EnviroKlenz (product review)

EnviroKlenz is a "laundry enhancer" designed to take stink out of clothing. It actually sounded too good to be true: a product that would clean my yard sale and Goodwill purchases poisoned by toxic laundry detergents...a product that might even clean new, formaldehyde soaked clothing purchases from toxic smell? Would it work on perfume-soaked garments? I was curious, but then I found a few reviews that said it didn't work. Skeptical, I backed away not wanting to spend the $14.99 plus $10.50 shipping charge for the 58 ounce (15 load size) bottle.

Then Mrs. Washington International 2017 who explained in detail how ultra-sensitive her husband was to scented products highly recommended it. This was the same day I bought a whole new wardrobe of [toxic smelling] clothing from the outstanding Cancer Society sale and got incredibly tired of trying to wash each sweater six times and STILL not getting the stink out. So I caved. And ordered.

They ship it priority so it arrived in two days. I couldn't find the ingredients online, but the bottle lists water, magnesium oxide, magnesium hydroxide, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide. Looks like a process of oxidization. Not sure about that titanium?

I started on my new black spy coat which didn't stink as much the other items. I had machine washed it once in regular unscented detergent, but I could still smell something. This was a machine washable coat on small load cycle, with a tiny bit of detergent and 1/4 cup EnviroKlenz. The instructions warn not to use with bleach or vinegar and warm water works best. Hmmm...it's a black coat...it gets cold water.

At the same time I hand washed a cotton sweater in a tub of water, tiny bit of detergent, and 1/4 cup EnvironKlenz. Yes, that's a lot of EnvironKlenz for a tub, but I want this to work. Too little might not work and be discouraging. For the sweaters I used lukewarm water. I place the sweater in the soapy water, move around a little, squish it a little, swirled it a little, and raise it for a dangerous sniff - no stink. I don't smell any stink!

I continued washing with some soaking for about twenty minutes or as long as a normal machine washing, then transferred the sweater to a rinsing bucket. I'm planning a frugality experiment. I placed the second sweater in the washing bucket used for the first sweater, swished, soak, swish. The water turned murky. After a few minutes I smelled the sweater - it still stunk. It was as if EnviroKlenz stripped the first sweater of the stink, but deposited it in the water. I was washing the second sweater in stink oxidized right into the water. It is necessary to use EnviroKlenz fresh. There is a warning on the label to not leave the cap off or it will lose its effectiveness. I assume if you let the garment soak for too long it would stop working, too.

Meanwhile back in the laundry room, the spy coat is finished. It has a smell, but it's not the toxic laundry detergent. I think it's the EnviroKlenz. Now I did overuse it and probably could have used less than 1/4 cup even in a laundry load with only one garment. Maybe I didn't get it rinsed enough? So I put it through another rinse cycle.

The sweaters also smelled, the cotton ones not so much, but the cashmere reeked. Wool often latches on to stink of any kind. I washed it again by hand with detergent and rinsed all the soap out of it. Much better. Lesson: Don't overuse EnviroKlenz. It has its own stink. I rinsed the cotton sweaters again as well.

Still, it's one thing to smell freshly washed, wet clothing and quite another to wait until the clothes are dry. As they dried, I kept checking for stink and with each sniff my nose burned. After a while with each subsequent inhale, I started feeling sick to my stomach. Hmmm.... When completely dry the cotton sweaters seemed fine. Cashmere not so much. The coat stunk, but it might be from something totally different. It's synthetic after all and now hanging in the garage. I re-washed the cashmere in the washer on the soak cycle without detergent. I think this is the twelfth attempt now. If this doesn't work it'll go in the garbage.

EnviroKlenz does get out the toxic laundry stink quite effectively, but you must rinse exceptionally well because it has it's own toxic stink. I also think I had too much to wash and, therefore, too much exposure all at once. Normally I would detoxify only one garment at a time, not a whole new wardrobe. We'll see. I have confidence EnviroKlenz is still going to save a whole lot of time, toxicity, and water costs. It's been an exposure-exhausting experiment.

I do wonder if it works on formaldehyde and other treatments. I so rarely buy anything new, but if I do, I'll try it and post an update.

UPDATE: It's been months and I've used EnviroKlenz dozens of times...don't waste your money. I'm not sure what it's supposed to do, but removing stink is not it.