Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Soapnuts: A Totally Natural Laundry Soap

I don't usually make a practice of doing product reviews on this blog, but this product is just so cool, I have to tell you about it.  I'm not affiliated with the company in any way.  I just thought this was an interesting product.

Soapnuts are nothing more than the dried fruit of a Himalayan tree (Sapindus Mukorossi).  They contain saponin, the natural substance that makes soap soapy.  You just put 3-4 of the little, grape-sized dried fruits into the included muslin bag, pull the drawstring closed, and toss the bag in with your load of laundry.  

That's it.  They get your laundry clean naturally.  No petro-chemical-based detergents, no bulky plastic jugs to fill up our landfills.  The 3-4 nuts you put in the bag can be used for up to 4 loads of laundry before they lose their effectiveness.  Then you can just compost the spent ones and refill the bag with a few more.




You can use Soapnuts in a lot of other ways too, from household cleansers to shampoo.  Check out their website for more info.

6 comments:

V.R. Leavitt said...

That's pretty cool!! I'll have to check them out.
-V

Unknown said...

I tried these a while back and my experience was the same as yours. They got my laundry clean but I did need the dryer sheet.
Good to know that it works on farm clothes too!
Sue

Kelly said...

Interesting! I'll check the site. Did you notice whether they work on stains too? Sounds neat!

Nancy Chase said...

I haven't tried them on any serious stains yet, but here's what their website says about stains:

"With a really dirty load, use the same amount of soapnuts, but only fill the machine half full. This will give the laundry some room for the clothes to move freely. As with all laundry cleaners, it may also be necessary to use stain remover to eliminate resistant stains."

Lydia said...

That's very interesting. Thanks, for sharing, Nancy.

Silence Bellows said...

I have been using soapnuts from Laundry Tree for a year now. They're fabulous! Great for my baby! A funny thing I noticed was that now we've been using soapnuts, I can smell the detergent and fabric softener on other people's clothing. It really bothers me now! I like having no fragrance cloud permeating from my clean clothes. Our family's laundry just smells clean.

Awesome post!