I have been looking for more alternatives for my home-cleaning needs. I was happy with whatever I was using because things looked and were cleaner but the run-off from those cleaners used to make me uncomfortable.

I have been wondering about how genuine and effective the eco-friendly cleaners can be and I tried out three of them for a period of a few months and here’s what I’ve found- while advertising always makes things look and sound better than it actually may be, it’s best to take out those 10 minutes to do your research and then go ahead and make your choices about what to buy.

I have been trying out these three brands in particular- Wild Ideas, Born Good and The Better Home. And in them I’ve been test driving the laundry detergent because we generate lots of dirty clothes in this house and since I can’t avoid doing laundry, I prefer to have the output be less harmful for the environment.

Let’s start out with Wild Ideas– I love that they work not only towards sustainability in their offerings but also promote and uplift the very needy. My introduction to them started with a classmate of mine recommending their dishwashing bar- read it here. But my own experience with their laundry liquid has been less than stellar.

I can do without a mild aroma coming from my clothes since I prefer them air and sun-dried and smelling of the outdoors rather than of any flowers, but the amount of liquid it takes to get clothes looking and feeling clean and fresh is where my problem is with this product. Even a direct application on stubborn stains required quite a bit of scrubbing and pre-soaking, which may or may not still get the clothes totally clean. So I would give it a 5/10 in my book.

It retails for Rs.120 for 500 ml and is available on their website-click here to buy, Amazon– click here to buy, on Golisoda-click here to buy, on Bigbasket– click here to buy and on Good By Nature– click here to buy.

Onto Born Good. This was a recent discovery through online ads and till now the experience has been pretty decent. I say decent and not fantastic because I am still in the process of using their products and till now I haven’t seen much that made me worry or wonder about their efficacy or how ecofriendly they actually are.

I bought their 4-pack laundry detergent that has a color reviver (needed for my kid’s clothes), anti-microbial wash (this was an indulgence because a cap full of Dettol will give me a similar result but I don’t know if there’s any kind of harm the run off from Dettol does to the environment), and two fragrance liquid washes. And what I did like about this brand is that their ingredients are listed out on their website and in case you want to still delve a bit deeper, you can email them for more clarifications and they come through; in a relatively short period of time.

The final brand, The Better Home is where my experience was fairly bland. There was hardly any discernible difference in the way the clothes looked, felt or smelt after a wash. And I tried both very dirty and moderately dirty clothes. This detergent seems rather mild which might be good for the environment, but in the consumer’s mind, it basically ends up meaning they need to use more of it to get more visible result.

This product retails at Rs. 210 for 500 ml on their website- click here to buy. On Amazon it’s priced at Rs.189 for 500 ml wither discounts if you end up subscribing- click here to buy. On Flipkart, 500 ml is priced at Rs.190– click here to buy.

At the end of the day, the comparison shows us that the mass-produced non-environmental friendly laundry detergents are priced lower and that may end up being the determining criterion for many.

Plus the decades long brand value associated with names like Surf, Tide, Ariel et al. But for those who do want to make the change to something that claims to be pro-environment, it’s worth a try to see if these detergents are value for money and nett a good ROI in terms of clean clothes, less water usage and less pollutants.

Please do drop in a line and let me know about your personal experiences with eco-friendly laundry detergents and if there are any other brands that can be featured here.