An ingredient list can tell you a lot about what’s in your laundry detergent. Just as important, though, is what gets left out, especially when it comes to toxic ingredients and chemicals that can irritate the skin. This article talks about what Heritage Park Laundry Detergent deliberately leaves out of our products. Read on to learn why our natural laundry detergent outperforms conventional laundry detergent.

What We Leave out of Our Detergent Matters

Here at Heritage Park Laundry Essentials, we talk a lot about our list of safe, natural, hardworking ingredients. And these are always short conversations because our detergents contain only a limited number of natural and naturally derived ingredients. You can check out our ingredient lists here.

But there’s something just as important as our ingredient list: the list of everything we’ve left out! In fact, we’re so proud of what are detergent DOESN’T contain that we’ve highlighted it right on the back of our bottles.

We think making laundry detergent that gently and effectively cleans fine fabric without the use of harmful chemicals is a pretty big deal. Let’s take a closer look at these additives and discuss why we won’t ever add them to our laundry soap.

Six Chemicals We Skip in our Detergents and Why That Important for Your Health

Every detergent made at Heritage Park Laundry Essentials -- including our Baby & Toddler Laundry Detergent -- is free from these six things:

Dyes

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably used a blue liquid detergent at some point. The dyes used to color detergent serve absolutely NO purpose in getting your clothing or fine linen clean. Even worse, dyes are a common source of skin irritation and allergies in a cleaning product. All Heritage Park Laundry Essentials Detergents are made without dye.

Sulfates

These chemical compounds are used to create foam in laundry products (as well as in other household cleaning and personal care products like dish soap and shampoo). Sulfates are not essential to the cleaning process and can irritate allergies, eczema, and other skin conditions. You won’t find sulfates in Heritage Park detergents.

Phosphates

Phosphates are used to soften hard water, but they are dangerous for people as well as the environment. Many reputable detergent manufacturers have stopped using phosphates, as they are a toxic chemical that harms waterways and disrupts our fragile ecosystem. All Heritage Park Laundry Essentials Detergents are made without phosphates.

Chlorine

Chlorine is a highly reactive chemical element that is used to disinfect and sanitize. However, chlorine is a known trigger for skin irritation that can trigger and worsen all forms of contact dermatitis. You won’t find chlorine in Heritage Park detergents.

Bleach

There are two common types of bleach used in laundry products: chlorine bleach, which is based on the chemical element chlorine, and oxygen bleach, which is made with soda ash and hydrogen peroxide. Chlorine bleach is used for whitening and disinfecting, while oxygen bleach is used to brighten colors through an intense chemical reaction that releases dirt. However, both of these can irritate delicate skin and should not be an ingredient in your regular detergent. If you are going to use chlorine or oxygen bleach, add these products separately and in small quantities to test for irritation. All Heritage Park Laundry Essentials Detergents are made without either chlorine bleach or oxygen bleach.

Brighteners

Also known as “optical brighteners” these synthetic chemicals remain on clothing and laundry to absorb UV light and make items appear brighter. While optical brighteners can irritate the skin, the main concern with these compounds is that they are not biodegradable in wastewater. You won’t find any optical brighteners in Heritage Park detergents.

Heritage Park Laundry Detergent: Safe and Effective

Asking whether chemical-free laundry detergent works well is a reasonable question. As lifelong lovers of fine linen, we asked ourselves if it was possible to find a safe laundry detergent that worked to remove a tough stain. Indeed, Heritage Park Laundry Essentials was born out of this necessity.

Our sister company, Fine Linen and Bath, is a leading online retailer of luxury home textiles. With proper care, luxury bedding, towels, and table linen should last for years. But finding the “just right” detergent to care for this fine linen was a perpetual challenge. Many of the grocery store brands contain harsh chemicals that damage linen and irritate sensitive skin. On the other end of the spectrum, the "gentle" brands often didn’t clean well or remove stains effectively.

That’s why we took matters into our own hands and headed to the lab. After years of formulating and testing, we proudly introduced Heritage Park Luxury All-Purpose Detergent. Made with the perfect balance of naturally derived and natural ingredients, Heritage Park Luxury All-Purpose Detergent is a concentrated liquid laundry detergent with a neutral pH that does not contain sulfates, phosphates, chlorine bleach, or brighteners. It is biodegradable, septic- and grey water-safe, and Leaping Bunny Approved as never being tested on animals. Our All-Purpose Laundry Detergent Fragrance Free Formula and Baby and Toddler Detergent are also hypoallergenic and pediatrician and dermatologist tested and approved (you should settle for nothing less in a baby laundry detergent!). Heritage Park is the ultimate fine fabric wash to clean and preserve your clothes and laundered luxuries while being safe for people, pets, and the planet.

Unleashing the Cleaning Power of Enzymes

Along with its impressive list of plant-based ingredients, Heritage Park All-Purpose Detergent contains a proprietary blend of enzymes that naturally work to break down stains. Our enzyme detergent (also known as a “biological detergent”) contains a range of enzymes, which work in conjunction with each other to remove stubborn stains:

• Protease (Subtilisin): Protease enzymes target protein stains. These include food stains such as egg and milk; a mud or grass stain; and blood and other body fluids.
• Alpha-amylase: These enzymes are formulated to remove starch stains such as those left by gravy, cereal, or pasta.
• Pectate Lyase: Pectate lyase enzymes attack pectin stains, which are left by fruits and vegetables.
• Lipase: As you may be able to tell by the name, the lipase enzyme targets fats or lipids. Lipase enzymes work on greasy food stains such as butter and oils and other oil-based stains such as lipstick or certain cosmetics.
• Mannanase (Mannan endo-1,4-beta-mannosidase): This enzyme attacks mannans, a form of sugar used to thicken and stabilize food items such as ketchup and ice cream and personal care products like deodorants, all of which are major stain culprits.

When NOT to Use Enzyme Detergent

Important to Note:Enzymes target protein-based stains and should NOT be used on protein-based fabrics. For regular cleaning of protein-based fibers like silk, wool, and cashmere, we recommend using the non-enzyme formula of our Luxury Silk and Wool Laundry Detergent. This comes in both lavender (scented with all-natural essential oil) and fragrance-free varieties, with the fragrance-free formula also being hypoallergenic and pediatrician/dermatologist approved.

For spot treating stains, an enzyme detergent can be used, but only sparingly and when absolutely necessary. Learn more about treating stains on silk here. (Link to How to Remove Stains from Silk blog - not posted yet)

Heritage Park Laundry Essentials

At Heritage Park, caring for fine fabric is our passion. As lifelong collectors of luxury sheets, towels, and cloths, we found many conventional detergent formulas either damaged our fabrics or didn't get the job done, leaving stains. We knew we could do better. So we developed a formula with the perfect balance of powerful -- yet safe -- ingredients designed to remove tough, set-in stains while remaining gentle on luxury linens. Our natural detergent is good for regular and high-efficiency washing machine use. Please connect with us at (800) 977-1841 or visit our store or email us with any product feedback or cleaning questions. We also welcome you to check out our blog, The Laundry Lowdown, here and read about our product stewardship guidelines here.