Product: Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent
Price: starting at $14.95
Rating: Strong Recommend*
Laundry detergent is one of those products I didn't give much thought to until I entered the world of cloth diapering. Prior to cloth diapers, my requirements for a detergent were simple: (1) all natural ingredients and (2) as cheap as possible considering requirement #1. Fighting a constant battle against diaper rash, skin sensitivity, and—let's be frank, we are talking about diapers after all—poop stains, however, quickly placed me on a mission to find a detergent that cleans like the dickens, leaves no residue, and is gentle enough for tiny bums. Enter Rockin' Green.
A long time user of Charlie's Soap for both laundry and general household cleaning, I was hesitant to try a new detergent when I began cloth diapering. I'd heard talk of Rockin' Green from other cloth diapering folks but mostly ignored their rave reviews. If I'm being completely honest, Rockin' Green's "Smashing Watermelons" scent made my stomach turn a bit, and their somewhat cheesy packaging turned me off (I know, I know, I totally judged a book by its cover).
Fast forward about four months, and I had a stash of stained, smelly cloth diapers that had gotten stiffer over time rather than softer. And hanging them on the line only removed stains for a bit; washing without detergent did not make them any softer. They had also started leaking, though I wasn't sure if they had lost their absorbency, or if my daughter's being older meant that she needed more liners. I tried Seventh Generation's "Free and Clear" laundry detergent for a few weeks, but saw no difference in the diapers, plus it seemed to irritate my daughter's skin. (According to the folks at the Diaper Jungle, this is because it contains enzymes.)
On the advice of a friend who sells and uses Rockin' Green, I finally ordered a bag of "Classic Rock Lavender Mint Revival" from her. After one wash, I was an official groupie. My diapers were stain-free, fresh-smelling, and as soft and flexible as they had been when they were new! And believe it or not, the diapers have stopped leaking, which means they've regained their absorbancy. A month later, I'm still in love with Rockin' Green. I use it now with all of my laundry, not just diapers.
Rockin' Green's original formula ("Classic Rock") is specifically meant to work with cloth diapering, so the best cleaning process for diapers is clearly explained on the package. They've even created three formulas based on water types: "Classic Rock" for medium water, "Soft Rock" for soft water, and "Hard Rock" for, you guessed it, hard water. Not sure which you have? This map from Rockin' Green helps you get started.
Though I tend to lean toward unscented products, I tried the "Lavender Mint Revival" because that was all my friend had available at the time. The scent is mild, and I am surprised at how much I enjoy it, but Rockin' Green's scents are achieved via natural oils that rinse away. This means the scent is only noticeable before the detergent goes into the washer. It's nice that the scent doesn't linger, but it does seem a bit unnecessary to have a scent that doesn't last beyond the package it comes in.
Rockin' Green can also be difficult to track down in a local retail store, so ordering online or through a seller in your area may be the only way to get it. If you're interested in Rockin' Green but not ready to commit to using a detergent that you can't pick up while on a grocery run, you can order a sample (only 85 cents!) from their site.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Rockin' Green's rock & roll theme is cheesy, but the product is not. It gets rid of poop stains, it doesn't coat diapers, and it doesn't irritate sensitive bums. It's earth-friendly, easy on the wallet, and it works. If you're happy with your detergent, stick with it. But if you're looking for something new, Rockin' Green is worth a try.
PROS:
- It works!
- Three formulas based on water types
- All natural ingredients
- No enzymes to irritate baby's skin
- Minimal packaging
- Yummy scents
CONS:
- Not widely available
- A little pricier than other natural detergents (though not by much)
- I can't let it go; that watermelon scent still kind of grosses me out.
Our Rating:
Strong Recommend*
Recommend
Weak Recommend
Don't Recommend
Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf.
(Image: Lauren Pavao)
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I love the Trader Joe's laundry soap, but this is very interesting! Thank you for sharing and good for you for cloth diapering! I wish I had with our daughter -- but shared apartment laundry that only sometimes works prevented me from making that particular leap.
I also cloth diaper, and we used only RG for over a year, but we started developing some nasty, nasty ammonia problems. We have very hard water where I live, and it was too much for even Hard Rock RG to handle. Turns out, this is not uncommon! I had to do numerous strips (once each with ammonia remover, Funk Rock, OxyClean and blue Dawn) and switched to Tiny Bubbles detergent to get all the ammonia taken care of.
We use--and are happy with--Bum Genius diaper detergent. Pricey, but one box lasted about a year.
While I don't have any diapers to wash, my husbands workout clothes seem to make the rest of our clothes stink, and the towels used to clean up dog messes never seem to come out smelling particularly fresh. Perhaps this is worth a shot!
That was my go to when my babies were in diapers! it was great.
@madame P I LOVED the BG laundry detergent and it was amazing! although I didn't really like their diapers O_O
Country Save rocks! It's cheap and widely recommended for cloth diapers. We tried to switch to another detergent but it was ruining the diapers so we went back to Country Save.
Drying diapers in the sun is the best way to get rid of poop stains. Works like magic but you have to wait until summer around our parts.
Country save contains borax which is not suppose to be used on cloth diapers or near little ones special bits. Make sure to read up on this!
I cloth diapered two kids, in hard water. Our diapers included fleece pocket diapers.
This is what we used; it's the best product out there (never had any poop stains; my diapers still look new, and my diapers never got "stripped"):
http://www.atsko.com/products/laundry-care/sport-wash-residue-free-detergent.html
It's also great for so much stuff -- sport clothes, gore-tex, down, feather pillows as well as regular laundry -- that it is a great multi-use product. (It is marketed in a different bottle under a different name for diapers, but Sportwash is the identical product, and cheaper). Works great in HE machines too.
You can find it in the sports section in Walmart -- it is used to to clean hunting clothes, so that prey cannot smell you (imagine how wonderful that is for diapers!!).
I like both Charlie's Soap (great on pockets but I didn't care for it with regular laundry) nd Rockin Green. I use the Rockin Green because that was the requested detergent for the newborn dipers I am borrowing right now.
Is there anything better than buying someone diapers as a baby shower gift and then borrowing them for free diapering with your next kid?
I used plain old Tide Original HE and it worked great! Never any problems. The trick is it has to be original Tide, only. Not any of the other kinds of Tide. The clerk at the diaper manufacturer told me about it in addition to the detergent listed in the article. I'd run a soak cycle first, then a wash cycle with Tide. Good luck! Cloth diapering was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
I used Rockin' Green for a year, but recently decided to give a try to Bum Genius and I think I'm liking Bum Genius better. I really think it takes care of the ammonia smell way better than RG...
I use half a tablespoon per load of Rockin' Green for hard water, and one package has lasted nearly 7 months. I have never had to strip my diapers and never had any ammonia issues. Love RnG!!!!
Thanks, I had not heard that about Borax! We've been washing our diapers with Country Save for nearly two years and haven't had any issues with irritation so I will probably keep using it, but I'd be curious to know where you heard that if you could provide a link.
FYI, Country Save is exactly the same detergent as Bum Genius {and Tiny Bubbles, for that matter}, but much less expensive. I buy it in bulk at our natural foods store :)
I am also cloth diapering in hard water, very hard water. I started adding Calgon water softener to my loads and I haven't had a problem since (I use All free). When I first started using it it took me an entire day to strip the diapers but I haven't really needed to strip them since. I do a monthly strip just to be safe but there's no build up anymore, so it just ends up being one extra wash.