Now, if I saw that headline, I would be like, “What? Of course it is!”. But in the case of using homemade laundry detergents, it is not always best for your diapering products. Below is a list of typical ingredients found in homemade laundry detergents:
Bar soap
Fels Naptha Soap
Liquid castile soap
Borax
Oxygen Bleach
Vinegar
Washing Soda
Now, you say, those are all natural ingredients. Yes, we love natural ingredients, but these may not be recommended for good reasons. What diapering products you are washing will determine which ingredient cannot be used.
Pure Soap: Bar soap, grated soap, Fels Naptha soap, Castile soap:
Pure soaps can deteriorate lamination, creating tiny pinholes and rendering the waterproofing useless. Pure soaps can also coat diapers, making them repel rather than absorb.
- Do not use on any diapering product.
Borax:
Borax, or Sodium Borate, is a wonderful cleanser, but can be caustic to components.
- Do not use on covers, or diapers with components such as elastic – especially hook and loop fasteners. May be used on prefolds and inserts without elastic.
Oxygen Bleach:
Oxygen bleach is a combination of hydrogen peroxide, and Sodium Carbonate – each very useful ingredients. When combined, it creates an oxygenating liquid or powder used to clean, brighten, and bleach away stains. Although it is biodegradeable and natural, it can be harsh on fibers and components.
- May be used sparingly on diapering products, but not recommended for every wash as it is harsh. Thirsties recommends a treatment not more than once a month to preserve your diapering items.
Vinegar:
Oh, wonderful vinegar! You can always find a bottle in my home. Vinegar has so many uses, and is great for neutralizing high alkaline levels in wash water. But, vinegar is not good for diapering components. Vinegar is an acid, and can eat away at lamination and elastic.
- Do not use on diaper covers, pail liners, diaper duffles, or any diaper with lamination or elastic.
- May be used on prefolds and inserts without elastic.
Washing Soda:
Washing soda, or Sodium Carbonate, is the main ingredient in most powder detergents. It is highly alkaline, but is said to be safe when used in detergents. The wash water neutralizes the alkalinity, so please make sure to use the highest water level possible with powder detergents.
- We do not recommend adding Washing Soda along with a detergent as an additive.
So although I believe that homemade detergent is great for regular laundry, it will most likely not be an option for cloth diapering products. Here are some great laundry detergents that can be purchased, and are safe for cloth diapers:
- Allens Naturally Liquid*
- Arm and Hammer Essentials
- Country Save Liquid
- Mountain Green Ultra Baby *
- Planet Delicate Laundry Wash Liquid
- Thirsties Pre-Wash and Super Wash *
- Vaska
*HE compatible
Liquid detergents are generally less harsh on diapering products.
For Hard Water, we recommend either a powder detergent or adding a water softener. Calgon Water Softener may be added to the wash load if using a liquid detergent.
Here are some recommended powder detergents:
- Allen’s Naturally Powder*
- Country Save Powder*
- Planet Powder*
- Rockin Green: Soft Rock, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, or Funk Rock *
*HE compatible
Please send any questions you may have to me at support@thirstiesbaby.com!
~Sonya
Hi-
I don’t use my homemade detergent on my cloth… but I use Charlies… I haven’t had any issues so far… but I don’t know what the ingredients are, is that a product that y’all have found non detrimental to the thirsties products
I hear that homemade detergent will cause diaper damage quite frequently, but no one has told me they actually experienced diaper damage. We have insanely hard water, and our Oxyclean, borax, and washing soda mix has been the first winning detergent for us. I would love to hear from someone who has had damage and might be able to share how they first noticed….
I’ve been using homemade laundry soap on my diapers for six months now with no ill effects. I’ve never even needed to strip them! Not yet anyway. I always just use a tiny amount in the load. Now this article has me worried!! Ive loved saving money by doing homemade but if course cost savings are out the window if I have to replace ruined diapers. Hmm…
Oh and I have pockets (sunbaby and BG), prefolds and Thirsties covers (snaps, duo wrap).
Thank you so much for the post! This is a topic I’ve been digging into lately, as I just posted on making homemade detergents (http://paddedtushstats.com/2012/03/19/homemade-laundry-detergent-recipes-based-on-different-watermachine-types/). Do you happen to know any research sources that give info behind the harm of these ingredients?
I have use every item listed for 13 years of cloth diapering and NEVER had one of the problems listed.
I used my homemade laundry detergent on my diapers (the typical Fels, Washing Soda and Borax) and ended up with a mess. While it didn’t haem my diapers, I only used it for about 4 weeks before the ammonia was so bad it was leaving burns on my ds overnight.
I had previousl only used Thirsties pre-wash and Super-wash and had never had to even strip my diapers, but I had run out…so I resorted to my homemade thinking it would be fine. Boy was I worng! I stripped, stripped, and stripped, and still couldn’t get the ammonia out. I ended up having to boil…ALL of my diapers…what a pain! Never again, I will stick with my tried and true Thirsties washes!
I can’t help but be slightly annoyed by this post. I think there is a lot of misinformation that circulates around the cloth diapering community concerning cloth diaper care and best practice, and a lot of it is self-propagating, and not always very scientific. Many, many mothers use homemade detergents with wonderful results, and many mothers use the detergents listed above with horrid results, and vice versa. I think it all depends on the detergent recipe, water, washing habits, diapers, etc. While I do not think this post was written with any mal-intent, I will point out that most powdered diaper safe detergents will include sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate (oxygen bleach and washing soda), including the detergents of two other well respected diapering companies, bumgenius and grovia. Obviously they would not offer products that they believe would damage people’s diapers. All that said, I think it is unfair to demonize the above ingredients and try to scare people away from homemade detergents, which can work wonderfully for some.
Thank you for this information! I was contemplating making the homemade soap for my regular clothes Not my cloth diapers. However after reading this I think that using the homemade soap even for our family laundry may only be safe for all cotton clothing, since so many materials are synthetic and may have elastic. Thanks! All good to know info !
Rockin’ Green (www.rockingreensoap.com) makes a fantastic cloth diaper safe detergent. It was developed with cloth diapers in mind. What’s great is that there are three different formulas for Soft Water, Regular Water, & Hard Water.
Thank you for posting this. Other mommas have told me they make their own which as at least one of the things you mentioned. I try to tell them, but I’m not sure they have listened to me.
I love this post but need you to check a fact. Vinegar is not an acid. It is basic. It is used to neutralize acids. This is one of the reasons people take apple cider vinegar for heartburn, it neutralizes stomach acid. I don’t believe the fact that it is basic not acidic changes any of the truth about vinegar in your post. Anything high or low on the acid base scale can be corrosive. Please update though, so that readers who know this fact don’t ignore the truth in this article when reading “Vinegar is an acid”.
Thank you for the article!
I’ve been using home made diaper detergent since the beginning…over 10 months. All my diapers are in great shape. I know of many woman who use their home made detergent for much longer then I have and have never had issues. I use The Eco Friendly Families recipe.
http://theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009/08/cloth-diaper-detergent/
It is great and I add Fels naphtha in a separate container for my normal laundry.
Honestly I don’t know how I’d wash my diapers if I didn’t make my own detergent. We are very poor at the moment and just washing the diapers can be difficult as I have to use a laundry mat. So spending less then $30 in 18 months is much better then buying detergent. As I haven’t noticed any wear and tear on my diapers during the last 10 months, and over half my stash has been with me that long, I will continue to use my HM detergent.
This is a very interesting post to me, and timely as well. I was just discussing home made detergents with a cloth diapering friend of mine. I was debating on making some of my own this weekend and trying it out. This has given me more to think about for sure.
BTW I wanted to say I LOVE your covers!!!!! They have been a great blessing! And your hemp Prefold is the only one I’ve found that works for my preschooler who still is in diapers at night. A VERY deep sleeper, he doesn’t wake up to pee.
I don’t think the amount of detergent I use will cause problems as I use only a tbls per wash.That is very little of each ingredient in an old fashioned water hogging washer in an old apartment laundry mat.
This is one area where I am happy to spend money lol. I have zero desire to even attempt home made detergents.
Great information! I’ve thought about making my own laundry soap, but I think I’ll stick to ones that I know will work and not damage my diapers. Thanks!
I used Allen’s detergent the first year and it seemed as though we always had stink issues. Then I learned about making my own laundry detergent and then ommiting the soap for the diaper detergent. Haven’t had a problem since! And that was 3 years ago. Every now and then I try some other cloth diaper detergent but I always go back because they either don’t work as well or it’s just too expensive! It would be cheaper for me just to do sposies if I had to buy special detergent and use the recommended amount!
Thanks for the great information. I’m going to start cloth diapering in June-ish (first baby is due May 30th) and have been considering making my own laundry detergent for some time now, but now that I know that it’s not particularly good to use on cloth diapers I will continue to buy detergent for now and if I do make homemade stuff later I’ll be sure to just use it on my and my husband’s clothes.
i was really wanting to use a homemade mix, but i keep reading about how it will screw up the covers. i don’t want that to happen, obviously. i’m glad to know Country Save made the list. Thanks for giving recommendations that are not just your product.
This post came just in time… My first baby is due in a week and I was getting ready to prep my diapers. I absolutely don’t want to ruin the investment we just made in cloth diapers!
I am also interested to hear from others. I have been using homemade detergent on my diapers for over 4 years and have never experienced any of these things. Has anyone who has made their own ever experienced anything that is described in the post? I would love to know. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for this! I can see that some of these products wouldn’t be so good on other clothing items too – not just diapers.
There is so much conflicting information regarding cloth diaper detergent. This is good information although the detergent I am using right now seems to have both washing soda and oxygen bleach. It is marketed as cloth diaper safe and the only one that has worked in our hard water/HE front loader combo. Not sure where to go from here. Ugh.
I’m so glad y’all wrote about this. I have always wondered about homemade CD detergent… :/
I also have hard water and using borax has been the only thing I’ve found really works to get the stink out. Otherwise it just doesn’t rinse cleanly enough.
I’d also be curious to see a post on the effectiveness of soap nuts with cloth diapers. I used them for awhile but stopped recently when I started having rinse issues.
The article is SUPER helpful, thanks for the great info! Now my only issue is finding the safe detergent in our small town…looks like I’ll have to order it, no fun!
Like a few others, I’d really like to hear from someone who experienced negative effects from either homemade detergents or ones that have these products in them.
This is very interesting especially since I’ve read several other posts on other blogs addressing this same thing! Consensus seems to be don’t use homemade but yet not many people have had damage for those that do use it. Would also love to hear from some that have experienced damage from their homemade detergents!
We’ve made our own laundry soap for about 5 years now. I love it for the regular laundry, but I won’t use it on our diapers for these very reasons! My diaper stash is an investment that needs to last through one more baby and I won’t jeopardize any component of my diaper to save $$ on laundry soap. My Rockin’ Green Hard Rock has served me (and my diapers) well!
Very interesting to read. I have Rockin Green on order from Amazon… lots of good word about that
Thanks for the info! I’m new to cloth diapering and am learning all sorts of useful information. Besides sun bleaching stains out of diapers (just diapers, not covers), is there anything else that would be safe to use?
I have found that homemade laundry detergent is a lot harder on my clothes than other detergents, so I only use it on towels.
Recently I was looking at homemade laundry detergent recipes, and it seems like they’re all the same. It would be awesome if someone would share a recipe that is cloth-diaper friendly! Interesting that so far nobody has commented saying they’ve experienced these problems, though.
This is super helpful! I always read about people making their own detergent for diapers and have thought about trying it myself. Good to know what’s comparable to home-made and what not to use!
Good stuff, however I would argue with recommending powder detergent for hard water. Powder dissolves a lot harder in hard water, and there always seems some residue left on our diapers and clothes whenever I attempt to wash with powder. Especially, as I prefer to wash on lower, ecofriendly temperatures. And dissolving the powder first in hot water is just such a mess and an inconvenience. So fr hard water I would recommend liquid detergents.
I tried a HM cloth diaper detergent (washing soda, borax and oxiclean baby equal parts) and while it didnt damage my diapers it didnt get them clean! I tried the soap version for about 2 years because I *had* to for finacial reasons, I struggled with stink and repelling. That was the worst cloth diapering years ever! My towels that are leftover from those days are still so stiff and gross! I was using Fels Naptha. Now I still use HM on my clothes but have better experience with castile soap (KIRKS or DR Bronner)But I use Bumgenius Detergent on my diapers. After switching to BG I no longer need any additives like bleach, vinegar, oxiclean or borax. Even with my front loader, I’ve dropped the Sanitary cycle! Just hot washes (no colds) and we have nice pretty stink free diapers! I use all synthetic materials now.
-Mom of 7 with 11 years of CD experience
WOW! THanks for the info. and loved reading all the comments too. Lots to think about. I use homemade detergent on my cloth diapers but without the soap.
Thanks so much for this post. Very informational. I’m new to cloth and still figuring out the do’s and don’ts.
This is such an interesting debate. I used to make my own detergent but I am too worried to try it on my cloth diapers, as another poster pointed out these are an investment for sure and I don’t want to chance it. I currently use Arm & Hammer and while I think it would be a great detergent for clothing I’m just not finding it very effective on the cloth diapers. I am still getting the “stink” factor and have to wash more than once which seems to be quite counter-productive since I cloth diaper for environmental reasons. I am almost done with this particular bottle of detergent and will begin experimenting with the others on your list.
I’m with the people that want to hear from people who’ve had damage from homemade detergent…mostly because I’ve heard of several people who make their own and say that it works better than the brand name detergents they’ve bought.
Thanks for the info! Very informative.
I have to agree with Noel Miller. I’ve been doing a TON of research on diaper detergents and found washing soda, borax, and oxygen bleach in 90% of all powdered diaper safe detergents. Of the liquids I’ve studied several of them have ingredients above and some chemicals that I can’t find any information about. I’ve started using a homemade detergent on our regular detergent with amazing results. So far I’m only experimenting with homemade detergent on my mama cloth to see if irritation starts as I have EXTREMELY sensitive skin and I don’t want to bother baby’s bum until I know it’s safe.
This article is really informative to me, I am pregnant with our first and have been building a diaper stash but need to begin prepping in the next month or so. We got new front loading washer/dryer in January and I will definitely need to figure out what works for us (we live in the country and have a well) to get our diapers clean using products that are as natural as possible.
I had no idea that some of these things were bad for diapers and will definitely be reading more and trying to learn what will be best for us.
Thank you!
Thanks for this! I’m planning on using CD for my baby – due in 5 weeks! Doing all the research I can.
I am very skeptical about the information put forth, here. There is so much gray area. So much of diaper care depends on what type of washing machine and water you use, what materials your diapers are made of, whether you machine or line dry, et cetera. Be a careful consumer of information and do what works best for you and your practices.
is hydrogen peroxide stable in synthetic detergent bar if addded while manufacturing.
Great information.
Thanks for sharing this!
I currently use RnG but I noticed that the first 2 ingredients in there were the same as my oxygen bleach. I wonder just how bad it could really be for diapers if they have the same ingredients.
I echo the previous posters’ comments, especially the ones pointing out that many of these “recommended” detergents actually contain the ingredients we are being told to avoid. I think a lot of this is just marketing (if we all made our own detergent, all the cloth diaper detergent companies would be out of business!). Another option is to wash your covers and your inserts separately, and use something more delicate on the covers. I have a mix (I have Rockin’ Green, Borax, Oxiclean, Washing Soda, and Soap Nuts on standby) and just use whatever yanks my chain that day – ironically, the biggest improvement I had in fighting hard water / ammonia / stink issues was just from presoaking them (pee inserts, not poo, although it helped them too). It added weight and water to my HE washer and everything was good after that! Even Calgon was useless, although we have hard water from iron, which is even more of a mess. Just my thoughts!
I have been using homemade detergent for over 3 years on my diapers now – I have never had leaks, stinkies, or any ill effects whatsoever. My newborn is still using diapers that my 3.5 year old used, and they are in wonderful shape.
Someone here postsd that vinegar is a BASE, which is not true. Vinegar has a pH below 3; anything below 7 on a pH scale is an ACID. Anything above 7 is a BASE.
Not that is really matters; vinegar is excellent to use as a rinse in your washer/dryer (I used it with diapers) AND in your dishwasher as a rinse aid. We also use it diluted as a hair conditioner rinse, diluted (1 part vinegar to 1 part water) in a spray bottle in the kitchen as a product spray and stainless steel countertop cleaner.
Our homeade FELS NAPTHA detergent (with borax and washing soda) worked great for all three kids, whom we cloth diapered. I think it depends on user/family. When we diapered many years ago, we had hard water, I dried on the clothesline when possible, and use the no-soak diaper washing method (empty solids, throw diapers in a basket, wash after 2-3 days, with an extra rinse with white vinegar). Worked great.
To the PP who was interested in hearing about damage resulting from homemade detergent: once, while on vacation, I made and used a single load batch of detergent using castile soap, washing soda, and borax in accordance with a recipe from a cloth diapering website. I used the detergent sparingly because I knew the washing soda and borax could be harsh, and I followed the instructions to add 1 tbsp of vinegar to the rinse to prevent buildup on the diapers. When I took the diapers out of the wash, I found that the diapers were clean, but that several of the PUL covers had shrunk, softened, and at least partially delaminated. I could see cracks in the lamination on the inside of the covers, and they now are fairly porous. They slow the flow of urine from diaper to clothing, but they basically don’t work anymore. I wish I hadn’t followed that recipe!
It is so interesting how different the results are for different people… The water I used was about average on the hard-soft scale, the hot cycle was hot but not scalding, and I washed a mix of prefolds, hemp liners, PUL wraps, and one nylon pull-on (the nylon cover was unaffected).
I’m really curious about all of the disagreement I’ve been reading about Rockin’ Green. I’ve talked to moms who LOVE it (lots of them), but the internet is full of other moms with horror stories about how it’s ruined their diapers. I see that Grovia does not recommend it, but I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that they have their own detergent (I believe Tiny Bubbles is theirs, correct?) I’m expecting my baby in 6 weeks, and I’ve already invested a lot into my stash. I don’t want to do anything to damage it! I have some Rockin’ Green and some Happy Green Life. I’m thinking about also trying Tiny Bubbles, but I just don’t know what will work best!
I think you are doing readers who are potentially new to cloth a disservice by telling them (many of whom are cloth diapering to save money) that they MUST buy all sorts of SPECIAL and EXPENSIVE detergents in order to properly clean their diapers. I have been cloth diapering for going on 10 yrs now (with a break in between) and am on my second baby. I have used homemade detergent for most of this time, on ALL of my laundry. I have a mix of fitteds, prefolds, and pocket diapers. I have NEVER had a pocket diaper delaminate in all my time of cloth diapering. I ALWAYS use vinegar in my rinse cycle, instead of fabric softener, because my first daughter was sensitive to scents and to the softener itself. IMO, the simpler your wash routine, the better. I do a hot wash with 1/3c of my homemade detergent, and then a rinse with white vinegar. I usually just toss all my diapers in the drier for 30m or less and then fold them up and put them away. I have a modest sized stash, and they are on their second child. With my first daughter, we lived on a farm and had a water softener, now we live in AZ, and have INCREDIBLY hard water… nothing has really changed, no buildup, no stink, no repelling.
Hi, I just wanted to say that Fels Naptha contains ingredients that are derived from crude oil/ petroleum or natural gas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_ethers). While they are ‘organic’ in a chemical sense they are not ‘natural’ in the sense that most people mean when they want to use all natural products.
Please dig deep and do your research! Many homemade product recipes come from early to mid 20th century before we understood the effects of compounds derived from the amazing fossil fuels.
Also, vinegar is most definitely an acid with a low pH, hence why it reacts so much when mixed with baking soda which has a high pH and is alkaline.
Where are science classes these days?
Thanks for reading and making conscious choices to better your life and the environment!
Fels is the last name of the man who invented the soap, and Naptha, well just wiki Naptha…
You recommend Rockin Green detergent. I checked their ingredient list and the main ingredient is sodium carbonate, which is washing soda. It’s interesting to me that you clearly state washing soda should not be used on any cloth diapering supplies, yet one of the outrageously expensive brands you recommend has it listed as their main ingredient. Can you explain yourself?
I would love to see a follow-up explaining why you recommend products that contain the very ingredients you claim are so harmful (at a considerable mark-up). In addition, what do you say to the many women who claim to have had no problems with homemade detergents over months or years? Unfortunately I think there are plenty of companies that prey on the attachment to so-called “natural” products and the willingness to pay extra for the ideal of a safe sustainable product. What many people don’t realize is that it is easy and much cheaper to make your own with minimal effort.
As a response to another reader above: Vinegar is, in fact, not a neutral; nor is it basic. It is indeed acidic, and actually ranks rather high on a Ph scale at roughly 2.5. This would be acidic enough to kill adult fish, and create some pretty nasty acid rain. Or, to use a more fun analogy, the reason that a baking soda volcano works is that you are combining acetic acid (in vinegar) with sodium bicarbonate (in baking soda) to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid is extremely unstable and almost instantly decomposes into water and carbon dioxide, which is the “eruption” we see. If vinegar were not an acid, the experiment would not work this way. Try combining baking soda or vinegar (not both) to pure, filtered water. Pure water is an absolute neutral.
Thanks for all the feedback ladies! This is definitely a controversial subject. We have by no means meant to blacklist homemade detergents. These are simply our recommendations. All of the information that we have obtained has been from years of research, our own personal experiences, and feedback from our customers. We have updated our detergent recommendations here: http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/customer-center/cloth-diaper-care/ It is a good practice to revisit our list, as formulas do change, as well as new information on washing diapers.
Don’t get me wrong, I have Borax, Oxygen Bleach, vinegar, and soaps in my cleaning cupboard. I am currently using a homemade detergent for my everyday laundry, and it is wonderful!
Through our suppliers we have gained knowledge on what not to use on the diaper components. They have warned against oxygen bleach for microfiber fleece, laminate, and hook and loop fasteners. They have also warned against Borax for hook and loop. As far as additives (products used along with a detergent) are concerned, an excess of an acid or alkaline ingredient will throw off the PH of the wash water, and can cause diaper rash and possible damage to certain components over time. To clarify, washing soda, or Sodium Carbonate, is the main ingredient in powder detergents. As long as it is formulated in a detergent, it is fine. We are not recommending adding more washing soda as an additive along WITH a detergent, as this will throw off the PH of the water.
Please don’t get me wrong, I love how homemade detergents clean and save money. It is our job as the manufacturer to tell you the best way we know how to clean the product and keep it in good condition. We welcome comments or questions!
~Sonya
You say you have years of research on this subject yet provide not one actual verifiable reference to your claims. Indicating that suppliers have told you something is the equivalent to someone saying in court that they heard thorough a third party that … This wouldn’t hold up there and I would hope that people reading this would realize that it shouldn’t hold up here. I am not saying that your claims are false or that you are attempting to mislead, I would just like to see some actual research backing up the claims you are making.
It’s funny you are including Borax, Oxygen bleach, and washing soda in the list of “Bad ingredients” when all of those “Safe” detergents you list have some combination of those ingredients in them. Are you taking a stipend from those companies I wonder?
Your research should have included actually looking at the ingredients on those detergents you are trying to sell, and see that they all contain some sort of washing soda/baking soda and a peroxide. But I think trying to mislead people into buying things from you is probably better for your wallet no?
Hello Stephanie,
I understand,and I really didn’t mean this article to be offending to anyone. From what we know, the detergents on our recommended list do not have Borax or Oxygen bleach in them. Our list does occasionally change, depending on changes in formulations and research. Washing soda is in most powdered detergent, and that is fine. We are not recommending to add more as an additive along with your detergent, as it raises the PH of the water to high. We don’t affiliate ourselves with any detergent company. The reason why we do not recommend certain additives or ingredients is because of either experience, research, or recommendations from our suppliers as the the care of the component. Our purpose is to keep the diapers in good condition longer! Please let me know if you have any other questions or comments.
~Sonya
The response to the last post did not address the issue. I have been reading tons of articles on detergents and they are very conflicting. Washing soda, Borax, and oxiclean are used in some combination in the powdered detergents you recommend on your recent list. I can’t say for all of them because many, including Thirsties brand don’t list ingredients, which also concerns me. Why is it OK for these detergents to contain them but not homemade. I understand why the use of soaps is bad, but the brand detergents use these ingredients plus fillers like salt that have other purpose than to prevent consumers from using too much. It would be more helpful if you actually address these issues than apologizing for any offense. Also if it is the formula amounts in homemade detergents that causes a problem please give us the best formula to use since obviously many people are doing this. One last point is that the diaper jungle recommendations are not great. I would come up with a better list if you don’t want diaper issues.
I haven’t read through all the comments so I’m not sure if anyone else has commented about this or not. For about three weeks I was using a homemade detergent on my sun baby diapers that was supposedly cloth diaper safe. The ingredients were washing soda, baking soda, and oxiclean. Sadly I was not happy with the results. I had to strip my diapers three times during that three week period due to them repelling water. I was too afraid to use my regular detergent of borax, washing soda, and felsnaptha. I did some research online and found a few comments on different blogs about soap nuts. They are not actually nuts, but the outer shell of a berry. I ordered some soap nuts from econuts.com. I tried them out first on my towels. They came out of the dryer clean, soft and fluffy. I didn’t need to use any type of fabric softener. I used them on my cloth diapers today and did not need to do a second rinse because they do not leave any residue on the diapers. I am absolutely in love with soap nuts. I found a very good website that tells you what to look for and what to avoid when purchasing soap nuts. http://www.soapnuts.pro/2010/01/04/how-to-buy-soap-nuts/
I hope this information is helpful for anyone considering safe detergents for cloth diapers. I’ve since ordered some soap nuts from naturoli.com. They have a sale going on now and cost wise and possibly product wise it is a much better deal than the econuts i had originally purchased. I’d also like to say that I’ve completely switched from using homemade detergents to soap nuts for all of our laundry.
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