Operation: fall in Love with Rockin Green

I know.. I know.. I have been letting Amanda do all the writing, but here I am!

I spent 1 month with my whole mission being to fall in love with Rockin Green Laundry Soap. I bought a big bag of the grape soda (yum! I have a love of Fanta Grape so that is why I chose that scent).

pre-month: I stripped all diapers so I could start fresh. (with RG) I followed the instructions on the card that the soap came with.

week 1: I soaked all my diaper loads of no more than 10 diapers in 3 Tbsp of RG and scalding hot water mixed with boiled from stove top and hot from the tap. I did this because I was told by many that the reason the first time I tried RG was because I didn't have hot water to my washer and it requires hot to activate. Well, all week I activated that crap and still, the diapers smelled like crap. Oh, so I did the soak with detergent, then wash then 2 rinse cycles.

week 2: Maybe I need a smaller wash cycle. So I did 120 degree water with 6-8 diapers and repeated wash routine from week 1. result" crappy smelling diapers.

week 3: the way to get hot water out to my laundry room became a serious pain in the ass. So I returned to my cold water and put in 8 Tbsp. of RG. Well the diapers didn't smell crappy anymore but they did still have a dingy look to them.

week 4: went out and bought Tide regular because I ran out of RG and voila! my diapers were clean, white and fluffy.

Review: Rockin' Green Detergent

Detergent: Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent; $2.50 for sample size and $13.95 for larger bag.

Materials:  Clean rinse detergent: sodium carbonate , sodium percarbonate, sodium citrate, sodium sulfate,  surfactants, fragrance oils (if scented is chosen)

How it works:  Rockin' Green Soap is an all natural clean rinse formula detergent that is said to make your diapers sparkle and not create the residue build up like other detergents can. 

Thoughts from Natalie:

Smell -  I am not a fan of anything that smells like baby powder so many products that are dubbed for baby stuff I avoid with fear of it smelling like fake baby powdery gunk.

Rockin' Green is so much fun to buy because all of her amazing scents. It's like being in a candy store with Grape Soda and Pumpkin Crunch. I purchased the samples of Cherry Lemonade and Vanilla Lavender. I loved the the Cherry Lemonade and wanted to eat it!

Functionality - I used the Rockin' Green soap as soon as I got it. (after I stripped the diapers) I soaked my diapers for 3 hours in 2-3 tablespoons and then washed them and rinsed twice. My diapers came out smelling like wet dirty gym socks. I was so turned off. I assumed I used it wrong so then I washed my diapers without anything, then ran the diapers with 2-3 tablespoons of soap then a clean rinse cycle. They still smelled wet and gross. Kim, the creator said maybe I have too many diapers in the wash so I tried with half the amount of diapers roughly 5, and the same thing happened. I stopped using the soap for a few days then kept hearing rave reviews about the soap so I was now determined. I spent a whole day washing my diapers with this much then that much and then more rinse cycles. I never got my diapers to smell clean. They felt clean and looked super clean but never smelled clean. 

I do like how Kim lets you get scent cards and you can purchase samples that are nice sized for $2.50 so you can have fun. Maybe it is my washing machine, but no matter how much I want to love this product, I just don't.

Thoughts from Amanda:

Smell -  I tried the Vanilla Lavendar, Vanilla Buttercream, and the Peppermint Cocoa.  I personally didn't find the Vanilla Lavender or the Vanilla Buttercream to be that fragrant.  To me they just smelled like laundry detergent.  The Peppermint Cocoa is the only one that I really got a good smell separate from the detergent itself, and it was a nice scent for winter.  Personally it didn't really matter to me if the detergent smelled nice because the smell won't linger on the diapers since it is a clean rinse detergent.  But, I guess it's fun to smell it as your pour it in.  I hear good things about Grape Soda, which I will have to try another time.

Functionality - I followed the directions that came with the sample packs just as Natalie did.  I too ended up with a stinky diaper.  Which is weird because I've never had a smell issue before.  But, I decided to stick with it.  (My hot water temp. is around 135 degrees.  FYI)  I'm glad I did.  After a few subsequent washes (3ish) the lingering smell has been gone ever since and I have a nice clean diaper.  Although it wasn't as fast acting as my other detergent was (Planet Ultra) I am pleased with the long term results. 

My only qualm is that I wish it came in a liquid form.  I'm not a big fan of powder detergent.  I find it messy and I like the convenience of a lid as the measuring device.  With that said at 13 cents a load you can't beat that!  

Customer Service - Natalie did comment to me on what a great help Kim was in her quest to make Rockin' Green work for her.  I contacted her regarding my hard water and she was a big help.  She recommended the Classic Version.  I also wanted to say here that their delivery is insanely speedy.  I had my detergent in 2 days!  Good thing for a procrastinator such as myself.