My laundry detergent grew on a tree in India.
Seriously.
Fruit of a Sapindus tree, soap nuts contain saponins which are natural occurring surfactants.
An ancient answer to harsh commerical detergents that is even safe for cloth diapers.
Do I like it?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Washing clothes with soapnuts is as easy as placing 5 nuts in the little cotton bag and throwing it in the washer when you start a load. I use the same soapnuts for 5ish loads and then put the used nuts in a jar of water that I am saving for some future yet-to-be-decided purpose.
The only catch when using soapnuts for cloth diapers is that you have to remember to remove the bag for the final rinse. With the use of soapnuts, I have officially learned just how important that final rinse is for cloth diapers. Trust me. Remember to take out the bag unless you want every diaper to leak with the first pee....
Prior to soapnuts, I was washing clothes and diapers with my homemade detergent of equal parts borax, washing soda and oxyclean. I liked that detergent better than the formerly used All Free & Clear; my clothes seemed nice and clean but whites were quite dingy, things just didn't seem soft as I would like and I had a hard time deciding on an appropriate measure for each load.
I am glad to say soapnuts has fulfilled all my washing needs......clean clothes, cloth diaper safe, 100% natural, cheap, and easy. The only way it could be better is if I was collecting my own soapnuts from a Sapindus tree in my backyard.
6 comments:
how cheap?
This is the box I bought back in January from the natural food store in Jackson and I have half of the box left. I probably average a load of clothes a day. I think I paid $16 for the box.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=maggies'+soap+nuts&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=16570704321429763322&sa=X&ei=1OmoTZmvHs62tweKhY3eBw&ved=0CD4Q8wIwAw#ps-sellers
i'm never around to make sure when the final rinse happens but i love the idea of the soapnuts and how natural they are! i love charlie's soap. it's got this real-clean scent (esp after the clothes have dried in the sun).
Cool post. We got a bag of soapnuts at christmas and have been testing them out. Thanks for the tip on the last rinse w/diapers-I haven't been totally happy with the soapnut/cloth diapers situation, although I use them for all my other laundry no problem. We are also saving the "expired" soap nuts in a jar with water for an unspecified future use. You should post when you figure out what you are going to do with them. I have heard you can use it as hand soap or dish soap maybe?
Emily, the natural part is what I first liked best but I have been surprisingly happy with the results :)
Tara, I'm thinking probably handsoap with the liquid from the used soapnuts. I was keeping the nuts in a jar but they started getting moldy so I added some water....
soapnut is an excellent hair conditioner.
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