Washing Powder or liquid and sensitive skin

sillyvixen

i always use persil non bio, everything else i have tried sets off my eczema, so i dont bother trying anymore. everyone is different i think its a case of finding a washing powder that works for you and sticking with it. non branded powder may be cheaper bit if its going to irritate your skin its not worth the extra spent on creams and treatments.

johanne

Right, im facing a bit of a dilema with my washing powder. My OH has a skin condition and when i took over his washing off his mum (:rolleyes: ) she advised me he could only use Surf or Daz Anything else would bring him out in a ezcema type rash which is really painful. This wasnt too much of a problem as im allergic to Ariel and Daz (and i think persil?!) so have always used Surf.

I mix it with some soda crystals to get rid of stubborn stains and make it stretch further but its still darn expensive in my opinion So recently i experimented with buying "Smartprice" Bio powder and mixing with soda crystals which was fine for me no problems ... THEN OH broke out in his rash after i washed his work clothes in it! He was in agony for days and i felt sooo guilty!!

So i reverted back to Surf "Sunshine" as wed always used and bought a huge box on offer in Netto... now i have only about 2 washes left in the box... but Tesco dont sell it at all and Sainsburys and Netto only have the little 10 wash boxes which work expensive!! The only place ive seen the big boxes is advertised at Asda.. but i dont usually shop there and when ive ordered one online or got someone to pop in there they are always out of stock! EEK!

Im therefore wondering how to strech out the little boxes to last me longer than 10 washes...without irritating OHs skin problems?

How little can i get away with actually using in the machine on very smelly grubby work clothes?

What kind of ratio of washing powder to soda crystals works best?

Also worth noting we have a baby due in April i will have to buy non-bio powder for her clothes and wash them seperate..... so this adds to the need to find a cheap way of washing mine and OHs clothes together - as cant afford 3 types of powder and washing all 3 individuals clothes seperate as were on a water meter and my bill recently went up by 57% anyway!:eek:

Any help would really be appreciated!

redmel1621

Hi

Sorry I haven't got any answers for you really except to say I sympathise, my dh is the same very few washing products 'agree' with him. We found that persil or ariel don't cause his allergy so for the last 14yrs we have stuck with them....
I don't use anywhere near the suggested amount of liqiud in the ball and everything comes out ok. I think I get 2-3 times more washes than it says i should get.

Only thig I can say is the cheap powders are a definate no no they even make me itch and i've got skin like a rhino!!! How about trying the non-bio on you and OH that way you can just buy the one kind even when baby here. And by definition it should be non allergenic and gentle on skin....it is for babies after all

Mel x

Linda32

Okay thats not easy is it.

Obviously you have to use Surf. Is there somthing which isn't in Surf but is in those which you can't use and if so, is there another alternative that you can find in the shops which you do use.

What about Wilkinsons, could you do a bulk buy if its on offer

I know what you mean regarding grubby clothes, my OH is a mechanic but I use the same amount of liquid (currently persil small and mighty) yes I know its not the cheapest but I can't get on with bulking out. I used to do aerial/smart price/soda crystals but its just not the same thing. I found I was using more powder to compensate. So now I use the bottles which measure out the liquid (you use the cap) thus I can't use too much and then I let the machine do the rest. Us a hot wash for OH's overalls.

Can you put you machine on hotter rather than using more powder?

scrimpingbadger

I and my DS have sensitive skin and I use Fairy non bio for all of our clothes but I only use 1 tablet in each wash (and I live in a hard water area) .

trigger2

Has your OH tried other non bio powders at all ? We tend to stick to Persil non bio powder here, but my friend whose DS has really bad excema, uses a non bio liquid, as she finds the liquid rinses out of the clothes better so theres less irritation. Are you able to try say washing just his pants or a couple of t shirts to try ?

I'd say if you find he can only use Surf I'd start off washing baby's stuff with it too, only if there's problems using a separate non bio.

Good luck !

noonesperfect

Have you thought of trying soapnuts instead of commercial washing powder?

I haven't tried them myself but understand they're very good and there's nothing to irritate sensitive skin.

From what I've been told you put about five soap nuts in a little bag , put it in the machine with the dirty washing and hey presto! everything comes out lovely and clean. They can be reused several times too, before they need to be discarded - on the compost heap.

princesspoppypop

I`ve found those huge boxes of washing powder in Big W ( which is a huge woolies I think!?) not sure if Daz was one of the ones they had but they did have a lot.

Atalanta

I always use an extra rinse on the machine to get rid of all the powder - read somewhere that this really can help with eczema (which my DS1 gets)...but I know you said you have a water meter, so might not be so keen on this option.

D&DD

I use the plastic washball things so don't have this problem,might work out ok for you as they don't use detergent or anything
I'll see if I can find a link for them Kleeneze sometimes have them so do Lakelands and some health food stores

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/solutions/washing!5718