Credit:
Reviewed / Jonathan Chan
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Credit:
Reviewed / Jonathan Chan
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
Grove Collaborative laundry detergent sheets offer good cleaning and a fresh scent. Read More
Hey Sunday is a brand that offers a very flexible subscription service. Read More
Arm & Hammer provides the same reliable cleaning as its liquid detergent. Read More
Tru Earth laundry strips are cellulose pads soaked in detergent. The end result is a powerful cleaning product that is completely plastic-free. Read More
As seen on Shark Tank, Sheets Laundry Club offers good cleaning and bulk orders. Read More
It’s rare to find a product that is effective, cost-saving, and eco-friendly. But that’s what you get with laundry sheets. Manufacturers use water-soluble cellulose pads that have been soaked in detergent.
Laundry detergent sheets offer a plastic-bottle-free solution, are easy to store, and provide an eco-friendly alternative to liquid detergents. The sheets are as popular as ever and there are so many choices out there. Using our labs and enterprise in scientifically testing detergents, we picked eight of the best-selling laundry sheets to see which ones are actually worth the money.
After spending weeks testing stain removal, comparing prices, doing literal sniff tests, and researching the manufacturers, we think that Grove Co. Power Clean Laundry Detergent Sheets (available at Grove Collaborative) provide the best of all worlds. It has the best cleaning of any laundry sheet we tested with a pleasant scent. The downside is that it is the most expensive per wash on our list.
If you’re looking to get laundry sheets delivered to you every month for a major discount, Hey Sunday to where it’s at. We tested the Ocean Breeze fragrance and it’s fantastic. Plus, you get a 30 percent discount if you subscribe and get a delivery for 30 or 60 days—perfect for a large family.
Grove Collaborative has the best laundry sheets according to our testing.
We like Hey Sunday because it has the most flexible subscription plan.
Good at stain removal
Easy to use
Space-saving
Smell doesn't last long
Hey, I’m Jon Chan, the senior lab manager here at Reviewed with over a decade of experience, specializing in floor care and laundry products. I test tons of detergents, ranging from eco-friendly detergents to those for sensitive skin. When it comes to laundry sheets, I wanted to focus on finding products that cleaned well and were good for the Earth.
The stain strips are analyzed with photospectrometer to see how much of each stain is lifted,
To test stain removal, we pitted all detergents against standardized cloth test strips coated with carbon, body oils, blood, cocoa, and red wine. We put them through a Speed Wash cycle in an LG front loader set to tap cold which our chillers keep at 60°F—along with four pounds of laundry made up of pillowcases, sheets, and towels. We placed a whole sheet of each detergent for each test load. Immediately, after a test cycle ends we remove the stain strips and do a sniff test on the laundry to gauge the scent.
After waiting 12 hours for the stain strips to dry in a dark room, we used a piece of lab equipment called a photo-spectrometer to determine exactly how much of each stain had been lifted.
In addition to testing the detergent sheets, we also do research into the brands like how much they cost and manufacturing processes.
Typically laundry sheets are made of resin and cellulose. The sheets are soaked in detergent which gets released when the sheet dissolves in water. This is why the laundry sheets all had very similar stain-removal performance—they can only soak up so much detergent. You could increase the cleaning power by adding more sheets, but there are downsides to doing that. There’s a chance that the sheets won’t dissolve properly and that will leave gunk on your clothes. Also, every sheet you toss in increases the cost per wash.
Looking through the data we gathered on regular, eco-friendly, and detergents for sensitive skin, we can say that laundry sheets are not as effective as liquid detergents. It really comes down to a matter of mass. Most of the laundry sheets weigh between three and five grams, whereas a low dose of Persil detergent tips the scales at around 37 grams.
We used the same stain strips to test liquid detergents. On average, liquid detergents outperformed laundry sheets by about 10% to11%across all stains.
Laundry detergent sheets are a good way to lessen your carbon footprint. One of the major benefits is a reduction in the amount of resources it takes to ship. A plastic jug that contains 60 loads of liquid detergent is mostly water. With sheets, you are only shipping cleaning product and lightweight cellulose.
Most of the brands we tested are plant-based and avoid using harsh chemicals. The end results are products that reduce the amount of plastic and fossil fuels used in the world.
Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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