Biological washing powder - when can you start using again and why?

[chewing20times]

My sister is about to have a baby and mentioned she was going to have to go and buy some non-bio washing tablets, and it suddenly dawned on me that we, should I say I, am still using non-bio and wondered when to go back to biological and what the benefits were!
Ds is now 3 and not had any skin problems, so should I make the change?

Dunno, I use Asda's own basic budget bio washing powder (less than £2 for a big box)! Always of the opinion that if it aint broke don't fix it - why do people assume their babies will have sensitive skin? How will they ever know?

Not sure there's even much environmental difference considering Ecover do a bio and a non-bio.

Hum... okay, I read that it's a myth about biological powders causing powders.
I don't know if it's a myth or not.
But about 6 months before ds4 was born (next youngest child was 3yo). Just to save money and energy and test whether bio might affect any of us (you can wash at 30 deg. using bio), we switched to bio.
DS4 is now 10 weeks old, and he doesn't seem to have any skin problems related to detergents (nor does anyone in the household) as a result of the switch.

We still use non-bio when washing dirty nappies/anything with vomit on it, because bio powder doesn't work above 40 degrees.

How does bio washing powder not work above 40?

I went back and all my clothes started to fall apart and jeans fade really quickly so went back to non-bio!

Thanks. I think I'll keep on with the non bio and maybe have have some bio in just in case. 2GIRLS - i think it won't work above 40 as the enzymes in it are prob deactivated?? Something I vaguely remember from school.

Some people are sensitised to the enzymes in bio, but if they are not, and there's no reason to assume babies would be, then they are not going to be harmed by bio powders.

Bio powders use enzymes to break down the stains at a low temperature. The alternative is to use a formula containing harsher ingredients (more bleaches etc), and to wash at higher temperatures.

Bios are only to be avoided if you know that you are sensitised.

I'm doing everything wrong then. I use non-bio at 40 degrees. My clothes are still clean and last a lot longer - especially the towels which literally did fall apart after starting to use bio again.

This may be of interest to you

www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=114

i had no idea about the 40c stuff, although have been washing at 40c for a while as i found, being in such a hard water area, things didn't get really clean at 60c, so why both heating it up that extra bit.
Things are clean, but stains don't really come out. My kids just have stained clothes!

I have used non-bio in the past, maybe until DS1 was about 2.5

I switched to bio then - and DS1's eczema cleared up! (I do use ecover though, which is provably not as harsh as siome - I have done a lot of trial and error with washing pwoders to suit DS1's skin)

And I never wash nappies about 40. There's no need

above 40

I have been since about a month ago when DS was 11 months. When you have a great big pile of vomitey stuff (D&V bug) it's a right pain to have to separate into "his" and "ours" plus I'd run out of non-bio anyway He;s been fine but I'm sure it depends on the child.

Thanks everyone. I had noticed when we went to France that I couldn't get non-bio, so perhaps it is just us that has the choice. Right off to Sainsburys to get some for those awkward stains...

I use Bio and not had many problems BUT the persil concentrated (the really concentrated one) smells georgeous but does bring my lo out on a rash - everything else is OK.

I don't get that, Sheik, seems to me that most nappy websites say to wash dirty nappies at 60 degrees to kill the germs. We are dealing with pooh, after all...

And don't get me started on vomit, anything with vomit on it should be super sterilised (or washed at 60, I reckon, at any rate), I don't want to chance catching tummy bugs, thanks.

The french don't have non-bio!

If I remember correctly you are "meant" to use non-bio for the first 6 months. However, with ds2 I didn't switch to non-bio as I just wanted to be able to wash our clothes with his instead of having separate washes. As he never reacted I carried on.

I use persil but only because I can a huge 90 wash box from Makro and it smells lovely.

My whites are really white and I have never had clothes fall apart (Fizzy wishes some would to justify big shopping spree)

I find the idea of seperating clothes out to use different washing powders bizarre. I just used non-bio on all of us. Still generally do with 7 and 4 yos.

I wash everything at 60. I think it needs to be that hot to kill off the poo particles on DSs' pants. I don't feel the wash is properly clean at 40.

Wow, I only wash pooey nappies at 60 (I have 2 buckets and file them accordingly ). I'm more interested in the appearance of clean for everything else so dark colours usually go in at 30 - who's going to know (or care)? As long as it smells ok and there's no obvious stains, that's fine by me.

We use Reco Laundry Sheets because they are plastic free and I love a subscription! @LyraSilvertongue if you are using bio detergent then you should be washing at 30-40 degrees I believe because otherwise it denatures the enzymes 🤓