Kokova Magazine

Can a plastic egg filled with little beads really replace your favourite laundry powder or liquid for up to three years? Would you really be happy without the smell of your favourite detergent filling the house on wash days? Could you benefit from saving £££'s off your weekly shopping bills? If so then you may want to try an Ecoegg for all your laundry needs.

What is an Ecoegg

The Ecoegg is a clever invention that is set to revolutionise the way we wash our clothes and help save a small fortune in the process. If you have any skin conditions or sensitivities then the Ecoegg could be the choice for you.

When you receive your egg you simply pop in three packets of the white washing beads and the packet of black beads, used to agitate the others. On the whole we had no problems getting the pellets into the egg and it has remained securely closed throughout our tests - although we do advise checking it before use.

Every 72 washes you need to top up the egg by another of the 12 packs of white beads supplied in the pack. In theory this should last you up to 720 washes but it is advised to keep an eye on the beads inside to make sure they are kept topped up.

How we tested it

Having read some very mixed reviews, we decided to test the Ecoegg on everyday wash loads and a variety of stains.

We started with a fairly easy wash of mixed coloured synthetics at 30C. The results were as good as we would expect from any of the leading brands on the market and the clothes smelled clean and fresh but without any over-powering perfume or residue from too much product use.

After a hair colouring session a white cotton bath towel had been left unwashed in the machine for over 24hours - complete with bright red hair dye all over it. We decided this would be a great test and without a pre-wash or stain remover, we left the towel in the machine and added more white towels and clothes to the wash, before putting it all on 40C cotton cycle.

As you may expect we were more than a little keen to open the machine once the door released and to our amazement we pulled out three white cotton towels for inspection and could in no way distinguish which one had been covered in permanent red hair dye!

The remainder of the wash was just as clean - especially a dish cloth that had seen better days and on previous washes presented in a pale shade of grey.

A third wash contained everyday clothes that were merely worn rather than grubby. We put this load on a short 50C wash cycle of 32 minutes. We tried hard to find fault with this load but again we could not complain as the finished cycle presented us with yet another clean basket of fresh washing ready to hang out to dry.

After quite a few more everyday washes on worn clothes we needed something a little tougher to test and decided that the ultimate test has to be white work shirts. Usually boiled at 90C and checked rigorously for stains, one of our testers agreed to try the Ecoegg on a maximum 60C wash - without any added detergent or cleaner.

The shirts were quite stained and whilst the Ecoegg cleaned well, unfortunately some of the stains remained and the tester was not impressed. Bearing this in mind we tried a wash of tea towels and found some curry stains remained, so our suggestion would be to use the Eco Stain Remover prior to washing to get rid of those stubborn marks.

Another thing we would advise is using the Detox Tablets as any residue smells that your old laundry detergent masked will be fully exposed with the Ecoegg. This is because all washing machines need cleaning out every now and again, especially if you have been using powder and liquids for some time. They tend to leave deposits in the pipes and crevices which can lead to unpleasant smells.

For some people the lack of having their regular 'scent' may be too much to go without and some of our testers worked around this by adding a touch of fabric softener to their wash.

In summary

If you want to save money on detergents then the Ecoegg is a fabulous item to have in place of your regular washing detergent. It will get your everyday washing clean and if you have dried-in stains then we would advice keeping a bottle of the stain remover to hand.

The thing to remember is that this product contains no harsh chemicals, is hypoallergenic, biodegradeable and kinder to the environment.

And another real bonus is that many of our testers noticed that the itchy rashes they have that are caused by clothes on sensitive skin have vanished. All their little patches of contact irritation have diminished or gone.

For that Ecoegg can rely on us here at YST as regular customers; that and the fact that even with the cost of the stain remover and the detox tablets - we are still going to save a lot of money, while being kinder to the environment and our skin...

For more information visit www.ecoeggonline.com