Cleaning Naturally — An Honest Review of Earth Brite

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2023 UPDATE: I wrote this post a few years ago and it seems to be one of the most popular on my blog. I’m always on the lookout for green cleaning products.

Flipping though the stations, this product caught my eye on HSN — ShopHQ, as it’s now called. A little name change, a branding re-do — to confuse the armchair consumer and blur the lines with another shopping network, QVC. Is that playing fair? What do you think? I’m not sure how I feel about it, or if I even really care — but as a marketing professional, I’m always fascinated by branding and new directions in marketing from an established company.

I don’t often purchase from these TV shopping shows: first and foremost, I’m a natural skeptic, and unless it’s a VERY GOOD DEAL, I normally bypass this method of shopping as I’m a touchy-feely kinda gal; I want to see it, touch it, smell it–before I buy it.

However, on this day, two very excited and animated hosts were scrubbing and smiling, telling me all about how Earth Brite’s natural, clay-based all-purpose product cleans, polishes, and protects everything from silverware to tile to boats and RVs, while the XR51 degreaser helps remove grease and grime.

Intrigued by the spiel; I thought I’d spend twenty dollars to test it out myself. I checked out the product information online and this is what I learned:

Earth Brite’s natural, clay-based all-purpose product cleans, polishes and protects everything from silverware to tile to boats and RVs, while the XR51 degreaser helps remove grease and grime.

When it arrived, I put on my trusty yellow rubber gloves to see first-hand if those claims are true.

  • I used it instead of Comet on my porcelain sink. Earth Brite did indeed work, but I had to scrub a lot harder to get the same results.
  • In the bathroom, I scrubbed the shower floor and glass doors, which is a big test here in SoCal where we have SUCH hard water that it sometimes takes a chisel to get the shower clean.
  • The results were OK but not “earth” shatteringly better than plain vinegar or any of the other array of products I have around Casa de Enchanted Seashells.
  • The final test was an old Revere copper-bottomed saucepan. Again, Earth Brite shined and polished the copper, but with additional elbow grease, and it wasn’t as easy to shine as the TV hosts told me it would be.
earthbritepan

Not a spectacular shine, right?

To be completely honest, the best results for pots and pans came from good old elbow grease and SOS steel wool soap pads.

Product Review:
In the final analysis, I was hoping that this all-natural product would replace most or all of my chemical-laden cleaning supplies, and it has not done that. I’m happy that it contains ingredients that are healthier for my family and for the environment, but I was disappointed that it did not live up to the live on-air demonstrations that initially compelled me to make the purchase. However, the companion product, XR51 Power Cleaner & Degreaser Concentrate turned out to be a wonderful surprise and it’s become part of my daily cleaning — and it smells great, too.

27 thoughts on “Cleaning Naturally — An Honest Review of Earth Brite”

  1. In our crusade to “clean” our cleaning supplies, we have come to wonder about this: does stuff have to be sparkly clean really, or is that part of the marketing machine for those chemical laden products? The pot looks clean, right? Does it need to be shiny? Or have we been told it needs to be shiny? Things that make you go “hmmmmm”.

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  2. Great review. Now, if I only polished silverware LOL. I could use the degreaser though. And I agree with fullofgracedj. How do we know if the cleaners that we are using are doing more than they need to and giving us all the added chemicals to go with it? I’m always looking for a good natural product. As you found, some require a little more elbow grease to get them to do what we’ve come to expect.

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  3. The same happy holiday wishes to you and your family (human AND animal, of course!) I think that’s why I felt so betrayed, cos I DO know the ways of marketing/selling and I usually am so skeptical cos I see right through them, but I got hooked!! It’s not bad stuff, just not the answer to all the world’s problems like they said it would be LOL

    On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 7:59 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo

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    • Trust me I understand getting hooked. And, duped. But some times we luck out. Don’t know if we don’t try/buy-lol. And, then who can deny the chemistry of wanting, shopping, looking forward to it, which is all part of the process, like going on a vacation to paradise to find you landed in your own house, lol! xoxox

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      • So true. Paradise is in your mind, LOL! Right now our paradise is not home. We’re dealing with a very unpleasant neighbor who has a (what he calls) street racing muffler on his car and he leaves for work about 4:30 AM!! We’ve talked to them nicely, they told us basically to just deal with it, talked to the owner of there property who told us the same, had our city mediation services invite them to mediation to work on a solution, the owner hung up on them (!) and so we went to an attorney to have her write a letter to the owner. Nothing even tho they lawyered up. Still woke up at 4:39 this morning. So what do we do now, litigate? Small claims court? My dad was an attny and I know things don’t always go your way in court. People lie, judges have their own agendas. So that’s our dilemma. We’ve lived her blissfully for 25+ years. Neighbors like family except for them!!! And to make it worse, the owner of the property and I had kids went to school together, so she’s not even a total stranger. Oh well, thanks for letting me vent. We’re at a loss about what to do…

        On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 8:07 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo

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    • Oh man! Just had my hubby read this and he said, “there should be a noise ordinance on the amount of noise a car can produce. You can phone the police dept. to find out about that. And, if there is such a limit make a compliant to the police. Also, are other neighbors affected by this and would they join you in any complaint or action?” You can run this by your attorney as well. Fingers crossed you achieve your peace & quiet.

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      • Thanks for the help! There is no noise ordinance in Carlsbad, although there is one for the county. He claims he’s within the decibel level, although there’s special guidelines for 10pm-7am when people need to SLEEP! I even wrote a petition and had other neighbors sign it, so I’ve done my due diligence on that end. He’s just a jerk. I haven’t called the police about it, which is what the city told me to do, because I don’t like bothering them for something that’s not an emergency, although I’ve talked with them informally and they are very nice and said they’d come out, no problem. We live right across the street from Kelly Elementary where there was that shooting a couple years ago, so the police are always prompt for us. My attorney told me they could actually skew the petition to their advantage, saying that I was defaming them by going to the neighbors. Can you believe that crap?

        On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 9:23 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo

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      • Unfortunately, I can believe that. I hear you. Now we pray that it resolves by some miracle. It’s a shame that there’s this inconsideration that interrupts your sleep and peace of mind. Take care of you and know we’re sending good thoughts that something happens to resolve it.

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  5. As another option, I use Wilton Copper cleaning creme on my copper bottom pots and pans and couldn’t be more pleased with the results. For any copper creme, my observations are not to store the damp sponge in the container and don’t double dip as that will contaminate the cleaner.

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  6. This is a good and thorough review! I have a positive comment to add. I had a friend send me the Earthbrite clay-based product in a care package to Honduras. I used it exclusively on my stainless steel sink and loved the results and the smell. I wanted a replacement and couldn’t find it anywhere not knowing it was a TV sale. What I found on Amazon is called Shadazzle and it appears to be the same product in new packaging. Not quite as good as Earthbrite as far as protection quality.

    As an aside, my friend must be a TV shopper because she sent me a “Chillow” and I love that, too!

    PS Love your blog!

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  7. I have come to realize that the marketers market their products knowing what the consumers “want to believe” and use that as the technique to sell their products. Obviously, what we want to believe and what is true generally doesn’t correspond. But we buy the product, because we believe what they said about it because we want to believe it. Sneaky marketing strategy.

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Now it's your turn to share your pearls with me. Cheers!