To Tide or Not To Tide

I'm pretty sure that Tide must be one of the most popular detergents out there and with good reason: it works!

Apparently it works on cloth diapers too... or so many other cloth-diapering mothers have told me.

I was actually relieved to hear this at first because, in the good ol' days, I was a Tide user myself. I bought it by the gallons and never gave a thought to what kind of additives or enzymes or softeners or bleaches it contained.

It got my clothes clean. What did I care?

Enter young, cloth-diapering mother with a laundry fetish (read my profile) and slight obsession with research.

Suddenly I'm finding out that additives can cause build up! enzymes can cause burn-like rashes! bleaches can damage fibers and void warranties!

To be safe I went with the additive, softener, enzyme, bleach free, biodegradable, rinses clean, save the planet, worship my purity detergent.

It got my clothes clean. What did I care?

Finally, the Tide rave got to me. I had run out of detergent and needed to do laundry. I took my list of the top five diaper-safe detergents, walked to the local grocery store (as my husband had stolen my Jeep) and looked at what was on the shelf.

Tide powder, Tide with bleach, Tide with bleach and fabric softener, Tide Sensitive Skin and Clean, Purex, Sunlight, Ultra, Woolite... I'm sure you are getting the picture that there was a lot of choices. But, of course, not one of my "diaper-safe" detergents was present.

I grabbed the bottle of Tide Sensitive Skin and headed home to launder my laundry.

I used only 1/2 the recommended amount and, yes, it got my diapers very clean.

But the next day there was a rash on my son's butt. Knowing that enzymes could be (and probably were) the culprit I ran an extra "quick wash" at the end of the regular wash to rinse out any remaining detergent and enzymes and even added 1/4 cup vinegar to the mix.

Rash: not so bad but still present.

I used 1/4 the recommended 'Tide'al dose.

Rash: still present.

I used 1/4 the recommended amount with the extra quick wash (now people with water shortages around the country are ready to tar and feather me).

Rash: hanging on for dear life.

Switch back to "ultra-biodegradable-I-save-lives-I'm-so-green" detergent and WELLA... no more rash.

I now use the Tide on just mine and my husband's clothes.

Obviously it works for some mothers, babies and their diapers. I'd really hoped it'd work on mine, and while it got things clean, so does the other stuff. They cost about the same, they work about the same (sans the rash, of course), and they get my clothes clean.

What do I care?