…and getting them clean!

This has been the challenge in my house ever since I converted the household to green cleaning. How will we get the dishes spot free without our mainstream dish detergent? So far we’ve tried several options and Seventh Generation has performed quite well.

This weekend, however, I received my shipment from the Ecostore. I won a $25 gift certificate from The Queen Mommy’s Cafe. Honestly! [by the way, April 3oth is National Honesty Day, you may read about it on her blog]. After reading about the Queen Mommy’s satisfaction with the EcoStore’s laundry whitener (and having less than satisfactory results in that area myself), I knew I wanted to try it too. To fill out my order I included the hand dishwashing liquid and two bars of soap.

The dishwash liquid is made from a blend of palm and coconut surfactants into a super concentrated formula. The directions call for using only a squirtful for a sink full of dishes. Knowing how much liquid we usually use, I immediately created a small amount of diluted solution (about 2/3rds water) in an empty dishwashing liquid container.

I was first surprised at the rich amount of suds that developed. The dish liquid I was currently using claimed to produce “lots of suds” when in reality it produced hardly any. Despite being watered down, I was able to wash the glassware to my satisfaction (i.e. no finger prints or spots). The real test came from trying to clean the glass measuring cups that I had just used to make a batch of lotion.

My homemade lotion is made by blending vegetable oil, water and melted beeswax. A desirable quality of lotion is that it doesn’t wash off easily, at least that’s what I’m looking for. Since I’m still an aprentice lotion maker, I’m rather messy on the job. Trying to wash lotion off the dishes while my hands are heavily coated (from trying to clean up the excess lotion) is no easy feat! In the spirit of National Honesty Day, I must admit that clean-up takes much longer than I’d like. Yet, my new dishwash liquid (even diluted) cut through the lotion and cleaned the glass (after a second washing)! Hurray!

Now I need to go check on the laundry…