*CLOSED* rockin green review and giveaway!

over a year into cloth diapers, and i am learning simple lessons i should have learned a long, long time ago. how many times have i read not to wash my diapers in regular detergent? how many times have i passed onto other people that they shouldn't wash their diapers in regular detergent? how many times have i heard that doing so can result in diaper rash, build-up and leaks?

in july i ran out of diaper detergent, and after promising myself never again to go with charlie's soap (sorry, charlie) i decided to try something cheaper and therefore, less risky. i went with tide free -- just over $3 for a big box! the results were beautiful at first. my diapers were super soft, they smelled great, and i felt for the first time that they were actually getting really clean. and then, they started leaking. bad. i would change river's diaper in the morning as soon as he woke up, and thirty minutes later it would be leaking from his big morning pee. very embarrassing when i took him the church nursery with wet jeans three sundays in a row. blech! i decided it couldn't be the detergent because i did the repelling test by splashing drips of water onto the prefolds to see if they soaked it up right away. they did, and so i figured a few of my covers were just getting old, and that i had dried them in the dryer too many times lately (which i had actually been doing, more on that in another post).

when i won a bag of rockin' green at a nurse-in (seriously, i won two things this year. i never win anything, i swear!) i was so excited to be able to start using this infamous detergent. i'd only heard great things, and couldn't wait to see for myself. i did a "rock the soak" and gradually, i noticed the diapers had stopped leaking. huh! who would have thought? still, i didn't attribute this to my detergent.

during our move in december we stayed at some friends' house, and i used the detergent they had on hand to wash my diapers, because i was too lazy to bring my rockin' green that had been boxed up and taken to our new house. within a week -- yes, just one short week -- my diapers started repelling like a mofo.

seriously?!? ugh.

if i didn't change river right away, he would soak right through his pants. i was mainly using my new gogreen diapers at the time, and thought it was a problem with them, but then he started leaking right through his bumgenius and happy heinies, which had never before given us any problems at all! i knew what i had to do.

i went to the new house, found my beloved rockin' green, and rocked the soak one more time. my poor diapers. they've been through so much. this time, because i knew what was causing the leakage, i immediately noticed a difference. i now have a new appreciation for rockin' green. all i can say is, thank you kim! (the awesome creator of this awesome detergent) you're my hero.

rockin' green is a safe, eco-friendly detergent with no nasties, like softeners, but not only does it get my diapers just as clean as any regular detergent, my diapers are also very soft, even when they've been line-dried. no, i'm serious. (when i used previously mentioned detergent, my diapers were always so crunchy coming off the line, they would practically stand up straight, and always smelled musty) i like that stripping diapers is easier with rockin' green. instead of washing the daipers four or five or six times in a row, like i've done in the past, i can just soak them for a couple of hours while i'm doing other things, and then continue with my regular wash routine. i also love that this detergent comes in soft rock and hard rock (as well as classic rock) -- specially formulated for soft and hard water.

so overall, this detergent works in every way i need want it to. no more musty smell, no more leaks, no more crunchy-off-the-line, is-it-really-clean prefolds, and hello, the easiest possible way to strip diapers. yes, please! i will purchase this detergent from now on.

because i just have a brand new bag of rockin green sitting neatly on river's bed next to a pile a freshly washed diapers. of course.

my nut wanted in on the picture.

yep, looks like i'm just another die-hard rockin' green fan. would you like to see for yourself, and become one, too? kim from rockin' green is giving away one bag with the scent of your choice to one lucky winner! i will choose one winner at random on saturday, january 22nd. here are ways to enter the giveaway:

visit the rockin' green website and tell me which scent you would choose if you won -- mandatory entry
become a follower of this blog -- 1 entry
follow rockin' green on twitter -- 1 entry
become a fan of rockin' green on facebook (tell them we sent you!)-- 1 entry
become a fan of leaves of my tree on facebook -- 1 entry
share this giveaway on facebook -- 1 entry
blog about this giveaway -- 2 entries

good luck!

i was not paid by rockin green. these are my own opinions, and i was sent samples from rockin green to conduct this review. i also used my own rockin green, of course, because it's amazing. ;)