'Bamboo' is viscose

[cleanairplease]

So called 'bamboo' nappies are actually viscose. Made from cellulose extracted by chemical means from bamboo. Viscose has no magical antibacterial properties.

Thank you for your contribution. I think most of us clothies are aware of that, I certainly am.

So-called 'bamboo' is wonderfully absorbent, far more so than cotton. It dries lovely and soft, unlike cotton which tends to go crunchy. It is much nicer to use than microfibre.

Unless you are totally wedded to organic cotton (and how many of us can afford to be?) the chemicals involved in producing pure cotton clothing are pretty nasty too.

So your point is?

My point is that I wasn't aware of it! Believed all the spiel about anti-microbial properties etc - I bought some reusable bamboo breast pads which turned out to be horrible synthetic bits of fleece and I felt that I'd really been conned as thought bamboo implied the use of actual bamboo fibres.
I use microfibre nappies so not devoted to cotton, but I think a bit more honesty is needed. Cellulose from bamboo is the same as cellulose from anything else. bamboo is probably more ecologicaly friendly to grow than cotton but makes viscose the same as any other viscoes. i am not against viscose - just nice to know what I'm buying!

To be honest, I think a lot of sellers aren't aware about the lack of anti-microbial properties.

For the most gorgeous quality bamboo (and wool-backed) breast pads try Fussybutt ones from Bums 'n' Roses. The bamboo velour in them is divine and there are no yucky bits.

I'm a cloth nappy user, and I didn't know that..so thank you Cleanair, really interesting. :-)

So why do sellers claim anti bacterial properties if it is so well known that that isn't true? For example the nappy lady website makes that claim. Is this false advertising or ignorance?

I am a nappy seller and don't make that claim! My feeling is that bamboo is a fairly tough stringy plant and it must be highly processed to get to teh soft, fluffy, silky fabric that bamboo nappies are made from, and I'm sure any antibacterial properties would have been destroyed in all teh processing.

What's your website? Am after some fairly specific advice if you do that? Thanks

I always thought that the benefit of bamboo in nappies is it's absorbancy and the ethical bit is to do with how it is grown. Bamboo doesn't need the pesticides etc that cotton does, doesn't need re-planted and grows quickly.

That said, is evidence that China is beginning to grow as a mono-crop and use pesticides to increase yields.

Really good article here on bamboo as an ethical fabric. www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/13/bamboo.fabric

I do have bamboo nappies. Personal view is that most if not all fabrics currently have impact via processing, so at least my cloth ones, washed and line dried, have less of an impact than disposables. My bamboo ones last longer and are nore absorban than microfibre so I need less of these. Would be great to get soil association certification in place though.

Macmomo - have messaged you as I don't know if I'm allowed to say my website on here - although it's VERY obvious from my user name. I don't think my website would contain any specific advice as it's probably very generic, but contact me and I should be able to help.

Hi Everyone,

I too am a nappy seller, and I know a bit about Bamboo and how it is made, so I hope you don't mind me putting my two pennys worth forward.
There are 2 processes for getting the fibres from bamboo, there is a nasty cheap way which destroys bamboos natural properties, and this is the fabric you will find cheaply.
There is a nicer way, and by using this better process the bamboo does retain its natural anti bacterial/anti fungal properties.

No bamboo fabric can be organic. We can say it is ?grown? organically which is true but misleading as the organic standard fails during the manufacturing process. There are two processes available to turn it into a usable viscose fibre; the good or the bad way!

To be sure that the bamboo you buy is the good one look for the Oeko teks certificate, this guarantees that no harmful chemicals have been used, not just in the finished product, but from growing through the entire process.

Hope that helps

thanks smallsheep, very interesting