Karianne Canfield
Prior to living on my own we had to order my laundry detergent online from a big name like Amazon because my sensitive skin could not take whatever was on the shelves in the local Target or Walmart. I have eczema, and washing my clothes properly is as important as washing my body in order to keep my skin happy. I simply cannot handle any perfumes, parabens, or unnecessary ingredients. We all are familiar with picking up a bottle and not knowing what any of the words on the side are except water.
When I went to college my mother ordered my detergent in bulk, and for 2 years I carried huge bins of this wash from dorm to dorm. Eventually the supply ran out… I recently moved into an apartment outside of town, and we bought ourselves our own washing machine (a necessity in a global pandemic). It is not the most efficient stacked washer dryer, but it gets it done.
So now, with my new laundry machine, I headed to the O Zone to find my new laundry detergent. Amelia was quick to point me towards the Common Good Unscented Laundry Detergent which is a 3x concentrate. This soap, which I purchased in a 24oz mason jar, is made with plant based ingredients and boasts being readily biodegradable! It is unscented, paraben and sulfate free, and has no synthetic anything (my skin is happy just typing that). The great thing is that as a concentrate you use less in the wash- which has led my huge mason jar to go about 4 months before I refilled (and even then there was still a little bit at the bottom).
So for a regular load of clothes I usually do 3 pumps from the jar ~3 tablespoons. Common Good uses enzymes to help break down fat and starches which as my scientist partner explains to me is exactly what soap does. The full ingredient list and cleaning power are outlined on the website.
How does this product stand up? Pretty good! The clothes come out clean and soft and pieces I know may be soiled tend to be spotless after washing. They also smell ~clean~ in the sense that there is no perfume but there is also no sweat or grime. And my skin thus far is quite happy with the clean clothes! Bonus is that fabrics like my bamboo sheets, silk shirts, and wool sweaters stay soft and the fabric strong meaning the wash isn't too abrasive for such fabrics.
But this is not the only product I have from The O Zone, in fact I have 2 news ones I would like to show off as well! To do this I will be washing a pair of white pants that I recently wore a little too well… Now, this pair has already gone in the wash once, so this will be a post stain treatment. First I am going to take the stain stick I got at the O Zone and wet the pants slightly, soaping up where the stains are. Already I can see the dirt picking up, and the red near the cuffs lifting! (do not wear red shoes with white pants in the rain).
The next step is to let these set for a little while and then throw them in the wash. I will be washing them with my newest product the Meliora Oxygen Brightener Bleach Alternative. I am testing this “not bleach” with a white pair of pants out of precaution, but the instructions do say this product is safe for use with colors, so I will try it in my next batch of laundry as well! (no red though as red will certainly run!) The pants go into the wash, with just a squirt of the Common Good soap, and a tablespoon of the Oxygen Brightener! (Note: The Oxygen Brighter was hard to open, I wound up putting a knife in around the seam, it seems that the lid was supposed to pull up but the bicarbonate beads got stuck between the lid and container making this very difficult.) The Meliora Oxygen Brightener has 2 ingredients: Sodium Carbonate Peroxide which is the oxidizer and Sodium Carbonate which is also known as washing soda.
Both the Common Good soap and the Meliora Oxygen Brightener are certified cruelty free by the Leaping Bunny Organization. And the Meliora Oxygen Brightener is also a certified B Corp and 1% for the planet. All these certifications mean that the products have gone through various testing’s to be considered “Eco Friendly”. For example, being biodegradable and having a plant based formula means your waste water is not carrying chemicals out to the ocean. On top of that purchasing from the O Zone you can choose to refill your container, skipping the plastic waste. Or with the Meliora container recycle it at home or perhaps with terra cycle at the O Zone as well!
No packaging waste, no chemical run off, high efficiency products that make keep home clean. That is what the O Zone has to offer!
So how did my pants turn out? Totally *clean* with no red marks on the cuffs! I would add apicture but I realize you cannot even see the stain in the photo. None the less, I have been using the Meliora in several loads since and the wash is as clean as ever. We have been having mice issues so it felt good to add an extra cleaner to wash away the droppings all over my table cloth. I would really recommend all three products!