You must have come across those miraculous looking detergent-free eco-friendly laundry tricks. I first came to know about laundry ceramic balls from a classified advertisement website only 5-6 years back. I called up the advertiser out of curiosity to inquire the rate and the logic behind their working. Since, the laundry balls were imported from Europe, they were very costly but she told me that it’s only one time investment and it will clean all your laundry without any need to purchase a detergent ever. She invited me to her home to see how they actually work but couldn’t give any convincing explanation for why do they actually work.

Instead of going to her place, I decided to search about the reviews of such balls online. I found several positive reviews with people saying that these balls work as good as a detergent, needs very less water and are free from all toxic chemicals. But none of them could tell why they work.

Magnetic Laundry System

Today, I found another advertisement of Magnetic Laundry System where they sell you a pair of powerful magnetic discs. You just put them into your washing machine instead of detergent and wash your lot as you normally do with your detergent. And they come out clean and stain free. Again it looks unbelievable. But when I googled, I landed on some positive reviews of these products too. But they provide some pseudo-scientific explanation:

Since their magnets are 300 times more powerful than a normal refrigerator magnet, they ionize the water molecules and decrease the surface tension of water molecules.

Of course, this is the very logic on which soap functions. Soap or chemicals have no role in cleaning the clothes but to decrease the surface tension of water molecules which makes it easier to loosen the grip from grime and dust particles. It’s the water that actually do all the cleaning. But can magnetic force actually reduce the surface tension to that degree?

Yes, water is diamagnetic

I learned that water is not paramagnetic but diamagnetic. That means water is repelled by magnets but to such a small degree that it is hardly detectable by most instruments. So there shouldn’t be any noticeable effect on surface tension when using these magnetic laundry systems.

All these detergent-free laundry products viz. laundry balls, spheres, discs, magnetic balls, blue discs, and refillable balls with coloured liquid or “activated” water, ceramic material, uniquely designed shaped products offer no scientific explanation of their cleaning mechanism. They may talk about some pseudo-scientific explanations like the emission of far infra-red waves, precipitation of water molecules, reducing of surface tension, changing of molecular structure or “magnetizing” of water etc. These jargons are good to impress and influence the potential consumers’ mindset but actually have no role in enhancing the cleansing ability of water.

Then how come these products work?

Well, actually they don’t work. It’s the water that works. Actually, water is a very good solvent and if you try to clean your clothes in plain water, it will clean about 80 to 85% of its dirt.

Moreover, these products always recommend you using hot water for better cleaning experience. Now hot water is obviously a better solvent than cold water. So when using hot water in your washing machine, clothes comes out almost clean.

Would you call these products a scam?

After reading all these explanation, one may quickly jump in to call them a scam or a fraud business. Two decades back, even Amway used to sell one of these ceramic washing discs but later removed it from their catalogue citing “no measurable impact on overall cleaning”. You may argue that these products make a false claim to consumers about their efficiency which amounts to fraud.

But I feel that these products are doing a marvelous job in reducing the consumption of detergent, water and energy. Since there are consumers, who are using these products on a regular basis, we should also see the positive side of it.

These products are actually doing a wonderful job!

The marketers of these products do a wonderful job to expose the harmful effects of chemical laden detergents, bleaches and perfumes. They make perfectly educated statements when claiming:

• Absence of any chemical in their product does not harm our environment.
• Reduced water consumption as rinsing isn’t required
• Protects sensitive customers from allergy, rashes and irritation of skin due to detergents
• Lifelong product assures no packaging of detergent regularly goes to landfills.
• Reduced energy consumption
• Chemical-free cloths protect infusion of chemicals in our blood through skin.

So I consider these products just like Placebo in medicines. When a placebo can be sold to a patient claiming its healing properties, why should these environment-friendly products be termed as fraud? I think, we need more of such products 😊.

Realistic detergent-free washing options

If you are not convinced by my argument, you should use other natural washing options. My personal choices include:

• Reetha soapnut
• White Vinegar
• Sodium bi carbonate
• 3% Hydrogen per oxide
• Borax
• Lemon juice and leftover lemon peels.
• Essential oils as perfume (if that really matter to you).

I think these should meet needs for an an average consumer. Today we are actually over-sanitising everything. Over-hygiene is making us weaker and vulnerable. And for a white collar workers with a sedentary job in an air-conditioned office, how much dirty can you get? Do we really need a detergent on a regular basis?

• Do share your thoughts on the need of a chemical detergent. Do we really need it?