In washing cloth diapers, much depends on your water and its interaction with your detergent. Stinky diapers? Detergent is a likely culprit.
If you have hard water, you probably know it. Nature Mom’s water is so hard that it’s ruining her taps and drains. Her dishes are spotty, and her clothes are dingy. (I’m wondering if I will be able to resist noticing next time I see her.) She’s considering buying a water softener, but she has an alternative in the meantime that is far less expensive.
Rockin’ Green Soap for cloth diapers.
She’s been struggling with getting diapers clean, but Rockin Green’s Hard Rock has worked wonders.
Fun
Yes, I should start with science, but I’m not going to. The first time I noticed about Rockin’ Green Soap is how FUN it is. I love baby-related (and diaper-related) products that aren’t pastel colors or primary colors. Rockin’ Green is absolutely black and green. Love it!
Keeping up with the rock theme, there are three formulas to match the quality of your water.
- Soft Rock if you have soft water or sensitive skin
- Classic Rock if your water is a little bit hard or you just need a little more power to fight stink
- Hard Rock if you have the worst kind of hard water
- Not sure? Try a Rockin’ Green sample with enough soap to do two loads of diapers.
Lower Impact
Phosphate-free detergents are an important improvement that is necessary to keep waterways healthy. Rockin’ Green is phosphate free, dye free, filler free, and contains no enzymes or optical brighteners.
Ingredients: sodium carbonate , sodium percarbonate, natural chelating agents, sodium sulfate, biodegradable surfactants, natural fragrance oils (for scented versions).
The Science of Stink
Sure, diapers can stink when you take them off, especially a morning diaper. If you wash diapers properly, that smell should go away. If you use too little detergent, you may be leaving the waste stink in the diapers. If you use too much detergent, you may be trapping smell in detergent residue. Either kind of residue can leave your wash less than fresh.
What so few detergents and cloth diaper washing routine take into account is how your water quality makes a big difference in flushing both kinds of residue from your diapers.
Rockin’ Green has a non-foaming formula that rinses very clean. Check out her video comparing Rockin’ Green rinsing to competitors. Make sure you use enough water, and you should have a fresh pile of clean diapers in your future.
Scents
I find a little bit of fresh scent in the wash reassuring. Unlike other scented detergents, Rockin’ Green is safe for cloth diapers. If you are concerned that the natural fragrance oils might harm your diapers or invalidate your warranty, choose unscented Bare Naked Babies.
The scent of Rockin’ Green is only noticeable when you are doing laundry. Once you pull the wash out of the washing machine, you probably won’t notice much scent, so anyone worried about allergies doesn’t need to be worried with Rockin’ Green.
- Lavender Mint Revival
- Rage Against the Raspberries (raspberry & honey)
- Smashing Watermelons
The Trend
I chose Rockin’ Green as the trend in cloth diapering because so many cloth diapering are talking about this soap. Parents are excited to have a detergent formulated specifically for cloth diapers that is chasing stink away. I think the fun packaging and names really help, and the scents add another layer to the experience.
Resources
Real Diaper Association’s 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers campaign looks for tips from cloth diapering experts—the parents—who want to help other parents choose reusable cloth diapers for every diaper change. They just started gather cloth diaper care tips. At the end of each phase of their campaign, they are publishing a tip sheet with parents’ top cloth diapering tips.
Bummis has the most detailed cloth diaper washing instructions available. This is what happens when a cloth diaper manufacturing company is co-owned by a scientist with an eye for detail.
