Clean and pristine. (Napisan)

Member Name: catsfish

Product:	Napisan
Date:	18/08/09 (242 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: removes stains, kills germs at a low tempreture.

Disadvantages: difficult to open and use box.

Back in my care free days I had no use for a product such as Napisan, but two kids later and I find my self rather tragically enthusing about its stain removing prowess and it has indeed rescued many clothing items I believed were destined only for the bin.

What is it?
Napisan is a "Germicidal in-wash stain remover with active oxygen for white and colours" made by Reckitt Benckiser. It has been around for donkey's years and traditionally used to soak cloth nappies before washing. It comes in a red white and blue cardboard box and the packaging would not look out of place in a kitchen from the 1960s - It is definitely substance over style with this product. A metal tab on the box side when pulled out opens the pack and acts as a pourer. This can actually be very annoying as I end up having to rip open the box as the pourer only works when the packaging is still fairly full.
The product appearance is a white blue tinged powder containing amongst other ingredients:
15-30% oxygen bleaching agents
5-15% anionic surfactants
5% polycarboxylates
Optical brighteners and perfume.

Usage instructions
"35g may be added to 5 litres of water, soak for two hours then rinse". This is the time honoured routine for cloth nappies (well according to my mum anyway) but I have found this bit of a faff with all the rinsing and nasty grim water sloshing about when using mine and usually just sling them straight in the machine. They recommend that you "Add 35g to your normal detergent in the main wash compartment, for heavy stains double the dose".
Many cloth nappy brands recommend that you don't use Napisan or other sanitizers that contain bleaches because they may damage the elastics and waterproofing in modern nappies and outer wraps (pants).
As common with laundry products it is listed as an irritant and you are told to keep it away from eyes and not to ingest.

How does the product perform?
I find it works particularly well for removing stains when soaking in a bucket and better than washing powder alone when in the machine.
Whilst this is good it is actually the germicidal action I find it most useful for. Products such as vanish remove stains well but are not germicidal. Obviously this is important when washing nappies but I have found that if I'm in a rush and only have time to do a quick wash I can add a scoop to a load of towels or bedding which I normally do on 60 degrees and use a cooler quicker programme yet feel any bugs have been obliterated as it "kills ger4ms at 30c". I have also found that it works particularly well at getting any "lingering odours" out of sweaty gym kits and the like. Whilst the product is not particularly environmentally friendly in itself you need to use very little and it has to be a plus point to be able to wash at a lower temperature.
The product is also non-biological so may be suitable for those with sensitive skins. My daughter has eczema and she appears to be unaffected, but its best to just give it a try on a couple of items and see if you react or not.

Summary: A useful item to keep in weather you wash nappies or not.