Homemade laundry soap and diapers...

Last Friday I wrote all about the chemistry behind laundry detergents and how the various ingredients affect your cloth diapers while washing, read that post HERE. Today we are covering homemade detergents (which are soap based) as well as soap nuts. I have never used soapnuts though I have considered it. So, my brief section on this type of cleanser is just what others are saying. If you have used them on cloth diapers for more than two or three months, I would love it if you could comment and tell us what you think and if you have had repelling problems. I am especially interested in the experience of those who have hard water since the farm we are moving to this summer has very hard water.

Soapnuts

There are a variety of soapnuts available on the market today, the majority of which come from Asia. There are domestic soap berries which come from the Sapindus tree which is common in the southern states of America, see HERE, and while there is a history of being used as a soap by Native Americans in Florida, its lowered saponin levels make it uncommon in the general market. Wherever your soap nuts come from, they are dried fruit husks from plants which contain high levels of naturally occurring saponins. These agents are also commonly found in quinoa and contributes to the bitter flavor and the slippery feeling when they have been soaked. NaturOli, a marketer of Asian soap nuts provides a fascinating article on their site about the Asian tree itself which is well worth reading and can be found HERE.

I am not entirely sure about the composition of the soapnuts' saponins and I am not sure how they react to hard water (to make scum) and I have heard some mixed reviews about them. Firstly, Sarah who blogs for the Fuzzi Bunz diaper company says that when she tried them she could feel a film on her cloth diapers, see HERE, but overall the her experience was so positive that one month later the company gave them away on their blog, see HERE. Sarah said that she found that her laundry's feel and "hand" was better with the particular brand of soapnuts she was using. Katie who blogs at Kitchen Stewardship found that soapnuts removed the stink from a towel that had been used to clean up a kefir spill, see her review HERE and her handy trick to see if it is time to replace the nuts HERE. Both of their experiences has me considering using soapnuts especially since we just switched to a top loading clothes washer.

Bar Soaps for Homemade Detergent

Again, this is really laundry soap and not laundry detergent but you get the idea. If you troll the web or poll your friends, there are a few soaps that come up in most of the recipes out there and we'll take each in turn. We are looking at Fels Naptha, Zote, Ivory and Castille soaps in general. It is important to look at the actual ingredients and see if these are appropriate for cloth diapers. As a general rule, most diaper companies have similar types of restrictions when it comes to laundering your diapers and so the ingredients we are looking to avoid are the following:

• no pure soaps
• no optical brighteners
• no softeners
• no (chlorine) bleach
• no enzymes
•  no dyes
• no fragrances

Most homemade laundry soap recipes include both pure soaps as well as softeners. Pure soaps used alone will react with and bond with minerals in water and precipitate out the sodium and potassium in soap to create soap scum. The higher the mineral content of your water, the worse your scum will be on your diapers. This is why softeners are used as they bind with the minerals first so that they are unable to create scum. Laundry soap recipes rely on the addition of washing soda which serves this purpose  in order to counter the effect of using pure soap. If you do not use washing soda, the result will be scummy and foul smelling diapers that actually repel the moisture that they are meant to absorb. I actually use a product with a significant amount of washing soda as an ingredient and while it is caustic, it really does the job well. Don't skip it in your homemade product.

Fels Naptha

This bar of soap is far and away the most common soap used. Like most manufactured products which ingredients are actually present in any individual bar of soap is a matter of what was cheapest at the time of production. This explains ingredient labels which read something like this: One or more of the ingredients may be present. In the case of this soap, you find the ingredients HERE and below:

"Soap (sodium tallowate*, sodium cocoate* (or) sodium palmate kernelate*, and sodium palmate*), water, talc, cocnut acid*, palm acid*, tallow acid*, PEG-6 methyl ether, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etidronate, titatium dioxide, fragrance, Acid Orange (CI 20170), Acid yellow 73 (ci43350)"

Despite the rather complicated list of possible ingredients, according to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep site, see HERE, and its searchable index of questionable ingredients, nothing is concerning as a potential toxin. The only troubling part is the color and the fragrance which could cause some dermatitis in some individuals. Remember, don't use it alone.

Zote

This is another common soap used by Americans to make laundry soap, which I find funny because it was the standby for everything when I was child (I was raised in the states but my family is Mexican). This soap originated in Mexico and remains popular there to this day and was the soap my grandmother used to the day she died. On clothes. On people. On floors. On hair. I can smell it a mile away and though I would never use it, it does make me think fondly of my grandmother and I always stop to sniff the bars in the store. If you did not know that pink Zote dominates the Mexican market, you can read a bit more about it HERE. And yes, we were all bathed with it as children. Regularly. You can find the Zote ingredients list HERE and below.

"The main ingredients are beef tallow and coconut oil, which are neutralized with caustic soda for the saponification process. It contains salt (sodium chloride), glycerin, perfume, optical brightener and dye, in the case of pink ZOTE and blue ZOTE."

While the ingredients list of the previous soap was generally reassuring, this one is not. Not only does it contain fragrances and dyes, which are always better to avoid, is also contains optical brighteners. If you read my previous post, you know why to avoid them. If you did not, then now is the time to go back and read it. This product will definitely cause residue and leaking. Avoid it.

Ivory Soap

With this soap, the question is which one you are using: are you using Ivory Classic or the new and improved formula known as Ivory Simply? They are actually different. The Material and Data Safety Sheet (known as a MSDS) for each product lists any concerns with any ingredients and sometimes the ingredients themselves. Ivory Classic has no ingredients listed, so I pulled from Wikipedia (see HERE) which is the best source I could find. I did contact the company directly and told them I wanted the ingredients for a blog post, but they declined to offer any additional information. To read the Classic bar's MSDS, click HERE. To read the Simply bar's MSDS, click HERE.

"Ivory Classic Ingredients: sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, magnesium sulfate, and fragrance."

"Simply Ingredients: Sodium Tallowate and/or Sodium Palmate, Water, Sodium Cocoate and/or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance, Coconut Acid*, Palm Kernel Acid*, Tallow Acid *, Palm Acid*, Tetrasodium EDTA. *Contains One Or More Of These Ingredients"

According to the Facebook page, the tallow used comes from both beef and pork. As for the other ingredients, you can do just like I did and check the ingredients out at the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep website, find it HERE. In both the Classic and Simply bars, the surfactants come from both the beef and pork fat as well as vegetable sources (either palm or coconut oils)  and both contain basic table salt all of which are reassuring. Classic also contains sodium silicate and magnesium sulfate which are low concerns. The only issue is the fragrance, which if it does not bother you, shouldn't worry you. The Simply Ingredients are slightly different. Simply contains additional acids, some of which are plant derived, and may include (depending on what was cheapest at the time of production) acids from the following sources: coconuts, palms, beef or pork. So long as you have no ethical problems with feedlot soap and no religious objection to pork this is really not problematic. The last distinction between the soaps is tetrasodium EDTA, which is a mild concern overall, but since it is a penetration enhancer (I am not kidding about its purpose, seriously, check Skin Deep) it might be a problem for those of us who want to reduce the amount of toxic load in our bodies. I do want to emphasize that it is still a low level concern, so let other things keep you up at night. Or not, that would be better.

Castille Soaps

This is a broad category of soaps which traditionally included only soaps made with olive oil but now includes the broader category of plant fat based soaps of all stripes. The most common brand is Dr. Bronner's soap, that trusty and familiar bottle with the freaky amount of religious print on the label. I choose Dr. Bronner's for a variety of reasons including:

• Certified organic ingredients
• Fair trade certified
• Fair treatment of employees

I use this soap in a variety of uses and it makes choosing safe products easier. My uses can be found HERE and the in the company FAQ you can find their uses HERE (both in Bronner-speak and a more articulate version). If you are unfamiliar with Bronner-speak, then by all means watch the documentary about the man himself. Fascinating. Find out more HERE. While I love the soap, it has a few drawbacks. It is terrible on dishes and leaves a film that you can see and feel, ditto for windows. You can use vinegar for those windows; if you can't stand the smell then cover it with essential oils. It is also terrible for laundry, even if you use the baking soda they recommend on the website. If your clothes are washed twice in it, they look and feel like a dirty hippie borrowed them and brought them back, well, dirty. I really did not think it would work, but since I wanted it to work, I did it anyway. Hard Knocks. Castille soap is pure soap. Dr. Bronner's peppermint variety ingredients compared with other natural cleaners and their ingredients can be found HERE and just the Bronner's below:

"Saponified coconut oil (with retained glycerin), saponified organic olive oil (with retained glycerin), organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid, vitamin E, organic peppermint oil, organic Mentha Avensis,  water."

It contains moisturizing oils which are great for the skin and explains why it never dries out my face, hands or hair but leaves a film on dishes and windows. I still love it, but I never wash clothes in it. Avoid it.

Stripping Diapers

Let's say you have been washing your diapers and you notice that as soon as the baby wets, they reek like the diaper pail. You might smell a wet diaper straight from the washer and notice that it still stinks. Maybe your diapers have started leaking excessively or the baby has developed a wicked rash. All are signs of residue build up and you know it is time to strip the diapers. Companies like  Econobum (see HERE) and bumGenius (seesee HERE) recommend washing the diapers with a squirt of Dawn dishwashing detergent. There are other methods, such as boiling, which are covered by the FuzziBunz blogger, Sarah, HERE. But I think that the Bummis brand has some particularly good advice on what could cause different types of problems with residue and tips for avoiding each kind, see HERE. I may not be a diaper manufacturer but I started cloth diapering with my oldest who is now a college freshman and with ten children's diapers behind me, I can tell you my experience (just do not violate the warranty of your diapers so read their advice first).

Preventing residue problems:

• always pre-wash in cold water to remove additional material, but do not use soap
• always wash in the HOTTEST water you can to kill germs
• carefully measure the detergent and do not use too much or too little in the hot wash and be careful about which deterget or soap
• do not add vinegar or essential oils to the washing process
• do an extra rinse and make sure your washer uses enough water, set it to the highest water setting possible on your washer (or add a soaking, dripping wet clean bath towel in the washer to add weight and trick the washer into adding more water)
• always use a polar fleece insert if you use ANY ointment on the baby
• sun the diapers as often as possible

Resolving residue problems:

• boil fleeces super basic dish washing soap, drain, cool, rinse and wash with the diapers
• wash the diapers (and not the covers) on a full wash (cold wash, hot wash, short wash) with no soap and then again with soap only in the hot wash, then sun them
• if they still smell bad when they are clean and not yet dry wash once more on a full cycle with dish soap and a full cycle without to completely rinse the diapers

I think I have stripped diapers like three times ever, and that is because of washing machine problems. If you wash your diapers at least once a week and you are careful to prevent residue, it should never be a problem.

If you are currently having diaper problems, I'd love to help! Just leave a comment.

Linking up to Real Food Wednesday!

(Even though diapers and soap are not food.)