Do you know what is in your laundry detergent?

Have you ever wondered, "how do my clothes get clean"? Probably not. If you are anything like me a few short months ago, you probably never even gave it a second thought. You go to the store, buy whatever laundry detergent that is either cheapest, on sale, or what you grew up with, take it home, and wash your clothes. Right?

But what is hiding in those cleaners? Are they safe? Can it cause us harm?

Turns out, there are a lot of dangers that are hiding right in your laundry room. Let's start with the big one. Laundry detergent.

When I was first introduced to Norwex, laundry detergents and laundry products were the first things that I started researching. I found ingredients like sodium laurly sulfate, phosphates, formaldehyde, chlorine bleach, dioxane, and optical brighteners. Seriously, what the heck is all of that? Formaldehyde - like what they use to preserve the deceased? Chlorine Bleach - like in swimming pools? Maybe I should have paid a little more attention in science class because I could not tell you what these things were. I still couldn't believe that these ingredients could be harmful, right, why would they be able to be sold then?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

SLS is a surfactant. Wait what is a surfactant? Good question, a surfactant is a compound that will lower the surface tension of water. It makes molecules slippery so instead of sticking to surfaces, the molecules glide off. SLS can come from natural sources and can be made in a lab as well. It is typically found in many personal care products and cleaning products. SLS is the reason that these products foam or "get bubbly". But is it safe? The FDA and EPA have approved SLS use for several products. - So the first unknown ingredient was researched and found to be ok. See there is no way laundry detergents aren't safe.

Phosphates

I'm a nurse, I know this one. We have phosphate in our bodies. They help energy production, muscle and nerve function, and bone growth. If our bodies do not have enough phosphorus we can become very weak or even have confusion, but if we have too much phosphorus we can also become confused, and even have seizures. Chemicals within our bodies are important but more important is they need to be balanced. If we have too little of vital chemicals, our bodies are in danger, but if we have too much, it is also dangerous. So what does this have anything to do with laundry detergent? This one doesn't. Phosphates in laundry detergent don't harm us as humans. With that being said, these phosphates don't just dissolve and go away after you wash your clothes. It gets "washed" away to the septic system which finds its way to our water sources, like lakes, bays, and streams. Phosphates create wonderful conditions for algae. So the algae start to reproduce like wildfire. If a water source is overrun by algae, the balance is off, and marine life is the one that suffers. If the fish start dying, there's no fish. No fish means a higher price on said fish. Fish is food. With the high cost of food, more people can not afford the food. It is a snowball effect.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling gas that is used in many household products. It acts as a preservative to kill microorganisms and prevent the growth of bacteria. Ingestion of this chemical can be fatal. Long-term exposure to even low levels in the air or on the skin can lead to respiratory problems and skin issues.

Chlorine Bleach

Chlorine bleach is used to whiten and "disinfect" laundry. It is very irritating and corrosive to the skin, lungs, and eyes. When we wash our clothes the residue can sit on the clothes. When we wear clothes, our skin soaks up EVERYTHING. So we can potentially be putting a substance that is corrosive to our vital organs into our bodies.

Dioxane

A likely human carcinogen that can be found in groundwater. It is highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage to our immune system, and interfere with hormones. Still, companies are aware this is in our everyday products, shampoos, dish soaps, laundry detergents, even toothpaste, and mouthwashes. For what purpose?? So we have the suds and bubbles.

Optical Brighteners

Pretty much what it sounds like, optical brighteners are a chemical compound that is put into laundry detergents to make our clothes appear whiter and brighter therefore they must be cleaner. It does not make your clothes cleaner! It practically dyes them to give them the appearance of cleaner. These chemicals sit on your clothes and get absorbed into your body which is toxic to your body. These compounds also are not biodegradable, so again finding their way into our natural water systems, killing our marine life.

So now that we are all caught up. I can't help but ask myself, why are these companies putting chemicals into cleaners that are known to have damaging effects on us and the environment? If these chemicals are giving us the illusion that our clothes are clean, but are they getting clean? If we continue to use these products, what is going to happen to us and the planet years from now? Why am I spending my hard-earned money on chemicals aren't cleaning my clothes? Because no one ever told me so, and I didn't think there was a problem. I blindly continued to buy laundry detergent because it is what my parents used, it's what is on sale, it smells good.

What happens to these extra fillers and additives that are in our laundry detergents? Do they just shakeup in the washing machine then flow right to the septic during the rinse cycle? What your clothes don't soak up, your washer machine potentially holds. Yes, your laundry detergent is slowly but surely junking up your washing machine.

Norwex laundry detergent does not contain any of these chemicals. It is a biodegradable surfactant that does not contain phosphates, sulfates, chlorine, bleach, fillers, optical brighteners, dyes, or fragrances. It's not tested on animals! Best yet, it gets my and my families' clothes clean. Coming from a mother of three small wild children, I have put Norwex Ultra Power Plus Laundry Detergent to the test. Even better yet, because it does not contain all of these "extras", the detergent is super concentrated. So you do not have to use much at all to clean. With my HE washer and my hard water, I still only use 1/2 teaspoon per load. That allows me to get about 400 loads out of 1 bag of detergent. With a family of five, the laundry never seems to end, and neither does my bag of detergent.

To try this amazing laundry detergent, check it out here. Once you try it, you will never waste your money on laundry detergent again.