Eczema & Laundry Detergent - what cleans clothes but doesn't irritate skin?

[cidercat]

DS is 24 months.  He's been rashy his entire life, not severely so, just persistently so.

We CD.  We have a front loader.  We were using Tide HE for clothes & dipes until DS came along and had the most horrific diaper area rash for weeks.  I changed to Country Save (for clothes & dipes) and treated the rash aggressively with cortisone and it went away.  It never came back.  He continued to have mild eczema, specifically on the ankles & the backs of his knees.  He's never had a problem on his upper half.  We use wool exclusively, I thought maybe he was irritated by wool.  

So the rash went away in the diaper area, stayed in the wool covered area, and our laundry was no longer clean!  I hated the Country Save for clothes, switched back to Tide for that, because Country Save wasn't doing ANYTHING for my kids' dirty, messy clothes.  He didn't have a problem with the change to Tide (again, on his upper half, lower half was wool).

We potty learned 2 weeks ago.  I thought it would get better, to get him out of wool.  The opposite.  Now he has rashes on his buns!  His bottom half (ankles & knees) isn't worse, but it isn't better either.

So I'm thinking it's the Tide again.

Sorry for the essay, the bottom line is: what is a good laundry detergent for eczema/ sensitive skin that also cleans clothes well?  I searched & found a lot of suggestions about brands, addressing how it helped with the rashes, but I wanted to see if anyone had any input about how it worked on the clothes, too.

TIA!

[elmh23]

Different people will react to different things.  I react to every single detergent EXCEPT Tide.  And I'm also highly allergic to wool (I have a wool cover for ds2 and he can only wear it when he has pants or else I break out in hives.)  It sounds like you're going to have to try several different brands to see what will work for him.  Good luck!

[Laurienna]

I've been making my own detergent for months: it doesn't affect our sensitive skin and works great at cleaning clothes. I'll put it here in case you are interested:

grate one bar of soap ( any soap, it truly doesn't matter)

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Mix and use 1 1/2 tbsp to 2 tbsp per big load.

[witchygrrl]

That's what we do. Making our own saves so much money, too!

I react to most detergents unless they say free and clear. Or it's Tide. My DH reacts to only Tide. Go figure.

I also react to dryer sheets, so if you use those, that might be the issue.

[cidercat]

I've considered making our own for a long time.  Maybe it's time to do that.  I think we definitely have to lose the Tide.

[2goingon2]

What type of washing machine do you have?  I'd be interested in this but I have a front loader as well that is only supposed to take HE detergent.

 

Originally Posted by Laurienna 

I've been making my own detergent for months: it doesn't affect our sensitive skin and works great at cleaning clothes. I'll put it here in case you are interested:

grate one bar of soap ( any soap, it truly doesn't matter)

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Mix and use 1 1/2 tbsp to 2 tbsp per big load.

[kjbrown92]

We only use All Free & Clear because of DH's allergies. And my niece had contact rash from detergent and the only thing that works for her is All Free & Clear as well. We use Bounce Free & Sensitive for dryer sheets and don't have a problem with them. Not sure if my niece is sensitive to dryer sheets or not. I know she reacts to Tide though!

[Laurienna]

I'm sorry, I didn't see your message until today. We have a front loader. The formula is non sudsing and is no problem for any washing machines.

[Jano5678]

The best laundry powder I've found was created by two UK doctors. It cleans amazingly well. I read about it The Daily Mail about a week ago and its changed our lives. My husband suffers very badly with eczema, particularly in the summer so I've started washing his clothes only in Skin Salveation and it works. You can read the testaminials on www.skinsalveation.com. It seems to be used for all sorts of skin complaints,

Jane

[Mama2mc]

We really like Planet, it has worked great for us - no iritation, and clean clothes and diapers...