If you need a detergent free of dyes and perfumes then this detergent works very well. I buy 7th Generation products for both environmental and health reasons. This product is 100% biodegradable, vegetable based, and it does not contain phosphates, dyes or perfumes. The harmful effects of exposure to petroleum products is a well kept secret of the oil industry, and as we all know the less oil we use and dump into our sewage drains the better.

As with all 7th Generation products, I would not suggest that anyone rely on this one product for all of your laundry needs. If you have a load of "muddy whites," then you're probably better off having a bottle of something stronger handy. When I have dirty collars, I always pre-treat with a stain remover (Shout) as I did with my non ecofriendly detergents. I have had good luck with pre-treating stains and using this product. I do the same with my dish washing by the way. I use 7th Generation on 90% of my dishes, but there are ultra-greasy occasions that call for something stronger.

Even then... As the label says, "if every household in the US used just one bottle of this detergent, we would save 160,000 barrels of oil..." Using 75-90% Eco-friendly cleaning products is better than nothing at all, and these days nobody should be flushing oil down the drain.

7th Generation products can be somewhat more expensive than non-eco friendly products. I typically buy mine in bulk when drugstore.com has sales on their products with shipping discounts. This site recently had a "buy one get one free" sale on 7th Generation, and I was able to get laundry detergent for $4.50/bottle and dish detergent for $1.50/bottle (ground shipping was $6). I usually start with froogle.com or bizrate.com to find the lowest overall price.

The 7th Generation website has product specific information for those who want to know the exact chemical makeup etc etc.

Recommended: Yes