Splosh is an environmentally friendly range of cleaning products delivered (free) by post. They are sold as sachets of concentrate, so you pop them in a bottle, add hot water, give them a shake, and they’re ready to go. You can either recycle your own bottles or buy the relevant ones in a Splosh starter kit, which is what I did.
Our washing machine doesn’t get a lot of rest, and we get through a lot of laundry products. With two primary-school-aged children, there is also a lot of hand-washing going on in our house. I usually use Ecover products, because of their environmental credentials, but was keen to see if Splosh would work out cheaper and/or greener.
So in terms of initial outlay for the kit, the Ecover products I usually buy from the supermarket are cheaper. But that misses the point. The system is all about the refills, which is where Splosh comes into its own.
I’m impressed. I like to know that cleaning products are going to do the job without killing everything in the water downstream afterwards. I’m also keen to keep things as natural as possible (so, for example, I descale the kettle with lemon juice). Splosh has a great ethos. You can read more about it here, but the short version is that they use natural ingredients as far as possible, have a really low carbon footprint because they’re transporting concentrates rather than products with the water included, and the packaging is reusable and recylable. Nice work.
And then, finally, time to test them out. I opened up the starter kit and read the instructions.
I ran the hot tap as hot as it would go, and added hot water to each of the bottles (they come with the sachets already in the right bottles, so you can’t mess it up). It was quite pleasing to watch them dissolve, especially the hand wash ones, because that bottle is completely clear. After a minute or two the sachet casing had vanished, so I shook the bottles to mix them up and they were ready to go.
First I tested the washing-up liquid. The pomegranate smells amazing. I’m a complete convert. You know when you go swimming and you’re in the showers afterwards and someone else has amazing-smelling shampoo and you get smell-envy? (Just me? OK then.) It’s like that. In my own kitchen. And it is wasted on my washing up, so I will be petitioning Splosh to start making shampoos. Oh, and it did a great job cleaning things too.
Next the laundry liquid and fabric conditioner. I ran a 30-minute eco wash, same as usual. The laundry liquid smelled a bit soapy, and the fabric conditioner smelled… a bit like a mix of paint and sugar soap, to be honest. My ‘tester’ laundry sample was a mix of Pete’s work clothes, a couple of school uniform jumpers, a couple of T-shirts and a jumble of socks and underwear. Like many adoptive families, the children’s underwear can be pretty grim, with more than the average amount of soiling accidents due to their heightened anxiety levels. This time, a few smears but no major incidents to deal with. Phew.
So, would we all be smelling like decorators for the next week? No. The clothes came out smelling fresh and lovely. It’s not a strong smell like some (more toxic) laundry products, but given that people don’t usually come up and sniff me, I’m fine with that.
The blackberry hand wash is great. It smells like a summery cordial, which on a wet lunchtime in February was very welcome. It’s a nice consistency, lathered well without being too bubbly (green credentials at play again there) and left my hands feeling soft and not dried out. My only niggle with this product is a design issue with the bottle. I like the nozzle to be facing forwards in the 6 o’clock position for easy dispensing, but in this case that closed the pump mechanism. It only seems to work in the 2 o’clock position. Not a big deal, but it just stops it looking quite as wonderful as it might otherwise. The shape is otherwise very classy and the see-through-ness means it’s easy to keep an eye on your need for refills!
In summary, then, I am a convert. It’s green, it’s really good value, and watching the sachets dissolve is fun (I may be too easily pleased on that last point). I’d definitely recommend Splosh, and will be trying some of their other products very soon.
Disclaimer: I paid for the Splosh products I used and have not received any payment for reviewing them. If you use the code b1f633 when ordering a starter kit of four bottles or more at splosh.com, you get £5 off and I get a £1 credit for the first five people to use it.
Great review thanks Hannah. I just found out that Ecover have been bought out by unilever so I will not be repurchasing when my current supply runs out. Love the Splosh concept and its nice to hear a genuine review.
Glad it was helpful – and I hope you get on well with Splosh.
A perfect review, thank you very much. I found everything I wanted to know about the products and now I am certain that the starter box is a good purchase for my new place.
These sound great! I am going to give them a go.