Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Power of Tide

I have been using a mixture of Rockin’ Green and bumGenius detergent for many months now.  I haven’t had any stinkies or repelling or issues of any sort.  They are good detergents.  They are made for cloth diapers.  They work.  I had no reason to switch detergent.

However, with the release of the new Eco Posh products, there were very specific detergent instructions, including the fact that the detergent needed to have enzymes.

I have read the detergent “debate” on Kanga Care’s website before.  It made sense to me that a detergent should have enzymes in order to get the diapers clean.  No bleach, no softener, no additives.  But enzymes, yes.

tide-coupons-1The top recommended detergents from Kanga Care are Tide Original, Gain, and Ecover.  I have never paid the price for Tide detergent, but this time I was curious.  Could it really work?  Is a regular detergent acceptable? 

I couldn’t fend off my curiosity this time – I had to know from personal experience.  So I bought a box of Tide at Costco during my last shopping trip.

I cannot believe the difference in my diapers from just one wash in Tide!  I never thought my diapers had a problem, but they were very grey and dingy compared to their appearance now!  The linings of diapers that are nearly two years old look brand new.  Even some long time stains are barely visible!

Kanga Care has done extensive testing on various detergents.  They are also a leading manufacturer of cloth diapers, and cloth diapering parents with much experience.  They recommend Tide.

I plan to continue using Tide on my diapers and see what the results are.  If you want to give your dingy diapers a facelift, or if you are having detergent battles, I suggest you try Tide!

12 comments:

summerific said...

We started out using Planet 2x Ultra. And then when we starting having stink issues, we switched to Rockin' Green. After months of battling ammonia, we finally switched to Tide. It's working so far. I'm hoping it will take us through to potty learning! Good luck!

Lindsey said...

I thought that scented detergents were unacceptable?!?! I wash all of our clothes in Tide. Did you buy the free and clear or just regular?

Andrea Hamilton said...

Lindsey - You don't want a detergent that has extra fragrance. The Original Tide (it now only comes in the Ultra concentrated) is only lightly scented and it doesn't cause any problems. Julie from Kanga Care said that getting people to use Tide or Ecover has solved 100% of problems when customers come to them for help. There may some things in the "green" cleaners and detergent which are actually deterimental. Tide has been tested and researched and developed and it works. Because of this, it really does deep clean, and therefore the diapers are cleaner and there are no stink/buildup issues.

Lindsey said...

Wow. I'm excited to try it. I have been using Rockin Green with a scoop of Oxyclean and so far it has worked amazingly. I have only been cd'ing for about 3 mos though, so maybe we haven't had to time to build up anything? not sure...

Unknown said...

I look forward to hearing how it works for you. I use Tide Free and Clear. Now, I need to go and do some extra reading. Thanks again!!

Shaky Mommy said...

I am having stink issues again and was going to soak my diapers today....I may just run out and get some Tide instead. Did you wash all of your diapers in Tide or just the Rumparooz?

Andrea Hamilton said...

Since I wrote this post I have used Tide for several diaper loads. They look so great!

Shaky Mommy - I wash all of my diapers in Tide right now. Just check the Mfr. recommendations so that you don't void your warranty. Most Mfr. say no additives. If you use Tide original (or Ultra) there are no additives.

Try to stay away from Free & Clear formulas. I'm not sure why, but every Mfr. I know of warns against using them.

Andrea Hamilton said...

@Shaky Mommy -
Soaking the TPU/PUL (pocket) portion of your diapers is not recommended because it will break down the lamination sooner and cause premature wear. Soak just the inserts!

Samantha Pierce said...

Great post! I just got some Tide coupons, I might break down and try it.

Shaky Mommy said...

Thanks - yes, I always soak just the inserts. But it seems like I'm having to soak like every 6 weeks right now and that seems too often to me. I will try the Tide and see how that works.

SondraMama said...

we used GAIN at the beginning. i loved it but it got spendy doing an extra load to wash out the extras. it worked though! now i use a detergent that requires no extra rinse and it saves us money for now. if i stop using coin machines (aka, getting my own house! ha), then we will go back to the Tide or Gain. =]

Andrea Hamilton said...

Hi Lindsay - sorry for the late response. I use 2 Tbsp. in each wash, and I wash every other day with about 35 pocket diapers plus wipes. Use 1/2 of the recommended amount. My load only fills about half of my top loader, so I use 1/2 of the "small load" recommendation. Use it on everything, but check the manufacturer guidelines first. We can't be responsible for voided warranties.

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