A Rockin' Green Convert
I have recently become a convert to the brand of Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent (No, I am not being paid to endorse them.). After weeks of funky inserts and dingy whites, I have forsaken my Charlie's Soap. I am a little sad to switch away from Charlie's but I am even more sad that my diapers have started repelling (liquid) and repulsing (my poor nose).
Here are the problems I was having and what I think happened to cause them. Followed by my desperate attempts to solve the mystery.
1. By the end of the day the wet bag of diapers from daycare reeked to high heaven with ammonia. Bad enough to make my eyes water and nose burn.
2. When I pulled the inserts out of the dryer, they still smelled funky, not really bad but just not clean. A mix of musty and kinda poopy. I line dry my covers to help preserve the PUL and dry my inserts on medium to high heat to help kill any nastiness inside.The funk would sort of subside after a little while but if I stuck my nose to the insert I could smell it (yes, it's weird but I have an odd compulsion to do a deep sniff test to make sure the inserts are really clean).
3. Leaks at the seams of the Fuzzibunz one size diapers.
To combat the funk problems and the leaks, I tried soaking, sunning, blue dawn in the wash, soaking in Rockin' Green Funk Rock and in the prewash and my favorite diaper laundry additive- tea tree oil. No dice. Nothing helped. My last resort was to switch laundry detergents. After reading a lot of discussions on the Fuzzibunz help board regarding leaks I noticed a lot of people having leak issues also used Charlie's Soap to wash their diapers. Coincidence? Probably, but I was desperate and it was a good push to do what I thought needed to be done, so I made the switch to Rockin' Green. Last weekend I slapped a disposable on baby's butt (oh the horror!), washed all the dirty diapers and then put every diaper and insert in the bathtub. I "rocked a soak." Following the directions on the bag, I soaked the diapers for about 8 hours. As I put them in the tub I tested some of the covers and inserts to see if they were actually repelling by pouring small amounts of water on them. They were. After the soak, I washed them again with no soap and then dried them on the line outside in the sun. The next morning I wanted to test one of the diaper covers to see if it was still repelling or if the soak had solved the problem. The very first one I tested failed. Lame. However, the inserts were as good as new. Small victory! I then took a small scrub brush and my trusty bottle of blue Dawn and scrubbed the covers and then washed them again with no soap. This time it worked!!! I had fully functioning and fresh smelling diapers! Hallelujah! Added bonus: the next day I noticed that the diaper bag didn't burn my nose!
Here is what I think happened to cause my problems:
1. I was using Triple Paste and disposables at night to combat some diaper rash that has been rearing it's ugly head now that it's so hot outside and the Monkey plays outside a lot at daycare. I was also using the cloth wipes to change her in the mornings. I then washed those wipes with the diapers. *face palm* All of that non-cloth safe cream still got in contact with the diapers and coated the fibers of the diapers causing them to repel liquid. The repelling problem is what caused the leaks at the seams. When she peed the urine took the path of least resistance and that happened to be at the seams. Seams aren't water proof. If the insets get too full or repel then it has to go somewhere.
2. Charlie's Soap isn't really meant for hard water (and the house we moved to has hard water). They sell a hard water booster that is the same price as a tub of the soap which doubles the price of the soap. Pass.The other problem with it is that it is soap not detergent. To learn about the difference between the two check out this post from Diaper Pin Corner. Update 2/5/13- Charlie's Soap is indeed detergent not soap. Doesn't change the outcome of my story but I don't want to be passing along bunk info.
These 2 things combined to create a funky, leaky mess. I am so happy to have finally gotten this solved! Hopefully this will help some else out there!
Here are the problems I was having and what I think happened to cause them. Followed by my desperate attempts to solve the mystery.
1. By the end of the day the wet bag of diapers from daycare reeked to high heaven with ammonia. Bad enough to make my eyes water and nose burn.
2. When I pulled the inserts out of the dryer, they still smelled funky, not really bad but just not clean. A mix of musty and kinda poopy. I line dry my covers to help preserve the PUL and dry my inserts on medium to high heat to help kill any nastiness inside.The funk would sort of subside after a little while but if I stuck my nose to the insert I could smell it (yes, it's weird but I have an odd compulsion to do a deep sniff test to make sure the inserts are really clean).
3. Leaks at the seams of the Fuzzibunz one size diapers.
To combat the funk problems and the leaks, I tried soaking, sunning, blue dawn in the wash, soaking in Rockin' Green Funk Rock and in the prewash and my favorite diaper laundry additive- tea tree oil. No dice. Nothing helped. My last resort was to switch laundry detergents. After reading a lot of discussions on the Fuzzibunz help board regarding leaks I noticed a lot of people having leak issues also used Charlie's Soap to wash their diapers. Coincidence? Probably, but I was desperate and it was a good push to do what I thought needed to be done, so I made the switch to Rockin' Green. Last weekend I slapped a disposable on baby's butt (oh the horror!), washed all the dirty diapers and then put every diaper and insert in the bathtub. I "rocked a soak." Following the directions on the bag, I soaked the diapers for about 8 hours. As I put them in the tub I tested some of the covers and inserts to see if they were actually repelling by pouring small amounts of water on them. They were. After the soak, I washed them again with no soap and then dried them on the line outside in the sun. The next morning I wanted to test one of the diaper covers to see if it was still repelling or if the soak had solved the problem. The very first one I tested failed. Lame. However, the inserts were as good as new. Small victory! I then took a small scrub brush and my trusty bottle of blue Dawn and scrubbed the covers and then washed them again with no soap. This time it worked!!! I had fully functioning and fresh smelling diapers! Hallelujah! Added bonus: the next day I noticed that the diaper bag didn't burn my nose!
Here is what I think happened to cause my problems:
1. I was using Triple Paste and disposables at night to combat some diaper rash that has been rearing it's ugly head now that it's so hot outside and the Monkey plays outside a lot at daycare. I was also using the cloth wipes to change her in the mornings. I then washed those wipes with the diapers. *face palm* All of that non-cloth safe cream still got in contact with the diapers and coated the fibers of the diapers causing them to repel liquid. The repelling problem is what caused the leaks at the seams. When she peed the urine took the path of least resistance and that happened to be at the seams. Seams aren't water proof. If the insets get too full or repel then it has to go somewhere.
2. Charlie's Soap isn't really meant for hard water (and the house we moved to has hard water). They sell a hard water booster that is the same price as a tub of the soap which doubles the price of the soap. Pass.
These 2 things combined to create a funky, leaky mess. I am so happy to have finally gotten this solved! Hopefully this will help some else out there!
Great info, but one thing - Apparently Charlie's Soap is actually a detergent. We had looked into this when we got our batch of it, but here's some info on their FAQ (http://www.charliesoap.com/faq.html):
ReplyDeleteIs Charlie's Soap a "soap" or a "detergent"?
Charlie's Soap is really a blend of natural-based surfactants (detergents) derived from coconut oil, treated with a product of natural gas (real soaps are treated with caustic soda or pot ash), and salts in water (Laundry Liquid) or pure washing soda (Laundry Powder).
There is a good reason that it is called Charlie's Soap and not Charlie's Detergent. Thirty plus years ago, the product was first created for the textile industry. It worked so well that workers in the plants started stealing it.
They eventually found their way over to our office and started asking for it. Everyone in the textile plants knew Charlie Sutherland, Sr., and so they started asking for some of Charlie's "soap", not knowing the chemical difference between soaps and detergents. Charlie Sutherland, Jr. actually created the product, but it's not his name on the bottle. After years of trying to name the product everything under the sun, the name "Charlie's Soap" just stuck.
Correct. My bad. Either way it quit working for us when we moved. I am currently beyond pleased with the Bio-Kleen laundry detergent. Smells awesome and is much cheaper than the Rockin' Green. When I run into issues I still turn to the RG but I haven't really encountered that many lately.
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