MY LAUNDRY ROUTINE for Sensitive Skin

Hi cuties!

I’m excited to partner with Tide to tell you about my sensitive skin + detergent journey. 

If you’ve been following me for the last year, you know that I’ve had a bad year of severe reactions on my neck, face and eyes. I went to see my family doctor and my immunologist/allergy specialist multiple times to try to figure out the issue. At one point it got so bad I was told to go to the ER to check if it was an infection. Thankfully, I removed a lot of unnecessary products from my life + really narrowed down my exposure to potential triggering chemicals. Eventually the swelling/redness/flakiness went away, but every few weeks something would cause it to flare up again so my search continued. Then I started to notice that when I ate a lot of gluten on a particular day, a few days afterwards my swelling/redness would get worse. That led to my journey to reducing my gluten intake. I still have to determine what ingredient(s) I’m allergic to with a patch test, but for now I feel like I have things at a manageable level.

One of the products I focused on changing was my detergent. As many of you know I have been using Tide forever, but when my skin started to freak out last year, my detergent was one of the things recommended to switch. I went through a bunch of different ones that I didn’t think worked, but looking back now I realize my body was so reactive to anything/everything that it didn’t matter what I chose. I ended up with a random one that was a powder detergent, but after months of using it, I noticed nothing was getting cleaned properly and that my whites were never “white” anymore + my t-shirts necklines were being stretched out (one of my biggest pet peeves)!!

So when my I knew my skin was in a non-reactive phase I started testing out a detergent that I discovered that should meet all my needs…then I attended a Tide information session and learnt more about their Tide PODS Plus Downy Free!! This product is part of their line made specifically for people with sensitive skin. It’s hypoallergenic and has been recognized by both the Eczema Society of Canada and the National Psoriasis Foundation. Thanks to all of your kind messages on Instagram, I know that a lot of you have sensitive skin too. Did you know that 49% of Canadians claim to use free/unscented detergent because of sensitive skin?! We are not alone!! 

The sensitive skin benefit wasn’t the only thing I was excited about though…this version of the Tide PODS also has Downy fabric conditioner in it! First of all, let me be completely honest with you … I had no idea that I should even be thinking about fabric conditioner until that session and now I don’t think I can live without it!

So what is fabric conditioner? It protects colours, fights stains and protects your clothes from damage in the washing machine. Tide and Downy’s special technology allows me to clean and condition my clothes in just one simple step, to help it from stretching out (like my necklines!) and fading in the wash (especially important for my denim!).

I was especially shocked to learn that the damage that a laundry wash cycle could do to the fibres of my clothes can potentially be creating more friction and irritation on my super sensitive skin! Imagine it like your clothing fibres are like dry hair. There are more pokey ends that will rub against your skin and creating more friction if it’s not conditioned properly. With a good fabric conditioner, a layer is formed between the fabric and your skin to reduce that friction, and therefore limit any irritation!

Plus, my clothes finally FEEL clean now…I KNOW… it’s cringey to think about how unclean my clothes might have been for a while, but it’s all good now!

 Since my whole business relies so heavily on my clothes looking their best; being able to properly clean and maintain the quality of my clothing, but also addressing my sensitive skin issues is top priority for me! So if you’re a sensitive skinned human like me, or treasure all your clothes dearly (also like me!), then this combo is an absolute try in my books! 

As for my laundry routine, I am happily using Tide PODS Plus Downy Free with no issues. My clothes always seem to look better after a wash now, instead of misshapen. 

For most of my clothes I have them run in Eco-warm water, since some fabrics are sensitive to too cold of water temperature and can cause shrinking. For my towels + more rugged fabrics I use cold water. The Tide PODS Plus Downy Free has the cleaning power to properly clean even in cold water, so no worries there!

Also, I have the machine run at about medium speed to get enough cleaning action, but not at high in case the physical movement is too much for my more delicate pieces. For my extra delicate pieces like camisoles, and knitwear I put the machine on delicate mode.

I’ve found that the Tide PODS Plus Downy Free works with all types of fabrics so it’s all I need in my laundry cabinet (…besides the regular Tide detergent because my non-sensitive skin hubby is still obsessed with the smell of that one!)

To learn more about Tide PODS Plus Downy Free click here!

That’s all from me for now! I’ll be sharing more on my Instagram so make sure to follow me @jessundecided.

Xx

Jess