If you’re here, you’re probably wondering the same questions I’ve been asking for a few years, now.  Is Zote Soap safe for cloth diapers?  After reading this, you decide for yourself.

Is Zote Soap safe for cloth diapers?I’ve tried to research Zote before, and it’s really hard to get a straight shooting answer when it comes to ingredients in the soap. This is about all they say on their website, so because coconut oil is cloth diaper safe, you would think it would be safe for your diapers, right?

ZOTE is a laundry soap made with coconut oil and tallow, containing optical brighteners, which shape and size are ideal to wash by hand.

I’ve always kept a bar of Zote Soap in my laundry room as a backup for when I run out of detergent.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because it’s cheap.  Maybe it’s because it’s a little challenge to grate your soap before using.  Maybe, it’s because it make some really gnarly liquid soap.  I’m not sure.  I don’t use it all the time, thought, because I’d prefer a powder.  I’ve noticed that if I do a cold wash, the Zote doesn’t always dissolve 100% if it’s not grated finely enough.

This week, I ran out of my homemade laundry detergent.  It’s very simple, and even though I don’t use a “soap” agent, we’ve had no problems with it getting our cloth diapers, and other laundry” clean.  Trust me.  We’d know if our cloth diapers were not getting clean.

So, I grated this bar of Zote I’ve had sitting in the laundry room.  After one wash, I noticed a soap scum ring around the top of my washer.  I did another load.  It got thicker.  Bothered by it, I got a rag and hot water and cleaned it off.

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Then it hit me.  HOLY BUILDUP BATMAN!

So, I decided to do another load of clothes, to make 100% sure that the Zote is what cause it.  Check this out.

I hadn’t noticed it before, because the inside of my washer was white!  With my new (well new since the last time I used Zote) washer, it’s silver.  If this is building up on my washer, what is it doing to my DIAPERS!?

Thinking back, I remember a time when I had issues with Jett’s diapers.  It was right around the time that I decided that I was going to start grating Zote and using it.  He kept getting red bottom, so I put him in disposable diapers for a bit until I could figure out what it was.  By the time I got the diapers stripped, I had run out of Zote and I was introduced to the homemade detergent.  It didn’t dawn on me until now, that this could have possibly been the problem.

I won’t be buying Zote again after seeing this ring in my washer.  You can do your own experiment, and make your own decisions about whether or not you think it’s safe, but if asked the questions “Is Zote Soap safe for cloth diapers?”  I’d have to say, “in my experience, absolutely not.”