Wash product for fleece liners?

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R

Rissa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
607
Location
Vancouver, Canada
I was reading about the care and washing of fleece today. A huge use for fleece is in diapers for babies and on one of the boards for them I found this product.

http://www.suite101.com/content/rlr-lau ... ers-a51330

It claims to strip off all the detergent and residues that add up and make fibers more absorbent again. It also says it will get out ammonia smell from cloth diapers. I am going to see if i can track any of it down and throw a load of liners in with it.
 
I'll probably wait until we are cloth diapering, but I'm interested in trying rockin' green on my cage liners. For now, we seem to be doing okay with white vinegar.
 
I can find RNockin Green anywhere online, its expensive to ship (due to weight) but check cloth diaper stores for samples! Also check local cloth stores. You really only need a tablespoon per large load and leave to soak over night, so a large bag would last rat owners years if only used on rat stuff. Cloth diapers need to be soaked once a month or more, as the zorb or microfibre is highly absorbent, more than fleece. You also need to rinse quite a few times in hot water, so the less you do this the longer your fleece last.
BUT by all means, find a large bag and rock a soak on everything in your home, socks, bed clothes, towels, clothes, wash cloths, blankets... you will be surprised what color the water will turn even on "clean" laundry. I much prefer this over the RLR anyday.
I am a cloth diaper pro lol
Ill post a photo in a min once I start up the laptop/tv of what a soak in this stuff does.
We use Amaze by Sunlight on our rat stuff and cloth products as I cant find RNG locally :(

Edit to add, also... make sure you try the right stuff for your water. Rockin Green Hard rock is for hard water, Soft Rock is for soft.. ah duh I guess lol Personally, I would get the naked scent stuff for animals.

Annnddd
[youtube:3r1548u9]fo0i7JcKyqU[/youtube:3r1548u9]

RLR:
Canada
USA
 
digitalangel said:
I just found these two links which are neat:

http://www.bummis.com/ca/en/detergent-residue.php
http://www.bummis.com/media/detergent-information.pdf
Click to expand...

I find the list of detergents funny, cause 75% of the cloth diapering world uses Tide Free and Tide (both powder) and swears by it. I tried Arm and Hammer Essentials, :sick2: :sick2:

A LOT of cloth diapering information can be used in rat bedding care, as both need to be sensitive to little littles, both soak up the same thing, and both are adorably cute. Keep digging! This is interesting for all to read.
 
I was just looking for something in the laundry room and realized my boyfriend bought one of the detergents on the yes list for himself just recently. Now I'm all excited to try it with Ratty liners without fabric softner and see how it works out!
 
I use Charlie's powder soap.. Absolutely no rat smell left on the liners/hammies after drying. Its just a really clean fabric smell, not a 'fresh' smell really as there's nothing left on the fabric at all.
I've been using it a 2-3 months now on all my stuff, my machine only uses Cold water which is suppose to work best with it :) My sister didn't have very good luck using it with her HE washer tho :(
I've seen the RLR offered in a co-op but I don't think it would be needed with a 0 residue detergent.
 
I use powder because its slightly cheaper and easier to get rid of boxes rather than plastic jugs. A 40 load box does 160 loads, as I only use 1/4 of the smallest recommended ammount for cloth/rat bedding.
Charlies Soap, I hear thats good stuff!
Another thing is soap nuts, unsure of the brand though. You'd have to google that. Michelle Duggar from 19 kids and counting has a home made soap instructions on their website, its like 300 loads for $13 worth of stuff. and its safe for cloth/rats.
 
I'd be thrilled to hear of a better way for washing fleece with an HE (front loader) machine. I use vinegar and an extra rinse to get rid of the smell. I don't wash fleece in hot water because I was told that isn't good for it, but I do use warm water.
 
digitalangel said:
I noticed the trend of using powders do you know why they are preferred over the liquid versions?
Click to expand...

Powdered detergent is supposed to clean better, but for some reason people prefer the liquid version - maybe because it doesn't leave as obvious a residue when you use too much. Unfortunately, many manufacturers make only liquid HE detergents. The only "good" detergent on the list I recognize is Seventh Generation, I'm wondering if anyone has seen any of the other brands on the list in Canada and where?

Godmother said:
I'd be thrilled to hear of a better way for washing fleece with an HE (front loader) machine. I use vinegar and an extra rinse to get rid of the smell. I don't wash fleece in hot water because I was told that isn't good for it, but I do use warm water.
Click to expand...

Seventh Generation is suitable for HE washers and it's carried by many Canadian national supermarket chains including National Grocer's ones (Loblaws, YIG, RCSS, Atlantic Dominion, etc.).

My issue is not smell when they come out of the wash as much as it is that my liners reek after only half a day. I use little detergent (not one of the ok ones though), an extra rinse, and a plant based and biodegradable fabric softener. I've tried vinegar as well, but that didn't make a difference.

digitalangel said:
I was just looking for something in the laundry room and realized my boyfriend bought one of the detergents on the yes list for himself just recently. Now I'm all excited to try it with Ratty liners without fabric softner and see how it works out!
Click to expand...

I think you have to use these products for all your laundry, because the residues from the other products can stay in your washer.
 
I use this:
http://www.bi-o-kleen.com/pdfs/LaundryPowder.lo.pdf

it also comes in free and clear but I love the grapefruit one- there's absolutely NO odor left once the clothes are done washing but it smells so nice in the box
[url="http://www.drugstore.com/bio...w.drugstore.com/biokleen-free- ... h=biokleen[/url]


when it's on sale, I stock up on it, getting four boxes at once and getting free shipping that way too (each box does 100 loads, so it says, but you really can use even less than it says on the box, I use about 1/2 to 1/3 scoop, so it lasts a long long time!!)

it works better than anything I've ever used (except for stains on my clothes, like coffee, ketchup or whatever, for those I use a tiny bit of an enzyme detergent like Era)

it rinses completely out, no residue at all and clothes actually dry faster.

Love the stuff!! won't ever go back to anything else.
I think it's probably cheaper than Tide and I know it rinses cleaner as I compared them side by side- the rinse water was clear with Biokleen and still soapy and cloudy with Tide.

I've never needed to do a second rinse with Biokleen

yeh, I could advertise for them :lol:
 
victoria said:
My issue is not smell when they come out of the wash as much as it is that my liners reek after only half a day. I use little detergent (not one of the ok ones though), an extra rinse, and a plant based and biodegradable fabric softener. I've tried vinegar as well, but that didn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

From all the reading I've been doing a lot of moms say that happens with their diapers because they are not really getting clean and thats where "stripping" comes in. In cloth diapers thats washing them in dawn dish soap or using RLR treatment but there was also talk of soaking the diapers in something like Rocking Green for a couple of hours before laundering.
 
digitalangel said:
victoria said:
My issue is not smell when they come out of the wash as much as it is that my liners reek after only half a day. I use little detergent (not one of the ok ones though), an extra rinse, and a plant based and biodegradable fabric softener. I've tried vinegar as well, but that didn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

From all the reading I've been doing a lot of moms say that happens with their diapers because they are not really getting clean and thats where "stripping" comes in. In cloth diapers thats washing them in dawn dish soap or using RLR treatment but there was also talk of soaking the diapers in something like Rocking Green for a couple of hours before laundering.
Click to expand...

We do a cycle with our cloth/rat bedding. We have a new toploader, not a frontloader or HE. We pre rinse with warm water, wash with hot and soap, then extra rinse with cold. We strip our diapers every 3 months, and we do not use anything but sometimes we use Amaze if its bad (a washing soda). Our "stripping" is usually 4 full washes with hot water, no soap. Personally I wouldn't use Dawn soap as it can break down any materials your soaking especially PUL in diapers.

Unfortunately, we don use any fabric softners as I havent found any non scented, but we do use wool dryer balls for static :) I make my own, and I think I'll make a few tonight now that I think about it.
 
digitalangel said:
How do you make your own dryer balls I would be really interested in this :)
Click to expand...

First thing, make sure you get thick wool yarn, 100% and NOT the washable stuff, you want this to shrink and felt. No alpaca, or any other animal. Just pure 100% "felting" yarn. The store across the street from me sells a skeen of the prefect stuff for $3, I could go broke over there!

And second...
Good Mama DIY Wool Dryer Balls
Good Mama DIY Wool Dryer Balls V2

I make, as some places sell them from $8-$13 EACH, and you need a good 4-8 for a load of laundry :)
 

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