SmartKlean Wash Ball & Stain Stick Review

SmartKlean was created in 2009 by a family who wanted to make a difference. SmartKlean is an intentionally renowned brand which makes laundry care safer, enjoyable and more economical because for too many decades now a convention has taken place, which are wasteful, chemical-laden products. SmartKlean offers innovative alternatives to help others reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals and economize.

Wash Ball & Stain Stick

We received a SmartKlean Wash Ball ($45ARV) and Stain Stick ($9.80ARV) to review. 

Ever wonder how laundry detergent cleans your clothes? Through a chemical process the detergent makes surfaces more susceptible to water and increases the pH levels, making it easier for the water to remove dirt from fabrics. The chemicals used to achieve this clean are toxic to your health as well as the environment. However, with SmartKlean's Laundry Ball they have created an innovative technology designed to clean fabrics through a physical process instead of chemical. On a molecular level, the water is entirely affected by its special mineral ceramics which offers a natural and powerful wash. Laundry detergents and stain removers often contain APEs, which can damage the immune system and they are suspected hormone disruptor, meaning that they can mimic hormones in the body which regulate reproduction and development. Read more about the components within the Wash Ball here. 

Did you know that almost all brands of laundry detergent contain petrochemicals? Even detergents that are so called "green", "natural" or "free and clear"!

Economical Benefits
Energy Efficient! During a wash load 90% of the energy used goes just to heating the water! However, the SmartKlean Wash Ball effectively cleans in cold water! I have done numerous cold wash and cold rinses over the course of using this wash ball and can definitely say that is the truth. 
Saves Water! You will also save on water and your water bill will be lower as the Wash Ball does not produce suds, meaning you will not have to run a rinse cycle. This is a huge plus in doing cloth diaper laundry as with any laundry detergent you would use, you would have to do a rinse cycle to get the excess detergent out of your diapers to prevent build up, which leads to repelling aka leaks. 
Extends Wardrobe and Cloth Diaper Life! How? Because detergents leave behind residue which damages the stretch, color, durability and breath-ability of fabrics. After just a few washes with SmartKlean's Wash Ball, it actually removes this residue from fabrics! 

My Experiences & Opinions
I've tried many, many, many different detergents for both our laundry and cloth diapers. Some have been okay, others seemed to be great and then there were many that were just horrible experiences. Even had some experiences where it was great in the beginning and then after about a week or so of using one the laundry seemed dingy and smelled like dirt, but worst of all our cloth diapers were no longer getting clean. How do I know this for sure? Because Cade and Ezio both have sensitive skin and eczema with some the detergents we've tried they would get rashes after being in a diaper for maybe 20 minutes and with other detergents they would be fine for the first few days to a week and then they would develop some pretty bad rashes. We've tried detergents labeled as "natural" and "cloth diaper safe", these were worse then just your typical detergent. 

So, due to the nature of my two boys' skin, I was quite nervous to use the Wash Ball. I didn't want any skin irritation to occur again, I feel I've put my boys through too much of this through trial and error trying to find a good cloth diaper detergent. My first load of laundry with the Wash Ball was definitely a challenging one for the Wash Ball! Cade is 3.5 years old and an extremely heavy wetter, most mornings he wakes up and his bed is soaked. Yes, I have to wash his bedding pretty much every single day! So, I gave the Wash Ball it's ultimate test to see if it could get the pee out of Cade's bedding. 

How do you think it did? Well, I'll tell you! When I went switch the load of his bedding from the washer to the dryer I smelled his bedding... it was clean! Not a single trace that he had even leaked out of his diaper and wet the bed the night before! I was shocked! So I continued to use the Wash Ball in EVERY single load of laundry that I had done and every load of laundry smelled clean! I've been using the Wash Ball for at least 1-2 weeks now and have not had a single load of laundry that I had to rerun or add an extra rinse cycle to! All of the loads also continued to smell clean even after being dried. Sometimes after a load of laundry has come out of the washer smelling clean while using detergents, they have been stinky after coming out of the wash. 

Washing Cloth Diapers w/the Wash Ball!
As stated, I've done many many loads of laundry with this Wash Ball, but I am also washing our cloth diapers with it. I also know that the boys will not develop a rash while I use the Wash Ball as there are no chemicals or detergent in it, just a truly natural clean!

How am I doing a cloth diaper wash with the Wash Ball? I do a cold full cycle run with the Wash Ball in the washer. Since it does not have detergent in it, then I don't need to worry about rinsing the diapers in soapy water or the Wash Ball being in the washer compromising the rinse at all, in fact it will probably help rinse the diapers even better then if it were not in there. This gets the loose dirt and such off of the diapers and rinses the pee out. If you've never looked at the water while your washer fills to wash your cloth diapers, I highly suggest you do so! Once it starts to agitate or even before, you will see that your water turns a greyish color (it's DIRTY!). You can't get clean diapers if you're washing them in dirty, greyish water. You want your water to be clean when you're washing. Once my cold "rinse" cycle is done, then I let the magic begin. After this cycle, I always smell my diapers to make sure they are clean! Weird? Nope, I've actually asked many cloth diapering mommas and they all say they smell their diapers after the wash cycle as well. You really have to in order to make sure that they are clean. Even with two older boys in cloth diapers, the Wash Ball was able to get all traces of urine out of the diapers. I didn't smell even the tiniest trace of urine left behind in any parts of any of our diapers. If they smell good, which they have while using this Wash Ball, then in the dryer they go. I know drying diapers in the dryer is not the most energy efficient way to go, but we live in Wisconsin where it is freezing right now. I've tried line drying inside of our house, but everything takes forever to dry and then ends up super stiff! Come summer I will definitely be line drying outside. Cloth diapers love fresh air. 

The SmartKlean Wash Ball is definitely my new favorite product for washing laundry and it earns double points as it is safe to use on my cloth diapers! It's truly a like quadruple win! For further faqs about the Wash Ball and more information you may read here.

Stain Stick

  
The SmartKlean Stain Stick is a non-toxic and effective stain remover. The Stain Stick is hand crafted with all natural ingredients for a power full fight against stubborn stains. This Stain Stick is gentle enough to use on your little ones items from clothing and bedding to cloth diapers even! With a preschooler, toddler and school aged children in my home, stains are inevitable! Stains from markers and food to explosive diapers. Okay, so maybe it's not just the children whom stain their clothing, I do as well with things from ink to food and more. Dan, I don't think has ever stained a shirt. However, he doesn't waste a single drop of food so it usually doesn't come in contact with his clothing. 



I'm not 100% sure what this stain is, I believe it to be purple ink or marker. The Stain Stick is so easy to use and gentle that your children (as long as they don't put it in their mouth or get it in their eyes) could probably treat their own stains! All you do is get the garment wet, rub the Stain Stick on the stain to create a lather (the white on the blue trim is some lather), I did lather more then shown in the photo below and then you just launder like normal! Which in my case was with the SmartKlean Wash Ball. 


So after tossing it in the wash for a regular wash load I was expecting the stain to still be there and as bold as it was before tossing it in. This stain is very set in and has been washed and dried many, many times! However, after washing and drying it, the stain is MUCH lighter! I am willing to bet after I lather more Stain Stick onto the stain and wash again it will be nearly gone or hopefully even completely gone. I am going to try this Stain Stick on a not so old stain, that wasn't really a fair challenge for the Stain Stick.

I have not yet, but will be trying this Stain Stick out on stains in our cloth diapers. Since these are newer/fresher stains I am willing to bet that they will be no match for the Stain Stick. I love that I can use this Stain Stick without any worries of harsh chemicals being left behind in the fibers of the fabrics that I use it on. Before receiving this stain stick, I'd try using a little Blue Dawn Dish soap on any stains, but then you have to allow it to soak. Aside from the dish soap I wouldn't treat stains with anything else really and definitely not with bleach! My boys have way too sensitive of skin for that. The Stain Stick also has a nice pleasant scent to it as it is naturally scented with Eucalyptus Leaf Oil.

Other then clothing, bedding and cloth diapers you can also use this Stain Stick on furniture, rugs and carpets. Our couch is pretty stained up so it will be my project come spring. You can read more about personal and environmental benefits and more here.

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Would you consider using either of these natural products for your families clothing? Which would you like to try out? 

Disclosure: I received the above products in exchange for my honest review, all opinions and experiences are 100% my own and may differ from those of your own.