Aside from all the other projects I try to cram in on snow days is catching up on laundry. MyBlogSpark a while back offered me the opportunity to check out some laundry products from Seventh Generation. I was very excited about it – I try to do as little harm to the environment as possible and avoid unnecessary chemicals while I’m at it. But did you know that the laundry detergent you may be using could contain little-known chemicals called optical brighteners? According to scientific research, these can cause allergic reactions, are toxic to small fish and other aquatic life, and can pollute your waterways. That doesn’t sit so well with me – all 3 of us have quite sensitive skin anyway – especially in wintertime. And living in an area surrounded by wetlands, our house uses well water and we’re not far from the ocean, I don’t want to contribute to pollution.
When ultraviolet light hits optical brighteners coating your clothing, the brighteners convert UV rays into visible light to create an optical illusion. This tricks the eye into thinking the clothing is whiter and brighter, and therefore cleaner than it really is.
So how can you avoid these optical brighteners? Seventh Generation makes it easy because their laundry detergents are not only free of optical brighteners, but they´re also non-toxic . In addition, because Seventh Generation liquid laundry detergents are both hypo-allergenic and biodegradable, you can rest easy knowing you made a considerate choice for your family and the environment. MyBlogSpark allowed me to conduct my own experiment to see the difference between your current laundry detergent and Seventh Generation laundry detergent.
When washed in a conventional laundry detergent that contains optical brighteners, clothes appear to glow under a black light. When you use Seventh Generation liquid laundry products, you won´t see the same glow on your clothing.
Here are two identical organic cotton shirts before washing:
Here are the two shirts after washing (one in a conventional laundry detergent and the other in Seventh Generation laundry detergent which does not use optical brighteners)
Hm. They look the same to me…So apparently my regular laundry detergent doesn’t have the optical brighteners? I held the blacklight at all sorts of angles to get it even on both shirts. I don’t know for sure, but I would believe that it probably has more not so nice chemicals in it than Seventh Generation! For comparison – here’s the test photo that was sent to me from MyBlogSpark / Seventh Generation:
Interesting, huh? I have to say – I like that you really only need to use a little bit of the Seventh Generation detergent because it is concentrated. And the dryer sheets seemed to work just as well as the regular ones (even if they look a little different). My clothes are clean and soft, no perfume-y smell, and there’s been no skin sensitivity noticed.
Want to win your own prize pack of Seventh Generation products? 
Leave me a comment about a laundry tip or your biggest laundry disaster by Friday, January 28, 2011 at 1:00 am – and I’ll have the random number generator pick a winner. (Yes, that says 1 am – I want to contact the winner first thing when I get up and get their info to BlogSpark / Seventh Generation!) Make sure there’s a way for me to contact you – I will need to submit your mailing address so you can get your prize. Also, if you click Here you should be able to get a $1 off coupon for Seventh Generation laundry products!
For more information about Seventh Generation laundry products, please visit www.seventhgeneration.com/no-glow, or sign up for their newsletter at http://www.seventhgeneration.com/community. Be sure to visit Seventh Generation on Facebook and on Twitter to “Like” and “Follow”, so that you can keep up with the latest news from Seventh Generation.
Full Disclosure: The prize packs and information were all given to you from Seventh Generation through MyBlogSpark. All opinions are my own.
I'll play along! Love 7th Generation products and have used their diapers, wipes, and dish soap, too. Thanks for sharing this!
My biggest laundry disaster was also the last time I'll ever allow my husband to do laundry (until we live in a place where we have our own laundry facilities and don't have to use our apartment building's laundry room). He took our BLACK clothes down to the laundry room, loaded the washers (2 – count them, two), put our laundry detergent in and started it up. We went back later to switch our clothes into the dryer to find that someone had left bleach in the washer and my husband hadn't noticed when he put the laundry detergent in. So we had two loads worth of originally black clothes that were turned into a black and grey tye dye disaster. This included some clothes that were expensive designer clothes (my husband's black Armani dress shirt) or had very fond memories attached to them (the t-shirt my friends and I had made for our senior year of high school).
So my worst ever laundry disaster was the time I forgot to check the pockets (well, I always forget to do that). But in my scrubs pocket was my cherry-tinted Burts Bees chapstick, which went into the washer with my husbands dress clothes and pants. And then proceeded to transfer that chapstick into the dryer. Needless to say, those clothes were ruined. Though I did try for a week to get all the oil stains out, to no avail. (But that meant new clothes!)
My biggest laundry tip is to not let my boyfriend do the laundry because he adds so much fabric softener that I break out in a rash when I put on the clothes afterwards!
from my experience I ca tell half of the suggested amount of detergent is enough to clean a normal load of laundry, even if you don't have a HI-E washerThank you for hosting this giveawayLouisschnitzomage {at} gmail {dot} com
My biggest disaster was getting bleach on some black pants and not realizing it until it was too late. They came out black with pink polka dots!
One time I shrunk my boyfriend's favorite pair of jeans…oops!hewella1 at gmail dot com
I'll play along since Hubby is allergic to most laundry detergent.My tip?I use less than the required amount of laundry detergent than the bottle/box tell you to. I also wash most of my laundry on the cold cycle to save energy.My laundry gets just as clean. We use Tide in my household and I only pour up to level "1" on the bottle cap. If the laundry is extra grungy, I'll pour up to level "2".
Major sensitive skin in my family, too. Would love to try something that is better for the environment, but am always weary. Maybe this will be the one.I'm the same as WifeMomKnitter and use only to the "1" level and cold water. After my Mom and Dad thought the girls socks hadn't been washed (dirty soles) I started adding OxyClean to the whites loads. It seems to help and probably would've prevented the stains in the first place. Also, I knit socks using acrylic yarn (Caron Simply Soft) and we all get a lot of wear as they just go in with the normal load and come out fine. Thanks for the chance to win and the review! 🙂
My laundry tip is to add baking soda to the wash cycle for odor control.janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com