Why Fluff Love Might Be Steering You Wrong
I love science. I love facts. I love educating people. What I can't stand is misinformation.
I love making soap because it satisfies both sides of my brain. It is science-based, yet I am creating and making something that ends with a product that makes me very proud.
Laundry is based on science. You need something that cleans. Sure, it's not black and white, our water systems are so different from region to region making laundry hit or miss for many people. What works for you may not work for my household. But there is still science behind it. Salts and minerals soften water and do crazy scientific and ionic things to help the soap or surfactants do their thing- which is getting the dirt out of your laundry.
If you're a Tide lover, as Fluff Love seems to be, so be it. Use it. But if you're someone who uses cloth diapers because you want to be more eco-friendly then you're probably not using Tide. You're probably trying to find a more earth-conscious company to wash with. If you've turned to sites like Fluff Love or their subsequent Facebook Group, they scream from their mountaintop that soap-based laundry products don't work- no exceptions. When I first found the site years ago and saw people asking for help with their cloth diaper washing routines, their suggestion is almost always Tide. They claim all soap-based laundry products leave behind a residue.
NOT TRUE.
Many soap makers create soaps (both liquid and bar) that have extra fat in them. This is called superfatting. In the end, it creates a product that has extra fat that has been left behind during saponification. The thought is that these extra fats make a soap that is more moisturizing and emollient (soothing and softening).
MamaSuds® does not superfat their liquid soap. Why? Many people who have skin issues react to anything left behind from soap.
Creating a liquid soap that is zero superfat also means it won't leave any oils behind during cleaning. Which is great news for people who need a laundry soap that does not leave a residue behind! This is a link to a great explanation of superfatting soaps.
MamaSuds DOES work for cloth diapers despite what the "professors" over at Fluff Love say about soap-based laundry soaps.
If you've read this article about how DIY laundry recipes ruin your washer (and yes they CAN if you aren't using the right soap!), you can use MamaSuds Castile Soap as you soap in your DIY recipe!
Comments
Xian
I don’t see how anyone can recommend Tide, esp for babies. I started using the pods bc I couldn’t get anything to rinse & lo & behold I can see a ton of suds still present after rinse #2 when it goes into spin. Laundry is crusty & then all those chemicals are next to your skin day & night.
April 09, 2019
Momma
I was banned from their FB group suddenly and rather caught me by surprise as I’ve been on FB since 2004 and in many groups that interested me and never been banned or blocked by any FB group in all these years. I was very careful to follow the Fluff Love guidelines and not post any links to outside websites l, respect others etc. I thought that’s what I was doing in supporting a Mom wanting to use vinegar in her cleansing routine.
A woman had asked if it was ok to wash cloth diaper materials with vinegar. Mind you it was a general question, with no specifics as to whether she was referring to prefolds or covers or all in ones so a wide variety of responses were acceptable in my humble opinion.
Being involved in graduate and environmental research and industrial testing work for years, I praised her decision as it’s very common knowledge in my arena that Tide has 1,4-dioxane which the EPA has classified as a likely human carcinogen.Meanwhile, the majority of commenters were swiftly knocking her idea. It almost seemed like bots that’s how uniform and fast the responses were. They reacted to my comment for vinegar use in a basin and they allleged that a brief vinegar soak was harmful to washer machines! I’m not quite sure how as the vinegar never reaches the washing machine in the cleaning scenario I proposed to the Mom to help her inculcate vinegar. I proposed to let the diaper soak in a small basin briefly and rinse with water prior to running a mild detergent wash in the washer! That was the routine I suggested to the Mom who wanted to use vinegar. Nothing harmful at all. And very close to their own recipe! I just removed the vinegar to a basin in case if washer machine adverse reaction to vinegar.
It seems the Fluff commenters replied aggressively without even reading the comment. They also aggressively maintained that a brief vinegar soak followed by a wash in mild detergent was not sufficient to wash a diaper, when the my proposed routine had specified efficacy specifically for urine diapers. This routine would more than cleanse a nonsoiled diaper and does not have the added risk of using a strong or caustic detergent such as Tide. My comments were deleted so I asked why and then was banned without any reason. Huh! Lol so bizarre!
Babies have sensitive skin and the more organic and natural your cleansing routine, the better it is for baby. Not to mention that modern commercial detergents are so dangerous for babies around the house. Inadvertent exposure to one famous brand led to roughly 22,000 cases of poisoning or adverse effects in babies under 3 yrs in 2016. Babies died, had cessation of breathing, cardiac arrest, eye injury, and coma due to handling or consuming it. 1,4-dioxane has turned up in higher levels in well water in communities! This chemical is present in Tide and other common laundry detergents.
Finally, one thing I noticed on the Fluff page is that most of the users were posting bad experiences apparently having implementied the advice given by Fluff Love itself. It seems the detergents recommended are too caustic for the worn and frequently washed soft diapers most Mom’s have available to them. Looks like their narrow minded approach is not helping the brand. I certainly will never recommend anyone to follow their group as it’s a very negative and unfriendly environment if you get banned for no reason at all. Babies’ diapers have germs, true, but unless the baby has an infection, or unless it’s a soiled diaper, heavy detergent washing routines are not necessary. It’s ashame the Fluff Love site thought it better to ban a new Mom like myself rather than disagree respectfully. Oh well! Now I found better more affirmative groups because of this article! Thank you for being there for new Mom’s and sharing helpful advice without judgement and exclusivity!February 13, 2019
Krista
Fluff Love does have some good advice, but I followed the advice of one of the admins who kept telling me to use a full cup of Oxiclean detergent in my He frontloading washer. Basically it’s been a disaster. My machine got the suds error message, and after doing about 5 heavy duty wash cycles and a few rinse cycles, I STILL can’t get all the detergent out of my diapers. I even tried hand rinsing and wringing them out in my tub, which produced a LOT of white residue and bubbles. Yet still the admin person seems to think that I’m supposed to be using this much detergent, even after I told them what happened. So just beware, they like to give a one size fits all answer for everything, and obviously my washing machine cannot handle that much detergent.
August 08, 2017
Kim
There’s actually a whole Facebook group that is the anti-Fluff Love in that it explains why the folks at FL&CDS have it all wrong and give overly-complicated and unnecessary wash routines. I found the anti-site to be quite right IME. Careful not to follow the crowd, or you’ll follow them right off a bridge…
December 18, 2016
Michelle
Hi Emily. What exactly am I doing to Fluff Love? I’m just pointing out misinformation. Of course it does impact my product, but there are many soap based laundry soaps on the market. Thanks for reading!
October 02, 2016
Emily
I love science and can’t stand misinformation either which is exactly what you’re doing to Fluff Love. Get your facts straight. Nice sales pitch though. ?
September 29, 2016
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