UPDATED 2018

Hi there! Thanks for visiting. I no longer recommend this product due to the actions of Simply Co. owner Lauren Singer and her business Package Free Shop on Instagram and elsewhere. On several occasions Lauren and Package Free Shop have deleted and blocked people who have tried to start reasonable discussions about privilege, representation, inclusion, diversity and supporting BIPOC. Silencing their supporters and followers is unacceptable. I am saddened and horrified, especially since there was a simple solution: apologize and open up a discussion. I will no longer support Trash is for Tossers, Package Free Shop or Simply Co. unless they issue a statement and take significant steps to better engage with their community on these important issues.

There are many great detergents out there that are earth friendly, effective and in eco-friendly packaging:

• Soap Nuts (we use “Eco Nuts” brand because their harvesting is fair trade and eco-friendly) are actually berries that release saponins to wash your clothes. Place 4-5 “nuts” in the provided cotton drawstring bag. If you’re washing on cold, place the bag of nuts in a cup of hot water for a few minutes before tossing the whole thing – water and bag – into the washing machine drum. If you’re washing on warm or hot, simply throw the bag into the washing machine. You can even run it through the dryer, too – it acts as a fabric softener. Once you use the bag of nuts a few times you can compost the used nut “shells.”
• Check out Tangie Laundry Paste, which is a plastic free and eco-conscious brand whose founder is very committed to reducing her company’s environmental footprint.
• A product like Seventh Generation powder is not perfect but readily available. It’s effective on clothes and comes in a recyclable box.
• There are new products entering the market every day – like this.

UPDATE JUNE 2018: We’re currently using Soap Nuts as our main laundry detergent and we like it a lot so far. It makes our clothes clean and fresh and is safe and gentle for my children, especially my oldest with eczema. I find soaking the nuts in hot water a few minutes before the wash is the best technique. Also make sure you’re washing “like” items together meaning the same soil level and thickness/size. Throwing a blanket and a bunch of small kids clothes together might make the soap nuts less effective as they require the agitation of fabrics against one another to get maximum clean. We’re still using powdered laundry detergent in a cardboard box on our cloth diapers.

The Simply Co. was founded by zero waste leader Lauren Singer. Her blog Trash is for Tossers has been a huge inspiration for my family.

The Simply Co. detergent packaging is beautifully zero waste in a glass cylinder with a metal lid. The box is cardboard and the packing materials were brown paper. It’s simply…elegant.

The jar holds 30oz of product and each load takes 1 or 2 tablespoons of powder. If you only use one scoop every time, you could potentially get 60 loads of laundry from one jar. The price per load may not work for some individuals or households, but I for one like supporting a business that pays such excruciating detail to every aspect of their production to keep it as low-waste as possible.

I got the lavender scent and it’s really heavenly. I’m not a huge fan of lavender (but my husband is, hence my selfless choice) but this is subtle and nice smelling. It doesn’t smell like the horrendous lavender hand soap my husband used to force on us. Ha yes I’m being slightly dramatic. It just smells fresh and not purfume-y.

The Simply Co. detergent works well to clean clothing and other household cloths. We use cloth napkins, tissues, “un-paper” towels and we aren’t afraid to get them dirty. This product did a good job of taking stains out and leaving our items soft and clean.

The jury (the jury being me and my husband) is still out on whether this is a good fit for washing cloth diapers. My first impression is that it wasn’t strong enough even at the higher “dose” of two scoops recommended on the package. I am going to stick with a wash routine and detergent that I know is excellent for my diapers/my water/my washing machine. If cloth diapering families out there really want me to put this further to the test, let me know in the comments and I’ll do more experimenting.

The bottom line: I think this detergent is awesome for someone who is conscious about the environment and their personal health. There’s no yucky unhealthy stuff for you or our planet. For someone who doesn’t want to/doesn’t have time to make their own detergent, this could be a great option. Order here.