Most laundry detergent contains chemicals I’m trying to avoid.
This includes 1,4 dioxane (the EPA says this likely causes cancer), ethoxylated alcohols, synthetic dyes, optical brighteners, SLS/SLES, parabens, phosphates, sulfates & more. Your laundry detergent gets absorbed into your body through your skin (your largest organ) so it’s important to know what’s in your laundry detergent.
I used several different laundry detergent brands at home. These are the 5 best.
TLDR: CLEAN PEOPLE Laundry Detergent came in #1 because it’s cleans well, uses plastic-free packaging, has no 1,4 dioxane, SLS/SLES, parabens, phosphates, sulfates, synthetic dyes, and no optical brighteners! It is also Made in the USA 🇺🇸, not like the other guys made overseas. I use Clean People in my home and love it.
1. CLEAN PEOPLE Laundry Detergent
Clean People Laundry Detergent blew us away and was our favorite laundry detergent by far, earning 5 stars ★★★★★. It is effective at cleaning and eliminating odors – we washed sweaty gym clothes and kids clothes with stains. All the clothes came out fresh and clean. In other words, it works!
Clean People uses simple, effective ingredients, and doesn’t contain harsh chemicals like 1,4 dioxane, optical brighteners, sulfates, phosphates, parabens, chlorine, or synthetic dyes (that’s why it’s hypoallergenic and certified by Dermatologists).
We love that it’s 100% Plastic Free Packaging. That means it’s better for the environment than using plastic jugs.
Finally, we love all the great reviews that Clean People has earned, including one from us!
Clean People comes in Fragrance Free and Lavender Scent. We love the Fragrance Free option but our favorite is Lavender! The Lavender gets a bonus point from me since its made in the USA!
This is what we recommend and use at home and thus earned the #1 spot.
UPDATE: Clean People has a Buy 1 Get 1 FREE BOGO Sale going right now for new customers, use coupon code: BOGO.
Molly Suds earned our #2 spot. Like #1 Clean People, Molly Suds is made from simple, effective ingredients. While Clean People is a laundry sheet, Molly Suds is a laundry powder. You scoop the laundry powder into your washer before you’ve put your laundry in. Our testing demonstrated that Molly Suds has good cleaning power and and clean ingredients. Molly Suds comes in scented and unscented versions.
We’re a little mixed on the powder format – it’s easy to spill as you scoop from the bag into your washing machine. Not as good as the Clean People’s Sheet but a lot better than the liquid detergent format.
Molly Suds packaging is in plastic. But we like that it’s not liquid detergent (which is heavier and uses more plastic).
The combination of cleaning power, ingredients, and little plastic earned Molly Suds our #2 spot.
Seventh Generation came in 3rd place. Free & Clear is a fragrance free formula. Seventh Generation did well at cleaning and removing odors. Seventh Generation uses simple, effective ingredients and is hypoallergenic. However, Seventh Generation’s ingredients include ingredients that we don’t like. First off, Free & Clear includes SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) which can cause rashes and harm your skin. Additionally, the detergent includes preservatives (methylisothiazolinone and benzisothiazolinone) that are known to cause extreme allergic reactions in some people.
The plastic laundry detergent bottles are made mostly from recycled plastic which we like. But plastic laundry detergent bottles often end up in the landfill.
We loved the cleanliness. But the 1,4 dioxane & plastic bottle dropped Seventh Generation to our #3 spot.
All Free & Clear came in 4th place. All is what you think of when you think of Laundry Detergent. Free & Clear has the cleaning power you associate with All. But Free & Clear contains C12-15 PARETH-9 (which leads to trace amounts of 1,4 dioxane), parabens, phosphates, and other synthetic ingredients like brighteners.
All is heavy and uses a plastic jug. So it’s not winning any points on environmental impact. The plastic can end up in the landfill and the weight means lots of CO2 Emissions in transportation. With liquid detergents, it’s often hard to dose the right amount which leads to waste and using more detergent than you need. This double whammy leads to wasting money and being bad for the environment.
We did love the scent and cleaning power, and based on the thousands of reviews that the product has on Amazon, so did many others.
Great product! And I love their aluminum containers (aluminum is infinitely recyclable which makes it an environmentally friendly option) but it is too expensive to make it make sense.
Buy it here.
And The Winner Is…
The winner is CLEAN PEOPLE. Simple, effective ingredients, no gross ingredients, plastic free packaging, powerful at cleaning and stain removal, and you can get a Buy 1, Get 1 FREE right now with Coupon Code BOGO.
#1 CLEAN PEOPLE Lavender: Buy It Here
#2 Molly Suds: Buy It Here
#3 Seventh Generation: Buy it Here
#4 All Free & Clear: Buy it Here
#5 Dirty Labs: Buy it Here
