Review: Gaia Natural Cleaners
We love green cleaning supplies around here, but not everyone has time to make their own from scratch. When you can't create your own DIY green cleaners, your next best option is to buy your supplies from a small company. That's why I was thrilled when Karen Troutt from Gaia Natural Cleaners asked if I'd like to review some of her handmade green cleaning supplies. Heck yes, I would!
Karen sent me the dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent to try, and I was super impressed with both!
Gaia Natural Cleaners: Ingredients
Instead of using toxic chemical fragrance, Karen scents her lemony detergents with totally natural lemon peel oil. Here are the complete ingredients lists for both products, with links to their profiles on the Skin Deep Database:
Laundry Detergent: sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate peroxide, sodium bicarbonate, sodium cocoate, water, glycerin, sodium silicate, sodium chloride, lemon peel oil
Dishwasher Detergent: sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium chloride, citric acid, sodium cocoate, water, glycerin, lemon peel oil
Pretty much all green lights! The only ingredient I needed to dig a little bit more on was sodium cocoate. Skin Deep didn't have any data on it, though they did give it a green light. According to the Good Guide, it's not a toxic chemical.
The only non-greenlight chemicals were sodium silicate in the laundry detergent and lemon peel oil. Here's more on those:
- Sodium Silicate - This was on the low end of the yellow scale, and it looks like the concerns are for cosmetics that go on the skin, especially around the eyes. So don't put this laundry detergent in your eyes, OK?
- Lemon Peel Oil - The concern here is when there is too much of this ingredient in food products. So don't eat these detergents either.
Gaia Natural Cleaners: Review
Like I mentioned above, these both worked great! My dishes sparkled just as much as with the dish soap I'd been using, and my laundry came out just as clean as before, too. If you're looking to add handmade cleaning supplies to your regimen but don't have time to make your own, I definitely recommend these!
I should clarify that the dish soap is for use in a dishwashing machine, which is awesome. I have not had good luck finding a good, natural dishwashing detergent. This one worked better than the one I was currently using, and the ingredients are much, much better.
The laundry detergent also really impressed me. Last week my poor baby boy had a wretched stomach bug. This is seriously the sickest he has ever been, and he...er...generated a lot of very dirty laundry in the process. The Gaia Laundry Detergent worked great! No smudges or stains. And I probably did four loads of laundry over the course of the week just to keep my poor kid in clean clothes, so consider this mom-tested and approved.
My only complaint about these products is the packaging, and honestly I'm of two minds about it. I love that she uses those reusable, recyclable cardboard tubes with fitted metal tops. Environmentally, they are so much better than single-use plastic bottles. I did find them very hard to open, though. I'm actually thinking about raiding my supply of glass jars and transferring the detergents to easier-to-open jars once I use enough up that they'll fit into a quart-sized mason jar.
The hard to open thing wouldn't bother me, but since I have an almost-toddler at home, I'm often starting a load of laundry or dishes with him on my hip. Opening those tubes with one hand is impossible.
I would definitely use both of these products again, and thank you so much, Karen, for letting me try them out! If you want to pick up any of Karen's green cleaning supplies, you can shop online at Gaia Natural Cleaners!