Have you ever read the label of your average commercially sold laundry soap and discovered what’s ACTUALLY in those ingredients? Let’s jump in and talk a bit about the laundry soap you can get in your average store and some of the dangers of the ingredients found in them. I will also share an awesome alternative that is safe for you and your family, and a recipe that I use to stretch it and make healthy laundry as budget friendly as possible for my family.
Years ago, I will fully confess that I was the girl trying to ‘make her laundry smell better’. You know the drill- someone gives you some clothes, or a friend leaves a clothing item at your house and you catch a whiff and think ‘man! I need to figure out what detergent they use, that smells sooo good’. That was totally me!
But do you want to know what’s actually in that detergent making it ‘smell good’?
Disclaimer-
Before we jump into the facts, I want to tell you.. this post is not created to scare you, or make you feel like you’re doing a bad job as a homemaker.
My hope in this space is to share some facts I’ve learned on my personal journey to better health for my family and maybe open your eyes to some things. And then it’s your job to decide for yourself what to do with that information. Maybe it will spur you on to do some more research yourself, and to see what’s out there that is better for your body, and safer for your family.
Just please don’t allow it to cause fear or anxiety, fear itself can be toxic 😉 we don’t want that!
A quick run down of some harmful ingredients found in some popular laundry detergent–
One of the most harmful chemicals found in commercial laundry detergent is 1,4-Dioxane. The EPA considers this solvent a human carcinogen (cancer causer). By using detergents which contain 1,4-Dioxane or other harmful chemicals, you are exposing your body to these substances.
Other dangerous substances that are found in some commercial laundry detergents, like sodium laurel sulfate (SLS), ammonia, nonylphenol ethoxylate, phenols, and phosphates can lead to other significant health problems once they come into contact with your skin.
A simple google search will pull up so many articles talking about the dangers of laundry detergents, pods and more, but even deeper digging found lots of articles sharing about the results of their use. Here are just a few:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12629633/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10828143/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23076090/
The F word, Fragrance
In addition to some of those popular harmful ingredients, most laundry detergents contain fragrance (this word should send off red flags for you when you find it in your products). I could do a whole post on fragrance and the reasons why you should keep it out of your home, but it’s an umbrella term for 3000+ different toxic stock chemical ingredients.
The ingredient Fragrance is under trade-secret law, meaning companies could list it as an ingredient while not having to disclose what is in their fragrances, OR test them for safety.
Thats not sound trustworthy or transparent, and I’m not comfortable allowing things in, on and around my body or my children’s that I don’t have full transparency with.
One of the first things I did for my family, when I began my healthier living journey was to eliminate as much out of my Home that had that word in the Ingredients list, and we in a live probably a 90% fragrance free home now. A good first step for you is just to begin to read the ingredient labels of the things in your home, and start to eliminate and replace things with that name in their lists.
Some studies to check out on the dangers of fragrance:
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/702512-FRAGRANCE/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26724768/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25588193/
Remember, your skin is your largest organ in your body.
When you wash your clothes these chemicals in the ingredients of the laundry detergent remain in your clothes after a wash cycle, but they can also potentially penetrate your skin, especially when your clothes become damp or wet.
Your skin is the largest organ in your body, and what you put on your skin easily absorbs into your bloodstream.
Finding a laundry detergent that’s safer for you?
Ok, let’s step away from the chemicals and harmful ingredients.. now, how do we find something that is actually safe for our bodies, our kids and our families? Let’s dive into some ways to find better options!
Beware of green washing!
Green washing is leading a consumer to believe a product is ‘safe’, ‘nontoxic’ or ‘clean’ by using words like Natural, or Biodegradable, or Chemical free. Company’s make these claims on their products, you grab it thinking you’re making a better choice for your family only to actually look into the ingredients and find that it not as safe as you thought.
A tool I use to help make better, informed choices:
One tool that I utilize often is the EWG app.
This app gives beauty products, groceries, laundry, home cleaners (and so much more) ratings based on nutrition, ingredient concerns, and degree of processing. The best scores are rated, and you can make much more educated choice on what you bring into your home, simply by scanning the bar code on your product, and reading though the details of the product.
The next time you go to the store looking for things to bring into your home, first read the ingredients, scan the product, read into the EWG rating, and make an informed decision based on what you find.
Tips and tricks for using natural laundry detergent
• This laundry soap has cleaned everything I’ve needed washed. If my clothes are especially spotted and stained, like my girls clothes usually are, I do spot treat. I have a recipe for a diy laundry stain treater I can post soon!
• ADD VINEGAR AS YOUR LAUNDRY SOFTENER! Plain, white vinegar. I can’t encourage this enough. It’s changed the natural I struggled with my clothes feeling that soft, fluffy clean feel, even with my old detergents I used to try. But about 3-4 tablespoons of plain vinegar, right into the softener section of your washing machine at the beginning as you’re adding your detergent in, and you’re good to go!
• Remember .. it’s going to take a little while to adjust to the more natural laundry detergent. Your body is accustomed to chemicals, and your nose used to synthetic fragrances. Natural fragrances just don’t smell as strong, because they aren’t formulated to be a fragrance like man-made chemicals are. So give it a little time to get used to your new, natural detergent.
• The days of bleaching your whites are OVER. Just say no friend 🥴 it’s so bad for you, let alone your clothes that you wear on your body, or your sheets you sleep in. Enter this amazing laundry whitening product, Mrs Stewart’s Liquid Bluing. It is CLEAN and non toxic, safe for your body. I’m absolutely obsessed with this, andddd it’s only $4-6 on amazon. Follow the directions on the bottle, and anything from white sheets, to whites etc.. the crisp white color you get safely from this guy is unmatched. I wish I was sponsored by this guy, but alas, just a huge fan. Click here to check it out!
Now let’s chat Young livings Thieves Laundry Soap
I can’t make a post about laundry soap without talking about my favorite. I can’t tell you the amount of times I looked and looked for an affordable laundry soap, with no fragrance, that was safe for our body. Thieves Laundry Soap, enters the chat.
I’m obsessed. Simple as that. Honest as that.
Gone is the searching for the right is one, I started using thieves laundry soap a year ago, and have never looked back.
Thieves laundry soap is about as pure and natural as a laundry soap is going to get—plus it contains the most powerful essential oils on the planet that not only make it smell amazing, but really help to get things clean.
I mean, I use Thieves for cleaning literally everything in my house, and now they’ve made the best laundry soap I’ve ever tried out of the stuff.
It’s budget friendly
This detergent is SO concentrated- 6 times a commercial detergent, thus you can stretch it for so long. And IT. WORKS. Stains come out, whites don’t get dingy, dirty little toddler clothes actually come out CLEAN. I can’t believe how well it works with only needing to use such a small amount. Like, it’s crazy cool!
I make my own Laundry soap recipe, using this as the base. And that stretching makes it SO budget friendly, and it literally lasts forever. Recipe farther below in this post!
Ingredients in Young Living Thieves Laundry Soap
Let me walk you through all the ingredients, which they clearly label on the bottle, by the way—I didn’t have to Google a safety data sheet just to find it out.
I’ve also included each of these ingredients’ ratings on the EWG Skin Deep site—this is a database where thousands of products and also individual ingredients have been rated for their safety or toxicity. The ratings are on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the least toxic and 10 being the most toxic. A score of 1-2 is considered the lowest possible hazard and very safe. Every single one of these ingredients found in their database ranks in that very safe category.
• Water: Obviously some amount of water is necessary to make a liquid.
• Decyl glucoside: A plant-derived nonionic surfactant (cleaning agent) that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
• Sodium oleate: Derived from olive oil, an ingredient that helps control suds/foaminess. Biodegradable and rated a 2 on EWG. Glycerin: Used to stabilize the natural cleaning enzymes. Rated a 2 on EWG.
• Caprylyl glucoside: Another plant-derived surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
• Lauryl glucoside: Another plant-derived surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
• Sodium chloride: That would be simple table salt. It affects the viscosity/thickness of the liquid.
• Sodium gluconate: A plant-derived anionic surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
• Carboxymethyl cellulose: A plant-derived thickener and stabilizer. Rated a 1 on EWG.
• Alpha-amaylase, Protease, Lipase: These are all natural enzymes, which are very effective at breaking down organic particles that make up the stains and dirtiness on your clothes. Without enzymes, your clothes won’t be getting nearly as clean. These enzymes are 100% naturally-derived and are completely biodegradable.
• Essential Oils: Jade lemon oil, Bergamot oil, Clove oil, Lemon oil, Cinnamon bark oil, Eucalyptus radiata oil, and Rosemary oil: All the beautiful, purer-than-pure Young Living essential oils that were carefully chosen for their cleansing and purifying properties. Also, they smell unbelievably DELICIOUS.
Sounds amazing huh? Grateful for all these wonderful, safe, products that WORK, and are all in one place, so I don’t have to shop for all these different things. Laundry soap is for SURE a fav around here!
How to make my laundry detergent recipe:
And finally we have made it to my laundry soap recipe. Let’s just in on how I make this:
Components needed for laundry detergent recipe
• Young Living Thieves Laundry Soap
• Young Living Thieves Cleaner Concentrate
• 30 drops of Oil of your choice, I like Lemon or purification for extra cleaning power.
• Water
Tools to make detergent
• 32 Ounce Pump Bottle
• Funnel
How to make Laundry Soap Recipe
Begin by adding 1/3 of the bottle, or around 10 ounces of Thieves Laundry Detergent to the pump bottle.
Next add 2 capfuls of Thieves Concentrate Cleaner to the pump bottle.
Drop 30 drops of essential oils into the pump bottle.
Fill the rest of the way with water, replace the pump and screw it on. Shake to mix.
Shake to mix before using every time, then pump 10-20 pumps of laundry soap into your washer’s selected detergent spot.
How to purchase Young Living Thieves Laundry Detergent?
Are you currently not a member of Young Living? Or maybe you’ve never even heard about them? Click the link below to shop my link at Young Living. Add some amazing products to your cart. Then create a member account, making sure to use my member number 29090205 if prompted for one. And your set to begin your oily journey! I would love the chance to serve you and run with you! Let’s do this!
https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/referral/29090205
The link to Thieves laundry soap here (absolutely a must!)
The link to the Thieves Cleaner here.
Conclusion
Have you ever made your own laundry detergent? What’s your favorite recipe? Tell me below!
