Do you or your children suffer from skin issues like irritation or rashes? These problems are often caused by regular laundry detergent. Lots of common detergents use dyes, fragrance, softeners, and other fillers in their formulas. Both kids and adults can be sensitive to traditional laundry detergent’s icky chemicals, dyes, perfumes, and other additives, and can experience symptoms of contact dermatitis, or ‘laundry rash,’ with an itchy, hive-like rash.

What Causes Laundry Rash?

Laundry rash is caused when chemicals in laundry detergent stay behind after washing. This residue contains dyes, perfumes, surfactants, and other stuff that can cause allergic reactions. Symptoms can include an irritating, itchy rash that looks like hives, sneezing and itchy eyes, and an elevation in skin temperature, where skin may be hot to the touch and can even blister.
The top 3 offending ingredients are sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrances, and coconut diethanolamide. Sodium lauryl sulfate (or SLS) is a chemical that affects the skin’s oil layer, causing your skin to dry out. Plus, SLS's can cause eye irritation and poor eye development in children! Fragrances, which are totally unnecessary for cleaning clothing, often cause allergic reactions. Coconut diethanolamide works in a similar way to SLS, causing dryness and reactions for those with allergies.

Powder is Best for Sensitive Skin!

Nellie’s Laundry Soda has no fillers and consists of just 4 ingredients. It also rinses clear, leaving no residue behind in your clothes and fabrics – no perfumes, no optical brighteners, and no solid synthetics to irritate you. It also dissolves quickly in both hot and cold water, and is safe for HE and standard washing machines. No more double rinses, irritations, or rashes!
Want to know more about why powder is better than liquid? Click here!

Why Powder? Because it's more effective! It’s a common misconception – more bubbles means more clean, right? No way! Most conventional powder detergents contain suds-producing fillers, like SLS and SLES, which can actually be harmful to your HE washing machine! Nellie’s, on the other hand, is a low-sudsing powder detergent and is safe to use in your HE machine.

What are SLS and SLES?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) are both surfactants, and are added to products to increase the foaming action when used. This is because of the misconception that more foam or bubbles equals a better product performance. SLS and SLES lower the surface tension of the water and act as a dispersion agent. SLS and SLES are known for being skin irritants – not good for sensitive skin! They can both be found in a wide range of household products, from toothpaste to shampoo. Studies have linked SLS to eye irritation and poor eye development in children. Even at very low levels it can be absorbed through the skin and cause issues with eye health.

Friction is Key!

Fabrics need to rub against each other in your washing machine to effectively lift dirt and odours. It’s this friction, combined with a surfactant, which helps penetrate dirt and stains. Too many bubbles can actually prevent that from happening! This is also why it’s important to not overload your washing machine – when you cram too many items into the washing machine, they’re not able to move around and rub against one another, resulting in a less effective clean.
Using an HE certified laundry detergent is good for your machine - using one that's free of skin irritants and fillers is good for you, too.
Want to know more about why powder is better than liquid detergent? Click here!

Why are Nellie’s products powder-based? We get that question a lot! All month long, we’ll be focusing on the benefits of powder detergents and why you should ditch the liquid. For now, here's a quick run down!

ECO FRIENDLY

Using powder is a no-brainer at Nellie’s. Our plant-based formula is biodegradable, so it’s gentle on the earth while being tough on stains. Our Laundry Soda uses renewable energy as it’s made with a plant-based surfactant – plants grow back! Also, traditional liquid detergents consist of mostly water. At Nellie’s, we don’t think moving and shipping water around the world makes sense.

EFFECTIVE

It’s simple – there is more cleaning power packed into powder! Our Laundry Soda is more concentrated than traditional detergents, and one tablespoon is all you need for each regular-sized load – that’s it! Many conventional powder detergents use suds-producing fillers, like SLS and SLES, which can be harmful to your HE machine. Nellie’s on the other hand, is a low-sudsing detergent, and therefore it's perfect to use for your HE washing machine.

HYPOALLERGENIC

Our Laundry Soda contains no fillers and consists of only FOUR ingredients (plus, you can probably pronounce them all). The formula rinses completely clear, leaving no traces behind to irritate your skin – no perfumes, no phosphates, no optical brighteners, and no solid synthetics.
Simply put, powder is better. For you, and the environment. Stay tuned to learn more about the benefits all month long!

Earth Day is every day for us at Nellie’s. We’re firm believers in using cleaning products that help you keep the environment as spotless as your clothes! Here are 5 ways Nellie’s helps you get that eco-friendly squeaky clean for your whole home.

Lamby Wool Dryerballs

Our eco-friendly Lamby Wool Dryerballs are crafted from 100% pure New Zealand wool to improve tumble drying. They work to soften your clothes, reduce drying time, static, and wrinkling. This means your clothes are dry faster, saving you money and helping the environment. Plus, the tins aren’t just cute – they’re reusable and recyclable! With a slot at the top, they're a perfect piggy bank to keep all that money you’ll be saving on your energy bill. Traditional dryer sheets are single use and can’t be recycled, but your Lamby Wool Dryerballs are reusable for up to 2 years. These natural alternatives are a no-brainer!

Laundry Soda

Get perfectly clean clothes without sacrificing the environment or your washing machine – Nellie's Laundry Soda's highly concentrated formula dissolves quickly in cold or hot water, rinses thoroughly and never leaves a residue. Plus, it's free from SLS, SLES, gluten, phosphates, fragrance, chlorine, and is HE-efficient, meaning you’re using less energy for your washing machine. Our powder formula is eco-friendly, as more cleaning power can be packed into a smaller space using powder.

Oxygen Brightener

Everyone sings oxygen’s praises for maintaining life on Earth, but do you know its second most popular use (according to us)? We do! Nellie’s Oxygen Brightener harnesses the power of oxygen to penetrate stains to strip away dirt, odor, and grime while keeping your colours bright and your whites white. Our chlorine-free formula is colour safe, septic safe, hypoallergenic, environmentally-friendly, and biodegradable! So much better than bleach, don’t you agree?

Dish Powder

Did you think we’d stop at just laundry? No way! Nellie’s Dish Powder easily penetrates grease and food particles, leaving every plate spotless without leaving a residue. Our phosphate-free formula gives you an eco-friendly cleaning experience and is septic-safe, so you can wash the dishes without worrying about the environment.

One Soap

We think it’s easier on you and the environment to keep things simple – not only when it comes to ingredients. Why use multiple different soaps when you could use just one? Our One Soap is safe for hands, dishes, dogs – anything you would use a sudsy soap for! Our formula is colour-free, SLS, SLES, and toxin-free and effortlessly strips away food, dirt, and grime, leaving just a sparkling, hypoallergenic clean. Do you like yummy-smelling soaps? The One Soap is available in four options: Peppermint, Melon, Water Lily, and Fragrance Free.

With tulips sprouting and warmer days quickly approaching, we’re dusting off winter’s cobwebs with a Spring Cleaning Series to help you prepare for the new season! To kick things off, we’re talking about the place you spend some seriously important time – your bed. We’ve already covered how to clean your mattress and how to clean your duvet, but now that we’re switching over to lighter fabrics like linen for our bedding, what’s the best way to take care of them? Don’t worry, we’ve done the research for you! Keep reading to find out the best way to care for your linen bedding.

1. Be sure to remove any spots before putting the fabric in the wash – once any stains have been cooked on, they’re permanent! Oily stains from body lotion, etc., are not uncommon, so just use your WOW Stick to lift the stains out.
2. Prep your laundry – button any buttons, close any Velcro so it doesn’t snag other things, and turn any patterned or decorated fabrics inside out.
3. Don’t mix bedding with clothes that have metal zippers or a rough texture – any snags could ruin your sheets!
4. Wash with your favourite Nellie’s Laundry Soda – the gentle formula is perfect for cleaning your fabrics without damaging the quality of your linens.
5. Never use bleach – use the Oxygen Brightener to brighten your whites and colours without the nastiness of bleach. It’s better for your fabrics and your skin!
6. Wash in warm or cold water. Lower temperatures are better for the environment, and also easier on your sheets.
7. Line dry your sheets and duvet covers if you can. If you need to use a dryer, make sure the temperature isn’t too high. A too-hot dryer can ruin your fabrics as it weakens and breaks natural fibres.

Other Notes

• Most linen on the market is pre-washed, which gives it a more lived-in feel and appearance. Plus, you can put it in the dryer! Traditional, untreated linen should never go in the dryer. The heat causes the fibre to close up and lose its luster.
• If you’re drying your linens in the dryer, be sure to use your scented Dryer Balls in lavender! Not only will you cut down on drying time, you’ll have lightly scented sheets to help you drift off to sleep.
• Storing linens in plastic can result in yellowing and should be avoided. Natural fibres need to breathe, so a non-plastic basket is ideal for storage.