Do Laundry Balls Work?
A few years back, I tried using laundry balls to clean my clothes. A laundry ball is a product whose sellers claim that when placed in a washing machine, will clean clothes without detergent.
The idea is to protect the environment, by using no detergent, while still getting your clothes clean. Some people swear by them while others believe they are a scam. I found that after washing with a laundry ball, my clothes came out fairly clean but I’m not sure the ball actually did anything. My clothes weren’t really that dirty to start with, it’s not like I work outdoors or in a physical job.
Melanie from Bean Sprouts did a simple test and she couldn’t tell the difference between washing with a laundry ball and washing with plain water:
I found that the wash with the laundry balls came out nice and clean as usual. I examined it closely and it looked and smelled clean, just as I expect. However a yellow pair of shorts which Sam had been wearing whilst digging the allotment were pretty muddy. After washing with the laundry ball they were still dingy-looking around the hems. This matches my usual experience of washing with the balls (and also of washing with detergent) - some really grubby things need a second pass.
To my surprise, the wash with just plain water also came out nice and clean. It looked and smelled just as clean as the laundry ball load. Believe me I examined it carefully, but it seemed absolutely fine. Without having a more accurate way of measuring cleanliness, the best I can say is that I would be happy if every wash came out like that.
This result is similar to that conducted by Choice magazine:
When we tested the balls — in a fully loaded front-loading washing machine on its warm (40°C) and hot (60°C) water programs — they achieved very similar soil removal scores to the same load washed in plain water at the same temperatures – below 45% on average.
However, when compared to washing with detergent:
In comparison, the average soil removal score for an equally dirty load washed in the same machine with our standard detergent was around 80%.
So washing with a laundry ball is more or less equivalent with washing with just plain water. I guess if your clothes are not heavily soiled and you want to reduce your detergent levels to protect the environment, then you could wash in plain water without detergent. I think you wouldn’t notice much difference after a few washes but in the long run it would become obvious. If you really want you could try alternating between using detergent and going without but I think the best option is to use detergent but to use less than you normally would.
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I have been using the Miracle Wash Laundry Balls for 2 years and find them great. I dont know if this is the brand others are talking about. They do not claim to remove grease so you have to use the stain remover. I fill a 750 ml squirty bottle with water and squeeze in about 10-15 cms of the paste , shake the bottle and let it dissolve overnight. it can then be sprayed on dirty collars, grease marks and stains. Bad stains you can apply the paste directly and leave overnite. Sometimes you have to rub a bit but the stains always come out. I also can turn off the last rinse cycle of my washing machine and save 50 litres of water as there are no suds and the grey water goes on the garden.
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WARMEST REGARDS,
Lucie
Sales Manager
FOSHAN ELITE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO.,LTD
2nd, building 5, zone 1, PANCUN warehousing and logistics center
SHIWAN TOWN, FOSHAN CITY,
GUANGDONG, CHINA
528000
There are a lot of Laundry Balls out there. I dont know the Eco balls. I can only comment on the ones I have and are sold by Envirocare from West Aust. These are the only laundry balls that dont contain SLS which is a skin irritant to some people. check out http://www.laundryball.com.au and read the info and decide yourself as all laundry balls are different.