Soap Nuts - Ecological Alternatives to detergent

[zanussi_lover]

I have been thinking has anyone used soapnuts to wash their laundry, and are they effective? Ive been watching videos about them and wondered how good they are at cleaning away dirt.

Soapnuts release seponin, which is a natural soap which is has anti fungal and anti bacterial properties. they are triggered by warm water washing, and stop releasing seponin, when the rinse cycle happens, and you dont need any softener, because soap naturally softens laundry, and if you want a fragrance you can add some essential oils which are completely natural.

I have been thinking about trying them out, as im getting sick of the heavily fragranced detergents and softeners, and they seem like a chemical free alternative.

has anybody tried soapnuts

 

[peterh770]

There was a soapberry product at the Clean show this last summer.  I got a few samples and was completely unimpressed with the performance.  I have been looking for the website for it but can't seem to find it...

 

Just because something makes suds when added to some water and shaken in a jar doesn't make it a cleaner...

 

[peterh770]

Found it...  Berry+...  The vending version comes in a cardboard packet (not shown)...  2 mls to clean a load of clothes they claim...

 

http://berryplus.com/what-is-it/berry-based-soap/

 

[paulc]

My sister

tried them and they don't clean well at all. Sure fire way to dingy washing.

 

[zanussi_lover]

dark loads

i know that they probably wouldn't be great for whites due to them not having any bleaching or brightners in, but i wear alot of black and dark coloured clothes, and these aren't really heavily soiled.

I suppose for whites you could add an oxygen bleach/bicarbonate of soda combination to the wash.

i have found that white vinegar can remove underarm perspiration stains/prevent yellowing of clothes through spraying it on neat before washing.

and if you want perfume then a few drops of natural essential oils to the wash can help fragance it.

(I have fond memories as a young lad, putting on a wash it my friends mums Hoover Ecologic and she used to use Ecover powder and a few drops of lavender oil in the softener compartment)

 

[launderess]

You Want Laundry Soap?

I'll send you a bar of P&G laundry soap any day you like, but don't bother with those *nuts*.

 

[foraloysius]

A friend of a friend uses those nuts. My friend told me she had never seen such dingy laundry ever before. Actually she said the laundry still looked dirty to her when it came out of the washer. And she herself isn't too particular about laundry...

 

[peterh770]

"i know that they probably wouldn't be great for whites due to them not having any bleaching or brightners in, but i wear alot of black and dark coloured clothes, and these aren't really heavily soiled."

 

Then save your money and just wash in plain water...

 

[jetsystem1200]

All these soapnuts and ecoeggs seem to be are things that make the water foam up, thereby creating the illusion that your washing is being washed. Coupled with most people's habits of washing at cold temperatures, your clothes could come out as dirty
as they went in.

 

[whirlcool]

These things have been around forever. I think I joined aw.org in either 2007 or 2008 and there was a discussion going on about them back then!

The opinion back then was the same as today...save your money.

 

[AZREOspecialist]

You've got to be a nut to actually use these "nuts". Skip the nuts and wash in plain water - the results will be the same. If you want clean clothes, you need detergent, Skip all these ecological "miracle" products that promise the moon and the stars and beyond... please!

 

[summerluvin_ca]

I have been using Soap Nuts and Eco Nuts since January with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

I've used them on my daughter's cloth diapers as well. True enought that if you have heavily soiled articles, you would want to add something like Oxi clean to your load for the stain fighting.

My linens and towels have never been softer (I DO NOT USE FABRIC SOFTENER) and the anti microbial and antibacterial properties were an essential selling point because I was doing laundry in a large household where my nephew was dealing with ALL leukemia and GVHD which left him with sores and infections.

Actually the soap nuts do not give off much suds at all. SUDS does not equal clean much to the surprise of many. If your clothing is smelling of fabric softener and fragrances, your clothing are not getting rinsed properly. When my clothes come out of the wash after using the nuts, they smell of nothing. No dirt, no perfumes. just clean.

 

[lavamat_jon]

If your clothing is smelling of fabric softener and fragranc

That is the whole reason why fabric softener is added to the final rinse; it is the residue that leaves soft and pleasant smelling laundry. Nothing to do with the machine not rinsing properly as fabric softener isn't designed to be rinsed out and that is is dosed purposely in the final rinse...

I have sensitive skin and yet have no real issues with fabric softener, but if those who don't like fragrances then the simple solution is not to add fabric softener...

When I use no softener on towels and loads of cleaning stuff, I don't have any fragrance too using bog standard, available in every supermarket detergents that work. (If anything, the fragrance is what I miss on these loads).

Jon

 

[AZREOspecialist]

@ zanussi_lover

It sounds like you've already made up your mind that you want to use these things, so I don't understand why you are asking for opinions here. Nobody seems to think it's a good idea. Common sense will tell you that it's not a good idea. It simply isn't rational to believe that some handful of "nuts" from a tree is going to get your clothes clean. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous.

@ summerluvin_ca

I challenge you to wash a load of clothes in Tide that you have been previously washing in soap nuts. I think you'll be shocked at the difference.

 

[ricky5050]

If you're being green ....

Why not try Ecover ? There range is reformulated, there new soap powder is very good with integrated bleach, it comes in bio or non bio, I could only get the non bio and use it on towels etc and even on the shorter washes of my vintage machine it cleaned well, although I'm not particularly messy.

There dishwasher tabs are quite good too, there toilet cleaner washing up liquid and kitchen spray , I would consider to be very very good.

It's a greener alternative to maybe use products like these on gentler stains or light soiled loads and keep some strong stuff for the toughies.

As for soap nuts I'm not convinced and those soap pellets balls can be worse for environment as they have higher levels of detergents and they are released in the rinse cycles too.

If they are not too expensive why not do a little which style test. 6 White tea towels stained with a variety of stains , one washed in a full load of average soiled whites with 6 different cleaners, nuts, Ecover ariel etc etc , you could do before and after photos,

I don't know if you can remember the old radion adverts from the 80s 90s where customers made there own adverts?

Good luck

Richard

 

[summerluvin_ca]

@ azreospecialist

I have used Tide in the past. It was actually the only detergent we ever used growing up. I have washed after an initial soap nuts wash...if your asking if there was a difference? YES. However that difference was ONLY the smell of perfumes in my clothing.
I'm sorry to hear that you are closed to the idea that something as simple as soap nuts could possibly work. They have been used for quite some time in Asia.

I not only use the soap nuts, but I also use Rockin Green detergent. That, my friend is a very good one to try as well.

@zanussi_lover

it can never hurt to give something a try.

 

[beekeyknee]

Skeptical

I find it very dubious that a half of a teaspoon of anything would work in the 20 gallons of water my Maytag uses for a wash. And a quart of luke-warm water will clean a giant load of laundry in a FL washing machine. Right, Big Brother. Not that he's indorsing "Soap Nuts", but it sounds like something he might. We should bail out big banks, run up our credit cards, turn in our guns, sell all our gold and bow down before him. Sorry. I'd rather go out fighting.

I'm not a Republican but I'm not stupid either. For once I'd like to see a politician run on fiscal conservatism and liberal civil rights and actually win.

I know this doesn't have anything to do with "Soap Nuts", but since I can't move the thread to Dirty Laundry I'll have to go "Soap Nuts" here. LOL.

 

[ronhic]

water alone...

...will shift somewhere between 45-55%, depending on water temperature, of soiling in clothes with just the mechanical action of the washing machine.

 

With regards to 'Laundry balls' the Wiki article below notes the overall results and comments from several consumer magazines, including Choice from Australia. All draw the same conclusion - they don't do anything more than water alone will do.

 

Laundry ball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

Whilst I would like to think that 'Soap nuts' are vastly different, and I don't doubt that they are better than laundry balls, I would really like to see one of the large consumer magazines do a test to see how they actually perform against traditional, commercial products before being converted into a believer.

 

Sapindus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[dj-gabriele]

Some time ago I posted an article from our consumer magazine testing those nuts versus plain water and then compared to the best performing powder detergent.

It was revealed that water alone scored 1% better than washing with the nuts respectively 33% and 34% while the best detergent scored 84%.