what soap to wash mama cloths with?

[art_teachermommy]

I just purchased my first mama cloths!! yay!! I'm so excited for them to get here!!

Now, I've read you have to be careful about what you wash them in because some soaps will cause them to become water resistant.

What soap do you use to wash yours with?
thanks!!

[DaMajha]

I have been using the HE Tide. I didn't know that some soaps would make them less absorbant.. I knew that fabric softener would do that, but not soap.

[janasmama]

if I may jump in here....what do you wash your mama cloths with? I use cloth diapers...could I wash them with those or do they have to be washed separately?

[janasmama]

Oh, as far as the soaps, I'm sure it's the same general principle as with cloth diapers. You don't want to use soaps with citrus oils, fabric softeners or any other oils in them. It's the oil and fabric softeners that will repel.

I use charlies soap to wash cloth dipes in and everything else. you can check it out at www.charliesoap.com

[gmvh]

I washed mine with our diapers when we were in diapers (used bs/tto/vinegar). Now I wash them with Trader Joe's liquid laundry detergent when I run a load of kitchen/clean up linens and haven't had any absorbency problems. I wouldn't think you'd need to be quite as careful with the natural oils issue in mama cloth as you would with diapers because it's not exactly the same volume and it's (probably) not coming out with as much force so the fabric can sit and absorb vs. needing to catch *really* fast.

[art_teachermommy]

gotcha...so maybe i read it wrong before...
its the fabric softeners that cause them to repel water...

[thixle]

Yep. No fabric softeners. And I wash mine with the diapers (or the rest of the dirty clothes if it's light/spotting).

[EnviroBecca]

I never heard that about citrus oils, and I used natural laundry soaps that contain citrus (Seventh Generation, Ecos, Sun and Earth, etc.) on diapers as well as pads with no problem.

I wash my pads with my regular laundry: clothes and sheets and such. I put them in a zippered mesh bag so they don't get lost amid bigger stuff.

[Mama2E&O]

I wash mine with the diapers too- it's always worked out very well.

[russianthistle]

I use Bio-Kleen and vinegar. I wash my mama cloth with the diapers and the family cloth...If you are concerned about lack of absorbency due to soap residue, put a cup of white vinegar in the rinse...it will reduce such residue.

[momof_3_boys]

No fabric softener, no chlorine bleach. I wash my pads with my diapers.

[Best Feeling]

Mine get washed with a load of regular "darks" laundry. I air dry them b/c DH (who does our laundry) refuses to give up fabric softener sheets and I have yet to come up with an alternative (I'm working on it!!).

[DaMajha]

Originally Posted by Best Feeling

Mine get washed with a load of regular "darks" laundry. I air dry them b/c DH (who does our laundry) refuses to give up fabric softener sheets and I have yet to come up with an alternative (I'm working on it!!).

I do the same, I just hang them on a coat hanger with clothes pins. They dry really fast that way.