Coqui Baby Nomad Women Wool Dryer Balls

Even before I fell head over heels in love with essential oils, I enjoyed the use of dryer balls when doing my laundry. Now that I have turned into an essential oil hoarder, my love affair with dryer balls is in full swing. I have tried many different oil combinations to create several wonderful scents that cling onto my clothes, making me feel the benefits of the oils throughout the day. The wool dryer balls seem to hold onto the scent better than my clothing does, so I add a couple more drops before each dryer load. I absolutely love the way the infused dryer balls make the laundry room smell while they sit patiently, waiting to get tossed around again. Not only are dryer balls great for naturally adding fragrance to your laundry, they reduce the drying time as well! The more balls you use, the less time clothes spend in the dryer. Did I mention how much I love dryer balls!?

With that being said, I use them. A lot. Which means I go through them. A lot! Meaning I am always on a quest to try out a different set of dryer balls to compare to my last set. When Coqui Baby agreed to send me a 3 pk of their Nomad Women wool dryer balls, I was so excited! I could not wait to get my hands on them. Not only was I excited about trying their dryer balls, I was excited about getting to know their company. They really care about the people of Kyrgyzstan, and have partnered with a manufacturer that honors human rights through its employee compensation and benefits practices. These policies attract talented employees who take pride in the products that they produce. 

• Each ball is made of 100% wool hand-felted to approximately 9 inches around and approximately 2 ounces in weight. Variations may occur as these are hand-crafted items.
• Made by a thriving co-operative of self-employed women in the Kyrgyz Republic. Your purchase supports women, shepherding families in Central Asia and sustainable free range agricultural practices by providing good income and a steady market for their wool products.
• Experience Coquí Joy -- that glowing soft and fuzzy feeling -- knowing that you are reducing your energy consumption, are keeping dryer sheets out of landfills and keeping perfumes and chemicals out of your family's clothes and bedding.
• Made in the Kyrgyz Republic.
• Clothes - especially cloth diapers - will feel significantly softer and have less static as a result of the natural softening action and the static reduction properties of wool dryer balls. Nomad Women Dryer Balls are perfect for people who need to -- and choose to -- remain clean of added films, chemicals and agents. Cloth diapers and cloth diaper soaker inserts in particular need to be dried without commercial dryer sheets, as these will leave a water-repellant film on them causing them to leak.
• Hand-felted with raw wool from free-range sheep of the Kyrgyz Republic, a mountainous region part of the Himalayan Chain. Colors range from white to dark brown, depending on your sheep's unique coloration. Wool is sheered, picked clean, washed, then dried in the sun or near a heat source. Nomad Women Dryer Balls are all-natural with no added dyes, scents or preservatives leaving you the option to customize at home with your own essential oils (it takes just a few drops to bring your favorite clean scents alive in your household). 

Disclosure: I received the above item/s in return for an honest, sincere review. I was not expected to leave a positive review, and would never post something I didn't feel fully confident in. No monetary compensation was provided. The above opinion is the sole opinion of me and my family, and may differ from your own. I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.   

 

First Aid for Your Laundry + the Planet! with Berryplus

Soap that grows on trees! Botanists call their trees Sapindus mukorossi; Berryplus calls them first aid for your laundry and the planet!

Sapindus trees grow soapberries which, when combined with water and shaken, give off a soapy residue that has been used to clean clothes naturally in India and other parts of Asia forever. Now, soapberries’ cleaning power is available in Berryplus, and it’s going to change the way you think about laundry.

Berryplus was created to be the purest and most natural, yet effective laundry soap around. It cleans your clothes as well as leading brands using only wholesome and sustainable ingredients which are safe and gentle for even the most sensitive skin and fabrics.

Berryplus has figured out how to extract and concentrate saponin, the soapberry’s magic cleaning ingredient, to give you soap that’s free of harmful or questionable ingredients, fillers and fragrances. No more weird gels, smells or bells, because when clothes are naturally clean, they don’t smell like flowers, fruit or fluffy teddy bears, and they and don’t need chemicals to stay soft.

Available in 3 sizes!

Berryplus is a modern laundry innovation, because it delivers age-old cleaning with modern convenience. Berryplus works as well as anything else on the market, but is much less irritating and super safe for your clothes, your family, your washing machine and the planet. It is so safe that Berryplus doesn’t come with warnings or first aid instructions about how to use it. That said, and as their founder (a lawyer says), they’d prefer you not drink their soap, because (like all soap products) it may upset your stomach and it doesn’t taste good.

Berryplus' not-so-secret ingredients, which they will always disclose to you, are:
• 95% berry-based (berries + water)
• 4.5% vegetable glycerin (for stability and added softening)
• 0.3% olive-leaf extract (to kill bacteria and other junk)
• 0.1% each of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (food-grade preservative to give Berryplus a shelf life)

 
I was pleasantly surprised by how well Berryplus works! I admit I was a bit skeptical at first. How can such a small amount actually clean my clothes? Especially the really dirty ones. Well.. It just does! I have used it to wash several loads of clothes from my most delicate of washables to my dogs filthy, smelly blanket to have it all come out with flying colors! I wish I knew about this product when I lived upstairs in an apartment. I wouldn't have had to lug around all of that laundry detergent.

 Berryplus also has a cute and durable laundry bag. I was definitely stoked to be able to replace my holey, mesh laundry sack from years ago. It has a cute little pocket to carry my Berryplus liquid, as well as anything else I may need (such as quarters and keys if going to the laundrymat.) 

Using the Microdose

Don’t be fooled by its size – this small but mighty microdose is perfectly measured to wash a full 30lb load of laundry! No more guessing and messing or lugging the jug ever again. Less to carry, less to recycle and less packaging too. Perfect for travel, whether to the laundromat, on the road or into the woods.

Doing laundry isn’t rocket science or a science experiment. Combine clothes, water and soap, shake around, and rinse. It’s that simple.
Berryplus was designed for cold-water and high-efficiency machines, but works any way you do laundry – front or top loader, sink or bathtub, at any temperature (although cold is better for the planet and your wallet). Please don’t add extra softener, because the berries do that too! To find out where to buy your own, follow this link.

 

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 Disclosure: I received the above item in return for an honest, sincere review. I was not expected to leave a positive review, and would never post something I didn't feel fully confident in. No monetary compensation was provided. The above opinion is the sole opinion of me and my family, and may differ from your own. I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. 

Dropps Laundry Detergent Review and Giveaway

About Dropps Laundry Detergent

*Adapted from the Dropps site.
They were the best of times. They were the worst of times.
The time was the early 80s. New Wave was on the radio. MTV came to cable TV. And those big chunky sweaters were all the rage. The people behind Dropps should know, they made the chunky yarn at their very own cotton mill just outside Philadelphia. Yep, those were good times. Except of course, if you were the sweaters. Because every time they washed them, the harsh detergents and rough laundry routine made their sweet yarn all yellowed and stretchy. 
Necessity is the mother of clean clothes
What they needed was a formula that could keep fabrics looking better, longer. So they removed the enzymes to keep the fabrics vibrant and soft (and to prevent their fibers from breaking down.) The result? An innovative formula with a split personality: tough on dirt, but gentle on your favorite garments. They knew they were onto something great... but it was only the beginning!
Clean. And pretty darn convenient, too.
With all the stuff they took out of this new detergent, they knew they had a small wonder on their hands. Which got them thinking, “What else can we make smaller? ” Then they thought the last thing moms needed was another huge drippy, sticky jug of detergent to deal with. So they put all the cleaning power in small, convenient, dissolvable pacs. Each is pre-measured to make laundry down-right fool-proof. You just drop ‘em in the laundry. Voila! Dropps was born. An idea that proved to be so smart, the leading consumer publications (did someone say Oprah?) and moms couldn’t stop raving about them. And who doesn’t love flattery! 
Saving the earth, one wash at a time.
A funny thing happened on the way to the laundry room. They quickly discovered the whole Dropps movement is great for the planet. (Yay!). Remember, they're phosphate-free, chlorine-free and NPE-free, too! And talk about a smaller footprint! They use less water, use way less plastic, take up less space, cost much less to ship and leave tremendously less mess in our landfills. You’ll agree... every pac counts!

"And to think, we started out trying to save some clothes... and it looks like we’re helping to save something even larger."

My Thoughts

 Dropps is such a great product! They are so convenient and easy to use. I wouldn't call myself lazy, but I do love to take advantage of the easy to use laundry gel packs that have been flooding the market as of late. They are so much easier to use and a lot less mess. The more well known (but lesser quality) gel packs sometimes cause my skin to itch as I have many skin sensitivities. Dropps is gentle enough for my entire family to use, never once causing us any problems. I have had problems in the past with other gel pacs leaving debris behind in the washer, but with Dropps I no longer have to worry. I just recently found out about the Dropps Fabric Softener Pacs and am very intrigued. I have yet to see these available with other brands, and would very much like to try this technology. 

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Disclosure: I received the above item in return for an honest, sincere review. I was not expected to leave a positive review, and would never post something I didn't feel fully confident in. No monetary compensation was provided. The above opinion is the sole opinion of me and my family, and may differ from your own. I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.