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SADIE IN NEVADA ASKS:
A friend from newborn playgroup says most cleaning products contain chemicals that can harm babies. I looked into it and decided to switch our products, starting with laundry detergent. I like the idea of laundry sheets to replace bottles of liquid detergent, but I read they can contain plastic! What can I buy that’s safe for my baby, the planet, doesn’t cost too much, and actually works on stains? Does this even exist?
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MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
Hi, Sadie. Kudos on starting a cleaning product purge for the health of your baby—and yourself. Your indoor air quality will improve! Laundry detergent is an impactful first step. We breathe in detergent residue all day long on clothes and around eight hours a night on bedding. For babies, if you’ve got a sleeper, that can be up to 18 hours!
Laundry detergent should be an easy fix, but it’s surprisingly complex. I prioritize health when it comes to potentially harmful chemicals in cleaning products, so here’s how I narrow down choosing a laundry detergent, in order of importance:
- Safe ingredients
- Fragrance
- Whitening agents
- Type: liquid, powder, or sheets
- Packaging
It’s a lot for a load of laundry, so let’s jump in.
What is detergent, anyway?
A quick reminder: detergent lifts dirt and greasy stains out of clothing. Water alone can’t clean clothes: oil and water don’t mix. Something called surfactants are used in detergents to get dirt out. Back in the day, animal fat and vegetable oils did this job, but in modern times, most products contain synthetic, often petrochemical, surfactants. Depending on the surfactant, these can harm people—disrupting hormones and irritating respiratory systems and skin—and the environment. When wash water drains, detergent chemicals slip into our waterways and can harm aquatic life. “Green” or “eco-friendly” surfactants tend to be vegetable-, not petroleum-derived, and are considered safer. Seek them out.
Safe ingredients
Let common sense guide you. If a bottle has a skull-and-crossbones or a “danger” label on it or is covered in warnings that its contents are corrosive, don’t buy it!
Warning labels are the only concrete information most consumers have about what’s in laundry detergent. Unlike shampoo or even breakfast cereal, cleaners are not required to list ingredients. Some states, including New York, are working on household cleaning product information disclosure programs. Until these programs become more widespread, people seeking safer products often look for words like “nontoxic” or “natural” on bottles. Unfortunately, these aren’t regulated, and there’s no standard definition of either claim.
So what’s a concerned person to do? Some companies voluntarily disclose complete lists of their ingredients. I purchase from these brands. There are also third-party certification programs that help consumers locate safer products, like EPA’s Safer Choice and the Environmental Working Group’s useful guide to safer cleaning products.
One additive increasingly found in detergents are optical brighteners, chemicals that leave a residue on clothing to reflect light, which can irritate skin and harm aquatic life. To avoid, look for on-bottle claims about making colors brighter.
Fragrance
I’ve written a lot about fragrance before, and here I am again. I buy fragrance-free detergent. Synthetic fragrances can contain secret chemicals linked to cancer and hormone disruption, among other health harms. Consumers don’t know which chemicals a scent contains because fragrance formulas are protected as trade secrets in the United States. Without ingredient disclosure, no one knows what we’re breathing when doing laundry, when hot vapor-emitting clothing comes out of the dryer, and in smelly residue on fabric. If you’ve ever gotten hand-me-down clothing, you know laundry can remain scented for months and even years. Lungs are a fast route for unknown chemicals to enter the body, and people sensitive to fragrances can develop respiratory issues and skin rashes.
It’s become increasingly easy to find fragrance-free products. Unfortunately, some detergents labeled “free and clear” can still contain odor-masking chemicals to cover up the scent of ingredients! This sucks. If you like a scent, no problem. Purchase a detergent containing natural plant-derived essential oils free of masking agents. Truly natural fragrance doesn’t linger endlessly on clothing.
Whitening agents
You don’t need bleach. There, I said it. There’s a reason bleach bottles come with warning labels like “danger,” “corrosive,” and “causes irreversible eye damage and skin burns.” While the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and EPA have not classified chlorine as a carcinogen, the CDC says children may be more sensitive to short-term exposure to high concentrations than adults. I avoid it. If you’re a bleach fan, make sure to follow on-label dilution instructions carefully. If your clothing is dingy, hydrogen peroxide is your friend. It’s what natural product companies sell as “ecological” bleach—but you can buy it for less money at drugstores. It sanitizes and whitens safely (as long as it has no additives!). Adding lemon juice to a rinse cycle can also whiten.
Type (liquid, powder, sheets) and packaging
It feels like you need to be a life cycle assessment expert to parse out which detergent is eco-friendliest. Liquid is mostly water, and transporting it has a high energy cost—though many companies make ultra-concentrated liquids. Also, while most liquids come in plastic bottles, some are sold in bottles made of recyclable cardboard or aluminum.
Choosing powder avoids transporting liquid, and it usually comes in cardboard boxes. Laundry sheets, a.k.a. detergent sheets, are newer to the market and seem like a fabulous option—I agree with you—however, these flat sheets that come in cardboard envelopes can contain plastic, specifically polyvinyl acetate (PVA). This may be a deal breaker if you want a plastic-free detergent. (PVA is also used for dishwasher pods—read more about it in our Mom Detective article.) Soap nuts, dried fruit shells containing natural surfactants, are a solid (and very cool) option.
If you have a zero-waste store in your town, BYO plastic-free reusable container and fill up with a petrochemical-free fragrance-free detergent you like. Problem solved!
Price and efficacy
To be brutally honest, I don’t pay attention to efficacy. I have two kids and three cats, and we garden, hike, and live life. Laundry detergent is oddly expensive, and some “natural” ones can be pricey. To get the price point down, I limit our loads, use less detergent, and don’t purchase add-ons like softeners and dryer sheets. Line drying can save money, so can DIY hacks like adding (cheap) white vinegar to loads as a softener. Baking soda, also inexpensive, can be used to eliminate odors and boost detergent efficacy.
Cold water works
Once you choose a detergent, there’s still more to consider, including wash temperature. Cold is better environmentally and modern detergents are formulated to work well in it.
Sadie, it shouldn’t be this hard to buy a safe laundry detergent. If you agree, join Moms Clean Air Force to demand our elected officials do much, much better about cleaning product ingredient disclosure, “greenwashing” and marketing claims, industry trade secret protection, and chemical safety policy in general.
Learn more about Moms’ work on chemical safety.
Tell Congress: Support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act