Maybe you are new to cloth pads....or maybe you have been using them for years and have a great collection of beautiful pads. Either way, it is important to know how to keep them clean and stain treat them so they stay as beautiful as the first day you got them for as long as possible...hopefully many years!
There are all kinds of washing and stain treating methods and routines. Everyone seems to have their own ideas and way of doing things. No one way is right and just because your way might be different doesn't make it wrong either. Finding what works for you is the key.
While many methods of cleaning and stain treating work well, of course we want to share with you our method. It's how we clean the cloth pads in our personal stashes and we think it's totally easy and effective.
Don't forget, Novel Red's Crushed Velvet pads, NINJA pads (coming to novelred.com soon) and our minky pads are all super stain resistant so cleaning those is even more of a breeze ;)
Here it is in a nutshell:
1) if it's possible to rinse a pad when it is changed, do so, in cold water, until the water runs clear. If it isn't convenient to do this, we just fold the pad and put it in whichever wet bag or pouch or pad wrapper we have with us - you can even use a ziploc or sandwich baggie in a pinch.
2) (Optional) Apply a stain stick or stain remover to any stained areas or the soiled area if you didn't rinse after use - we like Buncha Farmers stain stick and Ecover stain remover - but there are lots of choices, even a bar of Dr. Bronner's castile soap will do the trick. (You can skip this step if you don't mind minor staining or you rinsed your pad(s) well.)
3) Hand wash or machine wash gentle/delicate in cold water with your favorite detergent - we use Charlie's Soap :)
4) Hang dry, dry flat or tumble no heat or very low heat NO SOFTENER! (it can make your pads repel moisture rather than absorb it). Then....Voila! Clean, fresh beautiful pads ready to be used again!
That's really all there is to it. Stains don't hurt anything but we love our pads to stay beautiful and stain free and the above cleaning routine does the trick for us! Some ladies like oxi clean soaks, some prefer particular detergents. There are tons of videos on Youtube and so many blog posts that can be found if you want to google cleaning cloth pads or something similar. To each her own we say.
Want to watch some Novel Red Youtube reviews? We thought you might...click here :)