Lunapads Part II - w/Femme Rock!

I reviewed LunaPads back in May while I still was pregnant with Squiggle. Now that I've had Squiggle, I've had the opportunity to try them out a bit more as they were intended.

Postpartum with Bobble, I bled for 5 weeks. I had normal (cycle-like) bleeding for a few weeks before it tapered off. Unfortunately for this review (but fortunately, for me!) my bleeding tapered off to very light bleeding/spotting 2 days after Squiggle was born. Blood is blood, however, so I was able to review these the rest of the way... I just can't tell you how long they would hold up with heavier bleeding.

This review will also be without pictures of the LunaPads, as I feel I posted plenty in the previous review (seen here), and I figured that even though they are clean, nobody wants to see pictures of used cloth pads... even if they don't have any blood stains.

Yeah, you read that right. ZERO blood stains. I was fascinated by this. I truly expected them to look... well... used. Even after being washed. That wasn't the case. I wasn't certain how to store them, and so I sort of tried a few different ways. The first week I tried just putting them in a wet bag and washing them with towels when it was time. The next week I was rinsing them with our diaper sprayer before adding them to the wet bag. Personally, I saw no difference... though if I was experiencing a heavier flow, I would have sprayed them automatically.

I used Rockin' Green's FEMME ROCK as my detergent. I followed the simple washing instructions and was pleasantly surprised as to how clean they came. No blood stains. However, there were interesting "bleach" stains. The only thing was, no bleach is in Femme Rock, and I didn't use any bleach. I contacted BePreparedPeriod.com about this to see if they had any insight.

Slight backstory: When I first was using these (during pregnancy) I washed them and noticed he same thing... but I thought maybe it was the discharge that is so common during pregnancy when you're losing your plug... so I thought maybe I just didn't get them clean enough, but they still looked that way when I rewashed. They looked, felt and smelled clean.

Back to the current story!

My response from BePreparedPeriod.com was as follows:

This one is a bit of a strange, but not uncommon phenomenon. Basically, depending on the Ph of your menstrual fluid, some people can experience a sort of bleaching effect when their period comes into contact with the natural fabrics used in Lunapads. It's nothing to worry about and wont effect the performance of the pads in any way, it's just a bit surprising for people experiencing it for the first time.

So, I definitely felt a bit better after that email. Everything was coming clean. I am still a "cup" girl... but I have to say I am definitely pleased with the LunaPads.... especially knowing they didn't look horribly blood stained. That was probably my biggest concern with using them, and it never ended up being an issue.

Femme Rock did an amazing job getting the LunaPads clean, too. I love that I have a detergent to use that will last many cycles and is phosphate, scent, and SLS free. It is enzyme-based and formulated to focus on proteins, so your mama cloth will get as clean as it can!

You can purchase LunaPads and all your other reusable mama needs at BePreparedPeriod.com, and you can get Rockin' Green Femme Rock on their website and from various natural parenting and cloth diapering stores online.

Disclosure: The product(s) mentioned above was sent to me by the company(ies) in exchange for a review. This did not influence my opinion of the product in any way. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

The 'Scoop' on Powdered Laundry Detergent

When we started using cloth, we switched detergents for all of our laundry. I did lots of research and already knew we needed to stop using fabric softener (thank goodness wool dryer balls softens everything up!), but I hadn't considered the residue left behind from using different detergents. At that time, we were using a Free & Clear liquid detergent for laundry, and powdered detergent for our diapers. I got samples of BumGenius detergent, Rockin' Green detergent, and Tiny Bubbles.

It wasn't too long into our cloth diapering adventure when my husband washed some massage sheets with the 'cloth diaper' detergent, Tiny Bubbles. Okay, so it's not only for cloth.... we just only used it on cloth. For the first time in years, his massage sheets smelled clean! They looked better, smelled better, and had less chemicals on them because the 'cloth diaper' detergent had very few ingredients. He then asked me if we could just use that detergent for everything from that point on. We sent the liquid home with my mother (might as well not waste it!), and used our Tiny Bubbles on everything after that.

Since then, I've gone through trial and error with the amount of my detergent. I wasn't using enough at first because I cut the amounts in half (I have a front-loader, HE machine)... but Tiny Bubbles is apparently formulated for HE machines, so I shouldn't have done that. *sigh* Then I had too many bubbles and was running a ridiculous amount of rinse cycles to ensure all the bubbles were out. That's when simplicity really should have been looked at: HOT WATER. Sure, the diapers got washed on HOT, but I had read a long time ago that dissolving the detergent before adding it would work wonders.

It does.

I just heat up some water in the microwave now (or even hot tap water) and stir the detergent in. When it's mostly dissolved (note I said "mostly" and not "completely"), I just add it into the detergent spot. I'll add a wee bit more hot water to the container to get the residue out and voila! So you could totally dissolve the detergent, but I never seem to think about it when I would have enough time to bother with it. My diapers are getting every bit as clean, and now need none of those extra rinse cycles!

As far as detergents go, I'd like to say that I like ALL THREE detergents mentioned above. I just went with the Tiny Bubbles as our main detergent in the beginning because my husband said he wanted to use "only this detergent" (meaning what got his sheets clean), so I bought that one. I would highly recommend any of the above detergents, however. Also, while Tiny Bubbles and BumGenius Detergents have the exact same ingredients, Rockin' Green has the awesome scents!

Rockin' Green Soap Review & Giveaway

For many cloth diapering families, one thing that they have to figure out is a laundry routine. It’s probably the most difficult thing about cloth diapering. What works for one family doesn’t necessarily work for another. It depends on what type of washer you use, what type of settings the washer has, what type of water you have, what type of detergent you use…. so many things to factor in! Rockin’ Green eco-friendly cleaning products can eliminate some of the laundry issues for you because they offer something for all water types! Their products are phosphate-free, so they are great for your whole family and the environment too! Want to know exactly what goes into the detergents? They list their ingredients on the website for you!

Rockin’ Green offers Soft Rock for soft water, Classic Rock for normal water, and Hard Rock for hard water. I was sent a few samples of their Hard Rock formula to test out as my water is rather hard. I received Rage Against the Raspberries, Earth, Wind, and Orchids, and Lavender Mint Revival. I have a mild sensitivity to many scents (they just cause me to sneeze a lot), so I typically won’t get scented things like this. I was a bit adventurous with the scents since I own some Melody Odor Neutralizer & Fragrance Spray from Rockin’ Green and I knew the scents weren’t likely to make me sneeze since they were natural.

The first thing I did upon opening the samples was sniff the air. I actually couldn’t smell them! I guess I anticipated some overpowering fragrance that would waft up into the air as soon as I opened the package. I brought the package to my nose and sniffed. It smelled great! I was rather thankful it wasn’t super strong, as I am rather fond of hints of scents as opposed to something smelling like it was doused in a scent. All three scents that I tried out were pleasant and not at all overpowering. I suppose you could say it was a “gentle” fragrance, or “lightly” scented.

I washed diapers first. My diapers came out nice and clean. Nothing smelled, nothing looked dirty, and nothing caused my little one any irritation when the diapers were used. I was, admittedly, a wee bit sad that they didn’t smell like the detergent when they were dry, but that’s really a good thing since that means I got all the detergent out of the diapers. The scents were so lovely, though!

I was able to do a couple loads of laundry per sample packet (they are generously sized samples!), so I did all of my laundry with Rockin’ Green for a couple weeks. I must say, it does a great job cleaning! All of Bobble’s clothes came out nice and clean (despite the fact many shirts had huge splotches of food on them before being washed), and all of our clothing and bedding looked great. Everything looked clean, smelled clean, and had no sign of the fact we have both a toddler and 3 cats (well, other than the toddler-sized clothing!).

Overall, I was very pleased with Rockin’ Green. I love the variety of scents they offer, I love the fun names they have for them (many of which remind me of bands I listened to growing up!), and I love the variety of products they have to fit every situation. They also offer detergents for use on pet bedding/toys and mama cloth. Are your diapers starting to smell funky? Rockin’ Green sells Funk Rock (ammonia bouncer) to help with that, too!

Rockin’ Green is sold in many cloth diapering stores (online or in-shop!), big-name online retailers (like Amazon.com and Diapers.com), and can also be purchased from their store online. You can go there to try any of their samples ($0.85), or you could purchase a big bag (45/90 size) to last you for a while at ($14.95 or $15.95 depending on water hardness in your area). Not sure what water type you have? Buy one of their water test strips for only $0.60 and make sure you get the right formula for your water! You can also use their RETAILER page to find a store near you that offers their products!

While Rockin’ Green sent me some samples to try, they have offered to give one of my readers a whole bag (45/90) of Rockin’ Green (in their scent choice!). You can enter the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I receive sample(s) for the purpose of testing and review. These opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Thoughts Of Fluff is not responsible for shipment of the prize(s).