Seventh Generation "Green Mandarin and Leaf" Shower Spray

I'd been using Seventh Generation's Citrus Shower Spray as my daily cleaning spray, but wasn't that fond of the scent. Rather than smelling bright and orangey to me it always smelled a little, um, vomitous. Anyway, I was relieved by the replacement of the citrus with "green mandarin and leaf" scent. The leaf definitely comes through more strongly, so the product has a green, almost biting scent. I actually don't think I'm a fan, because there's a medicinal tone to the scent that bothers me. Scent preference is so subjective I'd encourage you to try it anyway. I might be imagining the medicinal part.

I was talking to someone about this blog the other day (boy do people think I'm a nerd when they hear about it!) and I mentioned I really like SG products. She said she'd never had any success with them, and I mentioned the shower cleaner specifically. "Ugh," she said "I especially don't like the shower cleaner."

In retrospect I wish I'd asked her some followup questions.
1. Do you use this stuff as a daily shower spray, not just once in a while? For it to work you must spray it every time you shower (which is the point of "daily shower sprays" I probably don't need to add).

2. What kind of shower do you have?
I have a glass-doored stall shower (three panels of glass, two of tile), and I can't vouch for how well this would work on a tile-only shower.

I'm sure product performance is completely contingent on things like the kinds of personal care products you use in the shower, water hardness, etc. I also use a squeegee on my shower walls when I am done in there, and I'm sure that helps a ton!
I feel like this stuff does the best job of any shower spray I've ever used, earth-friendly or toxic, but I'm always on the prowl for a new and better product.

Seventh Generation Natural Citrus Shower Cleaner

Before getting into the shower cleaner I have to post how disappointed I am in Burts Bees for selling to Clorox. It seems eco-friendly, natural cosmetics companies drop like flies as soon as they get profitable enough. I have been a Burts customer forever. I filled out their survey when they asked whether existing customers thought a proposal to sell in drugstores was problematic. (I said no, so long as nothing changed in their quality and ethics.) Alas, just like Tom's of Maine, they were tempted by money and sold out to a company whose products do great damage to the environment. I won't be reviewing their hand soap as planned for this reason. Treehugger wrote about the whole issue here.

On another hand, Seventh Generation's Natural Citrus Scent Shower Cleaner is the best planet lovin' shower cleaner I've used in a really long time. I use it for daily maintenance, not for thorough scrubbings (I usually keep two different products for the two different needs.) My shower doors have been so much cleaner than usual, almost as clean as if I'd just done a tough scrub. The orange smell is a little bit barfy (seriously, though this might be me), but the actual spray bottle is the best I've used in a while too. It produces these mighty, lush sprays that cover a lot of ground. I'm glad Seventh Gen is updating its scents, and I hope their new products work as well regardless. As I've mentioned before in this blog, I've only ever used one Seventh Gen product that wasn't great, and that was the toilet paper.

Caldrea Daily Shower Cleanser

Huh, I am looking on Caldrea's website right now, and I don't see any shower sprays listed. Perhaps they have been discontinued! That's a shame, the one I tried worked quite well. I nabbed the "Basil Blue Sage" scent from drugstore.com, and it did cut down on the amount of shower cleaning I had to do while using it. My major qualm about it was that the package was too small and we went through it super fast. I am already done the bottle and I feel like we just got started! I felt guilty trying to cover my full shower each time I used it. Considering the price, I'd have preferred the bottle last longer.

Caldrea is Mrs. Meyer's more upscale brand, and they tend to have pretty good, largely essential-oil based scents. I've never been disappointed by anything of theirs I've tried (but that's admittedly limited to hand soap and shower sprays.)

Hey, maybe they're re-doing the package and it'll be back! In the meantime, drugstore.com has the Citrus Mint scent left.

I want to try Caldrea's dishwashing powder (I love powders), hand balm, and laundry detergent. I'm also wondering if their linen spray would be nice before clothes go in the dryer (or to freshen up bed sheets mid-week.)


p.s. Now that I am between store-bought products, I am using a homemade daily shower spray: 50/50 mixture of white vinegar, water, and maybe 6 drops each of tea tree and lemon essential oils. I haven't been using it long enough to gauge its success yet.

Earth Friendly Products Shower Kleener

Ok, I'm going to confess something to you here. I shied away from Earth Friendly Products for a while because their packaging isn't as nicely designed (exception- their spa line) as some of the others out there.

I was curious after reading this though:
"The only non petroleum based, naturally derived shower cleaner on the market. This unique and revolutionary product uses tea tree oil, lavender oil, purified water, a plant derived surfactant, and ethanol derived from corn to clean your shower and bath areas."

I always love the "plant derived surfactant" in descriptions. Anyway, EFP is an Illinois company, so as soon as I moved here I found that I could buy their products almost anywhere. It was my inability to get to a hippie store for a while that led me to snatch this up. And may I say, I am properly shamed.

It's actually really lovely.
In the past, I've tried Method and Mrs. Meyers shower cleaners, but the scent bothered my husband (particularly the Method, but it kinda smells like bum, if bum smelled like bad ylang ylang.) The EFP version hardly smells at all, and better yet, when I spray it in our stall shower I can see it chasing away the soap drips from the glass. It's kept me from having to do a thorough scrubbing in the nearly two months that we've lived here.

I've actually... repurchased, which for me is something. I'm a fickle gal. What's your favorite shower cleaner? I don't mind the Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbana either.