Blueland is an innovative brand that makes (mostly) plastic-free personal care products like soap and detergent. The brand’s core value is its eco-friendliness, because most personal care products contain significant amounts of plastic between the products and the packaging.
But is Blueland really more eco-friendly than traditional personal care products or is this "greenwashing"? Does the brand use research-backed ingredients? Do they use any unhealthy ingredients? And what was our Product Tester's honest experience trying various Blueland products for a month?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Blueland Hand Soap, Blueland Laundry, Blueland Dish Soap and Blueland Home Cleaners to give our take on their healthiness and eco-friendliness.
We'll also feature our Product Tester's experience trying the brand, and compare Blueland to other popular "green" personal care products brands like Dr. Bronner's, in terms of formulation quality, to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- We currently recommend Dish Soap & Laundry Tablets
- We do not currently recommend Hand Soap
- Much healthier & more environmentally-friendly than traditional personal care product brands
Hand Soap Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Blueland soap tablets are shown below:
Blueland soap bottles are made of glass, and the tablets are plastic-free, so this is a great environmental choice.
This product contains some research-backed natural cleansing agents.
Coconut acid and sodium coco-sulfate are derived from coconut and can help to remove dirt and grime.
Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are synthetic preservatives.
While we consider these to be two of the mildest synthetic preservatives used in cosmetics, all things being equal we'd prefer a formulation without preservatives.
Fragrance has been shown in clinical studies to be potentially harmful to human health, and so we'd strongly recommend choosing the "Fragrance-Free" version of this product.
Overall, we consider Blueland's hand soap likely to be effective for cleansing the hands, and to be a healthier and more environmentally-friendly option than most commercial soaps.
We don't currently recommend this product due to the inclusion of fragrance and synthetic preservatives.
We Tested Blueland
One of our product testers named Hannah Westerman tried various Blueland products for two weeks. Here's her experience:
These products were easy to use! The packaging was aesthetically pleasing.
I loved the way all of the products smelled. They left our kitchen smelling great.
All products that we tested cleaned our kitchen nicely, and they were very user-friendly. I had no issues with refills or instructions.
I did not experience any side effects or other negative effects from using Blueland products.
I'm planning to become a regular Blueland customer, as I bought more of these products after we ran out of the ones sent by Illuminate Labs.
Overall, I would rate Blueland 10/10.
Detergent Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Blueland laundry detergent are shown below:
Medical research has shown that commercial laundry detergent negatively affects natural ecosystems and wastewater treatment processes due to the toxic chemicals often included.
Blueland's laundry tablets contain a number of research-backed ingredients, and seem to be a much healthier option.
Subtilisin is an enzyme that was highlighted in a research review published in the Microbial Biotechnology journal on enzymes with potential for the laundry industry.
This enzyme helps to break down protein stains.
Amylase is an enzyme which is effective for catalyzing (breaking down) starch, and was shown in a 2014 meta-study to be an effective and non-toxic laundry detergent ingredient.
Sodium carbonate is a natural cleansing agent.
Most importantly, these laundry tablets are entirely free of unhealthy additives like fragrance. There are no ingredients in this formulation that we consider to be unhealthy.
Blueland's laundry starter set comes with a tin (rather than plastic) container, and refill tablets are packaged in paper pouches, so this is the most environmentally-friendly laundry product that we’ve reviewed to date on Illuminate Health.
Blueland also sells 100% wool dryer balls, which are much more environmentally friendly than dryer sheets which are typically made from plastic, and which are single-use.
Dish Soap Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Blueland Dish Soap are shown below:
This is a simpler formulation than the hand soap.
Sodium bicarbonate, better known as baking soda, is clinically shown to have antibacterial effects.
Sodium lauryl sulfate impairs skin barrier function according to a clinical trial published in the Pharmaceutical Research journal.
Since dish soap is meant to be used with gloves, this is less of a potential health issue issue than if this ingredient was included in hand soap.
Glycerin is a stain remover that's also clinically shown to improve scent, as we documented in our Clean People Laundry Detergent reviews article.
The container for Blueland Dish Soap (called the Forever Shaker) is made of silicone, which is another plastic alternative that's better for the environment.
Overall, we consider Blueland Dish Soap likely to be effective for cleaning dishes, and consider it to be a healthier and more environmentally-friendly option than most commercial dish soaps.
Blueland vs. Popular Home Care Brands
Here's how Blueland compares to other popular personal care product brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
Dr. Bronner's
Dr. Bronner's soap comes in bar form, and contains research-backed, naturally-derived ingredients like olive oil, which is clinically shown to support skin healing.
We give this brand the (slight) advantage over Blueland from a health perspective.
Winner: Dr. Bronner's
Bath & Body Works
The Bath and Body Works formulations we analyzed contained many unhealthy ingredients, including fragrance and synthetic dyes.
More plastic packaging than Blueland as well.
Blueland is the clear winner from a health perspective.
Winner: Blueland
The Honest Company
Similarly-healthy formulations, but most of the Honest Company's products we reviewed were packaged in plastic.
Blueland gets the win from a health perspective, considering the packaging, and lack of potential plasticizer risk.
Winner: Blueland
Home Cleaners Ingredient Analysis
There are three categories of home cleaners sold by Blueland: multi-surface cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and glass + mirror cleaner.
Unfortunately, all three formulations contain fragrance and synthetic colorants, so we don't currently recommend them.
As we documented in our Native deodorant ingredients review article, there are toxicity risks associated with use of artificial dyes.
All of Blueland’s home cleaners come with a plastic bottle, so we don't consider this product line to be as eco-friendly as their dish soap, hand soap or laundry offerings.
Blueland Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Non-toxic, effective dish soap
- Non-toxic, effective laundry tablets
- Our Product Tester loved scent
- Our Product Tester loved product experience
- Healthy hand soap formulation
- Much more eco-friendly than commercial alternatives
- Healthier than some competitors
Cons:
- Use of synthetic preservatives in some products
- Use of fragrance in some products
- Some products contain plastic (including home cleaners)
