Washing-up liquid

anguk

I've been trying over the past few months to use less chemicals partly for enviromental reasons and partly because I think we use stuff with far too many man-made chemicals in them. I can't afford to just chuck things out & replace so I've been using stuff up and then buying something "greener". But I'm having trouble finding a washing-up liquid, I thought I'd get some Ecover but was very suprised when I looked on their website and saw that it contains Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate which is one of the "nasties" that I'm trying to avoid! I know it's used as a cheap foaming agent but surely there must be a washing-up liquid out there that doesn't use it?

Anyone got any recommendations?

Tao81

No, don't have any suggestions re-washing up liquid. But if you are really serious about cutting down the amount of chemicals you use to clean your home, have you ever considered purchasing 'E cloths' they are sold in Sainsbury Homebase, Lawsons places like that. They are two types made of different materials. They are amazing for mirrors, stainless steel and all sorts of surfaces really, buff things up to a lovely shine, you don't need to use any products just clean with these amazing cloths, they have cut down my usage of chemicals in my home massively, I only ever buy washing up liquid now and the odd bottle of surface spray. For windows, you don't need to use anything but the cloth most of the time and for stubborn dirt I wash the window simply with a wet E-cloth and then shine with a dry one!
I don't know how I'd survive now if they stopped making these cloths!!! I feel so much happier because I know I am not absorbing nasty chemicals through my skin or inhaling them as I use them. Plus it's saved loads of money (not having to buy products thought it was necessary to buy in the past!) :j

Good Luck finding a Washing-up liquid, let us know what you find as I currently buy Ecover and didn't realise (hadn't checked) it has nasties in it!

bigpaws23

Other washing up liquids are Bio D and Clearspring - one of those should be available in larger supermarkets or a health food shop.

If you really want to cut down on washing up liquid, make sure you soak things, cold water will do, rather than leave them to 'set' and you can use fresh lemon juice and / or bicarbonate of soda for cleaning.

It's nowhere near as easy as squirting some foamy stuff into your washing up bowl, so it depends on how purist you want to go.

tbh, unless I've cooked something very greasy, I don't use washing up liquid at all - just a microfibre cloth or one of those yellow / green sponges and hot water cleans most things.

We're addicted to bubbles in our 21st century life aren't we?!

Bigpaws x

roddydogs

Looked on the "contents" of ASDA cheepo WAL-"Formaldehyde" ?? isnt that Poisinious? unlles you rinse thoroughly...........can it build up in the body?

anguk

I spent a good while last night hunting for a washing-up liquid that suits both me & my OH (what an exciting life I lead!) I want one with no nasties, OH wants one that "smells nice and has plenty of suds". I had a look at Bio-D and while it suits me I'm not sure if OH would be happy with the smell. I did also find Earth Friendly Dishmate, ticks all the boxes for me and has different flavours for OH, only problem is it's quite expensive at about £3.50 but apparently you only need a small amount so it should last a while. I also found a site that does trial bottles for £1.50 so I've ordered some Almond & Cherry Dishmate and also some of their Laundry liquid to see what that's like.

I've just been in Asda & noticed that they do their own Eco-friendly range so I'm going to try and find out what's in them because it doesn't say much on the bottles only that it's made with 100% natural products. I'm hoping it's okay because it's quite cheap at 88p but Tesco do their own Naturally range but that's got SLS's in it.

TAO81 - do you use the proper E-cloths or just microfibre cloths. I know I can get the microfibre ones quite cheaply but was wondering if it's worth paying the extra for proper E-Cloths?

Lucina_2

Anguk could you please tell me the site that is selling the trial bottles of Dishmate as I'm interested in trying it too.

Many thanks

Poppy_Jones

Hi there I know that you can buy Bio D and Clear spring in bulk at www.ecotopia.co.uk and I am sure neither of those contain Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate.
If you buy it in the 5l containers you save money and I just fill up my bottle when it runs out therefore less plastic wasted.
Also if you send your empty 5l and 25l containers back to ecotopia they will recycle them for you.

anguk

Lucina wrote: »

Anguk could you please tell me the site that is selling the trial bottles of Dishmate as I'm interested in trying it too.

Many thanks

I ordered the samples from:
http://www.greenbrands.co.uk (bottom link in the left-hand menu). They have samples of quite a few of the products for £1.50 each including p&p but if I do like the stuff I probably won't buy the full size from them because their postage is £6! :eek:

I found another site "NonToxicMatters" who also sell the Earth Friendly stuff and postage is free on your first order then only £3.95 if you order 2 or more items. That site looks quite good and seems to have some nice stuff (they've also got some Earth Friendly products on special offer at the moment) but unfortunately don't have the sample sizes.
http://www.nontoxicmatters.co.uk

anguk

Poppy_Jones wrote: »

Hi there I know that you can buy Bio D and Clear spring in bulk at www.ecotopia.co.uk and I am sure neither of those contain Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate.
If you buy it in the 5l containers you save money and I just fill up my bottle when it runs out therefore less plastic wasted.
Also if you send your empty 5l and 25l containers back to ecotopia they will recycle them for you.

Can I ask what the Bio-D smells like? I'm not too bothered but OH buys washing-up liquid by the smell. :rolleyes: The Bio-D is a fair bit cheaper at £7.59 for 5l, Earth Friendly is about £3.50 for 738ml. :eek:

paddy's_mum

You could, of course, do what our grandmothers did and soften up a bar of ordinary household soap in hot water, and use the resulting liquid goo for washing up. A quick rinse after in a separate bowl of cold water prevents items drying with smears.

arkonite_babe

I didn't realise that about Ecover! I can't get anything else here so I am off to have a look at the links posted.

BTW - I have added the links to the useful sticky for future reference