Laundry Detergent: What Actually Matters
Baby laundry doesn’t exist in isolation.
You’re not just washing a few onesies. It’s swaddles, sleep sacks, bibs, towels, your own clothes, bedsheets — and anything repeatedly covered in milk, spit-up or food.
That means whatever detergent you use ends up in repeated contact with your baby’s skin, often through the fabrics they sleep in, feed against, or spend hours wrapped in.
The issue is that many laundry detergents are still built around heavy fragrance, optical brighteners and vague “perfume” ingredient listings. Some babies won’t react at all. Others — particularly those with eczema-prone or sensitive skin — absolutely will.
That said, detergent isn’t always the culprit. Overdosing detergent can leave residue behind and fabric softeners are often a bigger irritant than parents realize.
And importantly, “baby laundry detergent” doesn’t automatically mean cleaner.
- • Plant + mineral based formulation with clear ingredient disclosure
- • Fragrance-free
- • No chlorine bleach or optical brighteners
- • Greywater safe, so wash water can be reused for gardens where appropriate
- • Highly concentrated, you only need to use a tablespoon
- • Baby liquid version available, but we prefer this powder because the formula is simpler and preservative-free
- • One of the cleanest Australian options that still feels practical
- • Australian made
- • Powder won’t suit every household
- • Tougher stains may need treatment or repeat washes
- • Plant + mineral based formulation with clear ingredient disclosure
- • Fragrance-free
- • No chlorine bleach or optical brighteners
- • Greywater safe, so wash water can be reused for gardens where appropriate
- • Sensitive Choice approved (asthma + allergy-sensitive households)
- • Not as stripped-back as Abode Zero
- • Liquid formulas generally need more ingredients than minimalist powders
- • Tougher stains may need treatment or repeat washes
- • Coconut-derived plant-based formulation with clear ingredient disclosure
- • No chlorine bleach or optical brighteners
- • More robust stain-cleaning formula than ultra-minimal options like Abode Zero or Ecostore Ultra
- • Greywater safe, so wash water can be reused for gardens where appropriate
- • Third-party certified by Australian Allergy and Made Safe
- • Australian made
- • Essential oils mean it's not fragrance-free
- • Some ultra-sensitive or eczema-prone households may still prefer a simpler fragrance-free formula (e.g. Abode Zero/Ecostore Ultra)
- • Not as stripped-back as true minimalist formulas
- • Liquid format has more processing/more ingredients than minimalist powder options
- • Plant-based formula with clear ingredient disclosure
- • Fragrance-free
- • No chlorine bleach or optical brighteners
- • More robust stain-cleaning formula than ultra-minimal options like Abode Zero or Ecostore Ultra
- • Greywater safe, so wash water can be reused for gardens where appropriate
- • GECA-certified (an independent Australian environmental ceritifcation)
- • Uses SLES (a stronger detergent surfactant) so it's not the gentlest formula here
- • Less ideal for ultra-sensitive or eczema-prone households
- • Not as stripped-back as the other picks here
Before we started digging into ingredients, we probably would have bought Earthwise on branding alone. Plant-powered, free from nasties, sensitive-skin positioning — it looks like the obvious clean supermarket pick.
But the deeper dive changed our view.
It still contains SLES (a stronger detergent ingredient), which makes it a less stripped-back formula than our other picks.
The bigger surprise? Price. Earthwise looks like the budget buy but once you compare cost per wash, it’s not actually the bargain it first appears.
That doesn’t make it a bad detergent — it’s still a step up from many mainstream formulas. But if your priority is the simplest ingredient profile, Abode Zero is where we’d spend our money.
