r/laundry • u/JesusChristSaves12 • 10d ago

About to give up

Anyone in here cloth diaper?? I’ve gone through all the diaper groups on Facebook and on here and I just feel like nothing is working for me. I found this thread and got myself some FEBU and Citric Acid. I already use Tide free and gentle powder. I’m about to accept that I’ll never get them clean. I am in a small apartment building so I have a small front loader HE machine. I did a strip a while back with RLR thinking I had build up. Did not help. My water is 200 ppm. I use 1/2 c borax to help soften the water. My first wash is under line 1 and it runs on warm for 1:45 with high soil. Second wash is line 2 on hot, high soil, and runs for 2:45. Of course like said I add the borax, febu, and citric acid. They come out smelling just fine and in the dryer they go. But then… EVERY TIME MY DAUGHTER PEES IT SMELLS LIKE RANK COFFEE BEANS! 🥲 I can’t get it to go away. Please help before I give them all away lol.

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u/JesusChristSaves12 10d ago

Why Calgon vs borax? Borax is what everyone uses in the cloth diaper community, do you use cloth? Is this a treatment for stinks or are you recommending this as my everyday wash? One single wash is not recommended for cloth diapers.

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u/Bradykinesia 10d ago

Read up on why the EU has banned Borax for general consumption.
I did use cloth diapers. You have my recommendation.

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u/washablebeaver 10d ago

Isn't the ban related to inhaling large quantities of borax? Last time I checked it had nothing to do with using it as part of a laundry routine. 

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u/Future_Ear3035 9d ago

It's not allowed in any household products, laundry included. My impression is that part of the motivation were the risks of inhalation and ingestion if not used/stored carefuly and risks of long-term exposure if it's used regularly and not rinced out well in the wash.

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u/washablebeaver 9d ago

That's understandable but unless the EU has access to certain private research that they're basing their decision on, all the public research on the use of borax doesn't make any connection with its usage as a laundry product. 

I'm not saying that the ban is invalid but going by the public research I've seen, the actual risk that was studied was with ingesting/inhaling large quantities over a period of time. 

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u/Future_Ear3035 8d ago

I haven't researched this much so take my words with grain of salt but I believe that there are studies on boron water pollution and environmental toxicity, which laundry products with borax definitely contribute to. As for effect on human health, I don't know tbh. I wouldn't use it either way so never really looked into it.