Pat, I'm sorry, you sure do have cranky skin. But I'm going to recommend All Free powder. I have a grandson with Asthma and use it for all his stuff.I used to use Tide Free Powder and I won't lie, its good, real good, but it has a chemical scent which I hated. Sparky actually suggested I try the All and I do like it. So far its done a very good job. I can't say how good it is on whites because I always add a bit of pure oxygen bleach in with his whites. . This is a bummer for you Pat, but believe me Tide Free Powder is excellent as is All free powder. I sure hope this change helps your skin. Let us know what you do decide to try, and Pat God Bless you.

Pat how the liquids react with your skin.? I have found that clothes are a little softer with liquids than powders. I don't understand about the no fabric softeners. Did they explain why and why wouldn't a free and clear one be ok?

I really feel for you and your skin issues and hope you can find something that will work well for you.

I'm not one to give medical advice but you know your skin. If the liquid is not causing you problems, why change it? Have you used powders before and how did they react?

Ya kinda surprised me the no liquids, not even Free liquids

Bea a lot of people say liquid detergent gives softer clothes, and its true, not to rehash anything but its because powders have sodium carbonate and liquids don't. Carbonate is abrasive anf never fully rinsed out.

oThat's why I'm bummed -- I know about the sodium carbonate. And, yes, I used All Free powder (thanks to Sparky also) and liquid for years and didn't have a problem, but this coming from a derm group just does't make sense to me. I wonder what the liquid ingredient(s) is that makes them prefer powders for sensitive skin. Guess I'll be obsessively spending a lot of time comparing liquids against powders for that ingredient in the next few days. Jeesh. Like I have nothing else to do.

Thank you for your comments, Girls.

Was the dermatologist asked about this yet? If it's a 'free & clear' liquid, maybe it's ok to use....? I use All free & clear for my clothes:

Most dermatologist recommend All and even give out samples. Not sure I understand about the liquid unless it is petro based and that may cause problems for some? The fabric softener I can see. I know a girl that her husband used to throw a soft. sheet in the dryer and her eyes would almost swell shut and then the skin would peel off all around them like she had blistered. He claimed he forgot when he added it?

A cousin told me years ago she was going through a lot of skin issues and was using Tide liquid. She worked as a pharmacy tech and they had a new pharmacist work with them a while and she was telling him. He told her to fix her problem was to rinse all her clothes in warm water, that the cold wasn't releasing the soap. She said she started doing that and her problems went away. Today with just cold rinse options that isn't possible for a lot of people.

Both the unsoftened and softened fabrics induced no deleterious effects on control or previously irritated skin.

Furthermore, a mild beneficial effect was observed with the softened fabrics, particularly on previously irritated skin.

The study findings suggest that softened fabrics may exert a reduced frictional effect on the skin.

A slight beneficial effect on the infants' skin was observed with softened relative to unsoftened fabrics.

Both for control and pre-irritated skin, all measured parameters indicated that softened fabric was less aggressive to the skin than unsoftened fabric. In the case of pre-irritated skin, the recovery of the skin was significantly faster when rubbed with softened than with unsoftened fabrics. In conclusion, softened fabrics help mitigate the skin condition in atopic patients.

results suggest that fabric softener provides benefits to individuals with dry skin because of the decreased friction of the garments against the skin. It is possible that the softener treatment of fabrics contributes to the state of moisturization of the skin and may work in collaboration with the application of moisturizers.

Addition of a fabric softener during clothes laundering is a potent preventive tool for dry skin.

Study of 738 patients, 5 (0.7%) had positive patch test reactions to granular laundry detergent (0.1%, aqueous); 3 of these 5 also had positive reactions to the liquid laundry detergent (0.1%, aqueous)

@Sparky, YES to rinsing in warm water for folks with very sensitive skin! I agree with that. @Pat, I don't want to contradict your derm's recommendation, but I do think one factor for those with sensitive skin is actually using a detergent that can get the clothes clean, and then making sure the clothes are rinsed very well.

FWIW, my nephew has eczema and his derm recommended All F&C liquid, but when my sister had another baby she cloth-diapered him and used tide powder HE (original, not F&C) for all the clothes and diapers (not in the same load, LOL!). She has had no problems for either kiddo. She read Tide worked well for cleaning dipes and rinsed well--and I think that has to be a factor in clothes that touch our skin. Good luck, hope you find something that works!

I never had a problem with All Free/Clear liquid or powder as long as I added nothing to it like Borax or OxyClean, etc.; so I now think, thanks to all the responses on this post, I will continue with All F/C for my stuff only. And I may consider using my Downey fragrance-free fabric softener to see how I react. S'stava used to like it a lot -- wish he'd get back on here and comment.

I really, really, really appreciate all the responses here.

Cavimum, I have a feeling there are plenty of people with sensitivities to Shout , but maybe they are blaming the detergent because heck who would blame one spray of a stain remover lol.

I know a lady over on AW (Beth) whose little son has severe allergies to enzymes, so no enzyme detergent for this child's clothes.

As far as warm/cold rinses that debate will always be a well, debate...personally I have found for my asthmatic kiddos 2cold rinses work better than 1 warm rinse. I always do 2 cold rinses for his things, the 1st rinse with STPP because it will remove residue, and it will keep it from redistributing onto clothing, than I follow that with a final cold rinse.

This morning hubs, who is retired but works part time at an auto parts store told me he's been having severe itching around his neck and shoulders and only when he wears his work shirt. He had me look at his skin before his shower last night after he removed the work shirt, there were a lot of raised welts..actually looked like he was beat with a hickory switch ( no I did not do it lol) the shirts are red, and 100% polyester and I usually wash in very hot water with a color safe detergent Cheer, Persil Mega Color Perls or Ariel Color and Style..so today the 1'st thing I'm going to do is give them a rinse with STPP and check for residue. But I'll have to switch detergent for sure with him.

Anyone can develope allergies of any kind including skin allergies at any time in life its not limited to just being born with it, and the older we get the more cranky our skin tends to get.

Another thing, most fragrances in detergent are chemically made, and cause all kinds of issues for some people from skin irritation to acute asthma attacks.

Generally a pure essential oil will not cause the same issue unless you are allergic to the plant its comming from.

I feel for you folks with these allergies, it can be a never ending battle finding what cleans the clothes yet won't affect skin. Good luck to you all.

FWIW, my HE washer has an 'extra rinse' setting, which I always use because I have a long-haired cat. Also, I read the directions on HE detergents & try to measure detergent carefully, while hubby just fills the cap - which is almost twice the recommended amount.

Not sure if these things may be helpful or not...?

I'm slow this afternoon . . . what is STTP?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sttp

STTP

stpp = sodium tripolyphosphate

My grandma had horrible dermatitis on her hands and arms, and the doctors kept prescribing stronger steroid creams, not realizing that her early stage dementia meant she wasn't using them correctly or following advice on laundry, soap, etc. What finally cleared it up was my mom rewashing her clothes on hot with only a little detergent, getting rid of her beloved dryer sheets, and diluting the bottle of fabric softener so it was 75% water. When my grandpa forgot and let her buy dryer sheets her dermatitis got worse again.

She'd used the same products in the same (large) quantities for decades before they started bothering her.

My mom has very sensitive skin and gets contact dermatitis from all kinds of weird things, including common laundry detergent ingredients, but she's fine with Biokleen powder as long as she uses the extra rinse cycle.

Cavimum, I miss "seeing" you on here. Your opinions matter. Glad to see you are maybe lurking?

Many people use too much detergent in the washer. I use Tide Free in my front loader -- less than 1/4 cup. I also put 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the 'softener' compartment to flush out an excess soap. (I never understood why I'd put goop back into my clean wash.) Clothes are often 'hard' only because they are full of excess soap. A well-rinsed towel, tumbled dry, is not 'hard'.

AFAIK all liquid soaps and lotions -- for laundry and for personal use -- have ingredients to combat mold and to keep the liquid from 'clumping'. One of these ingredients is formaldehyde. (Yes, the frog-preservative you remember from freshman biology!) This and variants are in body soap, shampoo, liquid laundry detergent, 'softeners', etc.

The general public may have used these products without any problem for years, only to develop rashes later in life.

How do I know? My dermatologist told me so.

Aww, thanks Pat. I've been lurking a lot. Not much to add by the time I get here and great answers already given. :-)

Cavimum, long before I joined here I read many of your posts, you have much to offer, and a good bedside manner so to speak also, along with Pat I would like to see more of you.

Pat I sympathize with all skin sensitivities as I have them myself. I find I have more trouble with the preservatives in common commercial products than I do with the individual ingredients. I use small quantities of All free and clear, but found eliminating chlorine from the water system helped both my skin and my digestion. We're on a well and use a different purification method than the commercial water companies. I am blessed in being able to do this. It turned out I was extremely sensitive to chlorine in any form, not just the stinky city water. Experiment. All detergent powders are not good and not all liquid detergents are evil. It's an art, not a science.

I was supposed to get a chlorine eliminating thingy a couple of years ago and now I will think seriously about it again. Thank you.

Hi Pat, I just put hubs work shirts in the washer and thought about you.. Hubs recently started complaining about itchy shoulders and back, when wearing his work shirts, he doesn't wear them everyday, he's retired but works part time at an auto parts store, so there's usuallysome ink and grease spots on his clothes, iI've been using All Free Pods, they do have enzymes and have removed all traces of pen and grease. I was just wondering if you've tried the All Free Pods and what you thought?

Wow, mama, this is 3 years old and I never responded to you. What a sweetie you are. I never tried the pods but I think I just discovered that I prefer the All Free liquid over the powder for my "undies." I'm thinking my old skin doesn't like the protease in the powder, but then what the heck do I know? Every damn day is a new laundry test. But I do think that clean_and_bright got it right above when she said that getting clothes really CLEAN, is probably the key factor for sensitive skin. I should try Tide original liquid to see what happens. What a stitch if I have no reactions.

Hahaha. Time sure does fly by.

Aww I remember Clean and Bright. She was such a sweety...sure wish she would pop back in.

Boy I haven't used the All free pids in a good while. Dont know why.

Lots of perfume Pat in Tide original. I wish detergent companies would make trial sizes...it would be very cool to just be able to buy a tiny jug or box of any detergent we want but companies wouldn't make money that way. Lol.

As far as getting clothes really clean when one has sensitive skin. .ya but IMO outstanding rinsing is most important. ..but like you say...what the heck do I know. LOL

I just really like Tide + Bleach powder. I should just shut up and use it for all our whites instead of separating out my undies. It never bothered me since enough warm rinses and there really is no scent to speak of. My box says "Tide + Bleach," didn't check the date, but I hope it's okay.

I’m with you, mamap, I’m wishing we could buy trial size amounts of laundry products.