Looking for Sensitive Skin Friendly Laundry Detergent for My Kids

I'm allergic to Dreft. I have extremely sensitive skin, and have never had any trouble with the unscented detergents available in the health food/alternative section of the store. My favorite brand is Biokleen, but I have yet to encounter one that kicks up problems for me.

1 mom found this helpful

Dreft is the worst! Its full of chemicals, dyes and perfumes, and it fades clothes. Free and clear detergents are bad to obecause they have optical brighteners, which is harsh on skin.

Charlies Soap (www.charliesoap.com)
Rockin' Green (www.rockingreensoap.com)

or homemade laundry detergent that uses borax.

1 mom found this helpful

http://www.nationaleczema.org/
http://www.easeeczema.org/

Look at these 2 links.
The National Eczema Organization.
They have a "seal" that will be on products that are eczema friendly.

Just as an aside: My Mom who has eczema... gets it whenever she eats anything with Oats or citrus. That are her triggers, for it. If she avoids these things, her Eczema does not occur.

Also, a natural alternative to Hyrdocortisone cream is "Florasone" cream.
Whole Foods has it or online like a Amazon or other natural food stores.
"Boericke & Tafel - Florasone Cream"

Is there a Trader Joe's new you? I love their natural detergent. It's chemical free with lavender and chamomile. Good luck.

Most laundry detergents have harsh chemicals even if they are called "free and clear" or something similiar. Both my family and my sister's family have switched to Mela Power 6 and Mela Soft. Previously, my sister had been told to use All Freen & Clear for her son due to severe allergy and sensitive skin issues. She switched just after I did and he sone has no problems. We love it.

Seventh Generation Free and Clear line - they even make chlorine-free bleach. Even Dreft has fragrance. Fragrances are from chemicals called phalates, which are also endocrine-disruptors. Best to avoid them in everything, not just detergents.

California Baby has a great calendula cream esp for sensitive skin and eczema.

Good luck!

Hi K.,

My daughter had severe eczema when she was a baby and was on steroid cream as well. I used WOOLITE to wash her clothes and it was inexpensive and effective. (If you google it, you can click on and print up a coupon too.) Flash forward three years later and her eczema is gone and I now use regular detergent for her clothes.

Best,
CJ.

The best I have ever used thats totally hypoallergenic and enviromentally friendly is Seventh Generation! I used to use all their products they are reat... plus if kids drink it (God forbid) all they have to do is drink a full glass of water and thats it!
Try it! =)

We use Country Save, which is very safe and chemical free. I have VERY sensitive skin and it's the only detergent I've ever had much luck with. It's around $12.00 a box, but it lasts for months. Typically our box lasts 8 months, we are a family of three. It is sold in natural foods stores. (Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc.)

http://www.countrysave.com/prods.php

All "Free and Clear" dye-free, perfume-free detergent works for us.

my daughter and fiance have eczema, and my step sons have sensitive skin. we use all free and clear, and it works wonders. it really reduces outbreaks around here.

Homemade or any regular that is dye and perfume free. Homemade is much cheaper. I make mine with Fels Naptha Bar Soap, Borax, and Arm and Hammer Washing Soda--so much cheaper than any detergent (fast and easy to make, too) and no eczema breakouts for anyone (my middle boy has asthma and eczema and my husband's skin is sensitive). It also works great. You can send a message if you're interested in a recipe but there are tons online.

Before I started making detergent I used Arm and Hammer Dye/Perfume free and had no breakouts for anyone with that either. It is relatively affordable and I liked it much more than Purex, which I found left odors in my laundry.

I started with the Up & Up Target brand, their sensitive or free and clear version with no problems. My daughter has horrible eczema. I switched from the free & clear to the lavender scent awhile back and still no break outs. And it doesnt cost $23 for a little bottle, its BIG!

I used to use Melaleuca, but they don't disclose their ingredients, and my laundry never got clean so I was REALLY in the market for some new laundry detergent!
Actually, one of your posters was the one who got me interested in Charlie's Soap and I can't say enough wonderful things about it! It's so super cheap, completely non toxic, and makes laundry so fresh and clean. I won't use anything else!
Thanks to Becky W. for directing me to Charlie's Soap! :)

No one in our family is super sensitive but we have been using Arm and Hammer Free and Clear version with no problems. It depends on how much and which chemicals are the problem so there may be some trial and error. Also it could help to try doing an extra rinse at the end of the wash to make sure all the detergent is rinsed out or even use s little less than usual per load.

All free and clear is great, also we just tried the Kirkland free and clear and it seems to be really good also. We also have sensitive skin and eczema.

Fragrance free 7th gen!

Hi K.,

I use Melaleuca's Melapower. It is non toxic and is great with ezcema and psoriasis. It is super concentrated and costs 16 cents per extra large/heavy duty load. Just FYI, the steroid cream may help temporarily but is adding toxicities that exacerbate the problem later, not to mention the bone density loss. My Dad's ezcema and psoriasis is completely gone, no flare ups in 6 years. He suffered for 87 years before we figured out how to cure it.

Hope this helps!

M.

I am allergic to dreft. I can only use Ivory Snow. You can also make your own for super cheap.

http://www.diynatural.com/simple-easy-fast-effective-jabs...

This site has a good recipe. I used to make ours with Ivory soap.

Have you vevr heard of soap nuts? I ordered some on amazon and use it on all my daughters clothes and cloth diapers. It's amazing! 100% organic, 100% fragrance free. It just leaves everything nice and clean. I love it!!! I even bought the shampoo for myself and the shaving bar for my husband. Geat Products. I'd look into that for sensitive skin.

Check out, www.myvollara.com/timgillihan and do a product search for Laundry Pur. This technology will wash your clothes with no hot water and no laundry detergent. Therefore completely eliminating any of the harsh chemicals that are found in detergents and fabric softeners and it saves money on gas & electric because you don't need to heat the water, and you don't have to spend money buying detergent. And it really does work, I have two small children one of which we have been trying to potty train, trust me, it works. Feel free to contact me, this is probably the best thing in my house, next to my wonderful hubby and kids of course.

All with no fragrance. Never used Dreft. Only this product. Works great.

Dreft isn't meant for sensitive skin, it has perfume and stuff in it. Once my son (now 11) was dx with eczema when he was an infant, I switched to free and clear detergents. Doesn't matter what brand, as long as it says "free and clear" which means no perfume or colorant. I've found purex to be the cheapest, but All and Cheer and Tide make one too.

I love AMWAY laundry soap. I know a lot of people don't care for some of their past business practices, but I get their laundry soap and that's about it. It has changed the way my husband's skin feels and his break outs under his arms from Tide and Cheer are all gone now. We've used it for years and friends comment on how good out clothes look. Its concentrated and you use a small scoop for a large load. Cost wise it makes it cheaper. It doesnt have some perfume smell either so you don't risk that problem. It rinses out better than anything I have ever used. If you do decide to try it, be sure to run a full washer full of hot water and a scoop of Amway WITHOUT laundry and let it break down all the built up soap and scum on the inside of the washer first. I was shocked when I saw what other soaps left in the washer. It must be leaving some of that in our clothes too. I really do love how well it washes clothes.

All Free and Clear has always worked well for us, my daughter has eczema which was really bad when she was a toddler. I've also used Purex.

Tide has just come out with a free type product, but since I break out in a terrible rash from it, I won't even try the new version.

Shampoo or Homemade

Note: check for a latex allergy. Mild latex allergies run in our family. My mum thought it was detergent for EVER, because we'd rash up along our clothes covered areas... come to find, we can rock any brand of detergent with no skin issues, but the elastic/stretchy components in clothes (especially underwear and socks) is the *worst*. Where it rubs/presses the skin just slowly starts to degrade, and then it gets infected from the broken/degraded skin.