from caustic burns and toxic fumes.
If bleach is a part of your routine and you’ve been waiting for the all-natural version, we have you covered. Eralume oxygen brightener is made with washing soda and citric acid that work together along with sodium per carbonate as a bleach alternative to bring your whites back to life!
The best part about this product? Swapping that intense chlorine bleach smell for a fresh lemon oil scent that will not irritate your lungs or cause harm to your eyes.
We have all had a stain or two on our clothing and know just how hard it can be to remove them. Thankfully, there are numerous stain removers on the market that you can easily add to your washer or directly onto fabrics. But be aware that instead of removing the stains, most optical/UV brighteners coat your fabrics with a reflective substance that makes stains harder to see vs. removing them entirely.
Cue the Eralume Stain Remover! A number one pick amongst our staff, this stain remover is powerful and effective at removing those tough to get stains on clothes, linens, and more. It is made with powerhouse cleaning ingredients such as castile soap, hydrogen peroxide 3% and citrus oil.
Spray this onto fabrics to saturate stains, gently scrub, wash as usual and watch this stain remover work its magic!
Say goodbye to dryer sheets and hello to energy-saving wool dryer balls. These durable dryer balls soften and refresh your fabrics while simultaneously reducing drying time. Another reason to make the swap: instead of one-time use, you can use dryer balls for more than 1000 loads!
For a bonus, we suggest adding a few drops of your favourite essential oils (think lavender, eucalyptus, or citrus) in the dryer balls to scent your laundry to your liking.
The perfect finishing touch to your laundry routine. A natural, light fabric spray that you can mist on your linens for a refreshed effect. Beautifully scented with calming lavender and comforting rose, it can be used directly on sheets even to help make your sleep more restful!
Happy laundry day everyone!
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