17 Mar 2026
This month’s smol talk is about doing things a little differently and maybe a little more thoughtfully.
From backing school staff who are dealing with pupils in hygiene poverty, to letting chemistry do the hard work at home, and questioning long-held cleaning myths, it’s all about smarter solutions that genuinely make life easier (and cleaner). So let’s dive in…
Did you know that 88% of teachers have supported a pupil affected by hygiene poverty? Or that last year, UK school staff spent £40 million of their own money helping students access hygiene products?¹
This vital support is carried out quietly in schools up and down the country every day, through sensitive conversations or staff taking laundry home to wash themselves (if they don’t have a smol Suds in Schools machine on site). And yet, most teachers receive no training on how to navigate hygiene poverty, or how to approach those conversations with the care they need.
So they do what they always do. They figure it out themselves.
We wanted to help. So we created the Hygiene Poverty Teacher Resource.
Authored in collaboration with Professor Sam Wass, several early years and education specialists and the NAHT. It’s a guide designed to support teachers already going above and beyond. It offers guidance on topics like language and best practice, helping school staff feel more confident and more supported when handling situations they were never trained for, but are increasingly facing.
It’s free to download and easy to share so if you don’t teach yourself… but know somebody who does… please let them know and encourage them to download.
It won’t fix everything. But it’s one more way we can back the people already doing more than their fair share and help those who really need it.
Is your air fryer basket looking a bit, erm… fried?
Don’t panic! Because we’ve got just the hack. No scrubbing. No elbow grease. Just clever chemistry doing its thing.
How-to hack:
- Remove the basket and put it in your sink.
- Generously sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over the basket, covering all those greasy burnt-on bits.
- Add a couple of pumps of smol washing-up liquid.
- Carefully pour boiling water into the basket. You should see a satisfying fizz.
- Leave it to sit for around 30 mins to let the grime really loosen up.
- Pour away the dirty water and rinse. Done.
No scrubbing required.
Is this magic? Nope, just science.
The washing-up liquid has surfactants (ingredients that lower surface tension and help oil and water mix). Combining this with heat from the hot water (energy) and bicarbonate of soda, means they loosen grease so it lifts away easily, instead of clinging to the basket.
Smarter chemistry and less effort. Lovely.
You’ve seen how less chemical load does NOT mean less performance and that’s exactly the idea behind our laundry liquid.
We took everything we know about effective, concentrated cleaning and made it pourable.
- Super-concentrated formula. You’ll use up to 46% less per wash² than leading big brand liquids (so less waste/more washes per bottle).
- Same powerful clean and stain removal with both bio (enzyme-powered) and non-bio options that work brilliantly in the machine or when washing by hand.
- Refillable bottle-for-life. Wave goodbye to giant single-use plastic jugs and refill again and again from lightweight cartons that cut carbon and plastic.
- More control for every load. Our easy-dose pump makes it simple to tailor amounts for load-size, dirt level or hand-washing.
It’s a laundry liquid that works as efficiently as our capsules, but with the flexibility that we know all liquid lovers crave and all without dumping extra chemistry or plastic into the world.
Q: Do we really need to pile on the chemicals in order to get a good clean?
A: Nope. In reality it’s not about more chemicals…. it’s about smarter ones.
Effective cleaning is all about how well the ingredients:
- Loosen dirt and oils
- Lift them away from the surface
- Carry them off in rinse water or on a cloth
It’s why our chemists are passionate about smarter formulations and the right surfactants. When you really do your homework on creating the right blend of ingredients:
- You reach the same cleaning results with less chemistry
- You avoid unnecessary extra bulk
- You still get equal or better real-world performance
Want the real-world proof?
Product | Less chemicals than the big brands | Results to match the big brands? |
Laundry bio capsules | 6.7g per wash | ✔️ |
Laundry non-bio capsules | 5.8g per wash | ✔️ |
Dishwasher tablets | 2.5g per wash | ✔️ |
Washing up liquid | 49g per 500ml | ✔️ |
Multi purpose spray | 5g per 500ml | ✔️ |
Floor cleaner | 2.05g per 500ml | ✔️ |
Our chemical dry matter testing only looks at the active cleaning ingredients in our products, not the water and fillers that make some products look bigger or heavier. So yes. smol products can contain less chemicals, be more concentrated and still clean brilliantly. Because it’s how the chemistry works, not how much of it you pour in.
Less chemical load. Not less clean.
¹ Research conducted for smol and The Hygiene Bank with state school teachers by Censuswide.
² big brands inflate their dose by up to 54% - with higher chemical dry matter and dilution with water.