This one is a divisive topic. Every Facebook Group has their own set of rules about what you can and can't use, and every cloth diaper help related website seems to have different rules around which ones are safe. Enzymes vs no Enzymes, mainstream or plant based, scented vs unscented, powder vs liquid, it's all overwhelming.
I realize that it can be much more convenient to just have a list of cloth diaper detergents. The groups that tell you "oh you can use whatever you want, they are all good" then tell you "no, its not safe" when you bring up any plant based detergent. MY goal here is not to complicate things, but give you a really simple set of criteria you can use when evaluating a detergent.
Powder VS Liquid I cannot find anything beyond anecdotes supporting the claim that you need to use powder with harder water. In fact Tide, just as an example, says liquid and powder should be equally effective in hard and soft water, simply increase your detergent amount for hard water.
Detergent VS Soap Detergents have surfactants, you've heard that word if you've been in any cloth Facebook Group for more than a second. Soaps are not recommended because they coat rather than clean. A few hundred years ago, soaps were used effectively simply because hand washing (scrubbing on a washboard) was the norm. For that kind of system they will be fine, but for a modern washing machine (HE or not) they simply will not get your babies diapers clean.
What Surfactants Do I Look For?
Here's a list of some common ones:
C10-16 Pareth
C10-16 Alkyldimethylamine Oxide
Sodium C10-16 Alkylbenzenesulfonate
Sodium Cumenesulfonate
Sodium lauryl sulfate,
Cocamidopropyl betaine,
Lauramine oxide
Ethoxylated Alcohols
Octyl/decyl glucoside
That list is by no means exhaustive. It's usually pretty easy to look up the ingredients on your detergent to see if it contains a surfactant. Occasionally with plant based detergents, you will see only one plant based surfactant, such as sodium laurel sulfate. This is problematic because 1. SLS is a high suds cleaner (it's really foamy) 2. it's not very powerful (common ingredient in shampoo). Many mainstream detergents so contain SLS, but usually in conjunction with a few other low foaming surfactants.
Enzymes: Most mainstream detergents contain enzymes. Enzymes are NOT necessary for getting cloth diapers clean. The enzyme that works on protein is called Protease, and really they are only effective as stain removers. Some people will claim enzymes "clean human waste", when in actuality good surfactants are the only thing that can. You may find less staining when using a Bio (enzyme containing) detergent, or you may not notice a difference at all.
Scents/Dyes: This is personal preference. If you have a baby/household sensitive to scents then you are probably using unscented detergent already, which is great to continue with. If not, I don't have any evidence that using scented detergent is harmful, however I choose not to. I prefer being able to smell any issues with my diapers and scented detergent tends to mask it I find
As I said, most all conventional detergents and many plant based are good options. Some of my personal choices (that's I've used) have been
-Biokleen
-Tide Free and Gentle
-Unicorn Baby Beyond Clean
A few common SOAPS that are NOT recommended in cloth groups are
-Charlie's Soap
-Sal's Suds
-Nellie's Laundry Soda
Homemade laundry powders are NEVER recommended as the ingredients are SOAP and not surfactants, and cannot properly clean diapers. It may not seem like a big issue, but putting an improperly cleaned diaper on a baby is unsanitary and typically leads to painful rashes.
I hope this has been helpful!
