Frequently Asked Questions

None of the products in our range contain any harsh chemicals or ammonia that normal detergents often contain.

 

The Laundry Egg is a hypoallergenic product and does not contain any fragrance, as fragrance is a known irritant to the skin. Your washing is left with a ‘fresh but not fragrant’ smell. If you wish, you can add some fabric softener/conditioner to give your washing a fragrant smell and this will not affect the operation of the Laundry Egg.

We would recommend an eco-friendly fabric softener/conditioner where possible. Alternatively, some people find that essential oil works great to give your laundry a fresh fragrance. Just put a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil into the drawer of your washing machine before each wash. The Laundry Egg will naturally soften fibres as it changes the pH of the water so softener is not a necessity if you suffer from sensitive skin.

Yes.  Just pre-soak the ecoegg laundry egg in the water for approximately 20 minutes and then hand wash as normal, allowing water to flow through the ecoegg laundry egg.

As the Laundry Egg does not contain any soap agents, it leaves almost no residue on your clothes. Therefore, the rinse cycle can be significantly reduced, saving water, time and electricity. Some machines have a ‘rinse hold’ button, which, when pressed, skips the rinse cycle. If you can’t cut-out the rinse cycle, this will not affect the Laundry Egg, you just will not be saving on water and energy.

Yes, absolutely. The rubber and plastic that the Laundry Egg is made from is 100% recyclable. You can read more about the materials and methods used here.

Yes absolutely, as there are no harsh chemicals involved. All our products have been assessed and approved by Allergy UK, the leading medical charity for sufferers of allergy, sensitivity and intolerance. What’s more, the National Eczema Society are also happy to put their name to our Fragrance Free Laundry Egg.

Yes, most definitely! As our Ecoegg laundry egg contains no harsh chemicals and is hypoallergenic, it is highly recommended to wash your cloth nappies using the laundry egg. This will also help prolong the lifespan of the cloth nappies as the laundry egg doesn’t leave any residue unlike most conventional laundry detergent do.

You can use the laundry egg in your ‘pre-wash’ cycle if you have one. This initial wash will help remove odour and excess urine before your ‘actual’ wash’. When the pre-wash cycle ends, you can just leave the laundry egg in your washing machine and start your ‘actual’ wash cycle. This is the time to add some essential oil for extra fragrance if you like.

For a more detailed instruction, we’ve created a page on top tips to wash your cloth nappies using our laundry egg.

No, the Laundry Egg is perfectly safe to use with all makes of washing machine. It is made from soft durable rubber, so it is gentle on your machine.

The Ecoegg laundry egg will work great in washes up to 60 degrees Celsius.  It will also work well in cold water washes.  The ecoegg laundry egg should not be used above 60 degrees Celsius as this will significantly shorten the life of the cleaning pellets.

 

Yes.  However, the Ecoegg laundry egg should be removed for the drying cycle if your washing machine has one.  If you do leave the Ecoegg laundry egg in the machine during the drying cycle, it will shorten the life of the pellets.

If you are doing several washes one after another, then you do not need to dry the Ecoegg laundry egg between washes.  However, once you have finished washing for the day, you need to leave the Ecoegg laundry egg out of the machine to dry.

Keep an eye on the white mineral pellets inside the Ecoegg laundry egg.  When these have dissolved to about half of their original size, then you need to refill the ecoegg laundry egg.  You should also monitor the cleaning power of the ecoegg laundry egg.  When this reduces, it’s probably time to refill the pellets.

When you have been using conventional washing powder or liquid for a while, the residue left from these can build up in the pipes and crevices of the washing machine.  If not cleaned away, these build-ups can cause a bad odour.  Your usual detergent will mask the smells from these build-ups.  However, when you switch to using the Ecoegg laundry egg, there is no strong fragrance to mask the smells, so it can be more noticeable.  In this case, you should clean out your washing machine (which is a good ‘detox’ for your machine anyway).

You can purchase our 6 washing machine detox tablets available in our online shop. Or you can purchase the detox tablets when you buy our Ecoegg laundry egg through this bundle offer.

How to use: Simply unwrap ONE detox tablet and place it right inside the drum of your machine (front loader). If you have a top loader put the tablet in the “long-middle-bit” (right inside the drum) where you usually put your washing powder (NOT where you put the softener). Remember to put the machine on the hottest setting and on the longest cycle available (leave the drum empty – do not put any clothes in).  This will leave your machine fresh and clean.  It is recommended to detox your machine once every 6 months or so, depending on how often you wash.

 

For all clothes as a general rule: Make sure to rinse any stain especially urine/poos or any smelly substance that comes in contact with your clothes IMMEDIATELY with water (before your pre-wash) to avoid the smell to penetrate through your clothes. This will help eliminate the odour further in addition to using our tips below.

Some tips to help wash EXTRA smelly clothes before using the laundry egg:

 

Yes, however we suggest that you always use a laundry bag to protect your delicates and use the ‘delicates setting’ on your machine, if you have one.  If your delicates are very valuable, we suggest hand washing only.

Approximately 720 washes, which is about 3 years worth of washing for the average family (based on 4 or 5 washes per week). Note: The number of washes that the Laundry Egg will last for depends on many factors including the hardness of your water, the load size and the length of the cycle. 720 washes is an approximation for guidance only.

Yes!  It will work great in front loaders, top loaders and twin tubs.  One Ecoegg laundry egg is normally sufficient for approximately 5kgs of washing, the capacity of a standard domestic washing machine.

If you are using the Ecoegg laundry egg in a larger machine, you may need to use two Ecoegg laundry eggs.

There are some steps you can take to make sure you are getting the best from the Ecoegg laundry egg:

• Make sure you are not overloading your machine.  The Ecoegg laundry egg needs room to move around in the wash
• Make sure that your washing machine is not set to use the minimum amount of water
• Whilst the Ecoegg laundry egg works well on most everyday stains, just like with normal washing detergent, there may be the occasional stain that requires extra help.   A ‘pre-wash’ or ‘in wash’ stain remover can be used as normal.  This will not affect the performance of the ecoegg laundry egg in any way.
• The Ecoegg laundry egg contains no harsh bleaching agents.  If you find that your whites are not coming out  as bright as you are used to, try adding some eco-friendly laundry bleach to your white loads.

It is important to remember that the Ecoegg laundry egg does not contain any harsh chemicals and therefore cannot be compared to the clean of conventional biological washing detergents that can contain toxic chemicals and bleaching agents.  The Ecoegg laundry egg is a much more natural alternative which is kinder to the environment, your skin and your pocket.

Also, it is important to remember the amount of money you will be saving by using the Ecoegg laundry egg.  For every day worn once and minor stained clothes, using a concoction of toxic chemicals is an unnecessary waste of money.  The Ecoegg laundry egg can save you a great deal of money.

Previous customers with septic tanks that have used the ecoegg laundry egg have not incurred any problems as the ecoegg laundry egg leaves almost no residue in the water.  However, please note that we have not conducted any scientific testing with septic tanks so this may not be the case for everyone.

Yes, they will not affect the operation of the ecoegg laundry egg in any way.