Charlie's Soap and Country Save are not working.

[Beauchamp]

I used Country Save and had to put like two full scoops in my HE/top loader (Whirlpool Cabrio). Plus, the Country Save seemed to fade everything cotton, like DH's polo-type shirts he wears to work-- all the collars went whitish and he won't wear them, and the shirts all looked blotchy white, and yet our whites looked grayish.

So I switched to Charlie's Soap...and now we're getting streaks on our clothes, and stains DON'T come out. I am way too busy to pre-treat every little stain. I am ticked that I am ruining so many clothes by trying to go natural. Gah!

I also added Calgon, since we have super hard water. I bought a bottle of (expensive!!!) Seventh Gen baby detergent, and use it exclusively for our cloth dipes, which seems to work fine (but it's $). I am afraid to use Charlie's on my dipes and get stains.

Anyone have any ways to make the Charlie's work? Or should I just use it up and try something else?

[SageR]

Charlies didn't work for us either.

I use Seventh Generation/cold water for everything. What I've found is you only need half or less of what they recommend so I am able to make a bottle stretch.

When I notice things getting a little dingy looking I'll do a warm soak and wash with some oxygen bleach.

[Beauchamp]

Does it get your stains out?

[Katie T]

I wasn't impressed with Charlies until I was done with my first bag/intothe second. I think by then it had pulled all the buildup out of our clothes and now even with out very hard water and no extras it cleans better than Tide or anything else we have tried and we have tried a lot of things lol.


Good luck in your search, it isn't fun to spend money on detergent just to find you aren't happy with it.

[jrpbrown1]

Charlie's has a document on using it in hard water on their website. They will work with you to troubleshoot if needed too. I found the powder to work better for me than the liquid.

It does seem to be a love it or hate it product, however. And if you do indeed hate it they will refund your money.