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I love my DIY cloth diaper detergent!

I was reading a wonderful post on the Thirsties blog last night, but I felt that I should respond.  1) Because I love my recipe, and 2) Because I know that many of you do too and I owe you that!

The post I’m talking about is Homemade is Not Always Best by Thirsties.

My thoughts:

1) I LOVE Thirsties!

I have had the pleasure of working with them and have loved it every time.  They are a wonderful company, have kind employees and fantastic products.  I have never been let down by a cover of theirs!  When I went to the ABC Kids Expo last fall, I was SO excited to speak with them and talk about their line.  I immediately felt at home and all of my butterflies went away.  I was in my element!  I seriously love this company and am thankful for the opportunities that I have had to work with them and to share their products.

2) I think that this post is wonderful!

I share my cloth diaper detergent recipe here on my blog and from time to time people do ask about the specific ingredients because there is some debate among companies as to what is recommended and what is not.  This can vary from company to company, which makes it confusing for you, the consumer.  This post does talk about the things that we all want to know, which is, “Why do some companies not recommend these items?”.  I am thankful to have it as a resource to point readers to (I want you to do what you feel comfortable with!), and as one for me to better understand the reasoning behind these recommendations, or lack of.

3) I still love my detergent.

Furthermore, I still recommend trying it.  In my experience, this detergent does not cause any problems with PUL and/or elastic.  I’ve been using this recipe for three and a half years at the time of this writing, with the exception of times I tested samples of other detergents.  For me, and some of you, it simply works – and the savings is hard to beat!  Plus it works great on clothes too, how convenient is that?

In my laundry experience (of all types), I find the oxygen cleaner to be the ingredient that could be perceived as the most problematic (aside from soap, which I do not include in my cloth diaper detergent recipe).  In my recipe, an oxygen cleaner accounts for about 24% of the detergent composition.  I generally use 1 tablespoon of detergent per wash (2 for heavily soiled), which means that I am using less than a teaspoon of oxygen cleaner per wash (about 1.5 tsp in a heavy load).  I have never had an issue with this hurting my diapers, nor have I had anyone report this problem to me.

  • I do not recommend using this detergent as a booster (used on top of another detergent).
  • I also do not recommend using oxygen cleaners as a cleaning agent on it’s own, in large quantities or as a soak for cloth diapers.

Of course there are wash routine issues from time to time, for different users – but that will happen with most any detergent.  Every washing machine and water combination (hard or soft) is different, and baby’s diet can cause chanes too.  This is obviously not an issue of wear on the diaper – just something I thought I would note.

4) I love other detergents too!

Yep, I said it.  I love mine, but I’ve had the pleasure of trying out detergents formulated for cloth diapers and by cloth diaper companies and I really love some of them.  Thirsties Pre-Wash & Super Wash combo is actually one of my favorites.  It is super easy to use (no measuring required) and it worked wonderfully for me.

Another detergent that I love is Eco Sprout.  This detergent is also easy to use (no panic over how much to use/not use) and it works consistently.

What are your thoughts and what detergent do you use?

 

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