The Good: Easy to use, Good scent, Delivers on claims, (Generally) Environmentally responsible bulk
The Bad: Environmental impact is still not known, Somewhat pointless.
The Basics: Scenting clothes with a vaguely floral scent and cleaning them, the Spring Oasis Purex 3-In-1 Laundry Sheets do what they promise well in the refill packs!
There are many products I see as being overcomplicated for relatively simple tasks. When I encounter those products, I tend not to return to them. However, even though I was fairly neutral to my initial experience with the Fresh Scent Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, I recently had cause to give the 3-In-1 Laundry Sheets a second chance when I got my hands on the bulk pack of the refills in a new-to-me scent, Spring Oasis! The Purex 3-In-1 Laundry Sheets come in two essential forms: the initial pack which has the sheets encased in a plastic container that makes it easy to dispense the sheets easily and the refill packs.
The refill packs are essentially the same sheets without the hard plastic container. They are sealed into a plastic wrapping – just like refill baby wipes – and then boxed up in a cardboard box. The refill pack, then, is available in a bulk pack (where the refill boxes are cellophane together) at places like Sam’s Club. This is not the most impressive bulking I’ve run into as consumers who truly want to protect the environment and save money would do better having a single bigger box with the refill packs (or even one big box with all of the refill sheets in them) as opposed to the waste of cardboard and cellophane that comes in this packing.
For those unfamiliar with the new Purex 3-In-1 Laundry Sheets, the principle is very simple: Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets are put in a washing machine where the detergent is washed out of them and cleans clothes and then one transfers the laundry sheet to the dryer where it helps prevent static cling! The Spring Oasis scent is designed to leave clothes clean and scented with the fresh, floral scent that has been defined as Spring Oasis.
The Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets refill boxes come in a pack of twenty-four sheets wrapped in plastic wrap in a cardboard box. These are designed to then be placed in the original harder plastic container that the standard pack of 3-In-1 Sheets is regularly purchased in. Purex Complete laundry sheets are approximately six inches long, four inches wide and about an eighth of an inch thick. They are made of a white fibrous material reminiscent of a dryer sheet or air filter for a furnace. The sheets have a green strip at the top and for the five inches below that strip, the laundry sheet is actually blue. This is because it is coated with a concentrated version of Purex laundry detergent.
The Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets come out of the box feeling remarkably clean; they do not leave detergent on fingers, clothes or other surfaces. This is not like a gel or liquid-soaked cloth that might transfer the detergent to other surfaces easily. Instead, one places a sheet in with a load of wash and when the water begins to flow, the detergent is washed out of the cloth.
Proper usage of the laundry sheet dictates that with toploading washers, one start the water, then drop the laundry sheet in, then add clothes and this is a good idea. Mixed in with clothes dry, this can leave a residue on clothes that then gets cooked into the clothes during the drying of the load. However, used properly, the Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets do exactly what they claim and they wash out the detergent into the water and clothes get clean. Clothes are then transferred to a clothes dryer, with the laundry sheet in them and the laundry sheet prevents static cling and it adds a fresh scent to the load. In my experience, it lives up to both promises.
Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets may also be used in the high efficiency washers, but in those the sheets are added with the laundry before the cycle starts. I recommend placing the sheet near the jets which fill the washer with water to get the most out of the laundry sheets.
Having now used multiple packs and two different scents of these, it is hard to complain about them. These do exactly what they claim they will. First, the laundry comes out clean when it is washed using the Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets. Soiled clothes, like my t-shirts which I now bring home covered in dog poop and bleach (when I was working at my wife’s pet store!) come out clean (nothing the Purex can do about the bleach stains) and smelling great. As well, these laundry sheets deodorize and the Spring Oasis scented sheets leave a nice, clean scent behind. The Spring Oasis scent is vaguely floral. I wish there were more to describe it with than that, but it is accurate: the scent smells lightly of flowers, nothing so strong as to last on clothes more than half an hour in the real world, nor cause any allergic reaction from the scent. There is no specific or dominant flower in the scent, either. This is generically floral in its bouquet.
Finally, the sheets live up to their claim of preventing static cling from dryers. My partner and I have put every combination of fabrics with one of the Spring Oasis sheets through our drying cycles and never have we had the fabrics clinging to each other with noticeable static cling. With that, the clothes get clean, smell good and do not cling to one another, so this does exactly what Purex claims they will.
As an environmentally conscious person, I have a bit of a problem with the fact that Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets are not reusable. Because the detergent washes out and the deodorizing action is activated by the heat of the dryer, these are truly only good for one load each. That makes this a very expensive product, even with the refill packs being bulked. Moreover, the environmental impact of these sheets is hardly known yet and frankly, I doubt is good. Still, if one wants to use these, the refills are a more environmental way to go than to continually buy the original packs with the less-recyclable boxes (and fewer sheets!).
For other laundry-related reviews, please visit my review of the Whirlpool WGD5200 Gas Dryer by clicking here or the Frigidaire GLER331A Electric Dryer, reviewed here!
8/10
For other home and garden product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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