Lysol Laundry Additive

Lysol is one of the biggest names in germ-killing products, from household cleaners to hand soaps, and now they're taking aim at laundry. We all know odour-causing bacteria can lurk on sheets, towels and clothes (hello, funky gym clothes), and some of these germs have the potential to cause illness—especially if your immune system isn't in tip-top shape. Lysol Laundry Additive is designed to eliminate bacteria, and as we learned in our testing, it delivers on its promise.

Does Lysol Laundry Additive work?

To figure out whether Lysol Laundry Additive actually kills bacteria, we had an external lab perform ASTM Time-Kill tests—standard for determining if an anti-bacterial product is effective—with two bacteria: Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacteria found in human feces, and Staphylococcus aureus, a staph bacteria that's carried in the nose of about 30 percent of people. The lab confirmed that this laundry additive is effective in eliminating both bacteria.

Meanwhile, Today's Parent Approved editors put Lysol Laundry Additive to the test on particularly smelly laundry to see if it would tackle odours as promised. Bearing in mind that bacteria aren't the only cause of odours left on laundry after washing (body oil build-up is another culprit), we were impressed with how effectively this product dealt with smells. Fresh odours on towels and sweaty socks were completely eliminated, while older odours on bedding were reduced after washing with the Lysol product. And when editors checked back on the socks, towels and bedding after leaving the items to sit in a drawer for few days, none of the smells had returned.

We also sent Lysol Laundry Additive to families to try it out at home on their smelliest laundry. Our parent testers told us that the bacteria-fighting laundry additive did a good job removing odours from sweat, body oil, spit-up, vomit, urine, feces and pets, and left clothes, towels and bedding smelling fresh and clean.

Skin and scent sensitivities

If anyone in your family has sensitive skin, introducing new laundry products can be a roll of the dice, but it might be worth taking a gamble on this one. None of our parent testers or editors reported any skin irritation after wearing clothing washed with Lysol Laundry Additive—and that includes an editor who has eczema.

This laundry product does have a strong but pleasant smell. It's not overpowering if you regularly use a scented laundry detergent, but if you prefer unscented products, you might find the fragrance very strong, as one of our parent testers did. Some people who have a scent sensitivity may have an issue with the lingering fragrance.

Dispensing the additive

Lysol Laundry Additive is pretty easy to use. The measurements and instructions on the back of the bottle correspond to the measuring cap, but it's worth noting that there aren't numbers on the inside of the cap even though the instructions refer to "line 1" and "line 2" (these correspond to a diagram on the label). The measurement lines are also the inverse of what you'd expect from a laundry product: line 2 is closer to the bottom of the measuring cap, while line 1 is closer to the top. Instructions for top load and HE washing machines are separate on the label, and if you're reading in a rush, you might miss an important detail—like the fact that laundry is supposed to soak in the additive for 16 minutes during the rinse cycle.

FINAL WORD

There's no denying that kids' laundry can get really gross—and your sweaty gym clothes can be pretty rank, too. Laundry detergents don't always cut it when it comes to banishing bacteria and the odours caused by them, but Lysol Laundry Additive gets the job done. All of our parent testers were satisfied with this product and felt that it offered good value; none would hesitate to purchase it. Overall, parents gave it good or very good ratings for ease of use and quality, and most said they'd recommend it to other families. Our editors, meanwhile, were impressed with how well this product tackled odours on socks, towels and bedding, and our impressions were reinforced when external lab testing verified that Lysol Laundry Additive effectively eliminates bacteria.