Charlie's Soap Powder - 2.64 lb (80 Loads)
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List Price: Our Price: $12.99 You Save: $4.00 (24%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Charlie's Soap Powder - 2.64 lb (80 Loads)
Customer Review: The Only Detergent that Does Not Exacerbate Our Kids' Eczema
Summary: 5 Stars
We've tried Method Free & Clear (which works well, but isn't gentle to skin), Mountain Green Baby (which not only caused the kids' eczema to flare horribly, but gunked our washer), and Seventh Generation (which simply doesn't clean clothes). We had exhausted all our option for free & clear detergents our local stores carry, and so I turned to the internet to see what else might be out there.
Then I happened onto Charlie's. We started with one bag of powdered detergent and no real expectations one way or the other. I was dubious of the single tablespoon per load, but let me tell you, my kids play outdoors, slop food on their clothes, and this one tablespoon full gets their clothes clean. In all fairness, I confess we do stain treat for bad stuff - blood, red clay, ketchup, the like - with Ecover - but this is necessitated by my lax laundry habits; I let the clothes sit a few days, and sometimes even a week before washing them.
Charlie's Soap has a really mild smell. It's detergent-y, but with the scents stripped away. Clothes washed in Charlie's come out smelling, well, clean, mild, inoffensive. But then, I'm not a fan of masking smells with phthalate-containing perfumes anyway.
One of the few negative reviews on Charlie's Soap mentions that the ingredients are not the all-natural wholesome things you should be putting on your clothes, and that if they were they wouldn't clean as effectively as they do. The bag says non-toxic, but should you trust that? The MSDS sheet for Charlie's Soap states the same thing, none of the ingredients are considered to be toxic or hazardous. And unlike detergents by companies like Ecover - whose MSDS sheet says spills should be treated like toxic waste - the MSDS sheet on Charlie's says if you spill a little, just sweep it up and wash it down the drain. I can't find anything to support the assertion that the effectiveness suggests it's made from toxic ingredients. In my opinion, it's definitely safer alternative to most of what's out there - even the most self-promoting ecological companies.
If you go to Charlie's website they also have analysis on how clean Charlie's Soap rinses from clothes after washing in comparison with other leading brands, and as they claim - it does rinse clean. So much so that it was comparable with water. I like that Charlie's has the test data easily available to support their claims.
Bottom line: I feel pretty safe using Charlie's Soap on our laundry. I feel like I'm committing less of a crime against the environment, as Charlie's Soap is biodegradable and phosphate-free, making it non-toxic to aquatic life. It's been the only thing that has improved our children's eczema, detergent-wise. We used Charlie's Soap through this past winter, and though we've made other changes to our lifestyle, I think the Charlie's played a part in keeping the kids 100% eczema free for the 6 months we've been using it. This doesn't make its hypoallergenic properties a guarantee, but it does make Charlie's worth a shot if your children are suffering a chemically-aggravated dermatological condition.
So, Charlie's works. It does everything it claims to, and for our family, it has done more. But the most impressive part is that this detergent does this as a fraction of the cost of the inferior junk you buy at the grocery store. That's just too cool. Besides it comes in a really neat reusable unbleached cotton bag, with their great retro-style logo!
I'm sold on Charlie's Soap, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to live more in harmony with the environment, bring less toxins in their homes, or just those who are looking for good old-fashioned clean clothes. Try it, I think you'll agree.
Customer Review: Amazing Product! Actually does what it claims!
Summary: 5 Stars
About a year ago I was desperate. I was trying so hard to find something that would get my husbands uniforms clean. He is a garbage man and comes home covered in so much mistery grime it isn't funny. I had tried Tide, All, store brands, and every type of color safe bleach and pretreater out there. Nothing worked. His work clothes would still be heavily stained, and there were times he would come home on a rainy day saying his clothes reaked as soon as they had gotten wet.
I decided to do net search. I came across a lot of posts from diaper sites saying how great Charlie's was and how clean everything came and how well it removed the smell. Although I was not in search of a diaper detergent, I figured if it could clean those well enough maybe it would work for my problem. I went to their website and checked out their products and the information on them. I am so happy I did.
Charlie's truly does clean. My husband's clothes come out virtually stain free. Which is not bad considering what he gets on himself. The odor problem stopped too. I can use it on all of our laundry from delicates to play clothes, so there is no need for me to have multiple products lying around. It is made to work in Regular or HE machines, so when I switched my machines I did not have to find a new brand.
Other added benefits are: you do not need fabric softener, it is one of the safest detergents on the enviornment, it actually helps keep our clothes almost like new, and it is absolutely awesome for our sensitive skin. In addition to that, it safely maintains the flame retardency of childrens sleep wear and maintains the properties of many other types of working gear as well. It is also very cost effective. It costs less per load than All, Tide, Seventh Generation, and many others. You will also get a better clean than you would with any of the afore mentioned.
The company is also extremely customer orientated. They still practice the almost gone tradition of actually caring about their customers. With any purchase they offer free literature giving advice on hard water, diapers, and first time users (if ordered through them directly). Just make sure you check what literature you need on their order form. They will also answer any questions you may have.
Many have not heard of Charlies. Many will ask if it is so great why isn't advertised nation wide. Well, they are an old fashioned company. They believe word of mouth is far more important than some fancy expensive advertising gimic. Anyone can advertise anything, but only the best products achieve gradual fame through word of mouth. Charlie's Soap is one of those products.
I have tried other detergents that claim to do what Charlies does. One of those being Country Save, but there is nothing I have found that cleans as well as Charlie's soap.
I know it seems I am really excited about this product. Well, I am and I always will be. For the first time, I found a product that does what it says it does. "It really cleans." When was the last time you could say that about a product?
I urge you to give this a try. Whether you are very enviornmentally conscious, want your clothes really clean, have sensitive skin, are in the military and can not use optical brighteners, or just want your money's worth, than this is for you. You've got nothing to lose by giving it a try.
Customer Review: Go ahead and order two and get the free shipping.
Summary: 5 Stars
Update 03/13/10
I've used about half of my first bag of Charlie's powder. It rinses out completely and has practically no suds at 1 scoop per load for average soiled laundry, once all the old residues are removed. As long as you are seeing more suds, there is still old residue. We discovered this when we had one set of very heavy, rather stiff bath towels that kept sudsing worse and worse for about five washes even with a double rinse. I was becoming frustrated with this, but now the sudsing has finally stopped and best of all, they are fluffy again. Charlie's seems to get better at stain removal once all the sudsing stops too, which took only a few times through the wash for our regular clothes. If you don't get the best results at first, wait until each item has had a few more washes and don't reduce the amount of Charlie's yet even if you see too many suds. Fortunately one bag does months of laundry so you will be able to tell if you like it before time to buy more. We love the stuff.
Original review
I first learned about this laundry powder on a travel site, looked at more reviews, then ordered some through amazon because there are allergy problems in my family. It's recommended for allergies and for cloth diapers. I've been using it several weeks and I like it. You need to use a double amount initially to clean the washer before washing your clothes. Then for washing clothes that have previously been washed with regular detergents, the site says to use a double amount the first couple of times because the Charlie's works on removing the residues left in the clothes before it works on anything else. After that, one little scoop (1 tablespoon) is all that's needed for most users. I've noticed that the clothes that have been washed with Charlie's several times are softer than the others, towels are especially softer and more absorbent. Their website has a lot of detailed information on using this product. Fabric softener is not needed or recommended for use with it. Bleach, borax, or stain pretreaters are OK to use if needed, but other than the tiny amount of bleach I've always used for killing germs with towels, I don't usually use anything else with it. Charlie's is low suds and is recommended for any type of washer including HE.
This soap is technically a detergent, but without the additives found in most laundry detergents. I love the way my clothes feel and smell, actually they don't have any smell at all. This product is easy to measure and dissolves and rinses out well. It comes packaged in a plastic bag inside a little cloth drawstring bag, very compact but does lots of loads. I also like their all purpose cleaner and might order the package deal that includes a gallon of cleaner from the charliesoap website next time. Their products are environmentally safe and made in the USA. They also make a liquid laundry detergent that I have not tried.
Customer Review: Actually works!!! But some management required. Great for running synthetic clothes...
Summary: 5 Stars
I have now used the soap in my high efficiency washer using only the measured cup for over two months and can write an informed review.
Firstly, as stated elsewhere, after a few washes clothing does become softer and shinier if it has synthetic fibers in it (this probably because the fibers are not saturated with excess detergent). The overall stain removal of the detergent is excellent to very good and clothing does feel very clean to the touch, and works especially great in cotton linen and underwear.
However, because it does not contain fragrances it can be a bit disorienting. Further, if one item with a strong smell is washed with others on occasion the other items might acquire the smell. For example, to be good to the environment we use 100% cotton terry shop towels in the kitchen as opposed to paper towels. If one towel is saturated in oils, its smell can migrate to other clothing items. This, of course, might happen with standard detergents but due to the perfume that they include it might be hidden away. So some thought might help when planning the wash (I confess we have not separated colors for years with rarely a problem).
A particular plus of this detergent is that it amazingly removes **all** sweat smell from synthetic running clothes, something no other soap had ever achieved in my many years of running and biking and hiking. The clothes leave the wash and drier as new, which is quite something.
An additional plus is that I am fairly sensitive to allergens and occasionally had unexplained "itch" attacks where I just felt itchy all over... even with hypoallergenic detergents. These "attacks" have not been repeated while using this detergent.
Highly recommended and highly economic (do not use more than the amount specified by the included measured cup).
Customer Review: Love Charlie's Soap
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using Charlie's Soap for about 6 weeks in my new front load steam washer. I only have to use a teaspoon, or two depending on the size of the load, but the cloths come out clean and fresh, not "perfumey" just clean. It not only doesn't leave a residue in fabrics, but actually removes the built up residues left by my old regular sudsy laundry detergent. I can tell this because some old items that used to be dingy actually seem to be cleaner each time they are washed. One item in particular (which was at least 4 years old) after several washings with the Charlie's looked almost like new. I couldn't believe it.
What can I say. You only use a little. It gets things clean. Leaves no perfumes, or residues. Removes old residues left by other detergents. And oh yes... stinky washer syndrome. If you have a front loader you'll want to use Charlie's Soap because it leaves no residue in the washer for bacteria to lunch on and create the moldy smell problem many people have with the front loaders. I started to get a little odor in the machine after a couple weeks, even though I was using a high quality HE detergent from the grocery store. I had read about stinky washer syndrome and that some people swear by Charlie's Soap, so I ordered it. I have had no smell in the washer since switching to Charlie's. I also leave the door open so the washer can dry out.
I don't believe I will ever go back to my old laundry detergent. Highly recommend it and if you have a front loader, it is a must have.