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Tell me about Charlie's Soap - Page 2

post #21 of 37
2/4/08 at 12:33am
Yes, you have to use charlies for all your laundry. Taylor can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that is one of the reasons that the rash happens.
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post #22 of 37
2/4/08 at 12:36am
No new foods and no new soap, but she did have a fever the day before I started the diapers. Maybe it's something viral. I'm washing the diapers again in Charlie's right now and we'll see what happens. Maybe it was some detergent mix or maybe I didn't prewash the diapers well enough, but I agree, it doesn't sound like it'd be the diaper--but since I just started using them, it was my most obvious clue. Thanks!
post #23 of 37
2/4/08 at 1:52am
check out roseola
post #24 of 37
2/4/08 at 11:00am
I figured I should post my story so here goes. When I bought my FBs I bought charlies powder. I started using Charlies on ALL my laundry, including my dipes, did MULTIPLE prewashes to clean out my washer, turned my hot water heater all the way up when washing dipes, Did cold prewash, hot/cold wash cycle with full scoop of charlies and at least 2 extra rinses and my DS still had a rash from it- all over not just diaper area (cause we washed his clothes in it too). I switched detergent and it went away. Went to visit my sister for a couple of weeks, who uses Charlies, and not thinking about it she washed our clothes before we went home and he got the rash again. We're using Allens now and his skin is fine. So it wasn't a virus. My DS hadn't touched any foods at all yet so it wasn't food related. He has mild eczema and we have to use California Baby soap and lotions. Hes a sensitive babe and unfortunately Charlies gave him rashes. Not that there is anything wrong with the product per se, DS just reacted to SOMETHING in there. Hope this helps figure something out.
post #25 of 37
2/4/08 at 11:08am
we switched to charlies because of ds's super sensitive skin (including eczema). i love the stuff. we use it for all of our laundry with great success. i also use vinegar in a soak for the diaper laundry and have no odor problems at all. i use just one pump (from their pump) for a load of laundry and that is plenty.
post #26 of 37
2/4/08 at 12:39pm
Oh my! I ordered a sample of Charlie's. I'm due with my first in March and now I'm scared to even try this on diapers, especially since people have mentioned scars. With information like this, it's hard to choose what to do. Advice?
post #27 of 37
2/4/08 at 1:25pm
Let me reiterate that there are products that irritate skin. I have heard that Tide irritates some skin. I cannot use Alba skin products and many other brands. There are always products that irritate someone's skin but not someone else's.

editornj - how far does a sample go? The problems with skin irritation seem to arise after use for at least a short while. If you are scared, try something different like Planet, Allens, or Country Save. Try Charlies when baby is a bit older. Maybe that will make you feel better.
post #28 of 37
2/7/08 at 2:32am
Great, thanks, delphiniumpansy. I use Seventh Generation right now. After a few months I'll experiment a bit.

post #29 of 37
2/8/08 at 1:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CtaylorS_3 View Post
Howdy,

I would be MORE than happy to talk to everyone about the fact and fiction about Charlie's Soap. I think there are many things that people are missing and I would really like to help out. If anyone would like, I can respond to concerns here in this forum.

Thank you for letting us answer questions, if we can.
Hello!
I just got my order of your product today. I have some All Free n' Clear to use up first, but I am looking forward to your product.
I have washing soda on hand for creating cleaning products. Should I use it with the Charlie's?
Also, what stain remover do you recommend for really bad stains? I have been looking at BacOut, but no point in mixing the two if they don't play nice.
I am also fond of using Vinegar for my rinse agent. Can I still do this with Charlie's?
Thanks!
post #30 of 37
2/11/08 at 2:38pm
[QUOTE=Etay005;10413429]After reading all this, I realize my son must have had a reaction to Charlies! QUOTE]

me too!
post #31 of 37
2/11/08 at 5:40pm
We have been using Charlie's for a month now, with no problems.

Today, DS1 was saying he had an "owie" in his diaper and when DH took it off, he was COVERED in a bright pink, blistering rash. The blisters are tiny - lots of raised bumps.

I know it was a reaction to the diapers because the rash was only in areas the diaper came in contact with his skin - where his paper liner was, there was no rash.

We ONLY use Charlie's. Nothing else.
We stripped our machine twice before doing any laundry at all.
We rinse our diapers on cold, then HOT wash with one scoop of Charlie's. Extra cold rise at the end.

The ONLY thing I can come up with is that sis returned some baby clothes to me that I had loaned her - they reeked of her detergent and fabric softener, so I rewashed them twice in Charlie's. Some time after that, I did the diapers. I don't know if that's the source of the problem or not, but I'm not exactly willing to risk my kids' butts and try the stuff again.

Would you?
post #32 of 37
2/11/08 at 5:51pm
I'll admit right now that I did not read all the previous posts. But I did want to comment on a couple things after skimming the posts.

First, my ds and I have extremely sensitive skin. I get hives from nearly all detergents ever since I was an infant. That said, Charlies is the only thing that I do not get rashes from. From what I understand, Charlies is just about pure castile soap (no dies, perfumes, additives, etc.), so I doubt it would cause a rash. Just be sure not to use too much soap...I use a half a scoop of the powder for a full load in my high-efficiency washer. We use Charlies on all our clothes and it works great!

Second, if you want to disinfect your laundry, try using grapefruit seed extract. A few drops per load will kill all bacteria, fungi, etc. But be careful, gf seed extract can irritate the skin, especially if you use too much.
post #33 of 37
2/11/08 at 6:19pm
So, an update - after I posted, someone from Charlie's contact me via PM and asked to talk. I explained my wash routine and they recommended I do another wash with Charlie's and OxiClean (or a similar disinfecting solution), then a wash with just Charlie's and going forward, use Charlie's and OxiClean (and not to hesitate to use a bit more than a scoop of Charlie's). I did this and we are back to using cloth. We haven't had any serious redness, so perhaps the issue was I didn't ever get the dipes clean enough. I will say that after the initial wash with Charlie's and OxiClean, my dipes were very clean - I thought there were some stains that wouldn't come out and they did. I don't think I ever got my dipes clean and disinfected enough.

I'm going to keep the routine up and see how we do. Will post if we see any reactions.
post #34 of 37
2/11/08 at 7:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by oliesmama View Post
So, an update - after I posted, someone from Charlie's contact me via PM and asked to talk. I explained my wash routine and they recommended I do another wash with Charlie's and OxiClean (or a similar disinfecting solution), then a wash with just Charlie's and going forward, use Charlie's and OxiClean (and not to hesitate to use a bit more than a scoop of Charlie's). I did this and we are back to using cloth. We haven't had any serious redness, so perhaps the issue was I didn't ever get the dipes clean enough. I will say that after the initial wash with Charlie's and OxiClean, my dipes were very clean - I thought there were some stains that wouldn't come out and they did. I don't think I ever got my dipes clean and disinfected enough.

I'm going to keep the routine up and see how we do. Will post if we see any reactions.
Yay!
post #35 of 37
2/11/08 at 7:34pm
so nice to trouble shoot!!!!
please post your experience in the charlies and diapering thread
post #36 of 37
2/12/08 at 11:39am
I started with Charlies at the tail end of our diaper days with Nathan and never had an issue. I have been using it for our laundry ever since. I have one who cant uses cheer one who cant use All and one who cant use wisk. I got tired of playing lets see how breaks out in a rash and stuck with Charlies Ive been very happy
post #37 of 37
4/5/08 at 10:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancta View Post
We have been using Charlie's for a month now, with no problems.

Today, DS1 was saying he had an "owie" in his diaper and when DH took it off, he was COVERED in a bright pink, blistering rash. The blisters are tiny - lots of raised bumps.

I know it was a reaction to the diapers because the rash was only in areas the diaper came in contact with his skin - where his paper liner was, there was no rash.

We ONLY use Charlie's. Nothing else.
We stripped our machine twice before doing any laundry at all.
We rinse our diapers on cold, then HOT wash with one scoop of Charlie's. Extra cold rise at the end.

The ONLY thing I can come up with is that sis returned some baby clothes to me that I had loaned her - they reeked of her detergent and fabric softener, so I rewashed them twice in Charlie's. Some time after that, I did the diapers. I don't know if that's the source of the problem or not, but I'm not exactly willing to risk my kids' butts and try the stuff again.

Would you?
I wanted to update my post for anyone who's interested. We're back to Charlie's again and LOVING it again.

The rash turned out not being at all from the detergent itself, but a bacteria rash because the Charlie's was going to work on our hard water and not enough detergent was left to work on the crud. So the remedy was one capful of Calgon water softener, the scoop of Charlie's, and I add in a TBSP of bleach just for safe measure. Since switching to that routine, there is absolutely no rash at all and the diapers are wonderfully clean (and soft).
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