I finally got my order of soap nuts today. When I was in Belgium, I saw a news clip about them and also read an article. They intrigued me since I was cloth diapering Emma and with three kids I do a lot of laundry. Soap nuts are dried fruit, much like figs, that come from the Chinese Soapberry Tree (Sapindus Mukorossi) and are a natural laundry detergent. They contain saponin, a natural cleaner used for thousands of years to clean clothes.
So they are hypoallergenic and natural and 100% biodegradable. They are sustainable and suport rural economies and prevent the logging of the soapberry trees.
But do they work? How much do they cost?
Yes, they work. I just did my first load and I showed no mercy. The load I washed was the girls clothes. Tomatoes, markers, mud, general grey stuff on the sleeves. The tomato stains were not all gone, but they never are using my regular detergent. I have to say that they worked at least as well as Tide Clear, which is what I was using before. I am now reusing the first 2 soap nuts in a dishtowel and big wash.
How to use:
For a hot/ warm wash: place 2 soapnuts in the little bag they provided and pop in the wash.
For a cold wash: use 4 (but then they can be re-used 3-4 times)
They are safe in HE as well as regular machines. They don't really produce any suds.
You can check out more at http://www.maggiespureland.com/. That is where I purchased them.
There is supposedly a lot more you can do with them.
Now for the cost: a big bag supposedly for 200 loads, cost $34.99 and I paid $7.47 shipping- so I paid $42.46. (About 21 cents a load) The Tide Clear I usually buy costs $12.99 and they advertise it does 64 loads and that is about 20 cents a load. So the cost, including shipping is on par with what I currently use. The question remains whether I will truly get 200 loads and if I ever truly get 64 loads. I will try to keep track of the number of loads I do. Also, no need for softeners... the clothes came out beautifully!
Anyway, here are pictures of the soap nuts and some of the stains they took out:
So they are hypoallergenic and natural and 100% biodegradable. They are sustainable and suport rural economies and prevent the logging of the soapberry trees.
But do they work? How much do they cost?
Yes, they work. I just did my first load and I showed no mercy. The load I washed was the girls clothes. Tomatoes, markers, mud, general grey stuff on the sleeves. The tomato stains were not all gone, but they never are using my regular detergent. I have to say that they worked at least as well as Tide Clear, which is what I was using before. I am now reusing the first 2 soap nuts in a dishtowel and big wash.
How to use:
For a hot/ warm wash: place 2 soapnuts in the little bag they provided and pop in the wash.
For a cold wash: use 4 (but then they can be re-used 3-4 times)
They are safe in HE as well as regular machines. They don't really produce any suds.
You can check out more at http://www.maggiespureland.com/. That is where I purchased them.
There is supposedly a lot more you can do with them.
Now for the cost: a big bag supposedly for 200 loads, cost $34.99 and I paid $7.47 shipping- so I paid $42.46. (About 21 cents a load) The Tide Clear I usually buy costs $12.99 and they advertise it does 64 loads and that is about 20 cents a load. So the cost, including shipping is on par with what I currently use. The question remains whether I will truly get 200 loads and if I ever truly get 64 loads. I will try to keep track of the number of loads I do. Also, no need for softeners... the clothes came out beautifully!
Anyway, here are pictures of the soap nuts and some of the stains they took out:
This is how the soap nuts arrived. There was a big cotton bag to keep them all in and a smaller one in which you place them before you pop them in the wash.
Two friendly little soap nuts.
Caroline's grungy turtleneck- notice the dirt, pencil and marker marks on the sleeves.
Caroline's Turtleneck- after a warm wash with soap nuts. She has had this turtleneck for 2 years, so there were very light stains on the sleeves before hand.
Claire's shirt, notice the tomato and marker spots.
Claire's shirt -after a warm wash with soap nuts.
4 comments:
Thanks for telling me about your blog, Julie. Now I can check you out even after you move!
I want to add that after reading more about the Soap Nuts, some people say they work better in hot water. I haven't had super greasy and or dirty clothes, so I have found that warm and cold washes turn out well with soap nuts. I am currently doing my first cloth diaper laundry with them and will update on how that goes.
I love all the laundry experiments! It makes me want to quit my job and tell P&G that their laundry detergent is a rip off and hurting the planet (but I cant do that yet, they still pay my salary) Such awesome info Julie. I love all natural laundry products and this is a new one for me... keep em coming
Update From Julie:
Soap Nuts are the best for diaper laundry! They work really well on all our laundry, so I doubt I'll go back to regular detergent.
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