Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Soap Nuts - 100% natural detergent

     My beautiful cousin, Ashli, was kind enough to send me a generous sample of soap nuts from her recent order on Amazon from NaturOli.  I first learned about soap nuts some time last year and have been intrigued ever since, but I wanted to try them before I buy them.


     For those of you who have never heard of soap nuts, they are the dried shells from the soap berry. The soap berry grows on the Sapindus trees native to Napal and India and contain saponin, a 100% natural alternative to chemical laundry detergent and cleansers.  Soap nuts have been used for centuries around the world for laundry detergent, personal hygiene, and household cleaners.  There is already plenty of information out there about soap nuts, how to use them, and recipes for making your own cleaning products all over the internet. I encourage you to check them out.


     Along with the soap nuts, Ashli sent me a small muslin pouch for use in the laundry.  I just put about 5 soap nuts in the pouch and tossed it in the washer with a load of my laundry.  I must mention that when I opened the bag, they did smell kind of funny. It wasn't a horrible scent, but it wasn't pleasant either. I'm very happy to say that my laundry came out clean, soft, and scent free.  I didn't even have to use fabric softener.  The neat thing is that I can reuse them for about 4-7 loads before I need to replace them.  When they are no longer reusable I can just add them to my garden compost. You can't get more natural than that!


Thanks again, Ashli! You're the best!

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