Seventh Generation natural cleaning products available in the UK

seventh generation have a range of products available in the UKSeventh Generation have been a brand on my radar for a number of years.

And I don’t mind admitting a certain amount of envy about our friends across the pond being able to access their fantastic range!

Seventh Generation are a pioneering brand who have spent 28 years leading the way with their plant – based cleaning products.

Their products are safe to use and provide healthy solutions for your home, pets and family. They also have minimal negative impact on the environment and take all aspects of manufacture into account including production, purchase, use and disposal.

I do love my green cleaning products and have been a long time fan of Ecover – especially their concentrated bio laundry liquid, which I’ve been using since 2010.

Recently, however, the final nail went into the coffin over this favourite product of mine!

I found it to be reasonably good at cleaning (you really do have to enter a different mindset (despite what the advertising literature will tell you) over what a ‘natural’ product can achieve compared to a conventional product. I’ll put my cards on the table and say something that is not popular in the ‘green’ world. And it’s something you don’t want to hear. We all want to believe that a green, natural and eco friendly product is just as good as conventional product. But it’s not the truth.

Products using harsh synthetic chemicals get better results than those produced with naturally derived ingredients.

But here’s the deal:

The products using these harsh synthetic chemicals come at a much bigger ‘cost’ to the environment and our health.

So you have to make a choice. As I’ve said before, most of the time I’m happy to have less than white whites and slightly less cleaning power if it means my family and I can live in a safe, healthy environment.

But back to the Ecover story.

I ordered my usual bottle and when it arrived it had the word ‘new’ on the front of the bottle. That always rings alarm signals for me. What it usually translates to is “We’ve taken a fantastic product that works well and screwed it up”.

And I wasn’t wrong.

I can’t begin to tell you how they’ve screwed up the smell of this once-benign product.

For a brand that prides itself on a product that ‘smells sublime’ they’ve clearly got it wrong as my tweet reveals:

They never responded so I took it upon myself to check out their site where the question about new fragrance has been addressed. Here’s what they say:

We wanted to give our products more appealing, contemporary fragrance combinations whilst remaining true to the heritage of Ecover.

These feature popular scents alongside new additions which have a modern twist on the familiar.

The new dual-note, naturally inspired fragrances are designed to delight the senses and complement the scent of a happy, healthy home.

Sorry Ecover; you’ve lost me.

And my challenge is there is no alternative; they only offer ONE bio laundry liquid which is the one I can no longer use.

Luckily, Emma from Seventh Generation contacted me that same week (I do love a bit of Divine Intervention) with the joyous news that the following Seventh Generation products were now available in the UK!

Lavender Natural Washing Up Liquid
Natural Washing Up Liquid
Natural Washing Detergent
Natural Lavender Detergent
Natural Glass and Surface cleaner
Cypress Toilet Cleaner
Concentrated Washing Liquid Detergent
Natural All Purpose Cleaner Spray

I’ve now been using the concentrated washing liquid detergent for a month and I’m very impressed. It’s certainly on par with cleaning effectiveness as Ecover but it has no scent at all. I’m delighted! My cotton just smells of cotton. No branding, nothing that makes my eyes itch or my nose run. It’s amazing.

The lavender washing up liquid has a lovely gentle scent – more mint than lavender. I like it, but it isn’t as concentrated as Ecover so I have to be careful how I use it. We ended up getting through the bottle very quickly, so I probably wouldn’t buy it again unless they made the formula more thick and concentrated.

The all purpose cleaner spray and glass cleaner do what they promise. The clean without harsh synthetic chemicals and they don’t fill my home with unwanted scents.

Currently Seventh Generation are only available at Tesco. With their competitive pricing and true ‘no scent’ formulas I’ll be making the switch on some of these products.

What about you – have you used Seventh Generation?

seventh generation products available in the UK