# UPDATE on Basic-H....



## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

*sorry, couldn't find orriginal thread...

Well I used a tsp. of Basic-H yesterday on my dipes on white wash warm water, and there were suds. I ended up doing a double rinse before there were no more suds. Sooooooo I would think using it in place of Calgon water softner may be a less expensive alternative and is enviromentally sound. My dipes also smell nice and clean, even my LDCK(original) which is very thick and I don't think really gets a good cleaning deep inside (but that's me being very picky I think). Also so far I haven't noticed any "smell" from his wet hemp doublers/dipes. This is where I got mine http://www.shaklee.net/healthywealth...product/BasicH which was great service, does do UPS instead of USPS so was a flat rate of 7$ shipping.


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## HeatherSanders (Jul 20, 2002)

I've used their BASIC-L (allergy free) and paid a ton of shipping to get it and was disappointed in stain removal. Also, after a few weeks, my dipes starting not having a 'fresh' smell to them.

What is the difference with BASIC-H and BASIC-L?


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## sweetfeet (Jan 16, 2003)

How is paying $7 just for shipping a cheaper alternative to a $5 box of Calgon that you can get at the grocery store? I'm totally lost on this one...


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## HeatherSanders (Jul 20, 2002)

Meghan . . . with mine, I 'thought' I would justify it b/c of the concentration - MUCH more concentrated. But in the end, it turned out to be considerably more expensive anyway. I would have used it if I didn't find a few detergents that Meredith didn't react too, but otherwise, I didn't feel like paying the extra amount.

Now, if you find a Shaklee distributor near you, maybe you wouldn't have to pay shipping?


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by HeatherSanders_
*
What is the difference with BASIC-H and BASIC-L?*
Basic-L is the laundry detergent and Basic-H is a multi purpose cleaner that is so safe you can use it in place of baby wash and won't disturb the ph-balance. From what I understand it distributes water better or somthing to that effect. Here is a "fact sheet" on it http://www.shaklee.net/pws/library/p..._talksheet.pdf it takes a while to load, and doesn't have all the information that the lady from that site sent me. It gave ways to clean produce with it to baby bath to shampoo to many other washing solutions. I grew up on this and just recently decided to try it again. I remember having to use this on camping trips to keep bug bites to a minimum and even using it on bug bites and it taking the itch away. I also remember using it in the washing solution for the goats udders before and after we milked them(grew up on a dairy goat farm). I don't remember if my mother used it in the laundry, but I may continue to try the tsp. a diaper load just to see if I get a better proformance







or not.


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by luv4sophie_
*How is paying $7 just for shipping a cheaper alternative to a $5 box of Calgon that you can get at the grocery store? I'm totally lost on this one...*

If you can find a distributer in your area (there are several here, but I was never able to catch up with them so decided that it was worth the shipping to me) you won't have to pay shipping. Also at 1 tsp. per load as opposed to 1/4-1/2 cup? of a 5$ bottle/box how many boxes/bottle of Calgon would you go through in comparrison. If the answer is 3 or more then it comes to the same if not more cost. Also you can't use Calgon water softner to wash your produce nor use in your baby's bath or in your shampoo(and the list goes on). It's just an alternative to using Calgon I believe and yet there are so many other things you can use it for instead of harsh cleaners in the home with children and pets that may have reactions (like asthma/allergy sufferers) to other cleaning products. I personally think it's worth it for MY family, but it may not be for anothers. We did get some other things w/o the shipping going up so if there is more than 1 thing you want it still is worth it.


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## sweetfeet (Jan 16, 2003)

I gotcha now. I've never used either product. So I didn't know that so much Calgon was needed. I too hate chemicals in my home and clean with all natural products


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## mamaBlue (May 27, 2003)

could someone explain how Basic-H is a good Calgon replacement? I read the PDF file in the link. It doesnt say anything about it being a water softener - or that it does anything like it. It does seem like it is similar to Sensi-clean. Which is good, but entirely different. Could someone explain this?


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by mamaBlue_
*could someone explain how Basic-H is a good Calgon replacement? I read the PDF file in the link. It doesnt say anything about it being a water softener - or that it does anything like it. It does seem like it is similar to Sensi-clean. Which is good, but entirely different. Could someone explain this?*
It is and it isn't from my understanding, here is what the distributor told me :

"Thank you for visiting our Shaklee distributor website and for your inquiry. Haven't heard of that one before, though we do know there are no phosphates in Basic-H. Basic-H does break the surface tension of water, making water "wetter" and therefore is used as a soil conditioner and the water can go deeper into the ground with Basic-H. It's primary ingredient is soybeans and totally biodegrades within 7 days! It has a 1,001 uses and we have attached a PDF file that lists some of the many uses of Basic-H.
*editing to say: as I understand it Calgon redistributes the minerals and such in water so the water can penetrate better in the fibers, as it seems what B-H seems to do as well. Please correct me if I'm missunderstanding how these products work.

I wished I could find the orriginal thread, but basically there was a concern about phosphates or something and so I asked. She attatched a pdf file with all sorts of info on how/what to use it on. I can't copy paste nor link it







, so if you are interested in all it's uses you can either email me or a shaklee dealer. I don't think it actually strips the laundry like sensi, nor "softens" water like calgon, but maybe distributes things better for a better rinse? I only used 1 tsp. in my dipes w/o detergent and I had suds through 3 rinses(main wash*heavy suds, "bleach wash"(just water though)*med suds, rinse 1 *light suds, rinse 2 * no suds. I'm not sure if it's doing what I think it's doing, but it appears to be and my dipes smell awsomely clean and even ds's peed in hemp has no odor. Now, this is only after 1 dose, soooooooo we'll see what happens with continous use. BTW I only use 1/8 cup SUN brand laundry detergent in a front loader and do an extra rinse.


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## sweetfeet (Jan 16, 2003)

Isn't Calgon phosphate free?


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## Free Thinker (Jan 1, 2003)

I admit... I am a Shaklee girl myself. I use a bit of basic H and a bit of basic G (germicide) on all of my laundry, along w/ a bit of basic L. I get mine from a lady, she ships it and it usually gets here the next day (we are in the same state). I don't think her shipping is that much (around $5). If you really think you will use it, then sign up to be a Shaklee distributor. It costs $15 for lifetime membership of you and your spouse, you can still buy from the person you sign up under, you get your stuff at a MUCH lower cost, and there is never a minimum to buy. My DH and I also take lots of vitamins as well, so we get them from Shaklee. My DH also takes a Performance shake everynight, too.

As far as basic H goes, I think it's the BEST stuff to keep around the house when you have little ones. It cleans just about anything, and you can use it in the bath. You can then pour out any water on plants, ect. You can use it to wash the car or whatever. I use a bit of basic H and a bit of Basic G on the toilet, and that works better than anything I've ever tried (including bleach).


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## natashaccat (Apr 4, 2003)

Yes calgon is currently phosphate free (I believe all laundry additives have to be inorder to comply with some state's environmental laws) but it didn't used to be. (I confirmed this with an email to the manufacturer)

So if you find an old calgon box or get info about it from an older online source you might see sodium phosphate listed as an ingredient.

Reece,
Did you add the Basic H to your detergent or add it instead of your detergent? I'm just trying to compare costs.

edited to say: oops I see that you added it instead of your detergent. Are you sure that the suds are from build-up instead of the Basic H itsself? I'd love to hear how it preforms on sudsequent loads. I'm totally interested in trying this. TIA for the update.


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## Aurora (May 1, 2002)

Quote:

_Originally posted by reeseccup_
*I only used 1 tsp. in my dipes w/o detergent and I had suds through 3 rinses(main wash*heavy suds, "bleach wash"(just water though)*med suds, rinse 1 *light suds, rinse 2 * no suds. I'm not sure if it's doing what I think it's doing, but it appears to be and my dipes smell awsomely clean and even ds's peed in hemp has no odor. Now, this is only after 1 dose, soooooooo we'll see what happens with continous use. BTW I only use 1/8 cup SUN brand laundry detergent in a front loader and do an extra rinse.*
We use Basic H around the house and I love it for dishes! It cuts right through any grease. It suds a lot though. I haven't tried it in the wash because of the major sudsing action I have seen. Could all of your suds been from the Basic H?

I tried the Calgon in my diaper wash and I had tons of suds. I put some Calgon in the lid and sprayed hot water in it and I had no suds so I know that what I got from my diapers really was buildup.

I'm just wondering aloud here.


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## Scarlet (Mar 18, 2003)

Most laundry detergents are also synthetic surfactants (a substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid or the interfacial tension between two liquids or a liquid and a solid).

Calgon is expensive because although it is a particularly good sequestering agent with regard to calcium hardness (so long as you don't have much magnesium hardness in your water, the chemical it is made from (sodium hexametaphosphate for the scientists here) is expensive to start with.

Sounds like this Basic H stuff is also a wetting agent. Soap is a wetting agent...could it be liquid castille soap?

There are other wetting agents but I'm not sure how well they work on diaper stains. Vegetable glycerin is a good wetting agent for grass stains (I have a 7 YO boy who produces LOTS of grass stains), it might work well on stubborn diaper stains...I should try it! I wonder what the chemical formulation is of Basic H, we could probably find out...

Oh just to add, you can almost certainly by SHP (Calgon) packaged differently for a lot less money if you look around. Especially if you buy it in bulk.


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## Yooper (Jun 6, 2003)

Free thinker,

So you use the Basic L and Basic H to wash diapers? Does that work to get the stains out? How much of each? Do you have hard or soft water? Have you used it on fleece like in HH or FB? I know a shaklee dealer (so no shipping) and have been trying to figure out what I can use on diapers that would not make me feel guilty. I currently use Dr. Bronners and Seventh Generation on my regular clothing but know that is no good for diapers. I also like shaklee because they do not use animal products or test on animals. I use to soak my BBQ sauce stained waitressing shirts in a combo of water, Basic L, and the brightening powder. It got ANYTHING out. Even dh's nasty ring around the collar stains. Would the shaklee brightening powder be bad for diapers? I am very curious....tell me your laundry secrets!

Yooper


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## Scarlet (Mar 18, 2003)

"as I understand it Calgon redistributes the minerals and such in water so the water can penetrate better in the fibers"

My understanding is that Calgon is a sequestering agent with respect to calcium hardness. In simpler terms that means it stops the hardness in the water making soap scum.

Basic H contains a wetting agent which reduces the water tension and makes it easier for the water to penatrate the fabric. I'm assuming it also has soap or a synthetic detergent in it as well (unless the soap or detergent is the wetting agent). The way soaps and detergents work in very general terms is that one end of the molecule is "sticky" to water and one end is "sticky" to greasy or oily compounds.

Sodium lauryl sulphate is a compund that is an excellent wetting agent and is in almost every commercial cleaning product it seems... from toothpaste to shampoo to dishsoap. There are some concerns about it, but it is extracted from a natural source (coconuts usually if I remember correctly... it has been a LONG time since I did materials!)


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## natashaccat (Apr 4, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Scarlet_
*the chemical it is made from (sodium hexametaphosphate for the scientists here) is expensive to start with.
*
Hi Scarlet,

I got a C in chemistry so please forgive me if this is a dumb question...but is hexametaphosphate different from regular phosphate (like the kind that we don't want to use for environmental reasons) somehow? The people at calgon customer service assured me that Calgon is currently phosphate free.

Are they lying? I do have an old box (easily 10 yo) of calgon that lists sodium phosphate as an ingredient so is it possable that calgon no longer uses sodium hexametaphosphate? Or do I just not understand the chemisrty involved?


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Just got off the phone with the "calgon" people LOL. and here are the ingredients:

Liquid: Water, organic acid, organic base, polymer, fragrance, perservatives

Liquid(2): same as above + phosphates

Powder:Sodium sesquicarbinate, sodium tripple phosphate, fragrance, dye

Powder (2): same as above - sodium tripple phosphate

Conclusion: Read the box to make sure it does not have phosphates, but she said the phosphate kind is a LOW phosphate. I did ask her what organic acid and base were and she had no idea.

As for questions above, I really don't know if it was so sudsy because of the b-h, but I do know my diapers smell very fresh, and they even feel better to touch. I have less static as well. I was reading the Sensi-Clean thing and they do seem similar so who knows. I am wondering if it's more like sensi-clean can it be a detergent replacer or is it to enhance your water so detergent works and rinses better?. I really don't want to buy any more detergent right now (at 1/8 cup scoop per load and I do this with reg. laundry too, and a huge box of detergent it'll last a long time)so not interested in the basic-L for now.


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## natashaccat (Apr 4, 2003)

Reese,
Do you have hard water?


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## Aurora (May 1, 2002)

Reese-

Thanks for the info. I'm glad the Basic H is working for you. I'll have to try it out in my laundry. I use it to mop my kitchen floor and it cleans great!


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## Free Thinker (Jan 1, 2003)

This is from my Basic H bottle:

Contains lenear alcohol alkoxylates. Avoid contact w/ eyes ..... Contains no phosphates or nitrates which can harm the environment. The surficants (cleaning agents) in Basic H are biodegradable and break down naturally into simpler compounds, helping eliminate suds or foaming problems in lakes and streams.

I just put a load of 6 FB w/ prefolds in the wash w/ about 1 TB of Basic L, and 1 TB of Basic H. Right now there are alot of suds, but I will try to check on it as the load goes, and let you all know how much suds are left


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by natashaccat_
*Reese,
Do you have hard water?*

It's not hard like it was in MO, but it does leave a funky pinkish teracota colored stain if water sits too long. I had REALLY hard water in Germany and the only thing that would cut through those deposits on the fawcets was toilet bowel cleaner







That hard water made MO water look clear.


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## mamaBlue (May 27, 2003)

quote from potters.org (i was doing some searching): "Original" Calgon was essentially Sodium Hexameta-Phosphate, and is still obtainable under the latter name.

Quote:

Oh just to add, you can almost certainly by SHP (Calgon) packaged differently for a lot less money if you look around. Especially if you buy it in bulk.
this leads me to believe SHP is not Calgon - anymore.


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## canadiyank (Mar 16, 2002)

Isn't there a Basic-I, too? Seems my mom uses that to get stains out of laundry...

I, too, grew up on this stuff, as another poster said :LOL We had gallon jugs of different "basics" around the house...this thread made me smile, as I remember using the stuff forever and it was good stuff. Mom still uses it. I'm going to look into it...







Thanks!


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## reeseccup (Jul 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by canadiyank_
*Isn't there a Basic-I, too? Seems my mom uses that to get stains out of laundry...

I, too, grew up on this stuff, as another poster said :LOL We had gallon jugs of different "basics" around the house...this thread made me smile, as I remember using the stuff forever and it was good stuff. Mom still uses it. I'm going to look into it...







Thanks!*

YES I do belive there is or something similar. We had GALLONS too, and tons of little bottle of all kinds. We even had "dipping' day where we'd fill up the tons of little bottles LOLROFL. My mother even carried a little bottle in her purse, just in case. I just did my windows yesterday with warm water/a drip of B-H and a micro-terry towell and they came cleaner faster and nicer than with my Melealuca window cleaner and w/o the nasty smell...then ds put his grimmy hands all over them again







: what's a mom to do to have a sparkly house 24/7 lol (only in my dreams for 4 more years or maybe sooner since ds#2 seems to love cleaning and does so w/o being asked and ds#1 is really becoming helpful(maybe it's the idea he can earn money?) dd still stuffing things under her bed though







: ). *SIGH yeah this brought back some swept under the rug memories to say the least.


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## Taosmama (May 2, 2002)

I've used Basic-L and Nature Bright on my dipes and haven't had problems - seems to do as well on stains as anything else, but frankly, the sun works the best for that. I don't have a problem with stinky hemp either. We have a Kenmore front loader and I do a short cold wash with 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp Nature Bright, 1 tsp Basic-L. Then I do a hot wash with a cap of Sportwash. Our water is hard. I've used Shaklee on my regular laundry for a long time because it cleans much better than the other "natural" detergents we've tried (ecover, 7th generation, etc.).
I'm anxious to experiment with the Basic H tho', hadn't thought of using that for the laundry.
I had a poopy wool cover that I just couldn't get the poop stains out of, and finally soaked it over night in cold water with a tiny bit of Basic-L. The stains came out, but I did have to lanolize it afterward.


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