Fabric Softner

[sunflower.mama]

So I am ready to wash all of the soft new diapers that I have for my baby...but am confused about fabric softner. I understand that you don't use it on CD loads. The lady at the store said you need to spray and wipe down the inside of your dryer to get the residue out (from dryer sheets) or that will get into diapes too. But I am not going to do that every time I do a CD load...am I? She said you can use liquid fabric softner, but you need to do a non CD load before a CD load to clean out the residue from liquid fabric softner too. Also not so realistic for me. So I bought some dryer balls at Target but those things sound like elephants...I am not going to have those banging around a couple of hours a day. What do I do? I can't see just stopping fabric softner all together...

[Katie T]

Honestly, that is exactly what I did, stopped using it all together. I decided I didn't want all the stuff in the conventional detergents and fabric softeners on my or my families skin and switched to Charlies Soap (safe for cloth diapers) and now I don't even need fabric softener nor do I miss it.

I think you could try it out the way you do things and just throw cloth diapers in the mix and see if you have problems and if you do decide then what you are going to do. I bet there are some people who use fabric softener in the washer with everything but diapers and don't have any problems.

[Nicole730]

We don't use liquid softener at all anymore. Sometimes we use dryer balls and sometimes we use dryer sheets. I've never wiped out the dryer after using either. I haven't noticed any problems from that.

[MamieCole]

Fabric softeners have so much yucky stuff in them. I won't go so far as to say fabric softener is the , but I think it's close.
Another link
Maybe use this as an opportunity to quit cold turkey?

Whatever you do, don't use them on your dipes. It will totally ruin your investment and irritate your baby's bum.

[Ola_]

We use vinegar instead of liquid softener, but I'd think you would have much less residue to worry about with the liquid than with dryer sheets, even without running a load between that and washing dipes.

[Channelle]

I've never used fabric softener in my entire life. Everything seems soft enough to me.

[ExuberantDaffodil]

commercial fabric softeners are really yucky in general. And they will ruin the absorbency of your diapers.

If you feel like to have to use something, I recommend a little ecover fabric softener, but not regularly. Also, dryer balls rock!

[Channelle]

My mom does use softener, and when I wash at her house, I just use a baby wipe or washcloth or something and wipe out the dryer before I put my dipes in, its absolutely easy and takes like 5 seconds. Not a big hassle at all.

[PoppyMama]

I use a natural softener (ecover/mrs. meyers) with my natural fabric diapers. It's death for a fleece/synthetic diaper to get softener on it but the natural fibers love it.

[KristyDi]

We just don't use fabric softener either. The only difference I notice is the lack of the softener's smell. We use Charlie's Soap now, but have used homemade and (before diapers) conventional detergents in the past with the same results.

[sunflower.mama]

Thanks for your responses everyone. Perhaps wiping out the dryer is a simpler proposition than I had assumed! Anyone have a thought on this article?
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/fabr...cloth-diapers/

[PoppyMama]

That's what I do. The softness and fluffiness is great.