Two of the products that I struggle most to find eco-friendly alternatives for are laundry powder and bleach, especially bleach. My white linen is gradually getting yellower and duller and I reluctantly use chlorine bleach from time to time WHEN ABSOLUTELY necessary.

I ordered a 2 kg tub of Nurturer Eco-Washing Powder (R185) and 2kg tub of Nurturer – O2 Bleach Powder (R145) to try out. Both products arrive, via Takealot, in white plastic tubs, which can easily be reused or recycled.

Eco-Washing Powder

The washing powder is advertised as being fragrance free. I did however notice that the powder itself does have a mild fragrance, but the laundry, once washed, does not smell (I have become very aware of fragranced washing powders since we have moved to eco-friendly alternatives). If you would like your laundry to have a specific fragrance you can always pop a few drops of essential oil in during the rinse cycle.

In order to save water and electricity and preserve our clothes, I also prefer to use a “quick” washing cycle (about 30 minutes) and at 30 degrees, for normal loads. This can sometimes be an issue as not all laundry detergents dissolve as well, leaving marks on dark clothes.

The Nurturer Eco-Washing Powder comes with a handy scoop, so I put a load of washing in the machine and added 1 scoop to the soap dispenser. After a 30-minute cycle our clothes came out perfectly clean, with no soap residue and no over powering fragrance! Success! I have been using the powder since and have been very happy with every wash.

O2 Bleach Powder

I decided to put the bleach to the test on my sad looking white pillowcases that I had given up on using. In order to really test the results, I decided to only bleach one of the pillowcases first to do a comparison. I put the pillowcase and some other “used to be white” dish clothes into a basin with warm water and mixed a spoon of the bleach powder in with it. The instructions say allow for 5-10 minutes contact time, but because the items were pretty yellow, I left them to soak for about 30 minutes. I then popped them into the washing machine for a quick cycle using the Nurturer Eco-Washing Powder, and hung them up to dry.

The results were amazing! I didn’t get my hopes up that an eco-friendly bleach alternative would work wonders…but it did! I was really impressed, and the best part is NO horrible chlorine bleach smell. For normal white washes, to keep your whites looking good, the bleach powder can be added straight to the machine with the washing powder.

The verdict

I am so excited to have stumbled upon these products and think I may have finally found my go-to laundry favourites. The fact that I can also order them easily on Takealot.com with a variety of other items and get them delivered to my door makes them even more appealing (free delivery on orders over R250). The products can also be bought in bulk 5 kg tubs (R395) to save money and packaging.

Pros

• Eco-friendly and biodegradable – made from renewable sources and not tested on animals
• Adhere to accredited international safely list for ingredients (non-toxic)
• Supports a great social cause as well
• Made locally
• Recycled or recyclable packaging
• Can order easily online
• Can be bought in bulk
• Level 1 B-BBEE Company

Cons

• Not as cheap as standard store bought products (most eco-friendly products aren’t) – works out to about R4 per load for washing powder and R3 per load for bleach.
• Products are sourced in Cape Town, so Takealot does take a few days longer to get them to me in Hoedspruit – for Cape Town people delivery should be quick!

Nurturer have kindly sent me some samples of their other cleaning and personal care products to try so watch this space for feedback on more of their products.

To find out more about their work, ingredient policies and products head to read our Q&A Blog with Nurturer or check out their website www.nurturer.co.za.