I'm Wirecutter's Laundry Expert, and My Favorite Cleaning Cloth Is a Diaper

New York Times

06-05-2025

Before microfiber cloths became ubiquitous cleaning tools, humble household rags reigned supreme. Rags could be anything: old cotton undershirts, accidentally bleached towels, or a holey (and embarrassing) pair of tighty-whities.
When I was growing up, my family's favored rags were plump, cotton cloths, which we used for everything from dusting furniture to polishing brass. These cloths also happened to be diapers — reusable cloth diapers, to be specific.
When I asked my neat-freak father, Richard Thomas, why cloth diapers have been his rag of choice for 45 years, he answered enthusiastically: 'They're absorbent, they don't leave lint — they really cannot be beat!'
Cloth diapers — Gerber Prefold Birdseye Cloth Diapers in particular — have also become my default household rags for the same reasons my father uses them: They clean up spills, they dust well, and the cotton weave leaves no fuzz. Due to their interlacing birdseye weave, my favorite cloth diapers are especially absorbent and terrific for cleaning.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
Gerber Birdseye Prefold Cloth Diapers consist of three layers of 100% cotton. The interlacing birdseye weave makes the fabric especially absorbent, explained Karen Leonas, a professor of textile sciences at Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. Cotton is also biodegradable, a detail I appreciate when I'm cleaning with cloth diapers.
I've found that these diapers are great for mopping up spills. This might sound pretty obvious, but they really do soak up large amounts of liquid.
I've used cloth diapers to clean up many different kinds of vibrant spills, like coffee, tea, and red wine. One downside is that cloth diapers tend to hang onto these types of stains if they aren't laundered quickly. A cloth diaper will thoroughly absorb spilled coffee.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
I recommend washing cloth diapers in cold water, with Wirecutter's top-pick powder laundry detergent; the added kick of oxygen bleach helps manage odors and stains. You can use warm water for an extra stain-removing boost, but I've had good results using cold water. I swiped this frame with a cotton diaper, and it easily picked up dust.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
When it comes to dusting, the birdseye weave creates a durable cloth that produces very little lint. And for dusting, cloth diapers wipe away debris as well as single-use dust pads. But if you're like me and you'd prefer not to throw away something every time you dust, cloth diapers are a great alternative.
Cloth diapers don't leave behind the streaks of fuzz you often get when wiping down a mirror with a paper towel. And this is ideal when you want a speckless shine. A cloth diaper leaves a mirror shiny and free of streaks and lint.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
They're also great for spot-cleaning carpets, upholstery, and clothing. The first line of defense for treating fresh liquid stains is to soak up as much of the fluid as you can. Despite being small enough for a baby's rear end, Gerber's cloth diapers can easily absorb a surprising volume of fluids before needing to be wrung out. In our testing, they easily held about 4 ounces of liquid. I used a cotton diaper to soak up as much spilled wine from this carpet as possible. The diaper absorbed a lot of the red wine stain, making it much easier to spot-clean.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
Cloth diapers also come in handy in the laundry room. As Wirecutter's resident laundry expert, I've found time and time again that for fresh clothing stains, it's typically best to blot up the excess liquid before you pretreat and wash the item. I used a trusty cloth diaper to mop up excess berry juice from a pair of leggings before pretreating the stain.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter.
And cloth diapers can quickly soak up pretty much any moisture or fluid from fabrics. They are ideal when you're handling fine or delicate materials that are not colorfast; quickly absorbing moisture from these garments can help prevent excess dye from bleeding. Cloth diapers will also do this without leaving lint on your favorite delicate vintage item. This large, tarnished silver tray had seen better days. With the help of a cloth diaper and some silver polish, the tarnish began to wipe away. Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
Cloth diapers are great for polishing fine metals that are easily scratched, such as silver, brass, and gold. The soft material is gentle on surfaces, and it handles metal polish well, so the tarnish can be effortlessly wiped away. (Be warned that for a particularly grimy item, you may need to use more than one cloth diaper.) Once the tarnish was completely gone, I used a fresh cloth diaper to buff the silver tray to a shine.
Andrea Barnes/NYT Wirecutter
Cleaning with reusable cloth diapers might sound odd, but even Gerber suggests holding onto them for tasks other than diapering, including cleaning, dusting, and even washing your car. Wirecutter editor Signe Brewster first started using cloth diapers as burp cloths for her children, and now they've become her go-to cleaning rags.
One downside is that cloth diapers need to be laundered fairly often. And, as with any rag, reusing cloth diapers without washing them could potentially allow nasty microbes to flourish — or, worse, you could accidentally spread them from surface to surface in your home. According to Sean Cormier, chair of textiles development and marketing at Fashion Institute of Technology, cotton fibers take longer to dry than the synthetic materials typically used in other cleaning cloths. This extra moisture creates an environment that can allow bacteria to flourish, especially if a cloth diaper is crumpled into a ball and thrown in a hamper.
So be mindful of what you use the diapers for. I'd suggest reaching for something else to clean smelly food spills, bodily fluids, or other pungent substances that are prone to bacterial growth. (If you won't be washing your cloth diapers for a while, you can prevent odor and stretch the time between laundering by rinsing them in hot water with a little bit of dish soap and hanging them to air-dry.)
Otherwise, clean away. My dad was right. These diapers really can't be beat.
This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Megan Beauchamp. If you harbor a morbid curiosity about what exactly makes up the grayish, fluffy stuff that accumulates in your home, we've got you.
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