Wash balls - Laundry balls - Eco balls (merged)

Blairweech

There is a thread here about eco balls/laundry balls etc. I think the general consensus is that they aren't worth the money, although a few people have had good results. HTH

Paige

Quite a few of my mates have used the tumble dryer balls and they have all agreed that they do not work that well. I always put a large dry bath towel in with my damp laundry in the tumble dryer and I find this cuts the drying time by one third. Not a huge difference I know but every bit helps. Paige X

morganlefay

Didn't the previous thread on eco balls suggest that their effect has something to do with he residual soap lurking in the clothes (since we all use too much anyway) and that they don't really work the way they claim ? I've got dryer balls and don't think they make any difference, and the thumping noise drives me mad so have stopped using them (tho they are pretty colours and a seductive idea !)

samcat_2

I've been looking at a laundry ball £7.99 from Lakeland - good for 100 washes.

do you think this laundry ball is worth the money?
I want to be kinder to the environment and stop using the soap draw (not working very well)

Wash it Laundry Ball -"Scientifically formulated pellets inside the Wash-It Ball 'activate' water molecules producing electrolytic oxygen and hydrogen ions, which unleash their natural power to lift dirt from clothing fibres."

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/solutions/washing!5718

Any advice much appreciated

Gingernutmeg

I've never used the ball, but I've heard that it wasn't *that* brilliant at getting dirt out of clothes. A friend of mine used one and said that while it was ok on 'clean' dirty clothes (if you know what I mean lol) it wasn't very good on stuff that was 'dirty'. She still ended up having to use chemical stain removers. She also said that it was hard to get used to clothes that didn't really smell 'clean' ...

Have you thought about trying soap-pods as an alternative? I'd imagine that they wouldn't work out to be much more expensive and I've heard lots of good things about them (there are a couple of threads on here too:)) and they are much kinder to the environment than commercial soap powders. You can also add essential oils so that you still get nice smelling washing!

samcat_2

The soap pods sound interesting.. do you have a link?
and do they smell nice?

*zippy*

They do save you money and mine lasted alot longer than 100 washes, but agree the cleaning is ok, with a very mucky DD I used it for colours only, still good though as it saved me buying coloured powder. I don't know why I stopped using one, but am going to buy again as I have developed a allergy to the powders and have had to get the expensive sensitive skin stuff.

I have some soap nuts in the cuboard, but not tried them yet, Lakeland have just started selling these too.

angelatgraceland

I have one of these "balls" and it realy is not brilliant-I think it rather expensive all things considered. I have now got some soapnuts(soap pods) which I found to be better and much much cheaper. I bought mine on ebay. Here is a link:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/500g-bag-of-Soapnuts_W0QQitemZ170080021086QQihZ007QQcategoryZ300QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This is the best price I found-can cost twice as much elsewhere! This with the postage is about the same price as the laundry ball but should last a lot longer.

morganb

I found my laundry ball under the sink the other day! I laughed out load when I remembered buying it, I think it was around the time I was weaning DS1 ...!!!

Have used it for 'clean' dirty clothes, that's about all it's good for

Clive_Woody

Haven't read the whole thread so somebody may have said this already.

Getting a bit scientific for a moment, water is actually a poor 'wetting' agent due to high surface tension (pour some water on a surface and see how it forms into globules). This is one of the reasons you use soap to wash your hands, the soap breaks down the surface tension and allows you to wet (wash) your hands more thoroughly. Basically it's the same thing with washing powder although there are lots of other clever chemical bits and bobs added too for added 'washing power' (enzymes etc to break down various nasty staining things).

These 'wonder balls' may have a use in that they allow you to use less powder in a wash as they agitate clothes more than a wash load without them, but modern machines are well designed to agitate your wash load very effectively (look inside your washing machine drum and see all the ridges put in to move your clothes around as the drum turns around).

To be honest I think this is a bit of a con, you tell people that using these gizmos will make their washing softer/cleaner/brighter/etc and a reasonable number will be convinced. Basically a placebo effect.