Bio / Non bio - does it matter?

[mumma2b2020]

Hi all,

I'm starting my maternity leave on Thursday and planning on washing baby's clothes - does it matter if I use bio or non bio detergent? X

Erm...my son is 4 and I had no idea we should possibly use a different washing powder! He survived so...whatever you’ve got is probably fine?

Most use non bio as its gentle on the skin

I never use biological washing liquid/powder unless something is heavily stained and needs soaking. It’s not good for sensitive skin. I would never use it on anything for a baby.

The NHS says bio is fine and you really don't need none bio

NHS -

I bought loads of non bio when on offer as it's supposed to be kinder in the skin. Found that it didn't wash as well. It took us ages to use it up. When we used bio it worked better and no impact on baby's skin.

We used non bio because I get a rash with bio sometimes but I really don't think it makes a difference to baby. If anything I hear it gets the horrible stains out much better!

Bio works much better and certainly had no issues with my baby's skin. We use the old fashioned Ariel powder, IMO nothing else compares.

Great, thank you all! X

It's more likely to be things like fragrances in the powder that irritate skin rather than bio enzymes. As pp have said, it's a myth that bio powder is less gentle. It is a lot more effective at getting rid of "baby" stains like poo, vomit etc. I would use your normal detergent and you could just run an extra rinse cycle if you are concerned about skin irritation.

The UK (and ireland) is the only country in the world with a bio/non-bio classification and it is because of manufacturing issues in the 1990s.
Bio means the product contains enzymes which will clean enzymatic stains. Those normally come into effect when you start weaning
Otherwise, powder contains bleach which is good when there has been a poonami.
I washed my kids clothes with non-bio liquid when they were babies, powder for poo situations, and then switched to bio when the stains became harder to deal with (weaning and crawling).

Non bio is completely pointless :)

Non bio isn't useless at all. I use it for all my darks. Helps reduce fading.

The colour fading issue isn't down to bio/non bio, it depends on whether your product contains bleaching agents. Liquids and gels don't contain them, most powders do (colour powder has less). From what I've read non bio powder can have more bleach agents in it to increase its stain removing power, as it doesn't have the enzymes that bio has.

You learn something new every day! I’ve clearly been gullible and believed the myths about bio causing skin irritation @legalseagull.

I’m just glad I don’t have to walk around in stained clothes anymore.

But is it true that bio causes dark clothes to fade faster?