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Choosing the Right Laundry Detergent
It’s one of the most important parts of caring for your cloth diapers, choosing a laundry detergent. It’s so important because the wrong detergent can cause your cute new diapers to do some very un-cute things, like leaking, wicking, repelling, and stinking. These problems can be fixed, but with the right detergent in the first place you won’t even have to deal with them.
The best detergents for cloth diapers will have few if any additives. The purpose of most additives is to leave something behind on the fabric that you are washing (a fragrance, a fabric softener, a brightening chemical). Other detergents use ingredients in the detergent that can leave behind residue when nothing is meant to be left behind (soap residue, dyes, and enzymes). Either way the best detergents rinse out completely and usually contain few to no additives. Some additives are worse than others for leaving a build up.
Detergents work differently for different users. Your washing machine and the type of water you are washing the diapers in can affect the performance of a laundry detergent. So what works great for me may not work the best for you. The following list of detergents can be used as a starting place to find a great detergent for your cloth diapering. This list divides the detergents into a recommended group, a may work group, and a not recommended group based on the additives that they contain and the problems other have reported with using them on cloth diapers. You may see some detergents recommended, while others are only ‘may work’ or ‘not recommended’ while having the same additives. There are other factors that were considered when recommending the following detergents. If some diaper manufacturers have warnings against a particular brand or many people have reported problems with a detergent then I do not recommend it. Also some detergents contain ingredients, like baking soda, that some people experience problems with while containing none of the worst additives. A final factor that is considered when recommending a detergent is its cleaning strength, some ‘delicate care’ and ‘baby’ detergents don’t have the best cleaning power for washing diapers.
Avoid:
Enzymes  - These protein molecules bind to organic matter so that they can be washed out of a fabric. This is great for fighting stains such as food, grass, and blood but is bad for use in diaper. These enzymes, which become activated when wet, can attack the fecal matter and urine on your baby's skin. This usually causes a red bottom and can sometimes cause severe rashes.
Soaps  - Soap leaves a residue, think soap scum, and this residue can cause water to bead up on the diaper rather than absorb like it is supposed to. This is referred to as repelling and soap is one of the ways that a diaper can begin to repel liquid.
Fabric Softners  - This can also coat the diaper with a repelling substance. Your diapers should not need softening since they are already the softest way to diaper your baby! :)
Optical Brightners  – This is a chemical residue that a detergent will leave on your laundry to make colors appear brighter. And like all things left on your diapers this could cause a build up and repelling.
Fragrances  and Dyes  – These are unnecessary additives that could cause irritation to your baby’s skin and leave a build-up on your diapers.
Look for the following symbols in the chart to signal that the detergent contains a certain bad additive.
Enzymes
Soaps
Fabric Softners
Optical Brightners
Fragrances
Dyes
| Recommended Detergents |
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Allens Naturally
Powdered and Liquid Detergent |
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Country Save
Powdered and Liquid Detergent |
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Planet Ultra Laundry Detergent |
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Purex Free & Clear |
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Sun Free |
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Xtra Perfume and Dye Free |
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Maybe Good Detergents |
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Arm & Hammer
Essentials Free |
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Arm & Hammer
Sensitive Skin |
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Charlie's Soap
Powder and Liquid |
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Ecos Free and Clear
Detergent |
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Seventh Generation
Delicate Care |
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| Not Recommended Detergents |
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All Laundry Detergent |
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Arm & Hammer
Laundry Detergent |
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Arm & Hammer FabriCare
and FabriCare Free |
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Cheer Laundry Detergent |
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Cheer Free and Gentle |
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Dreft |
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Gain |
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Ivory Snow |
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Method |
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Method Free and Clear |
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Mrs. Meyers
Laundry Detergent |
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Purex |
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Seventh Generation |
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Sun Laundry Detergent |
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Surf |
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Tide |
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Tide Free |
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Wisk |
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Wisk Free |
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Xtra |
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Link to us
You are welcome to link to the Detergent Chart, if you want to offer this resource for visitors to your website or blog.
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