Eco-Friendly Dish Soaps

Here is a review of three different brands of dish soaps that are labeled as being eco-friendly, and my experiences using them.

Earth Friendly Products Ultra Dishmate: This dish soap has a pleasant grapefruit scent according to the package. It smells bright and citrus-y...almost like orange candy. What I don't like about it is how thin and watery it is. You pour some on your dish sponge and it goes away very fast. Throughout the time I'm doing the dishes I constantly have to keep adding more dish soap to the sponge. So you do go through it fast. Also, it doesn't sud up very well compared to most other dish soaps...even compared to other natural dish soaps. Other than that it works very well and does get your dishes clean naturally, which makes up for the negatives. It is 100% natural. It contains water, coconut oil derived surfactants, and grapefruit oil. It is 1, 4-dioxane and cocamide DEA-free. It has no phosphates, dyes, or perfumes. The formula is not tested on animals.

Green Works Natural Dishwashing Liquid: I was very happy with the quality of this dish soap. It is nice and thick and a little goes a long way. The only thing I didn't like was its "soapy" scent. It contains: filtered water, coconut based cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, fragrance with essential oil, biodegradable preservative, citric acid, and blue and yellow colorant. It contains no phosphorus or bleach. The dish soap is 99% natural and the bottle contains a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled plastic.

Seventh Generation Free and Clear Dish Liquid: This dish soap is probably my favorite of the three. It suds up very well. It made my dishes literally squeaky clean. Its free and clear formula is great for sensitive skin. It contains: Water, sodium lauryl sulfate, decyl glucoside and lauryl polyglucose, 1,3-propanediol, citric acid, sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, methyl-isothiazolinone and benzisothiazolinone. This dish soap contains no phosphates and is free and clear of dyes, fragrances, and masking agents. The bottle is very eco-friendly, being made from 90% recycled plastic. This dish soap is not tested on animals. It is hypoallergenic and non-toxic. It is also Kosher and has an OU symbol.

I was disappointed to find that Seventh Generation dish soap has sodium lauryl sulfate in it...not very eco-friendly, and that Green Works and Earth Friendly Products probably have it too (the ingredients listed as "coconut based cleaning agents " and "coconut oil derived surfactants".)