Last month, I reviewed Trader Joe’s Next to Godliness Liquid Dish Soap. A number of things pleased me about the product, but I did find that it did not always seem to wash dishes that well, especially in washing oily dishes. I recently picked up a bottle of Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid in Lemongrass and Clementine Zest as I had run out of Trader Joe’s Dish Soap. (I previously reviewed Seventh Generation paper towels and liked them a lot, so I was eager to try another product from the company.)
At first glance, Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid appears to be rather eco-friendly. The bottle is made of #1 PETE plastic (easily recycled), and contains a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. In addition, the bottle states:
… We disclose all
INGREDIENTS: A unique combination of naturally-derived cleaning agents (coconut-based surfactants), Whole and natural plant essences (a blend of lemongrass, clementine, bergamot, blood orange, and elemi essential oils), Preservative (less than 0.05%), Water.
This dish soap is also not tested on animals and does not contain animal ingredients. It claims to be non-toxic, biodegradable, and hypo-allergenic.
I purchased the soap with hardly a second thought, and was very pleased when I used it for the first time. It cleaned my dishes like a charm, and I needed significantly less soap than Trader Joe’s to do the job. The scent was light to the point of non-existence. My only complaint was that the soap came out of the bottle very quickly, so I wound up using much more than I had to and felt like I had wasted quite a bit.
To get ready to post this review, I popped over to Seventh Generations web site and found a somewhat more extensive list of ingredients than appears on the bottle:
Sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, cocamide MEA and coconut alcohol ethoxylate (plant-derived cleaning agents), aqua (water), sodium chloride (thickener), magnesium chloride (cleaning enhancer), citric acid (cornstarch-derived water softener), essential oils and botanical extracts* (citrus clementina (clementine co2), citrus aurantium bergamia (bergamot fcf), citrus sinensis (blood orange), cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass), carnarium luzonicum (elemi)), hexahydro-1,3,5-tris (2-hydroxyethyl)-s-triazine (preservative, less than 0.05%). *d-limonene is a naturally occurring component of these ingredients.
This was really disappointing to me. The bottle says that Seventh Generation discloses all ingredients, which they do on their web site if not on the bottle. However, had I read on the bottle that the soap contained sodium laureth sulfate and cocamide MEA, and coconut alcohol ethoxylate, I would have tried another product. After all, I do my best to avoid personal care products that contain these ingredients due to their links to cancer. (Sodium laureth sulfate is a foaming ingredient and is commonly found in products like soaps and shampoos. It is a concern because 1,4 dioxane is a carcinogenic byproduct of this and other ethoxylated ingredients, and it is often found in products containing sodium laureth sulfate. Cocamide MEA contains diethanolamine (DEA), which the National Toxicology Program found to cause cancer in laboratory animals.)
Bottom line: This product is effective and I was very happy when I first used it, other than its overzealous spout. However, I was disappointed that the product contained ingredients that have been linked with cancer, and even more disappointed that a company as seemingly transparent as Seventh Generation does not list these ingredients on the bottle. This kind of thing bothers me even more in natural products than it does in non-natural products. Consumers have a certain trust in natural products, but I am learning that one has to be just as vigilant with them as with anything else.
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Greener One
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August 19, 2008 at 7:17 pm |
I just had the same experience. I bought a bottle of Seventh Gen. Free and Clear Natural Dish Liquid thinking it wouldn’t have a single un-green ingredient in it. When I got it home I noticed that you can peel the back label off to see all the ingredients and low and behold, Sodium Laureth Sulfate is the second ingredient listed after water. It also has some of the other ones you mentioned in this post. I used to be a green “light” person, but the greener I get the more I’m learning you have to be really careful when buying so-called “green” products. SLS was one of the main ingredients I was trying to avoid in a dish washing liquid… Oh well, lesson learned.
August 21, 2008 at 3:07 pm |
Hi Michael! This is exactly the transparency we’re trying to bring to light on the main Greener One site (http://GreenerOne.com). If you look at the Household Supplies section, for example, we’re collecting information about ingredients, amount of recycled packaging in the product, and so on. So if you come across questionable ingredients in your label reading and want to help spread the word about it, please join us and add your findings. Of course, you can also use the site as a resource too, to see how your day-to-day products stack up.
August 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm |
Hello, thanks for posting this info…as I was seaching for a list of ingredients for the Seventh Generation dish soap. I had a feeling it was not totally natural, in my experience, and that includes some little local businesses, in order to sell to the mass population, (make money to stay in business) that’s just the way it seems to go. I have found only a few things that are totally natural and the only big business of them is Dr. Bronners. You can use it for everything.
The thing is that with natural products you won’t get the grease fighting or squeaky cleanness because the other products are designed that way with the chemicals they use. Regular soap, plain basic soap (or castile soap which some bar soaps and Dr. Bronner’s are) are just that…..soap. And if we go back to basics (where everything is environmentally and human friendly) then we have to let go of our cleanliness expectations that the big businesses have shown us and had us grow up with. That’s my place on this at this time in my life. This comes from recent study, looking at soap, how to make it and what makes it deviate from something safe. I welcome any commentary on this. Thanks, Sattori
August 28, 2008 at 4:14 pm |
Hi Sattori, and thanks for your comments. I’m now trying Ecover and I think it is the gentlest on the environment that I’ve tried so far. A have a friend who doesn’t like it as much as Seventh Generation, primarily because of the foaming and his impression that it doesn’t clean as well. It’s fine for me, and I’ve pretty much gotten used to just wiping out any residual oil with a clean dish cloth after everything’s dried. You are right: people really have been conditioned to think that foam = cleaning power in everything from toothpaste to shampoo to dish soap to laundry detergent. I’m also using Dr. Bronner’s around the house in my soap dispensers and it’s great stuff. A little goes a long way because you can dilute it; a 16 oz. bottle has lasted me a couple of months. I haven’t tried it in the washing machine yet. I know some people who even use it to make their own toothpaste!
August 30, 2008 at 7:19 pm |
Hi Molly,
Thanks for your comments. I haven’t tried Ecover, though seen it. It didn’t seem as natural to me, but then again that was just intuition, so I’ll check it out more. If I have to use a separate product for dishwashing, (right now I have roommates who would prefer it) then I use Nature Clean right now. For me and my boyfriend, we always prefer to use just one thing for everything, so simple, so cheap and so less dependent on the system of consumerism and products. We use a bar soap (right now it’s Mountain Sky.. a BC small company, or any local handmade soap) or Dr. Bronners. Which ever one, it really cuts down on a lot of concern over what’s in something and what I’m doing to the environment. If it’s good for my body, then it’s good for the environment. That’s my motto these days. Sattori
August 30, 2008 at 7:20 pm |
Do you know anything about vinegar’s power as a cleaner? I thought it was disinfecting, but I was recently told otherwise. I’m looking into it to see what I can find. Sattori