How soft should my hemp and sherpa dipes be?

[LBW]

I have one sherpa loveybums and a few mom & me hemp fleece diapers. The sherpa diaper isn't as soft as I remember it being when it was new, and the hemp fleece diapers never really softened up. They're also "rougher" feeling that the new, unwashed M&M hemp fleece nursing pads that I have.

The rest of my fitteds are organic cotton or velour -- those dipes are cushy soft, so I always reach for them first. But, I'm starting to wonder if the sherpa and hemp diapers should be softer, and therefore, are indicating that I have a build up problem? (I use Charlie's Soap. Cold soak, rinse, hot wash, cold rinse. Dry on permanet press setting (second hottest). I don't know if my water is hard -- I know, I need to figure this out.)

If you have sherpa or hemp diapers, how soft are they??

[brittone2]

Do you know if you have hard water? I *think* that can make them a little crunchier? (our water is hard-ish, but wasn't hard enough to definitely need a water softener, so we have a little bit of this from time to time).

Do you usually air/line dry? Have you tried fluffing them a little with the clothes dryer afterward to see if that helps?

Hopefully someone will have more specific advice. We mostly use FBs for DS, but I bought some hemp MnM dipes for baby #2 (she did switch to all organic for most of her products recently...were the old Sam's fitteds organic hemp? Maybe that is part of the difference w/ the nursing pads? BTW, O/T but do you like yours? I just ordered and received some for #2, but it will be a while til I can try them out LOL). I also bought some organic velour dipes, so i'm fairly new to these types of fitteds and whether they stay soft or not.

Oh, and vinegar is a natural fabric softener...maybe add a little bit to your rinse cycle and see if that softens things up at all?

[daisymommy]

Hemp fleece and sherpa unfortunately start out buttery soft and get rougher as it gets older and washed more :( Thats just the nature of this fabric.
At one point I had all hemp fleece diapers, and after a year got tired of the roughness, sold them all, and bought organic cotton instead since it stayed so soft.
One thing you can do to help a little bit though is to use just a tad (1-2 TB.) of Downy Advanced fabric softener in the final rinse cycle. I think now there is a new name for it now, but it is a clear blue and I think Fabreeze scented. You cannot use regular baby-blue opaque Downy with your cloth dipes though!

Edited to add: Hmmm, thats weird, I went on the Downy website to attach a link to it for you, but they don't list the type I was talking about. I wonder if they don't make it anymore but still carry it on the shelves here in VA?

[holliam]

I actually think that your water hardness determines what happenes to fleece and sherpa. We have very soft water and after 12+ months of extensive use, our sherpa and hemp are still pretty much the same as they were in the beginning.

They stopped making Downey Advanced a year or so ago.

Holli

[Momof3Labs]

Our hemp definitely got, umm, crunchy when I was cd'ing DS1. Now I use Calgon water softener pretty regularly, and that helps keep them soft (we have quite hard water).

[daisymommy]

I know they did stop making Downy Advanced (I bought up 3 bottles when they did :)). But then I saw something that looks just like it in my grocery store last week, and it was never there before. So I'm thinking they must have come out with the same thing again under a new name? I'll check better next time I'm there.

[american_mama]

I have a used sherpa Loveybums and I am always disappointed in its relative lack of softness, although I like it otherwise. My Kissluv fitted is much softer. My Kissaluv contour is like the loveybums. I don't know what to conclude from that. Maybe the Kissaluv fitted sherpa is different, with more cotton or something.

[LBW]

I think we have hard water. I keep meaning to check. We have a well, so I have to get a service to test the water. I can't just call the utility co. :(

I use the dryer on the second to highest setting, so line drying isn't the problem.

I bought the nursing pads at the same time as the dipes, so they should be the same fabric, right? I don't remember them being org hemp. To answer your question, I like the Mom and Me hemp dipes, but I don't love them. They're not as trim as my loveybums, Mutts, or BBG, and not as soft, so they're usually the last to be used. The sizes run huge. Owen is wearing the smalls (and will for a while) while he's in mediums in everything else.

I'm going to have to 1) get the water tested, 2) try vinegar, and 3) try calgon!


Thanks!

[LBW]

That's too bad about the fabric getting rougher.
I'll have to look for the new version of the Downy Advanced. I never use fabric softener on anything, so I'll probably try vinegar and calgon first.

[LBW]

I guess this is just further proof that I probably have hard water. Drats!

[LBW]

Maybe I'll email Pam and see if she has any suggestions. If I find out anything new from her, I'll post. You'd think that the sherpa fabrics would react the same way to washing.