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Laundry

Should you buy this detergent-free laundry alternative?

Crystal Wash says it has science on its side, so we put it to the test.

We tested the Crystal Wash to see if they could stand up to traditional detergent. Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

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When we first heard about Crystal Wash, we immediately thought of all those "laundry balls" that appeared on home shopping channels in the 1990s. The majority of these were determined not to work, and it turned out a lot of the companies that made them were actually multilevel marketing schemes.

However, in recent years, the demand for eco-friendly laundry solutions has increased, resulting in a new batch of laundry balls, including Crystal Wash and Wash Wizard. It's true that technology has improved since the 90's, so it is possible an innovation has led to these laundry balls being more than just another scam.

We decided to put the Crystal Wash to the test. Specifically, we were interested in looking into the claims that these plastic and ceramic balls could deal with tough stains just as well as traditional laundry detergents.


The Claim

On its website, Crystal Wash claims that its laundry balls are filled with bioceramics—the same materials that some hip replacements are made of.

Credit: Crystal Wash

Crystal Wash claims that its laundry balls increase the pH of water to help get rid of stains.

The company states that its bioceramics increase the pH of water by 0.6 after only 15 minutes of exposure. This is important because it has been well documented that most bacteria thrive between a pH of 6.5 and 7. So by increasing the pH, Crystal Wash hopes soils will more easily wash away and that your laundry will be disinfected.

At the end of the day, the biggest claim Crystal Wash makes is that the laundry ball will clean your clothes as well as traditional detergents for up to 1,000 washes.

This sounded a little far-fetched to us, but we decided to keep an open mind. If it works, Crystal Wash could revolutionize the laundry industry: It would be the new standard for naturally cleaning clothes and a huge boon for those with sensitive skin. It would also save you money compared to traditional detergents, which have been seeing steady price increases.

The Test

A close up look at the Crystal Wash in action.
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

A close up look at the Crystal Wash in action.

In order to really zero in on Crystal Wash's capabilities, we decided to test it in our state-of-the-art labs. The controlled environment accounted for humidity, air temperature, and water temperature. With the extraneous factors out of the way, we decided to pit the Crystal Wash against the most popular brand of store-bought detergent, as well as plain old hot water.

We used a standard store-bought detergent to challenge Crystal Wash.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Jonathan Chan

We used a standard store-bought detergent to challenge Crystal Wash.

Stain removal depends on three things: Agitation, water, and chemistry. Anyone who ever blotted out a food stain from a shirt in a restaurant bathroom knows that different stains require different methods of removal. That's why we used stain strips to quantify how each cleaning agent performed.

These strips are mechanically coated with common household substances like cocoa and red wine, and the three tests were performed with the Kenmore 25132, a top-loader very similar to what's found in a lot of U.S. homes. We set the Kenmore to its highest temperature setting and used the Normal cycle.

After each test cycle, we analyzed the stain strips with a photospectrometer to determine how much of the stain had been lifted. Since we know what the color of the cloth is underneath all the stains, we calculated how close the cleaning agents came in restoring the test strips to their native state.

The Results

We came to a solid conclusion: Crystal Wash does not remove stains any better than plain hot water. And, when it comes to some important stains, Crystal Wash is often far worse than laundry detergent.

The hard numbers show that the store-bought detergent did 4 percent better across the board at stain removal than Crystal Wash. As Crystal Wash removed stains at a similar to just using hot water, we can conclude Crystal Wash has a negligible effect on stain removal.

On top are the results of the Crystal Wash. When compared to the water-only wash on the bottom, we found that they had the same amount of overall stain removal.
Credit: Reviewed

On top are the results of the Crystal Wash. When compared to the water-only wash on the bottom, we found that they had the same amount of overall stain removal.

However, when we delve into the individual stains themselves, the story gets a bit more interesting. Crystal Wash, water, and detergent all did about the same when it came to removing carbon, blood, and cocoa—meaning that hot water and agitation did most of the heavy lifting.

But when it came to sweat stains, detergent did a whopping 14 percent better at cleaning than Crystal Wash or water. This is, in our opinion, Crystal Wash's greatest failing: Since clothes are worn by people, they almost always get sweat stains. Unless you're alright wearing dingy shirts with increasingly-yellowed armpits, you should stick with detergent.

It's understandable that there's a demand for laundry cleaner that doesn't use as many harsh chemicals as detergent. However, each of those chemicals serves a specific purpose in removing stains—especially when it comes to stains like sweat. And although Crystal Wash has none of the chemicals of regular detergent, it has none of the efficacy either. There were high hopes for Crystal Wash as it raised over $250,000 on its Kickstarter, so it's a bit of a bummer that it fails at one of the basic tasks of doing laundry.

To all those who paid the $50 for a set: You should return it.


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