If you are looking for a natural laundry detergent, especially for your baby or child, then get a load of this one… I was reading through a forum post on CafeMom about making homemade laundry detergent and someone mentioned Soap Nuts as their favorite natural laundry detergent.

I know, I said the same thing.  What the heck are soap nuts???  I immediately began my exhaustive research…

Why a Natural Laundry Detergent? The chemicals used in commercial laundry detergents, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets are despicable. They include things that are classified under federal law as toxic, hazardous, and carcinogenic.  Some ingredients are even on the EPA hazardous waste list.  Yet we wash our clothes with these things and wear them in direct contact with our skin all – day – long.

You don’t want that for your children and you don’t want that for yourself either.




You can find quality soap nuts here!

Picture
I had been interested for some time in finding a natural laundry detergent, especially for my son, but I really wanted something for all of us.  We have always used a mainstream dye-free baby detergent but I really didn’t feel like that was good enough and it was too expensive to do all of the household laundry in.

So then I started toying with the idea of using household items like vinegar, baking soda, and wool laundry balls which are all supposed to be wonderful but for some reason I just never got around to trying it.

Then I came across the post about soap nuts, started my research, and immediately ordered a package!  I have never been so excited about laundry soap!

How Is a Soap Nut a Natural Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener? Hard to believe I know, but a soap nut actually grows on a tree.  The seed is removed and the remaining skin is full of saponin, a natural soap.  Soap nuts are completely, entirely, non-toxic and natural, even biodegradable.

They are not only an amazing soap that removes the odor on your worst clothes rather than covering it up like commercial detergents, but they also serve to replace your incredibly toxic fabric softeners.

My Personal Experience With the Soap Nut I was ridiculously excited when my soap nuts arrived in the mail.  I know, I need to get out more.  I was just so tickled by the idea of a natural tree berry washing my clothes and saving me money, and removing toxins from my child’s life, and freeing up about four square feet of room in my laundry cupboard that is filled with cheap laundry detergent, fabric softener, dye-free laundry detergent, dryer sheets, baking soda, bleach, spot remover pens, Oxyclean, hydrogen peroxide… arg!

No fooling around, I went straight for the kill… the cloth diapers!!!

The directions say to use 4 to 6 nuts.  I was being generous because I was doing the diapers so I went with six.  So – not – necessary!  I started the machine, came back five minutes later and the bubbles were unbelievable!  WAIT!  When I went to do the second load of laundry I got nearly no bubbles so I emailed the company inquiring why and received a quick response:

            "About your first load of diapers. If I had to guess, I would say that the first load of diapers were                         releasing the suds from the detergent you were using before. Detergents contain chemicals that do                     nothing but make suds and have nothing to do with cleaning. Consumers have been brain washed to                 believe that suds equals clean. This is not true. Soap nuts are naturally low sudsing."

I have known for some time that “sudsing” when it comes to shampoo is an artificial process that is just meant to make you feel like the shampoo is working really great.  I hadn’t thought about the same thing for the laundry detergent.  He was right.  The dye-free detergent I had been using for the diapers was a high-sudsing soap.  And look what was left behind!  All of those chemicals were stuck in my son’s diapers!  Disgusting.

I finished the load, put the diapers in the dryer with no balls, no dryer sheets, nothing.  When they were done I buried my nose deep into the diapers and took a big whiff…  nothing…  clean.  OH!  And so soft!

I’m still in disbelief.  I am so excited that I want to do more laundry but I don’t have any to do (not that that will last long)!

So, the next day I did a load of my husband’s grimy, sweaty clothes.  This was my first load with just the soap of the nuts and not all of that lousy build-up coming out of the clothes.  Once again, when the clothes were dry I buried my nose in and took a big whiff…  ahhhhh, soft and fresh smelling.  I Love Soap Nuts!

Where Do I Get These Crazy Soap Nuts? Okay, so those of you who know me know that I research things endlessly before I buy online, and I buy online a lot!

I got my soap nuts, and will continue to get my soap nuts from Green Virgin Products.  They are very high quality direct from growers in India that have been in business for 100 years.  They are prepared and packaged properly, come in a biodegradable, sealed plastic bag to protect them from bacteria and rot, they include a washer bag and a cloth bag for storage.

And they work!!!

Apparently, other people complain about their soap nuts not working up in cold water.  Guess those are inferior soap nuts because I only use cold water and I get great results.

And conveniently you can get your Green Virgin Soap Nuts from Amazon so your purchase is worry free!

Amazing Bonus – It’s Not JUST a Natural Laundry Detergent This is so awesome.  You can throw a nut in just about any container, add some water, make suds, and clean anything you want.

Even better… you can BOIL a few nuts and separate the soap to use as hand soap or shampoo!!!  AWESOME!

Long story short… I highly, highly recommend that you switch to soap nuts.  You can make a major impact in your family’s toxic load AND save money.

Have fun – go nuts!! (pun intended!!)  Now I’m going to clean out my laundry cupboard!!

P.S. – don’t worry, the soap nuts come with complete instructions – not that it’s hard, but you know.

7/30/2013 01:49:15 am

I have used baking soda but now Im interested in this. Would like to try it, seems very good.

Reply



Leave a Reply.