adrie
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- May 21, 2013
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There are certain "cloth diaper soaps" marketed within the CD community that are actually not effective for cloth diapers and can actually build up on your diapers as soap scum and then trap bacteria and other nasties onto your diapers. This in turn can cause stink, repelling, and rashes or even ammonia burns on babies' bums. Such brands are Fels Naptha, Charlie's Soap, as well as any homemade "detergent." Homemade soap is fine for clothing but not for cloth that is meant to absorb poop and pee as they do not contain surfactants, and surfactants are needed to properly clean and rinse away.
Here is some information on soap and specifically why it is not as effective as detergent. Essentially, soap cannot rinse clean for those of us with alkaline (hard) water, as it binds to fabrics and appliances within our home and causes soap scum. It can also leave a film on our skin.
https://chemistry.about.com/od/cleanerchemistry/a/how-soap-cleans.htm
How Detergents work
https://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingswork/f/detergentfaq.htm
Next, there seems to be a disputed issue of hard water and its solubility in different temperatures of water. Firstly, any water that is moderately to very hard will automatically deposit those minerals into water regardless of temperature on the basis that the minerals are picked up through sediment and soil and they do not automatically dissolve in the process, but reach us in our homes and businesses alike.
As these hard water minerals adversely affect tough, heavy duty plumping and heating fixtures, it truly ought to be no surprise that it can also affect our clothing and cloth diaper fabrics, as well as our own skin. Minerals affect our washing machines, dishwashers, bathtubs, tiles, faucets, toilets bowls--and you guessed it--our diapers. It can also warrant the use of more soap or detergent, or other household cleaners to adequately clean appliances, fabrics, diapers, and even our own hair and skin.
These reasons are why we use detergents and water softeners for their intended purposes: The chemistry is such that they suspend those minerals in the water and then rinse away rather than bind to our fabrics or pipes and plumbing. During the washing or flushing process, this allows detergent to do its job rather than having to combat hard water minerals and not clean the gunk.
Next, a quick point about the myth of "cloth-safe" diaper detergent. The truth is that all detergents aside from those with added fabric softeners (which can clog fabrics and cause repelling, stains, rashes, stink, ammonia build up, and ammonia rashes) ARE CLOTH DIAPER SAFE. Contrary to popular belief in the CD community, enzymes, fragrance and even optical brightners don't affect the absorbancy or cleanliness of your diapers when used properly. I say this because though mainstream detergents are stronger than "cloth diaper" detergents, using too little of any detergent and or too much water to detergent ratio will not effectively clean your diapers, no matter what you use. I use about 6 tbsp per 2 full wash cycles of a strong mainstream detergent in a front loader with hard to extremely hard water (+ 2 tbsp Calgon in the main wash).
Issues with your diapers of any kind are traced back, 100%, to your wash routine. The main issue encountered with most wash routines is simply WAY TOO LITTLE detergent to water ratio. I believe this stems back to fear of the false claim of detergent build up rather than the actual science of hard water.
Unfortunately, the cloth diaper marketed brands such as Rockin green, Bum Genius, Charlie Banana, et. al., are MUCH weaker than their mainstream counterparts even in terms of their water softening capabilities. These detergents are EXPENSIVE and the reason they market the use of a mere tbsp or 2 per cycle is the fact that if you used enough to actually clean your diapers, you'd spend enough to buy at least one brand new stash of diapers, if not 2 or more!
Also, for those of us who have hard water but believe that rinsing excessively to "remove" detergent that has already been rinsed away are actually doing more harm than good. Check the feel of all diaper fabrics after the main wash. If they don't feel soapy or slimy whatsoever, the detergent is gone. Seeing a bit of bubbles even at the final rinse cycle also does not warrant the necessity of more rinsing if they don't feel soapy or slimy. That is another misconception I have read and believed initially as well. I was like that too when I started CD many months ago.
Unfortunately, it is shown that cold water actually inhibits the solubility of hard water minerals to a much greater extent than hotter water temperatures. This means that those minerals are not rinsing away with extra rinse cycles, and thus redepositing onto your diaper fabrics as shown in this graph:
https://www.gewater.com/handbook/cooling_water_systems/fig30-4.jsp
Here is some general information about hard water. Approximately 60% of all of our water globally falls within the range of moderately to very hard. Statistically, most of us who cloth diaper likely have hard water. As hard water affects the lifespan of our clothing, it surely affects the life of our diapers even more so because of their need for absorption and a complete removal of all bacteria in our wash cycles. Contrary to popular belief, diapers really are just heavily soiled laundry fabrics, and they need adequate water to detergent ratio to clean them.
Canada
https://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/water-eau/hardness-durete/index-eng.php
USA
https://water.usgs.gov/owq/hardness-alkalinity.html#hardness
UK
https://www.unitedutilities.com/About-your-water.aspx
Here is some information on soap and specifically why it is not as effective as detergent. Essentially, soap cannot rinse clean for those of us with alkaline (hard) water, as it binds to fabrics and appliances within our home and causes soap scum. It can also leave a film on our skin.
https://chemistry.about.com/od/cleanerchemistry/a/how-soap-cleans.htm
How Detergents work
https://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingswork/f/detergentfaq.htm
Next, there seems to be a disputed issue of hard water and its solubility in different temperatures of water. Firstly, any water that is moderately to very hard will automatically deposit those minerals into water regardless of temperature on the basis that the minerals are picked up through sediment and soil and they do not automatically dissolve in the process, but reach us in our homes and businesses alike.
As these hard water minerals adversely affect tough, heavy duty plumping and heating fixtures, it truly ought to be no surprise that it can also affect our clothing and cloth diaper fabrics, as well as our own skin. Minerals affect our washing machines, dishwashers, bathtubs, tiles, faucets, toilets bowls--and you guessed it--our diapers. It can also warrant the use of more soap or detergent, or other household cleaners to adequately clean appliances, fabrics, diapers, and even our own hair and skin.
These reasons are why we use detergents and water softeners for their intended purposes: The chemistry is such that they suspend those minerals in the water and then rinse away rather than bind to our fabrics or pipes and plumbing. During the washing or flushing process, this allows detergent to do its job rather than having to combat hard water minerals and not clean the gunk.
Next, a quick point about the myth of "cloth-safe" diaper detergent. The truth is that all detergents aside from those with added fabric softeners (which can clog fabrics and cause repelling, stains, rashes, stink, ammonia build up, and ammonia rashes) ARE CLOTH DIAPER SAFE. Contrary to popular belief in the CD community, enzymes, fragrance and even optical brightners don't affect the absorbancy or cleanliness of your diapers when used properly. I say this because though mainstream detergents are stronger than "cloth diaper" detergents, using too little of any detergent and or too much water to detergent ratio will not effectively clean your diapers, no matter what you use. I use about 6 tbsp per 2 full wash cycles of a strong mainstream detergent in a front loader with hard to extremely hard water (+ 2 tbsp Calgon in the main wash).
Issues with your diapers of any kind are traced back, 100%, to your wash routine. The main issue encountered with most wash routines is simply WAY TOO LITTLE detergent to water ratio. I believe this stems back to fear of the false claim of detergent build up rather than the actual science of hard water.
Unfortunately, the cloth diaper marketed brands such as Rockin green, Bum Genius, Charlie Banana, et. al., are MUCH weaker than their mainstream counterparts even in terms of their water softening capabilities. These detergents are EXPENSIVE and the reason they market the use of a mere tbsp or 2 per cycle is the fact that if you used enough to actually clean your diapers, you'd spend enough to buy at least one brand new stash of diapers, if not 2 or more!
Also, for those of us who have hard water but believe that rinsing excessively to "remove" detergent that has already been rinsed away are actually doing more harm than good. Check the feel of all diaper fabrics after the main wash. If they don't feel soapy or slimy whatsoever, the detergent is gone. Seeing a bit of bubbles even at the final rinse cycle also does not warrant the necessity of more rinsing if they don't feel soapy or slimy. That is another misconception I have read and believed initially as well. I was like that too when I started CD many months ago.
Unfortunately, it is shown that cold water actually inhibits the solubility of hard water minerals to a much greater extent than hotter water temperatures. This means that those minerals are not rinsing away with extra rinse cycles, and thus redepositing onto your diaper fabrics as shown in this graph:
https://www.gewater.com/handbook/cooling_water_systems/fig30-4.jsp
Here is some general information about hard water. Approximately 60% of all of our water globally falls within the range of moderately to very hard. Statistically, most of us who cloth diaper likely have hard water. As hard water affects the lifespan of our clothing, it surely affects the life of our diapers even more so because of their need for absorption and a complete removal of all bacteria in our wash cycles. Contrary to popular belief, diapers really are just heavily soiled laundry fabrics, and they need adequate water to detergent ratio to clean them.
Canada
https://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/water-eau/hardness-durete/index-eng.php
USA
https://water.usgs.gov/owq/hardness-alkalinity.html#hardness
UK
https://www.unitedutilities.com/About-your-water.aspx
