Possible Other Detergents

[Guest guest]

From Needs online, where they list ingredients (if you want to view

yourself just go to needs.com and type " laundry " into the search box)

PLANET LIQUID

Coconut Oil Based Cleaners, Salt, Washing Soda, Ethoxylated Alcohol.

Does that sound a little vague? What is ethoxylated alcohol? It sounds

fairly pure though?

PLANET POWDER

Coconut Oil Based Cleaners, Salt, Ethoxylated Alcohol, Corn Starch,

Soda Ash, Cellulose, Borax, Sodium Silicate, Anti Cake.

I don't like the sound of those ingredients, isn't cellulose something

Jeff warned against?

ALLENS NATURALLY

Water, Alkylarylethoxylate, Triethanolamine, Linear Alkylaryl

Sulfonate, Sodium Chloride.

I don't know what those things are (well, I know what water and salt

are). They don't sound so great, but...

ALLENS NATURALLY POWDER

Sodium Carbonate a naturally occurring mineral used to soften water.

Sodium Silicate to neutralize acids and protect your washer from

corrosion. Sodium Citrate and Sodium Bicarbonate used to sequester

trace metals and promote cleanability. Sodium Borate derived from a

naturally occurring mineral to stabilize pH and soften fabric. Sodium

Sulfate a naturally occurring mineral which controls moisture for

improved pourability. The cleaning agents are vegetable derived and

biodegradable. Cellulose Colloids to keep soil from redepositing on

the laundry.

Again--what are these cellulose colloids? They sound suspicious.

ECOS FREE AND CLEAR

Now this one is a liquid I may have seen in the healthfood stores and

sounds pretty good! Along with PLANET liquid.

100% Natural Anionic Coconut Kernel Oil-Based Surfactant, Soap Bark,

Chamomile, Horsetail Plant and Purified Water.

And here's BIOKLEEN LIQUID

Surfactants and Conditioners from Coconut and/or Corn, Grapefruit Seed

and Pulp Extract (has no scent), Linear Sulfonate, Filtered Water.

Okay. I obviously have no idea what some of these ingredients are but

probably Jeff would know. It looks like ECOS and PLANET are the

purest? BIOKLEEN--I don't know what Linear Sulfonate is?

I wonder if ECOS will send me a sample.

I'm about to call Seventh Generation back and ask for the email of the

customer relations guy I spoke with and forward him Jeff's info. I

probably will ask for a refund as I had recently ordered SIX bottles

online, hoping to last a long time (I tend to buy in bulk for

discount). Well now I have six bottles I can't use. I wonder if they

understand about the mold sensitivity issue. I feel like I should

write about this in a magazine, as a service to people out there. I

don't want to impair a good company's market share but its important.

But I need to know which detergents are truly safe. I never like to

write about something negative without offering something positive.