Moving day is Monday, and we're frantically trying to get stuff done before then! Pulled up some very old wallpaper in a bedroom that will eventually be Jem's, now I have to strip off the glue and apply zero-VOC primer and paint (Olympic brand). We'll use the same cream-colored paint ("crescent moon") that we're using for the half-wall my hubby and uncle built in the living room so that we don't waste any, and a little sample can of a pretty deep blue for the window trim.
Turns out some of the Freecycled furniture we picked up will need some steam cleaning, and one of them will probably need de-mildewing...ugh. I'm hoping it isn't so bad that we need to get rid of it...it's a sofa bed and was a pain to transport! We'll definitely be getting a new mattress for it, but hopefully the musty smell is just coming from the upholstery and not the fill!
Hubby started a compost pile in the backyard with grass clippings (bought himself an electric mower), in some kind of chicken wire pen the previous owners left behind (for all I know they used it for the same thing). I'm wondering if it can be used for vermicomposting... I have to read up on it, but I'm afraid the worms would escape. Hubby thinks they'd stick around for the steady food supply. Anybody have any insight? We used to use a Rubbermaid bin to keep the worms in and the sunlight out, which we'll probably still have to do during the winter!
Back here in our apartment, I have discovered you can clean an oven fairly effectively with baking soda and vinegar, then a second scrub with blue Dawn. It's not perfect, but it should keep the management happy when we move out. :-) Cleaning out the closets has produced a plethora of items for our Freecycle bin. It feels good getting rid of some of the clutter!
Very excited to move into our new home! Once we're all moved in, we'll be hitting the consignment shops for the last few pieces of furniture we need (mostly shelving). And I can't wait for the new washing machine to arrive!
All in all, I am one happy little homemaker. :-) Hope everyone had a happy Tuesday!
Showing posts with label green cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green cleaning. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Laundry Tarts Review and Giveaway!
Rounding out Detergent Giveaway Month today, I am pleased to be able to give one lucky reader the chance to try a fabulous detergent that isn't very easy to come by here in the US. The Laundry Tarts is a Canadian company with a limited number of US retailers, but I can only hope that changes soon! I would very much like to see this soap featured on the shelves of my local cloth diaper store!
When I first came across The Laundry Tarts detergent while browsing around on EcoFriendlyGreenThings.com, I was intrigued by three things: first, the eco-friendly list of ingredients; second, the pretty, biodegradable, compostable packaging printed with vegetable inks; and third, the list of scents offered on that website: Key Lime Pie, Lemon Meringue, Orange Dreamsicle, and Plain Jane Unscented. As a woman who will usually only use scented versions of anything if they smell like food, the idea of a detergent company that only uses fragrances you'd find in a bakery definitely appealed to me! And the offering of an unscented version for babies with more sensitive skin is always a plus.
Naturally, I had to find out more, so I went on their website, and was amazed by not only the long list of delicious-sounding scents offered, but the company's clear commitment to being environmentally responsible. Not only do they feature a long explanation of why it's best to use environmentally friendly alternatives in your washing machine, they also feature an "Eco-Corner" with recommendations for eco-friendlier and healthier alternatives for toothpaste, menstrual relief, cleaning products, facial care, so on and so forth. This is a company that clearly is passionate about being eco-conscious!
Also, I can't even tell you how much I love the name and the logo: "The Laundry Tarts" is not only indicative of the delicious smelling pastry-inspired scents they offer, it is also how the founders, Jessy Cooke and Tanja Warren, refer to themselves - The Tarts. At least, this is suggested by the pair of coy, "tart-ish" ladies featured on the package, hanging a gigantic diaper out to dry behind a sudsing, cup-cake shaped laundry tub with a cherry on top. It just doesn't get much cuter than that!
So how well does it work? It works quite well even in our cheapo, lukewarm-water toploader. Every bit as well as Eco Sprout or Rockin' Green, and I must say I have a personal preference for the scents that The Laundry Tarts have to offer (I tried samples of Red Velvet Cake, Peaches 'n Creme, and Brown Sugar Pie...and though I just bought a 4 lb. bag of Plain Jane Unscented, I am sorely tempted to purchase at least a few samples of Cinnamon Bun, Gingerbread, Lemon Meringue, Key Lime Pie, and Mint Chocolate Chip...yum!) They actually put a warning on the package that the detergent is not edible, that's how good it smells! The scents wash out completely, and though heavy stains should be pre-soaked, pretreated and/or sun-bleached (as with most diaper-specific detergents), poopy smells and urine/ammonia smells do wash right out. My RearZ fitteds still do have to be washed twice, but I've basically resigned myself to that...we'll see how they do in our new machine!
I also had the opportunity to try The Laundry Tarts in my mother-in-law's HE front-loader, using half the amount of detergent as I use in my machine (dissolved into a bit of warm water). Her machine is much more powerful than mine (and gets much hotter water), and I was so impressed by the results! There was definitely less staining. I cannot wait to try this detergent in our new HE toploader when it arrives! I'm really just so eager to be rid of our current machine.
The Giveaway - How to Enter
Jessy and Tanja have generously agreed to give away a 12-24 load sample pack of The Laundry Tarts in four yummy scents, plus a Sweet Spots stain remover stick (which I have not tried but am very curious about)! To enter, please use at least one of the mandatory entries below (use more than one for additional entries). You may also use one or all of the optional additional entries, but none of these entries will count if you do not include a mandatory entry! PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH ENTRY. I will never use your email address for any purpose other than to contact you if you are the winner.
MANDATORY ENTRIES (pick one or do them all!):
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
Additional optional entries:
~ Visit the The Laundry Tarts website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me which of their scents sounds the yummiest to you!
~ Like The Laundry Tarts on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Visit The Laundry Tarts distribution partner, MonkeyDoodlez. and comment here to tell me which of their products you'd most like to try!
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog or website. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog (on the main page or other permanent page, not in a blog entry). Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!) You may use this for 4 separate entries.
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so. You may use this for 2 separate entries.
This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada and will end on Wednesday, September 14. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
***I received a small sample pack of detergent for review. No other payment was received for this review, and all opinions expressed here are my own.***
When I first came across The Laundry Tarts detergent while browsing around on EcoFriendlyGreenThings.com, I was intrigued by three things: first, the eco-friendly list of ingredients; second, the pretty, biodegradable, compostable packaging printed with vegetable inks; and third, the list of scents offered on that website: Key Lime Pie, Lemon Meringue, Orange Dreamsicle, and Plain Jane Unscented. As a woman who will usually only use scented versions of anything if they smell like food, the idea of a detergent company that only uses fragrances you'd find in a bakery definitely appealed to me! And the offering of an unscented version for babies with more sensitive skin is always a plus.
Naturally, I had to find out more, so I went on their website, and was amazed by not only the long list of delicious-sounding scents offered, but the company's clear commitment to being environmentally responsible. Not only do they feature a long explanation of why it's best to use environmentally friendly alternatives in your washing machine, they also feature an "Eco-Corner" with recommendations for eco-friendlier and healthier alternatives for toothpaste, menstrual relief, cleaning products, facial care, so on and so forth. This is a company that clearly is passionate about being eco-conscious!
Also, I can't even tell you how much I love the name and the logo: "The Laundry Tarts" is not only indicative of the delicious smelling pastry-inspired scents they offer, it is also how the founders, Jessy Cooke and Tanja Warren, refer to themselves - The Tarts. At least, this is suggested by the pair of coy, "tart-ish" ladies featured on the package, hanging a gigantic diaper out to dry behind a sudsing, cup-cake shaped laundry tub with a cherry on top. It just doesn't get much cuter than that!
 |
| Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Sodium Carbonate (Soda Wash), Sodium Percarbonate (Powdered hydrogen peroxide), Sea salt, Saponified coconut/canola oil, rosemary extract, phthalate free essential and fragrance oils. |
I also had the opportunity to try The Laundry Tarts in my mother-in-law's HE front-loader, using half the amount of detergent as I use in my machine (dissolved into a bit of warm water). Her machine is much more powerful than mine (and gets much hotter water), and I was so impressed by the results! There was definitely less staining. I cannot wait to try this detergent in our new HE toploader when it arrives! I'm really just so eager to be rid of our current machine.
The Giveaway - How to Enter
Jessy and Tanja have generously agreed to give away a 12-24 load sample pack of The Laundry Tarts in four yummy scents, plus a Sweet Spots stain remover stick (which I have not tried but am very curious about)! To enter, please use at least one of the mandatory entries below (use more than one for additional entries). You may also use one or all of the optional additional entries, but none of these entries will count if you do not include a mandatory entry! PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH ENTRY. I will never use your email address for any purpose other than to contact you if you are the winner.
MANDATORY ENTRIES (pick one or do them all!):
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
Additional optional entries:
~ Visit the The Laundry Tarts website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me which of their scents sounds the yummiest to you!
~ Like The Laundry Tarts on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Visit The Laundry Tarts distribution partner, MonkeyDoodlez. and comment here to tell me which of their products you'd most like to try!
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog or website. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog (on the main page or other permanent page, not in a blog entry). Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!) You may use this for 4 separate entries.
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so. You may use this for 2 separate entries.
 |
| Sweet Spot stain remover |
This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada and will end on Wednesday, September 14. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
***I received a small sample pack of detergent for review. No other payment was received for this review, and all opinions expressed here are my own.***
Monday, August 15, 2011
NaturOli Soap Nuts Review and Giveaway!
Back from my refreshing little computer hiatus and ready for another giveaway!
Yes, this August is Detergent Giveaway Month here in Jem's Room. We started the month with an Eco Sprout detergent giveaway, which gave me the opportunity to try and review a great cloth diaper-specific detergent. Now I've been informed that the good folks at NaturOli Soap Nuts, a wonderful product I recently bought for my regular (non-diaper) laundry, have agreed to give away one 40 load bag of their product to my readers! Plus a little added bonus prize!
After I bought some of these little gems last month on Amazon and tried them to clean our clothes and cleaning rags, I was hooked, and promptly contacted NaturOli (pronounced "naturally") to see if they'd be interested in doing a giveaway. I was so excited when they agreed, because I really would love for one of you guys to get to try them! For those of you who don't know what a soap nut (also called a soap berry) is, they are actually little "nuts" that grow on the sapindus tree, and produce a cleansing resin called saponin, which literally is a soap: the most natural soap on earth! NaturOli soap nuts are specifically of the Sapindus Mukorossi variety that grow in India and Nepal. They are USDA certified organic by EcoCert! I was very skeptical about how they would work on my laundry, but they actually work amazingly well!
How to use soap nuts: Place a few soap nuts (about 4-6...I've been using five) in the little muslin bag included with your order. If doing a hot or warm wash, throw the bag in the washer before your laundry. If doing a cold wash, first soak the bag in a few ounces of warm water for several minutes, then throw the bag with the water in the washer before your laundry. (I find it helps to place the bag in a zippered mesh lingerie bag, particularly if you are doing a load of whites, so it's easier to find the bag when the wash is done...otherwise it might get lost in a pant leg or pocket somewhere!) The bag can be reused about 4-6 times before changing the soap nuts, making this an incredibly economical choice for laundry! Even more economical is the fact that soap nuts are very lightweight, so shipping costs, no matter where you order from, tend to be very low.
You don't have to pull the bag out of the wash before the rinse cycle. Saponin cleans very well but, unlike most commercial detergents, is not so soapy or gummy that it will leave residue on your clothes. In fact, if you leave it in for the rinse cycle it acts as a natural, non-irritating fabric softener (though some garments may still develop static cling in the dryer...I recommend using dryer balls for this problem)! My clothes have been coming out incredibly soft and clean, and smelling like, well, absolutely nothing!
As with most natural detergents, it's highly recommended that you pre-treat any tough stains. You can do this by soaking a few soap nuts in a tiny amount of hot water and rubbing the liquid into the stains, or you can do what I do, which is sprinkle the stain with baking soda and then spray it with vinegar. Usually works like a charm. :-)
Included with my order of NaturOli Soap Nuts from Amazon was a small sample bottle of their Extreme18X "award-winning, eco-friendly, ultra-concentrated extract," which is basically a really effective liquid version of soap nuts with some other added, natural ingredients. I used this on my whites and yes, even on my cloth diapers a couple of times when I was in a pinch, and I was incredibly pleased with how well it worked! Just one teaspoon cleans a full load of laundry! It left no residue on my diapers or irritation on Jem's bum. I also used tiny amounts of it to clean my dishes a few times, which worked as well as any dish detergent! I am very pleased that in addition to the 40 load bag of soap nuts that NaturOli is providing for this giveaway, they are also including one of these sample bottles of Extreme 18X!
(A note about using soap nuts on cloth diapers: though they can be used for cotton diapers and other natural fibers, like prefolds or fitteds, they are not generally recommended for synthetic fabrics like microfleece and microfiber, since the saponin may clog the diapers over time and cause repelling. Since the Extreme 18X washes out in the rinse cycle I felt comfortable using it on my pockets a few times, but I would not recommend the soap nuts themselves for use on pockets, particularly not for long-term use).
Please visit the NaturOli website for complete washing instructions, other uses (there are many!) and additional product information.
The Giveaway - How to Enter
To enter to win one 40 load bag of soap nuts and a sample bottle of 18X Extreme liquid concentrate, please use at least one of the mandatory entries below (use more than one for additional entries). You may also use one or all of the optional additional entries, but none of these entries will count if you do not include a mandatory entry! PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH ENTRY. I will never use your email address for any purpose other than to contact you if you are the winner.
MANDATORY ENTRIES (pick one or do them all!):
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
Additional optional entries:
~ Visit the Naturoli website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me one other product of theirs which you might like to try (or have me review!), or any of the other uses for soap nuts that you might try if you won!
~ Like NaturOli on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog or website. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog (on the main page or other permanent page, not in a blog entry). Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!) You may use this for 4 separate entries.
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so. You may use this for 2 separate entries.
The contest will end Friday, August 26th. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
**Note: I purchased this item myself and received no compensation for this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.**
Yes, this August is Detergent Giveaway Month here in Jem's Room. We started the month with an Eco Sprout detergent giveaway, which gave me the opportunity to try and review a great cloth diaper-specific detergent. Now I've been informed that the good folks at NaturOli Soap Nuts, a wonderful product I recently bought for my regular (non-diaper) laundry, have agreed to give away one 40 load bag of their product to my readers! Plus a little added bonus prize!
After I bought some of these little gems last month on Amazon and tried them to clean our clothes and cleaning rags, I was hooked, and promptly contacted NaturOli (pronounced "naturally") to see if they'd be interested in doing a giveaway. I was so excited when they agreed, because I really would love for one of you guys to get to try them! For those of you who don't know what a soap nut (also called a soap berry) is, they are actually little "nuts" that grow on the sapindus tree, and produce a cleansing resin called saponin, which literally is a soap: the most natural soap on earth! NaturOli soap nuts are specifically of the Sapindus Mukorossi variety that grow in India and Nepal. They are USDA certified organic by EcoCert! I was very skeptical about how they would work on my laundry, but they actually work amazingly well!
How to use soap nuts: Place a few soap nuts (about 4-6...I've been using five) in the little muslin bag included with your order. If doing a hot or warm wash, throw the bag in the washer before your laundry. If doing a cold wash, first soak the bag in a few ounces of warm water for several minutes, then throw the bag with the water in the washer before your laundry. (I find it helps to place the bag in a zippered mesh lingerie bag, particularly if you are doing a load of whites, so it's easier to find the bag when the wash is done...otherwise it might get lost in a pant leg or pocket somewhere!) The bag can be reused about 4-6 times before changing the soap nuts, making this an incredibly economical choice for laundry! Even more economical is the fact that soap nuts are very lightweight, so shipping costs, no matter where you order from, tend to be very low.
You don't have to pull the bag out of the wash before the rinse cycle. Saponin cleans very well but, unlike most commercial detergents, is not so soapy or gummy that it will leave residue on your clothes. In fact, if you leave it in for the rinse cycle it acts as a natural, non-irritating fabric softener (though some garments may still develop static cling in the dryer...I recommend using dryer balls for this problem)! My clothes have been coming out incredibly soft and clean, and smelling like, well, absolutely nothing!
As with most natural detergents, it's highly recommended that you pre-treat any tough stains. You can do this by soaking a few soap nuts in a tiny amount of hot water and rubbing the liquid into the stains, or you can do what I do, which is sprinkle the stain with baking soda and then spray it with vinegar. Usually works like a charm. :-)
Included with my order of NaturOli Soap Nuts from Amazon was a small sample bottle of their Extreme18X "award-winning, eco-friendly, ultra-concentrated extract," which is basically a really effective liquid version of soap nuts with some other added, natural ingredients. I used this on my whites and yes, even on my cloth diapers a couple of times when I was in a pinch, and I was incredibly pleased with how well it worked! Just one teaspoon cleans a full load of laundry! It left no residue on my diapers or irritation on Jem's bum. I also used tiny amounts of it to clean my dishes a few times, which worked as well as any dish detergent! I am very pleased that in addition to the 40 load bag of soap nuts that NaturOli is providing for this giveaway, they are also including one of these sample bottles of Extreme 18X!
Please visit the NaturOli website for complete washing instructions, other uses (there are many!) and additional product information.
The Giveaway - How to Enter
To enter to win one 40 load bag of soap nuts and a sample bottle of 18X Extreme liquid concentrate, please use at least one of the mandatory entries below (use more than one for additional entries). You may also use one or all of the optional additional entries, but none of these entries will count if you do not include a mandatory entry! PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH ENTRY. I will never use your email address for any purpose other than to contact you if you are the winner.
MANDATORY ENTRIES (pick one or do them all!):
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
Additional optional entries:
~ Visit the Naturoli website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me one other product of theirs which you might like to try (or have me review!), or any of the other uses for soap nuts that you might try if you won!
~ Like NaturOli on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog or website. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog (on the main page or other permanent page, not in a blog entry). Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!) You may use this for 4 separate entries.
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so. You may use this for 2 separate entries.
The contest will end Friday, August 26th. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
**Note: I purchased this item myself and received no compensation for this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.**
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Eco Sprout Review and Giveaway!
The perfect cloth diaper detergent. Does it exist? I suppose that all depends who you ask. Some people swear by good old-fashioned Tide original. Of course Tide isn't very eco-friendly, and it gives me a rash, so I've never attempted to use it on anything Jem wears. We've been through a good number of the eco-friendly, cloth diaper safe detergents out there - Nellie's, Lulu's, Rockin Green, Crunchy Clean - and there have been things I liked about all of them. All of them have worked for us in certain situations, but not others. Battling the stinkies has never been a particularly easy feat for us, especially since we have dealt with hard water in the past, and now with a water heater we cannot control. Suffice to say I am always eager to try the new "best thing" in CD detergents, and I had an opportunity these past couple of weeks to try the new favorite on the block, Eco Sprout.
A little background: while many of the CD detergents on the market today were formulated by WAHMs (Work-at-Home Moms), Eco Sprout was thought up by a WAHD -- that's right, a Work-at-Home Dad. Awesome, right? I don't know that many dads who even want to do the diaper laundry, much less come up with their own detergent! His name is Jared Edwards, and he wanted to come up with a detergent that was "non-toxic, natural, eco-friendly, sensitive for my boy's bottoms, and got rid of the strong ammonia our diapers always had with other detergents... Eco Sprout detergent is free from dyes, brighteners, enymes, phosphates, SLS, and is 100% biodegradable." Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? I also love that the larger sizes come in cloth bags!
After using it for several diaper washes, I have to agree that it's pretty great. After carefully following the instructions on the Eco Sprout website for switching detergents, I've found it's been able to get out stinkies that our previous detergent wasn't able to!
My favorite of the scented samples is the "Warm Vanilla Sugar." It reminds me of cookies, and anything that smells edible to me is a plus. I always prefer unscented detergents though, and so I personally would stick with "In the Buff" for Jem's diapers. It doesn't smell like anything! The other scents I received for sampling were Baby Powder, Vanilla Sandalwood, and Fresh Linen. Again, I'm not crazy about non-edible smelling scents, but that's just me! I'm more of a "stop and smell the chocolate" kind of girl. However, if you like the smell of baby powder and freshly cleaned sheets, you will probably love these. The scents wash out pretty thoroughly regardless, they're just to make wash day smell a bit more pleasant!
The real test was the RearZ Eco-Kit fitted diapers I bought last month. Because they are so bulky, I have begun to find that they are the hardest diapers in my stash to get thoroughly clean. I have to keep tossing them back in the pail after the first wash to go through another cycle before I'll let Jem wear them again. While this isn't that too much of a problem (there are five of them and we only use them for nighttime), it is kind of a pain. So, did the Eco Sprout get the RearZ clean? Well, yes and no. Some of them come out of the first wash smelling just fine, and some come out still smelling just slightly funky, in a "should I do them again or just leave them be?" kind of way. However, this is a whole lot better than the previous detergent we were using, and I honestly can't blame Eco Sprout for not getting all of these big bulky diapers totally clean in one shot, especially because of our frustratingly lukewarm water (you really need hot water to get things like that totally clean!) It has gotten all of our other diapers smelling fresh and clean, and that's impressive in and of itself! I've also found there is somewhat less staining with the Eco Sprout than with other eco-friendly detergents I've used.
All in all, I am very impressed with Eco Sprout and would definitely recommend it! Thanks to the generosity of Jared and his team, one lucky reader will have the opportunity to try a 24 ounce bag in the scent of his or her choice!
Rules for Entry
Contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada (sorry to my international followers!) There are several different ways you can enter. There is no mandatory entry, pick any one or do them all! Please leave your email address with each entry. I will only use your email address to contact you if you win, I do not spam contest entrants or my subscribers. Email subscribers will have to visit the actual blog to enter.
~ Visit the Eco Sprout website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me which scent you'd like to try.
~ Like Eco Sprout on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!)
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
The contest will end next Saturday, August 6th. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
**I received a free sample of this product for review, however I received no other payment, and I verify that the opinions expressed in this review are my own.**
A little background: while many of the CD detergents on the market today were formulated by WAHMs (Work-at-Home Moms), Eco Sprout was thought up by a WAHD -- that's right, a Work-at-Home Dad. Awesome, right? I don't know that many dads who even want to do the diaper laundry, much less come up with their own detergent! His name is Jared Edwards, and he wanted to come up with a detergent that was "non-toxic, natural, eco-friendly, sensitive for my boy's bottoms, and got rid of the strong ammonia our diapers always had with other detergents... Eco Sprout detergent is free from dyes, brighteners, enymes, phosphates, SLS, and is 100% biodegradable." Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? I also love that the larger sizes come in cloth bags!
After using it for several diaper washes, I have to agree that it's pretty great. After carefully following the instructions on the Eco Sprout website for switching detergents, I've found it's been able to get out stinkies that our previous detergent wasn't able to!
My favorite of the scented samples is the "Warm Vanilla Sugar." It reminds me of cookies, and anything that smells edible to me is a plus. I always prefer unscented detergents though, and so I personally would stick with "In the Buff" for Jem's diapers. It doesn't smell like anything! The other scents I received for sampling were Baby Powder, Vanilla Sandalwood, and Fresh Linen. Again, I'm not crazy about non-edible smelling scents, but that's just me! I'm more of a "stop and smell the chocolate" kind of girl. However, if you like the smell of baby powder and freshly cleaned sheets, you will probably love these. The scents wash out pretty thoroughly regardless, they're just to make wash day smell a bit more pleasant!
The real test was the RearZ Eco-Kit fitted diapers I bought last month. Because they are so bulky, I have begun to find that they are the hardest diapers in my stash to get thoroughly clean. I have to keep tossing them back in the pail after the first wash to go through another cycle before I'll let Jem wear them again. While this isn't that too much of a problem (there are five of them and we only use them for nighttime), it is kind of a pain. So, did the Eco Sprout get the RearZ clean? Well, yes and no. Some of them come out of the first wash smelling just fine, and some come out still smelling just slightly funky, in a "should I do them again or just leave them be?" kind of way. However, this is a whole lot better than the previous detergent we were using, and I honestly can't blame Eco Sprout for not getting all of these big bulky diapers totally clean in one shot, especially because of our frustratingly lukewarm water (you really need hot water to get things like that totally clean!) It has gotten all of our other diapers smelling fresh and clean, and that's impressive in and of itself! I've also found there is somewhat less staining with the Eco Sprout than with other eco-friendly detergents I've used.
All in all, I am very impressed with Eco Sprout and would definitely recommend it! Thanks to the generosity of Jared and his team, one lucky reader will have the opportunity to try a 24 ounce bag in the scent of his or her choice!
Rules for Entry
Contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada (sorry to my international followers!) There are several different ways you can enter. There is no mandatory entry, pick any one or do them all! Please leave your email address with each entry. I will only use your email address to contact you if you win, I do not spam contest entrants or my subscribers. Email subscribers will have to visit the actual blog to enter.
~ Visit the Eco Sprout website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me which scent you'd like to try.
~ Like Eco Sprout on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!)
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
The contest will end next Saturday, August 6th. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!
**I received a free sample of this product for review, however I received no other payment, and I verify that the opinions expressed in this review are my own.**
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Greenking Out!
Yes, that's green geeking out. (How much geekier can you get than inventing a lame new word for that?)
I got a bunch of stuff in the mail in the last two days. Three Mommy's Touch pocket diapers, the new Rearz diaper cover, some Naturoli Soap Nuts to try (right on time, I just used up the last of my laundry detergent last night), a gallon of centrifuge extracted coconut oil, Jem's new stainless steel cereal bowls, and a special "green" little something for a certain someone I'll be celebrating two years of marriage with next month...you'll all just have to wait till then to find out what it is (as will he). :-)
Now, then, what shall I review first? And who shall I Freecycle all of these little shipping boxes to? Decisions, decisions... :-)
I haven't forgotten about the contest that ends Thursday at noon! One of you will win some sweet little eco-friendly bath products! Good luck, and good night.
I got a bunch of stuff in the mail in the last two days. Three Mommy's Touch pocket diapers, the new Rearz diaper cover, some Naturoli Soap Nuts to try (right on time, I just used up the last of my laundry detergent last night), a gallon of centrifuge extracted coconut oil, Jem's new stainless steel cereal bowls, and a special "green" little something for a certain someone I'll be celebrating two years of marriage with next month...you'll all just have to wait till then to find out what it is (as will he). :-)
Now, then, what shall I review first? And who shall I Freecycle all of these little shipping boxes to? Decisions, decisions... :-)
I haven't forgotten about the contest that ends Thursday at noon! One of you will win some sweet little eco-friendly bath products! Good luck, and good night.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
DIY Furniture Polish, Soap, and Toothpaste
Recently I decided that it was time to start phasing out products in our home with unnecessary chemical additives. We've already been cleaning the counters, bathrooms and carpets with vinegar and baking soda, with great success. I've got a big bag of cleaners that we haven't used in over a year which I fetched from under the sink, all ready to go out to another Freecycler.
However, I realized that without that bottle of Pledge, the beautiful China cabinet we got from Freecycle wasn't gonna start lookin' any younger. So I set out to figure out what could be used as a natural wood polish. After reading several articles online about this topic, I decided to go with a mix of equal parts distilled white vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. I put it all in a clean glass molasses bottle and shook vigorously. After wiping the china cabinet down with a microfiber cleaning mitt, I poured a small amount of the mix onto the other side of the mitt and rewiped. The cabinet looks shiny and bright, but not greasy. I don't know how long the mixture will last under the sink before the olive oil goes rancid, but I guess we'll see!
My next project was making my own soap. Not my own bar soap: I'm not that ambitious yet, and I'm a bit leary about doing anything in my kitchen that requires gloves and goggles with the baby around. I did, however, order two lbs (8 bars) of very natural, very clear soap from a lady on ebay for about $10. I've been using one bar in the shower and I like it, it's so slippery! Does leave my skin feeling just a tad dryer than I'm used to afterward, but only for a minute or so...the natural glycerin in it does help retain moisture.
My project was making the bar soap into liquid soap. I kept reading that I needed to use a gallon of water for one bar of grated bar soap. Heat the water to steaming, not boiling, add the soap, stir (or blend with a hand mixer), let sit overnight. Then stir/blend again, let sit for awhile longer, stir blend again... and you have liquid soap.
Well, apparently the 1 gallon of water was too much for this particular bar of soap. I kept having to reheat the mixture to steam more of the water out, because the soap was not getting thick. Finally, after two days of periodic steaming and mixing, I reached a consistency I could live with, and poured some into the bathroom soap dispenser and the rest into a clean gallon vinegar jug. I had decided not to add any fragrance or essential oils, but now I'm thinking I might. Natural liquid soap, it seems, has a mild yet distinct, not entirely pleasant smell (for some reason I don't notice this smell with the bar soap, but I do remember the bar soap from high school chemistry classes smelling similar). I'm not sure what to add though. I hate floral scents, especially on Jem or myself, and don't want to use anything that could irritate his sensitive skin. Anyway, the liquid soap is largely a success, but not perfect. Next time I'll use half a gallon of water and adjust as needed. It works pretty well as a handsoap and as a baby soap for Jem, but I can't wash his hair with it like I could with his other baby soap. At least not easily. I have, however, recently discovered that some people wash their hair using nothing but baking soda and water. Next experiment...? Probably wouldn't work for my finicky hair, but for Jem's super-fine baby hair and Chris's straight thick hair it just might.
Today's project was making toothpaste. I found all kinds of recipes to do this online, none of which I decided to use. I had my heart set on using both baking soda and xylitol, two excellent natural dental cleansers, but couldn't find a recipe that used both. So I decided to wing it. I started out stirring together about half a cup of baking soda and half a cup of powdered xylitol with several tablespoons of water and a tiny bit of peppermint extract. Apparently this was too much water and too much baking soda, because what I ended up with was a very runny, mildly pepperminty salt solution. So I added more xylitol... and more... and more... until I went through the entire 1 lb bag. So I ended up with a lot of toothpaste, but that's okay. The problem was that the texture turned out kind of weird... the baking soda/xylitol mix kept clumping up at the bottom and was all watery at the top. I went out on a limb and followed the advice of one of the other recipes I had looked at and added about a tablespoon of melted coconut oil. Mix mix mix, stir stir stir... Finally I had a nice looking, and tasting, baking soda toothpaste. I tried it out immediately and it worked great! I mean we'll see how it's working six months from now, but for now I'm happy with it. A few hours after I put it in the bottle (a clean Thayer's witch hazel bottle) I did notice that it started to look kind of liquidy again... I wonder if that has something to do with the heat in our apartment re-melting the coconut oil. (See updated recipe below!) Anyway, once again I guess the moral of the story is use far less liquid than you think you'll need and add more as needed. Still, I'm happy with my toothpaste!
And with my soap...
...and with my furniture polish. I feel thrifty, resourceful and quite crunchy. Best of all, I know I'm introducing fewer potentially harmful chemicals into my home, and I feel good about that!
Recipes (these are mostly approximations and may need improvement. I'll be sure to update with further experimentation!):
Furniture Polish:
Equal parts white distilled vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. Store in a clean bottle in a cool place. Check for oil spoilage and shake well before each use. Apply small amount to preferred cloth or sponge and wipe down wooden furniture thoroughly.
Liquid Soap: UPDATED
1 grated bar (about 4.5 oz or so) all natural clear glycerin soap base (I buy mine in bulk on ebay)
JUST UNDER a half gallon (2 quarts) water
Several drops of your favorite essential oil or fragrance (optional)
In a large pot, heat water till steaming and add grated soap. Remove from heat and stir well. Cover. Let sit several hours or overnight. It should be a thick, gelatinous consistency. Whip by hand with a wire whisk until it is a pourable consistency. Very carefully pour into clean bottles, using a funnel if you have one handy (I keep my soap in an empty half gallon SoftSoap container). Store in a cool place.
Using this updated formula, I can now use this soap as baby shampoo for Jem as well! It lathers great!
Toothpaste (bulk recipe... adjust as needed) - UPDATED
1/2 cup baking soda
1 lb xylitol, powdered (I used my blender to powder)
1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
Peppermint or cinnamon extract (optional)
Water or hydrogen peroxide (use sparingly...optional)
In large bowl, sift together powdered xylitol and baking soda. Mix in coconut oil a tablespoon at a time to achieve pasty consistency, and add several drops of flavoring (optional). If you're having trouble getting the consistency right add water or hydrogen peroxide half a teaspoon at a time. Don't overdo it, remember oil and water don't mix well, and water doesn't absorb xylitol the way it does sugar. Store in clean container in a cool place. May be suitable in pea sized amounts for children, but large doses of xylitol may cause tummy troubles. Please keep away from dogs, xylitol is more toxic to them than even chocolate.
However, I realized that without that bottle of Pledge, the beautiful China cabinet we got from Freecycle wasn't gonna start lookin' any younger. So I set out to figure out what could be used as a natural wood polish. After reading several articles online about this topic, I decided to go with a mix of equal parts distilled white vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. I put it all in a clean glass molasses bottle and shook vigorously. After wiping the china cabinet down with a microfiber cleaning mitt, I poured a small amount of the mix onto the other side of the mitt and rewiped. The cabinet looks shiny and bright, but not greasy. I don't know how long the mixture will last under the sink before the olive oil goes rancid, but I guess we'll see!
My next project was making my own soap. Not my own bar soap: I'm not that ambitious yet, and I'm a bit leary about doing anything in my kitchen that requires gloves and goggles with the baby around. I did, however, order two lbs (8 bars) of very natural, very clear soap from a lady on ebay for about $10. I've been using one bar in the shower and I like it, it's so slippery! Does leave my skin feeling just a tad dryer than I'm used to afterward, but only for a minute or so...the natural glycerin in it does help retain moisture.
My project was making the bar soap into liquid soap. I kept reading that I needed to use a gallon of water for one bar of grated bar soap. Heat the water to steaming, not boiling, add the soap, stir (or blend with a hand mixer), let sit overnight. Then stir/blend again, let sit for awhile longer, stir blend again... and you have liquid soap.
Well, apparently the 1 gallon of water was too much for this particular bar of soap. I kept having to reheat the mixture to steam more of the water out, because the soap was not getting thick. Finally, after two days of periodic steaming and mixing, I reached a consistency I could live with, and poured some into the bathroom soap dispenser and the rest into a clean gallon vinegar jug. I had decided not to add any fragrance or essential oils, but now I'm thinking I might. Natural liquid soap, it seems, has a mild yet distinct, not entirely pleasant smell (for some reason I don't notice this smell with the bar soap, but I do remember the bar soap from high school chemistry classes smelling similar). I'm not sure what to add though. I hate floral scents, especially on Jem or myself, and don't want to use anything that could irritate his sensitive skin. Anyway, the liquid soap is largely a success, but not perfect. Next time I'll use half a gallon of water and adjust as needed. It works pretty well as a handsoap and as a baby soap for Jem, but I can't wash his hair with it like I could with his other baby soap. At least not easily. I have, however, recently discovered that some people wash their hair using nothing but baking soda and water. Next experiment...? Probably wouldn't work for my finicky hair, but for Jem's super-fine baby hair and Chris's straight thick hair it just might.
Today's project was making toothpaste. I found all kinds of recipes to do this online, none of which I decided to use. I had my heart set on using both baking soda and xylitol, two excellent natural dental cleansers, but couldn't find a recipe that used both. So I decided to wing it. I started out stirring together about half a cup of baking soda and half a cup of powdered xylitol with several tablespoons of water and a tiny bit of peppermint extract. Apparently this was too much water and too much baking soda, because what I ended up with was a very runny, mildly pepperminty salt solution. So I added more xylitol... and more... and more... until I went through the entire 1 lb bag. So I ended up with a lot of toothpaste, but that's okay. The problem was that the texture turned out kind of weird... the baking soda/xylitol mix kept clumping up at the bottom and was all watery at the top. I went out on a limb and followed the advice of one of the other recipes I had looked at and added about a tablespoon of melted coconut oil. Mix mix mix, stir stir stir... Finally I had a nice looking, and tasting, baking soda toothpaste. I tried it out immediately and it worked great! I mean we'll see how it's working six months from now, but for now I'm happy with it. A few hours after I put it in the bottle (a clean Thayer's witch hazel bottle) I did notice that it started to look kind of liquidy again... I wonder if that has something to do with the heat in our apartment re-melting the coconut oil. (See updated recipe below!) Anyway, once again I guess the moral of the story is use far less liquid than you think you'll need and add more as needed. Still, I'm happy with my toothpaste!
And with my soap...
...and with my furniture polish. I feel thrifty, resourceful and quite crunchy. Best of all, I know I'm introducing fewer potentially harmful chemicals into my home, and I feel good about that!
Recipes (these are mostly approximations and may need improvement. I'll be sure to update with further experimentation!):
Furniture Polish:
Equal parts white distilled vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. Store in a clean bottle in a cool place. Check for oil spoilage and shake well before each use. Apply small amount to preferred cloth or sponge and wipe down wooden furniture thoroughly.
Liquid Soap: UPDATED
1 grated bar (about 4.5 oz or so) all natural clear glycerin soap base (I buy mine in bulk on ebay)
JUST UNDER a half gallon (2 quarts) water
Several drops of your favorite essential oil or fragrance (optional)
In a large pot, heat water till steaming and add grated soap. Remove from heat and stir well. Cover. Let sit several hours or overnight. It should be a thick, gelatinous consistency. Whip by hand with a wire whisk until it is a pourable consistency. Very carefully pour into clean bottles, using a funnel if you have one handy (I keep my soap in an empty half gallon SoftSoap container). Store in a cool place.
Using this updated formula, I can now use this soap as baby shampoo for Jem as well! It lathers great!
Toothpaste (bulk recipe... adjust as needed) - UPDATED
1/2 cup baking soda
1 lb xylitol, powdered (I used my blender to powder)
1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
Peppermint or cinnamon extract (optional)
Water or hydrogen peroxide (use sparingly...optional)
In large bowl, sift together powdered xylitol and baking soda. Mix in coconut oil a tablespoon at a time to achieve pasty consistency, and add several drops of flavoring (optional). If you're having trouble getting the consistency right add water or hydrogen peroxide half a teaspoon at a time. Don't overdo it, remember oil and water don't mix well, and water doesn't absorb xylitol the way it does sugar. Store in clean container in a cool place. May be suitable in pea sized amounts for children, but large doses of xylitol may cause tummy troubles. Please keep away from dogs, xylitol is more toxic to them than even chocolate.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 1: Detergents
We wanted to cloth diaper Jem for a few reasons. First and most importantly, to keep disposables out of the landfill, as well as to save money (disposables aren't cheap and add up quickly). I won't go into all the facts about disposables, but you can find some good info here. I haven't gone through every fact on this page to verify the accuracy of all of them, but it should give you at least a general idea of why cloth is a good idea. Of course I certainly understand the choice to use disposables, with everything else you have to do as a parent, who has time for extra laundry too? To be honest though, it hasn't been as time consuming as I expected it to be, and not having to lug an extra bag out to the trash disposal center every day or two has actually been quite nice!
Which brings me to another reason for choosing not to use disposables: the smell. As a former nanny, I know how disgusting the plastic garbage bag full of disposables ends up smelling at the end of a day or two. I had read that cloth diaper pails actually smell less, and so far that is absolutely true. Why is this? Well, disposables are made of plastic. Garbage bags are made of plastic. Plastic can't "breathe" the way cloth can, and everyone knows that to take up less space in the garbage bag you have to roll the disposables up into tight little balls: tight little smelly, non-breathable balls. No matter how hard you try to keep that diaper genie smelling fresh and clean, when you go to open up the pail to remove the bag you are hit by a death smell that forces you to hold your breath while frantically scurrying to tie the bag and run it out to the curb as quickly as possible. At least, that's how it's been in my experience. Especially because, although all bags of diapers print instructions to dump solid fecal matter into the toilet, it's easier just to roll the poop up in the diaper and toss it in the bin. That's why the bin is kept next to the changing table, right? How many parents actually dump every poopy disposable into the toilet before trashing it?
So, naturally, cloth diaper pails tend to smell less. It's not that they don't smell at all, but they smell much less. Cloth diapers can breathe. Cloth pail liners can breathe. And it's imperative to dump solid poop into the toilet before throwing the diapers in the pail, because otherwise laundry would be a nightmare. It is possible to get certain funky smells. Ammonia, for instance, or a strong urine smell if baby has an infection or ate something that didn't agree with him that week. But overall, the smell of our diaper pail has been quite bearable in comparison to diaper pails I've dealt with in the past.
Anyway, I'm digressing from what I really wanted to talk about in this post, which is detergents. You're not supposed to use regular soap detergents on cloth diapers, because the soap and other additives can quickly build up in the fibers of the diapers and cause leaking and repelling issues, particularly if your diapers contain synthetic fibers like microfleece (which is often used to line cloth diapers to help wick moisture away from baby's skin). So I decided to set out to find the most diaper-friendly, eco-friendly and dermatologically-friendly detergent possible.
It was important to me to find a detergent that listed every ingredient right on the label. I tend to be suspicious of "proprietary ingredients." I understand that companies like to keep certain ingredients secret in order to prevent other companies from stealing their formulas, but when it comes to my baby's skin I want to know what's in it. If he were to have an allergic reaction, I'd want to have a good idea why. And I've recently become aware that some companies will purposely choose not to disclose ingredients that they know to be harmful, controversial or suspicious.
After much reading and research about different brands, and coming very close to deciding on Country Save (because it's cheaper than other brands and can be bought in large quantities on Amazon), I instead decided to try Nellie's All Natural. To be honest, I loved it and have no real complaints about the way it worked. It kept the diapers fresh and clean, and it's unscented so you can really tell they're clean. The ingredients were listed as "sodium silicate and coconut oil-based surfactants." I researched sodium silicate and found it to indeed be natural and eco-friendly, with a history of not causing rashes. I already knew what coconut oil was, it's great for soothing skin, so anything made from it had to be good, no?
Well... after I'd bought the bag, I made a discovery. Nellie's website stated that the "coconut oil-based surfactants" were actually Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate, or SLES. (Update: Nellie's website has now started using the term "coconut based (LAURYL) Ethoxylated fatty alcohol" instead of SLES... I am unclear whether or not they have changed the ingredient or if they've just become more vague. A conversation with a customer service rep left me feeling that I'd been given the runaround). I'd learned of SLES two years ago when I developed a strong sensitivity to regular brands of toothpaste and had to switch exclusively to Biotene. SLES is a powerful foaming agent, often derived from chemically altered coconut or palm oils. It's found in industrial-strength floor cleaners. It's also found in many detergents, hair products, body washes and in almost every brand of toothpaste (it's what makes things foamy, and since we've been trained to equate "foamy" with "clean," manufacturers like to include it in any cleaning product). It's been found to be just abrasive enough in small quantities to cause or exacerbate canker sores and skin rashes in highly sensitive individuals, like myself.
What does this all mean? It means that SLES has developed a bad name, not for entirely unfounded reasons, though it certainly won't hurt everyone. Would it cause a skin reaction on a little baby wearing cloth diapers that were washed in Nellie's? Probably not, since the detergent is designed to wash out entirely and not leave any traces on the diapers. Jem didn't have a problem with it. However, like I said, I don't like it when manufacturers don't disclose their ingredients. I understand why they probably do it (though I admit I can't say for certain): I would think other customers are also wary of purchasing baby products containing SLES, since babies tend to have such sensitive skin, and they might lose some business if they wrote the proper name on the label. Why risk losing business if the product works, doesn't cause rashes and is, indeed, eco-friendly? But it left me feeling just a little bit cheated, like I'd been lied to a little. I'm a full disclosure kind of gal. So I decided when the bag of Nellie's was finished, I'd try another brand. If I didn't find any other that I liked, I could always come back to it.
I considered Rockin' Green, a formula used by one of my friends and by many in the CD community. However, now I was being even more careful. Two of the ingredients listed in RG are "natural chelating agents," and "bio-degradable surfactants." Since the bag didn't actually say what those chelating agents and surfactants were, I emailed Kim, the founder and owner of RG. She was very nice but could not tell me what those ingredients were, since they were proprietary. She only said they were indeed natural and eco-friendly, and did not include SLES or any coconut-based ingredients. I thanked her, but decided to try something else first.
I decided to go with Crunchy Clean. A family-run business founded by a mom in her kitchen, Crunchy Clean has only three ingredients: sodium carbonate (washing soda), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and sodium percarbonate (oxygen cleaner). It is indeed about as environmentally and dermatologically friendly as they come, and I loved it almost as much as Nellie's, if not more. It didn't quite get stains out of my diapers as well as Nellie's did, but that was okay with me, I just laid the stained ones out in the sunny living room window and the stains bleached out naturally. I was happy. I felt truly crunchy. :-)
And then, alas, about five or six months in, our diapers started repelling and leaking like crazy. Jem was constantly waking up wet and uncomfortable. Was this due to the diapers themselves? They'd never done this before. Was it the Crunchy Clean? How could it be, since CC doesn't contain soap or brighteners or anything that could junk up the diapers? We discovered the answer after noticing a chalky white film on our shower head. We had hard water. The minerals in the water were clogging up the fibers in our microfleece. What to do? Buy new diapers? Heck no, those things were expensive! We'd have to find a way to soften the water, which meant either special ordering a case of Calgon water softener along with the detergent, or switching detergents.
First we had to strip the diapers of the minerals that were already in them. For that I used RLR Laundry Treatment (which I bought at Diaper Junction because, including shipping, they had the best price I could find). I have no idea what's in it. They claim to be eco-friendly and all natural, but since all the ingredients are proprietary, who can say for sure? However, since it's only meant to be used once a month at most (I only used it that once), and I'd heard good things about it, I bought a few packets for less than $2 each. Whatever is in it has a very powerful foaming agent, so you have to rinse the diapers about seven or eight times after using it, but it worked.
Since the only hard water diaper detergent I'd really consistently heard good things about was Rockin Green's Hard Rock formula, that's what I went with. It worked quite well, and we even stopped getting stains. I still don't know what all the ingredients are, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It was a few dollars more than the CC I'd been using, but you do what you've got to do! We did start having some ammonia issues (not kind to baby's bum) which probably didn't have anything to do with the detergent, but I can't be entirely sure.
And then we moved. I made sure to find out what the new town's water was like, and though it's still on the hard side it's not nearly as hard as in the town we moved from. So I decided to save a few dollars I'd try a new detergent I'd started hearing rave reviews about, Lulu's in the Fluff. It lists the same three ingredients that CC does, but according to "Lulu" the actual chemical makeup is somehow different. Not being a chemist I have no idea how. But I CAN tell you that it works quite well in our water so far. Somehow it's formulated to work in moderately hard water. We are getting a little staining, perhaps not quite as much as we did with Crunchy Clean. But again, a little sun bleaching and the stains are gone. "Lulu" was also quite helpful in suggesting we start rinsing our diapers before throwing them in the pail to help clear up the ammonia issue. We'd started using a fish tank ammonia neutralizer which had only been helping reduce the smell somewhat (yes, you can do that...if it's safe for fish, the most sensitive creatures probably on the planet, it's safe for baby diapers. It works great for some people, just didn't work too well for us). After buying a diaper sprayer and getting accustomed to ringing out the wet diapers by hand (not quite as gross as it sounds), the ammonia buildup is almost entirely gone. :-) Thanks Lulu!
So, that's where we stand so far. I've tried Nellie's, Crunchy Clean, Rockin' Green and Lulu's, and I've liked them all. Nellie's and RG seem to be a bit better with reducing stains, CC and Lulu's are probably the simplest and most truly eco-friendly. All of them use minimal packaging, which is always a plus! If I try anything else I'll be sure to post about it here!
Which brings me to another reason for choosing not to use disposables: the smell. As a former nanny, I know how disgusting the plastic garbage bag full of disposables ends up smelling at the end of a day or two. I had read that cloth diaper pails actually smell less, and so far that is absolutely true. Why is this? Well, disposables are made of plastic. Garbage bags are made of plastic. Plastic can't "breathe" the way cloth can, and everyone knows that to take up less space in the garbage bag you have to roll the disposables up into tight little balls: tight little smelly, non-breathable balls. No matter how hard you try to keep that diaper genie smelling fresh and clean, when you go to open up the pail to remove the bag you are hit by a death smell that forces you to hold your breath while frantically scurrying to tie the bag and run it out to the curb as quickly as possible. At least, that's how it's been in my experience. Especially because, although all bags of diapers print instructions to dump solid fecal matter into the toilet, it's easier just to roll the poop up in the diaper and toss it in the bin. That's why the bin is kept next to the changing table, right? How many parents actually dump every poopy disposable into the toilet before trashing it?
So, naturally, cloth diaper pails tend to smell less. It's not that they don't smell at all, but they smell much less. Cloth diapers can breathe. Cloth pail liners can breathe. And it's imperative to dump solid poop into the toilet before throwing the diapers in the pail, because otherwise laundry would be a nightmare. It is possible to get certain funky smells. Ammonia, for instance, or a strong urine smell if baby has an infection or ate something that didn't agree with him that week. But overall, the smell of our diaper pail has been quite bearable in comparison to diaper pails I've dealt with in the past.
Anyway, I'm digressing from what I really wanted to talk about in this post, which is detergents. You're not supposed to use regular soap detergents on cloth diapers, because the soap and other additives can quickly build up in the fibers of the diapers and cause leaking and repelling issues, particularly if your diapers contain synthetic fibers like microfleece (which is often used to line cloth diapers to help wick moisture away from baby's skin). So I decided to set out to find the most diaper-friendly, eco-friendly and dermatologically-friendly detergent possible.
It was important to me to find a detergent that listed every ingredient right on the label. I tend to be suspicious of "proprietary ingredients." I understand that companies like to keep certain ingredients secret in order to prevent other companies from stealing their formulas, but when it comes to my baby's skin I want to know what's in it. If he were to have an allergic reaction, I'd want to have a good idea why. And I've recently become aware that some companies will purposely choose not to disclose ingredients that they know to be harmful, controversial or suspicious.
After much reading and research about different brands, and coming very close to deciding on Country Save (because it's cheaper than other brands and can be bought in large quantities on Amazon), I instead decided to try Nellie's All Natural. To be honest, I loved it and have no real complaints about the way it worked. It kept the diapers fresh and clean, and it's unscented so you can really tell they're clean. The ingredients were listed as "sodium silicate and coconut oil-based surfactants." I researched sodium silicate and found it to indeed be natural and eco-friendly, with a history of not causing rashes. I already knew what coconut oil was, it's great for soothing skin, so anything made from it had to be good, no?
Well... after I'd bought the bag, I made a discovery. Nellie's website stated that the "coconut oil-based surfactants" were actually Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate, or SLES. (Update: Nellie's website has now started using the term "coconut based (LAURYL) Ethoxylated fatty alcohol" instead of SLES... I am unclear whether or not they have changed the ingredient or if they've just become more vague. A conversation with a customer service rep left me feeling that I'd been given the runaround). I'd learned of SLES two years ago when I developed a strong sensitivity to regular brands of toothpaste and had to switch exclusively to Biotene. SLES is a powerful foaming agent, often derived from chemically altered coconut or palm oils. It's found in industrial-strength floor cleaners. It's also found in many detergents, hair products, body washes and in almost every brand of toothpaste (it's what makes things foamy, and since we've been trained to equate "foamy" with "clean," manufacturers like to include it in any cleaning product). It's been found to be just abrasive enough in small quantities to cause or exacerbate canker sores and skin rashes in highly sensitive individuals, like myself.
What does this all mean? It means that SLES has developed a bad name, not for entirely unfounded reasons, though it certainly won't hurt everyone. Would it cause a skin reaction on a little baby wearing cloth diapers that were washed in Nellie's? Probably not, since the detergent is designed to wash out entirely and not leave any traces on the diapers. Jem didn't have a problem with it. However, like I said, I don't like it when manufacturers don't disclose their ingredients. I understand why they probably do it (though I admit I can't say for certain): I would think other customers are also wary of purchasing baby products containing SLES, since babies tend to have such sensitive skin, and they might lose some business if they wrote the proper name on the label. Why risk losing business if the product works, doesn't cause rashes and is, indeed, eco-friendly? But it left me feeling just a little bit cheated, like I'd been lied to a little. I'm a full disclosure kind of gal. So I decided when the bag of Nellie's was finished, I'd try another brand. If I didn't find any other that I liked, I could always come back to it.
I considered Rockin' Green, a formula used by one of my friends and by many in the CD community. However, now I was being even more careful. Two of the ingredients listed in RG are "natural chelating agents," and "bio-degradable surfactants." Since the bag didn't actually say what those chelating agents and surfactants were, I emailed Kim, the founder and owner of RG. She was very nice but could not tell me what those ingredients were, since they were proprietary. She only said they were indeed natural and eco-friendly, and did not include SLES or any coconut-based ingredients. I thanked her, but decided to try something else first.
I decided to go with Crunchy Clean. A family-run business founded by a mom in her kitchen, Crunchy Clean has only three ingredients: sodium carbonate (washing soda), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and sodium percarbonate (oxygen cleaner). It is indeed about as environmentally and dermatologically friendly as they come, and I loved it almost as much as Nellie's, if not more. It didn't quite get stains out of my diapers as well as Nellie's did, but that was okay with me, I just laid the stained ones out in the sunny living room window and the stains bleached out naturally. I was happy. I felt truly crunchy. :-)
And then, alas, about five or six months in, our diapers started repelling and leaking like crazy. Jem was constantly waking up wet and uncomfortable. Was this due to the diapers themselves? They'd never done this before. Was it the Crunchy Clean? How could it be, since CC doesn't contain soap or brighteners or anything that could junk up the diapers? We discovered the answer after noticing a chalky white film on our shower head. We had hard water. The minerals in the water were clogging up the fibers in our microfleece. What to do? Buy new diapers? Heck no, those things were expensive! We'd have to find a way to soften the water, which meant either special ordering a case of Calgon water softener along with the detergent, or switching detergents.
First we had to strip the diapers of the minerals that were already in them. For that I used RLR Laundry Treatment (which I bought at Diaper Junction because, including shipping, they had the best price I could find). I have no idea what's in it. They claim to be eco-friendly and all natural, but since all the ingredients are proprietary, who can say for sure? However, since it's only meant to be used once a month at most (I only used it that once), and I'd heard good things about it, I bought a few packets for less than $2 each. Whatever is in it has a very powerful foaming agent, so you have to rinse the diapers about seven or eight times after using it, but it worked.
Since the only hard water diaper detergent I'd really consistently heard good things about was Rockin Green's Hard Rock formula, that's what I went with. It worked quite well, and we even stopped getting stains. I still don't know what all the ingredients are, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It was a few dollars more than the CC I'd been using, but you do what you've got to do! We did start having some ammonia issues (not kind to baby's bum) which probably didn't have anything to do with the detergent, but I can't be entirely sure.
And then we moved. I made sure to find out what the new town's water was like, and though it's still on the hard side it's not nearly as hard as in the town we moved from. So I decided to save a few dollars I'd try a new detergent I'd started hearing rave reviews about, Lulu's in the Fluff. It lists the same three ingredients that CC does, but according to "Lulu" the actual chemical makeup is somehow different. Not being a chemist I have no idea how. But I CAN tell you that it works quite well in our water so far. Somehow it's formulated to work in moderately hard water. We are getting a little staining, perhaps not quite as much as we did with Crunchy Clean. But again, a little sun bleaching and the stains are gone. "Lulu" was also quite helpful in suggesting we start rinsing our diapers before throwing them in the pail to help clear up the ammonia issue. We'd started using a fish tank ammonia neutralizer which had only been helping reduce the smell somewhat (yes, you can do that...if it's safe for fish, the most sensitive creatures probably on the planet, it's safe for baby diapers. It works great for some people, just didn't work too well for us). After buying a diaper sprayer and getting accustomed to ringing out the wet diapers by hand (not quite as gross as it sounds), the ammonia buildup is almost entirely gone. :-) Thanks Lulu!
So, that's where we stand so far. I've tried Nellie's, Crunchy Clean, Rockin' Green and Lulu's, and I've liked them all. Nellie's and RG seem to be a bit better with reducing stains, CC and Lulu's are probably the simplest and most truly eco-friendly. All of them use minimal packaging, which is always a plus! If I try anything else I'll be sure to post about it here!
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