Most laundry detergent contains chemicals I’m trying to avoid, especially as a mom of a new-born.
This includes 1,4-Dioxane (the EPA says this likely causes cancer), ethoxylated alcohols, synthetic dyes, optical brighteners, SLS/SLES, parabens, phosphates, sulfates & more. Your laundry detergent gets absorbed into your body through your skin (your largest organ) so it’s important to know what’s in your laundry detergent!
I used several different laundry detergent brands at home, trying to find the best option for my baby’s sensitive skin. These are the 5 best.
TLDR: CLEAN PEOPLE Laundry Detergent came in #1 because it cleans well, uses plastic-free packaging, and is safer for my baby’s skin since it has no 1,4 dioxane, SLS/SLES, parabens, phosphates, sulfates, synthetic dyes, and no optical brighteners! I use Clean People in my home and love it.
1. CLEAN PEOPLE Laundry Detergent
Clean People Baby Liquid Laundry Detergent blew us away and was our favorite laundry detergent by far, earning 5 stars ★★★★★.
It’s effective at cleaning and eliminating odors – we washed clothes covered in spit-up and baby blow-outs. All the clothes came out fresh and clean. In other words, it works!
The best part? Clean People is a liquid detergent you can finally trust! Their liquid detergent uses simple, effective ingredients you can be confident using on your baby’s clothes. It doesn’t contain harsh chemicals like 1,4 dioxane, optical brighteners, sulfates, phosphates, parabens, chlorine, or synthetic dyes (that’s why it’s hypoallergenic and certified by Dermatologists).
We love that the packaging uses 70% less plastic in their packaging compared to traditional detergents, too. That means it’s better for the environment!
Finally, we love all the great reviews that Clean People has earned, including one from us!
Clean People also offers Baby-safe detergent in their Best Selling Laundry sheets, in case you’d rather opt for a non-liquid format.
But their liquid Baby Detergent is what we now use at home, and thus earned the #1 spot!
UPDATE: Clean People has a new deal going on right now. Buy a jug of liquid laundry detergent, get their stain spray for FREE!
Nellie’s Baby Laundry Soda earned our #2 spot. Like #1 Clean People, Molly’s Suds is made from simple, effective ingredients. Nellie’s is a laundry powder. You scoop the laundry powder into your washer before you’ve put your laundry in. Our testing demonstrated that Nellie’s has good cleaning power and uses clean ingredients against the stains that come with having a baby. Nellie’s baby laundry powder comes fragrance free.
We’re a little mixed on the powder format – it’s easy to spill as you scoop from the bag into your washing machine, and harder to clean up than liquid detergent.
The combination of cleaning power, ingredients, and little mess earned Nellie’s our #2 spot!
Mrs. Meyer’s Baby Liquid Detergent came in 3rd place. Mrs. Meyer’s uses simple, effective ingredients and is hypoallergenic. However, after diving deeper we found possible ingredients in Mrs. Meyer’s that we don’t love. The EWG rates this detergent as “high hazard” because of various allergens and irritants, and some ingredients make us think there’s a possibility of it including 1,4-Dioxane.
It also is a scented detergent, which may not be great to use on baby clothes. Especially with how sensitive a baby’s skin can be!
We loved the cleanliness. But the 1,4 dioxane & added fragrance dropped Mrs. Meyer’s to our #3 spot.
Seventh Generation Baby Liquid Detergent came in 4th place. Seventh Generation is what you think of when you think of Laundry Detergent. But this supposedly “safer for babies” detergent contains Sodium laureth sulfate, parabens, phosphates, and other synthetic ingredients.
Seventh Generation is heavy, and the weight means lots of CO2 Emissions in transportation. We don’t see anything on their website about reducing plastic usage in their packaging like Clean People does, so that’s disappointing.
We did love the cleaning power, and based on the thousands of reviews that the product has on Amazon, so did many others.
Finally, Dapple Baby Laundry Detergent comes in last place at #5.
We did love that it is free from harsh chemicals and 1,4-Dioxane–that’s a huge plus! It does contain some preservatives, however, so if your baby’s skin is sensitive to those that may be an issue.
The main downside we found was that during our trial with Dapple, it didn’t get our baby’s clothes very clean and didn’t remove all the stains.
A lot of reviews do rave about the cleaning power, so we may have just had a unique experience.
And The Winner Is…
The winner is CLEAN PEOPLE. Simple, effective ingredients, no gross ingredients, powerful at cleaning and stain removal, and you can get a FREE Stain Spray when you buy this liquid laundry detergent!
#1 CLEAN PEOPLE Fresh & Clean: Buy It Here
#2 Nellie’s Laundry Soda: Buy It Here
#3 Mrs. Meyers: Buy it Here
#4 Seventh Generation: Buy it Here
#5 Dapple: Buy it Here
