Soap Nuts

Soap nuts are a completely natural laundry detergent. Equally important is that they are (and have been for centuries) known to be safe for people with sensitive skin.

While some companies like Seventh Generation create chemical formulas using “plant derived” cleaning agents specifically for sensitive skin, nature already created a natural detergent that works well to clean without irritating skin.

From Seventh Generation’s own site here is the list of ingredients in their “Free and Clear” Laundry Liquid.

Consider as you read through these ingredients that they (as is true on all ingredient lists listed from highest to lowest concentrations in the formula).

Free & Clear Natural 2X Concentrated Laundry Liquid

Aqua (water), sodium laureth sulfate, coconut alcohol ethoxylate & glycerin (plant-derived cleaning agents), sodium citrate (water softener), oleic acid & glyceryl oleate (plant-derived anti-foaming agents), sodium hydroxide (alkalinity builder), sodium borate (alkalinity builder and soil dispersant), amylase, cellulase & protease (enzyme soil removers), calcium chloride (cleaning enhancer), hexahydro-1,3,5-tris (2-hydroxyethyl)-s-triazine (preservative)

Let’s see how safe, natural, or non-irritating some of these ingredients are.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient/706089/SODIUM_LAURETH_SULFATE as you scroll down the page warning flags will no doubt spring up in your mind. But keep scrolling and you’ll see that this ingredient has proven to cause skin irritations in rabbits, and guinea pigs. Are we to believe that it won’t cause them in humans, especially children or those with health issues already?

Another potential cause of itchy skin is excessive alkalinity. If you review the ingredients above your will see two alkalinity building ingredients. So this too could be a cause of laundry detergents causing itchy skin or irritating sensitive skin. One way to know for sure would be to take a PH testing kit to the formula and see how alkaline it is. However, few of us would want to have to do this every time we try a commerically produced laundry detergent.

Now let’s turn to why soap nuts are considered a good choice of a truly natural laundry detergent that is excellent for those suffering from sensitive skin.

First let’s look at the ingredient list for soap nuts. It’s short. There are not long names with further explanation of the why they are included needed. More importantly none them are plant derived through chemical processes. They are simple a part of a plant, specifically the berry of the Sapindus Mukorossi Tree.

Ingredient in a bag of soap nuts are soap nuts.

Now let’s look at how the soap nuts work and how they’ve been used historically for not only cleaning but treating sensitive skin problems like psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, and itchiness of the skin and scalp.

The particular type of saponin in greatest quantity in soap nuts are triterpenoid saponins. Wikipedia has a long explanation of them however the part most important to why they work to clean is this portion.

Most triterpenoid compounds in adaptogenic plants are found as saponin glycosides which refers to the attachment of various sugar molecules to the triterpene unit. Saponin glycosides reduce surface tension of water with foaming and will break down lipids.

In Ayuevedic medicine the soap nuts are often used as an anti-inflammatory. That pretty much says it all they will NOT inflame (irritate) tissue.

Additionally soap nuts leave no residue on the clothes when properly used so unlike commercial chemically derived laundry detergents nothing is left in your clothing to irritate your skin.

That is the brief explanation of why soap nuts are an excellent natural laundry detergent for sensitive skin.

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Soap nuts are a gardener’s dream come true for more reasons than just using them ground into coarse soap nuts powder for a chemical free hand scrub.

With the beautiful weather months at hand more and more people are out digging in the dirt planting for beautification or planting vegetable gardens. With all of that outdoor work comes the need to deal with dirty hands, dirty clothes, lots of perspiration odor in your clothes, grimy faces, and more than a few preditory insects trying to have a snack at your expense.

Soap nuts in their various common use forms answer every one of those challenges, and do so chemically free and without exposing your body or clothes to harmful irritating detergents or cleansers.

Before heading out to the garden mist yourself with some soap nuts liquid as a green chemical free insect repellent. The saponin is a natural insect repellent but will not harm you or your skin like many of the traditional insect or mosquito repellents.

After using soap nuts powder as a chemical free hand scrub for my mobile mechanics it seemed sensible that if soap nuts worked that well on oily greasy hands they’d work equally well on dirt on the hands and under the finger nails after gardening. So a few weeks ago after clearing an area for a ginger garden I had filthy gardener’s hands. Okay some people wear gloves but I’m am very hands on in everything I do and gardening is no exception. My nails are fairly short but even so I had plenty of sandy black grit under them and anyone who has ever gardened with their bare hands knows getting the dirt out from under your nails is a challenge and requires serious scrubbing.

I was amazed at how great my nails looked after a short scrub with soap nuts powder. I was equally pleased that scrubbing my hands with soap nuts did not dry them out.

Once I finished the gardening for that day my next challenge was the dirt that was all over me and my clothes, not to mention the eau de armpit I’d acquired from working in the afternoon sun.

I dropped the clothes into the laundry and popped my soap nuts in their wash bag into the washer and headed for the bath tub for a soak and a some serious scrubbing (or so I thought).

A few months ago I started sprinkling soap nuts powder into my bath water and the tub filled knowing that there would be a lot less scrubbing required because the same way soap nuts change the water tension in the washing machine they do the same in water used for any kind of washing.

Once the tub was filled I slid in, and took a spoon of the soap nuts powder I keep on the side of the tub for and started on my feet. I should mention at this point I also usually garden bare foot so there was serious dirt caked on my feet after watering in the new garden. I make it a habit to scrub my toe nails with soap nuts powder at least once a week to deter fungal growth and keep my nails white naturally. I have some scientific documentation on how well the saponin from soap nuts works as an antifungal treatment so if you need a good anti-fungal detergent try soap nuts. I’ll share that data in one of my next posts.

Back to soap nuts and gardening.

I sprinkled a bit of soap nuts powder onto my damp skin and lathered it up all the way from toes to top and then took the bottle of soap nuts liquid I keep on the side of the tub and washed my hair with it. Yes soap nuts shampoo too. Hey if I’m going to keep my house and body free of chemicals then my hair deserves the same treatment.

Keep in mind I have very coarse full hair below my waste so there is a lot of it to wash. I have had to learn to adjust to using soap nuts shampoo because since there is not real lather guaging how much can be challenging. Once in awhile I get brave and use the soap nuts powder mixed with some vegetable glycerin for shampooing also. I have found that you really need to have your hair very wet to shampoo with soap nuts and you need to use as little as possible and rinse really well. I always squirt a dab of vegetable glycerin into my damp hands after I shampoo with soap nuts because my hair tends to be coarse and when I do that the comb glides through my hair with no resistance. I can’t even say that was true when I used to use regular sulfate sudsy shampoo and hair conditioner. I’ll dedicate an entire post to soap nuts shampoo in the coming weeks because I know many people want to try it but don’t know where to start of who to use soap nuts for a shampoo.

On a side note since I started washing my hair with soap nuts shampoo I have notice a great deal less breakage and my hair seems to be growing faster. I suspect this is due in part to how healthy my scalp is because of using soap nuts.

But back to soap nuts being a dream come true for a gardener.

The last item that needed scrubbing was my face (and then of course the bath tub). I sprinkle a little soap nuts powder (finely ground) onto my hands work up a nice lather and clean and exfoliate my face all in one action.

The bath tub took a sprinkling of soap nuts powder on the grimy bath tub ring and some swooshing with my bare hand and my bath tub was spotless again.

Now think about this if I had used one product for each of the things I described above I would have purchased at least 7 products to do what I did with soap nuts; one item which I get packaged in muslin bags from NaturOli.

Seven products packaged in plastic:
Laundry detergent
Hand soap
Body Wash
Shampoo (and Conditioner)
Face Wash
Face Scrub (for exfoliating)
Bath Tub cleanser or soft scrub (read my post on soap nuts as a scouring powder)

Not only did I get my body, hair, hands and feet, face, clothes, and bath tub clean I did so with no negative impact on my person or the environment.

Oh and after I make soap nuts liquid (soap nuts tea) I take the spent soap berries and sprinkle them around in my flower beds to deter insects, especially ants. They break down over time right into the soil and while they are breaking down the soap nuts act as a natural insectide and insect repellent but with no harm to either my plants or the ground water.

Wahooo … now who could not like soap nuts. Whether you are looking for ways to cut household expenses, have sensitivity to chemicals or fragrances, or want to reduce the waste you produce soap nuts offers a solution. Oh and they are so much less expensive to use than all those packaged chemical cleaners and personal care products.

I can make a 3 liter bottle of soap nuts liquid at home for approximately $2.23 cents using 1 1/2 ounces of soap nuts. That’s if you buy the NaturOli soap nuts in a one pound bag. I buy the 4 pound bag of NaturOli Nuts Soap Nuts so in point of fact my cost for the 3 liter bottle of soap nuts liquid is actually $1.35. Since I harness solar power to make my soap nuts liquid I have zero energy cost for it too.
Read the post on making soap nuts liquid greener http://www.soap-nuts.info/2009/04/01/making-soap-nuts-liquid-greener

I use that 3 liter bottle for laundry, counter tops, insect repellent, dishwasher detergent, dishwashing liquid, liquid hand soap, for mopping the floors, washing the cars, and shampoo.

Costing out the soap nuts powder is a bit different since I do both a fine grind and a coarse grind depending on what I am using it for. If I use the fine grind to wash my face or as a hand or foot scrub I use about 1/8 of a tsp yes only that tiny bit does the job.

The coarsely ground soap nuts powder I use for scouring sinks, bath tubs, toilets I use about 1 tsp for each sink, bath tub, and toilet.

In my next post I’ll give you the numbers on how much using soap nuts powder for personal care and as a chemical free scouring powder costs.

The next time you head out for time in the garden be sure you have your soap nuts ready!

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Making soap nuts liquid at home is very easy. It’s simply a matter of putting some approximate 15 soap nuts in 6 cups of water in a pot of water and boiling the water, then reducing it to a simmer for about 30 minutes.

But yesterday I started to think about ways that I could make soap nuts liquid just as concentrated without using the electric to boil the water. In essence making soap nuts liquid greener by not using any fossil fuels to create it if possible. After all one of the main reasons I use soap nuts is to reduce my carbon footprint and remove chemicals from my cleaning and personal care environment.

Here are some ideas about ways to make soap nuts liquid at home but to make the whole process greener and more efficient.

Soap Nuts Tea – Solar Power – Sun Tea Versions

Take the equivalent of 20 whole soap nuts and drop them into an empty clear plastic (or glass) container like a 2 liter soda bottle. I used an empty limeade bottle that holds 50 ounces of liquid, which is about 1 1/2 liters. Fill the bottle to just below the neck and place it outside in the sun for approximately 8  hours. Remember to shake the bottle around every couple of hours so that as the soap nuts soften from being in the water the saponin will release in greater concentration. Another helpful note is if you have pieces your soap nuts liquid will be ready faster because the broken pieces have more ready access to the saponin in the soap berry pulp. Alternatively you can crunch the soap nuts up in your hand or mash them up into pieces by any other means you devise.

I decided to be a bit scientific about this to see if there would be an advantage to using soap nuts powder to make the liquid. I have read that many people do this, and I thought as long as I was at it why not give that a try.

Here’s what I did to make soap nuts liquid using soap nuts powder and the power of the sun to get the saponin to release. For this version I used an empty water bottle that holds 3 liters of water.

Take a container similar to the above instructions and pour approximately 5 tablespoons of soap nuts powder into the empty container. Now add the water to just below the neck of the bottle, cap and shake. You will see the color change immediately to a kind of golden to carmel color. I left mine outside overnight right next to the bottle of soap nuts tea I was making using the whole soap berries.

My theory was that since they were side by side and started at approximately the same time I’d be able to see which green soap nuts liquid method was most efficient and concentrated. The 5 tablespoons of soap nuts powder is basically equivalent to 25 soap nuts. So my portions were pretty close especially since I used a slightly larger empty water bottle for the soap nuts powder version.

Now let’s discuss affordability of this method. If you use soap nuts in the laundry 20 soap berries will produce about 20 medium size loads of laundry in a standard washing machine. That’s if you use the generally accepted 4-5 soap nuts in a wash bag for each load and approximately 3-5 loads of laundry from each fresh wash bag.

I just did my first load of laundry using the soap nuts powder based soap nuts liquid. I used 1/8 of a cup of the liquid in a medium load using cold water. That’s approximately 1 fluid ounce. So in theory the 3 liter bottle of soap nuts liquid I made using this greener soap nuts powder method should yield me 101 loads of laundry.

So the same amount of soap nuts powder would only do about 5 loads of laundry because basically you use 2-3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) of soap nuts powder for a standard load, but by putting the powder into a bottle and setting it in the sun I extracted more saponin from the powder and will get 20 times as many loads.

I’ll let you do the cost analysis on the whole soap berry method of making soap nuts sun tea yourself.

Play with the concentration yourself to if this is a viable green alternative to making soap nuts liquid for yourself without using any electricity. Yes I realize that electric is used to grind the soap nuts powder, but compare less than 2 minutes of grinding soap nuts in a coffee grinder with heating a pot of water to boiling and then simmering it for 30 minutes. Soap nuts are about as green as you can get when it comes to both laundry and cleaning, but if we can find ways to make them even greener, why the heck not.

If you want a great bargain on soap nuts pieces you won’t find a better price than this
NaturOli Soap Nuts PIECES! – 5 lb. bag! (Appox. 800 Loads!) – All Sapindus Mukorossi. 100% Natural Laundry Detergent! (Less than 8 cents PER LOAD!!) – New, Fresh 2009 Harvest NOW SHIPPING!

Once you’ve got your soap nuts sun tea to the concentrate you want, be adventurous and use it as a soap nuts shampoo, chemical free glass cleaner, natural dishwashing soap, chemical free hand soap, or chemical free jewelry cleaner. You’ll be amazed how affordable and naturally you can clean your home and all the green cleaning products you can make using soap nuts tea as the basis.

Also reusing a bottle you already have further reduces recycling making this an even greener way to use soap nuts.

The first load of laundry I did with the soap nuts powder based soap nuts liquid just finished. When I removed the clothes from the washer everything smelled good and clean, even the laundry bag of socks. So this method passed the sniff test.

Since it took me awhile to finish this post the first load is now dry and the results seem great. Lots of soft clean laundry just like I get from soap nuts in a wash bag or stove top soap nuts liquid.

Go ahead … experiment … worst case the soap nuts liquid is less concentrated than you want and you either add more powder or soap berries to it and put it back out in the sun.

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Soap nuts are a perfect solution for almost every laundry challenge. One of the reasons soap nuts are so perfect for washing stuffed animals is that they leave no residue on the fabric, while still removing dirt, bacteria, and odors.

I have a personal stuffed animal collection that dates to my childhood some 40 plus years ago. Many of these critters have extreme sentimental attachments because of the people I received them from over the years. Despite my attachment to them whenever friends visit with small children I drag out a few of the stuffed animals and introduce the kids to them.

Now as anyone who has been around a few children knows, little people like to not only touch but often taste, smooch, and snuggle with furry things. More than a few times a little person has shared some bodily fluids with my stuffed animals. No harm done because the stuffed critters just get popped into the washing machine with some soap nuts, and exit the machine soft and fresh smelling.

There are many benefits to washing your kids (or your own) stuffed animals in soap nuts.

One benefit is the lack of residue left behind on the fabrics, so no  worries about the kids sucking on the paws and ears and getting anything dangerous into their little systems.

Another benefit especially for older stuffed animals is that when they get washed in soap nuts there are no concerns about the fabrics breaking down because soap nuts have no harsh chemical surfactants in them which erode fabrics causing the fabric to thin or become threadbare. That means less chance of the filling coming out through a weak place in the fabric.

Another benefit to washing stuffed animals in soap nuts is that soap nuts are naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal so even germs and viruses won’t linger in the fabrics.

Additionally if the stuffed animals get left out on a shelf while not in use they can get dust mites growing inside in the stuffing. Again soap nuts will take care of those nasty little critters making the stuffing less likely to irritate allergies in your children.

On a side note I make it a habit to wash our bed pillows in soap nuts about once every two weeks to kill off dust mites and remove body oil and odors. Keep that in mind if you have allergies and hate to sleep on a pillow encased in plastic to reduce the allergens. Soap nuts are also a natural hypoallergenic detergent so no concern about contact dermatitis for kids with sensitive skin snuggling with their stuffed pals.

Back to the stuffed animals though.  Odors from bodily fluids, food, and dirt can build up in the furriest of stuffed animals. Soap nuts are also great for that because in the same way that they remove odors from clothing and cloth diapers they also will remove odors that can build up on the fabric and in the stuffing.

A word of caution, before washing your stuffed animals be sure to check seams and stitch any that have come open from wear and tear. Your kids will not forgive you quickly if their favorite bear ends up missing his guts because he was bounced around in the washer or dryer.

Soap nuts are also an additive free laundry detergent so you don’t need to be concerned about chemical exposure like you would with regular laundry detergent. Since soap nuts are perfect for handwashing and safe for even the most delicate fabrics like silk, you can be sure your kids treasured stuffed animals will

Every time I toss my 22 year old Rodney The Reindeer and his pals Rhonda and Little Rodney into the washing machine I am thrilled with how soft, fluffy, and gently cleaned they come out.

Soap Nuts – Green Laundry has never been so soft, fluffy, easy, or affordable

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Soap nuts liquid is convenient for people who prefer a liquid detergent. It’s also a great liquid hand soap, although adjusting to low sudsing can take some time.

One of the things most people who boil soap nuts liquid at home often wonder about is the shelf life.

Anyone who has experience with water based botanicals knows that fermentation and bacterial growth can occur. However, there are ways to extend the shelf-life of your homemade soap nuts liquid.

• Increase the concentration – use more soap nuts and less water or boil soap nuts powder to extract the maximum amount of saponin from the soap nuts
• Strain your soap nuts liquid through a super fine strainer so you have almost no sediment
• Refrigerate your soap nuts liquid as soon as it is cool.
• Freeze the liquid in old ice cube trays – measure the amount of liquid first so you know how much you are using when you drop the cubes into the washer (or you can thaw them prior to using them)
• Can the soap nuts liquid like you would homemade preserves.
• Add sea salt to the liquid. It will help with fermentation (bread bakers know this trick) it will also help to whiten your whites when you use the liquid. It works by absorbing moisture from the cells of bacteria and mold through osmosis, which kills them or leaves them unable to reproduce.
• Use a vacuum sealing system for packaging soap nuts liquid.

Another alternative if you simply don’t have time to make soap nuts lqiuid frequently or are concerned about the shelf-life of your homemade liquid is to purchase Extreme 18X NaturOli’s new soap nuts liquid laundry concentrate.

NaturOli has already taken the guess work out of soap nuts liquid shelf-life. Their new Extreme 18X soap nuts liquid concentrate has a two year shelf-life. Even though it is packaged as a liquid laundry detergent concentrate you can use it in all the ways you’d use homemade soap nuts liquid, by diluting as needed.

I used it in my carpet cleaner and mopped my laminate floors with it. I put 1 tsp in carpet cleaner, and 1/2 tsp in the mop bucket with warm water and was very pleased with the results from both experiments.

Soap Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap Concentrate

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Soap nuts are evolving. The latest evolution is a brand new soap nuts liquid laundry soap (concentrate) offered by NaturOli Beautiful, LLC.

This new soap nuts product is simply amazing and so perfectly named Extreme 18X. Extreme soap nuts is exactly what it is, but I would expect nothing less from a company like NaturOli. They are after all a company that gets the entire value of soap nuts and makes sure that everything they formulate is as green as possible. True of Extreme 18X in a way unimagined by other sellers of soap nuts liquid laundry soaps.

What’s so special about Extreme 18X soap nuts liquid laundry soap concentrate?

Well, first and foremost it is the most concentrated liquid laundry soap on the market. That’s true of even when compared with the regular packaged liquid detergent concentrates from those big chemical companies.

The next thing that is so amazing about it is that NaturOli has created a product that has the tiniest carbon footprint they can manage. It’s formulated right here in the United States and packaged here as well, so no shipping from overseas. They’re packaging it in 8 oz PETE (recyclable) bottles to start and that little easy to handle 8 oz bottle will do at least 96 HE loads or 48 standard loads of laundry. Amazing is an understatement.

Although the instructions on the bottle recommend 1/2 tsp for a standard HE load and 1 tsp for a standard machine load you actually can use half that amount. Now the brain is a tricky thing so imagining that such a tiny amount will work is hard to wrap your brain around, especially after all the years of programming with those monsterous bottles of regular liquid detergent and their giant caps with the measure marks inside.

Truth is even I had a hard time believing so little could work that well, but I got to test it before it hit the market and I swear I used 1/2 tsp in my standard top-loading machine and got perfect clean, soft, unscented laundry. Of course everyone has different laundry needs, which is why the folks at NaturOli recommend you try half the suggested amount first and then up it if you feel you need to for your own washing needs. Now what company would encourage you to use less, exept a company that really wants you to get the most from every dollar you spend.

NaturOli is also ALL about 100 percent full disclosure on their labels so they list every single ingredient in their new soap nuts liquid concentrate.

Here are the ingredients:

– Pure Saponin Aqueous Extract from 100% Sapindus Mukorossi Soap Nuts
– Vegetable Glycerin
– Olive Leaf Extract (olea europea leaf extract)
– Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate

That’s it folks! They purposely don’t add essential oils (even though some other companies do) because they know that oils of any kind can cause problems with clogging up the fibers on things like cloth diapers. They found a better way to stabilize and “preserve” their soap nuts liquid laundry soap which gives it about a two year shelf life. These people put so much thought into their products and it shows in the response and the brand loyalty.

They also want to be sure that everyone who considers purchasing their new soap nuts liquid concentrate knows everything that is NOT in it. So they cover that on the label too.

What’s NOT in Extreme 18X:

• Dye and fragrance free
• SLS, NPE and phosphate free
• Formaldehyde free
• Petro-chemical free
• Chlorine free 
•Unscented – no essential oils added

Extreme 18X utilizes a safe, proprietary, water-based soap nut saponin extraction process. No chemical solvents used. Made in the USA, so you can feel safe about how well the formulation and packaging is supervised, not to mention keeping jobs in our country, while helping emerging nations by purchasing the soap nuts from which the saponin is extracted. Definitely a win for everyone.

Here are some other great things to know about Extreme 18X:

• Green eco-friendly proprietary formulation
• Hypoallergenic
• Biodegradable
• Antifungal
• Anti-microbial
• Enhanced with pure Olive Leaf Extract for additional protective properties (among the oldest known therapies for skin ailments)
• Odor removing
• Preserves integrity of fabric fibers - excellent for fine, delicate fabrics and wools
• Preserves fabric colors
• PH neutral (6)
• Vegan
• No animal testing
• Absolute minimum carbon footprint
• Minimizes shipping costs
• Lightweight and easy to handle bottle
• Free toggle cap provided for ease of pouring
• No optical brighteners or scents – excellent for military use and all scenarios where scents are to be avoided
• Recyclable PETE bottling
• Produced and bottled in the USA

So if you’ve found every excuse not to switch to a green laundry soap (detergent) because it’s too complicated, it doesn’t work, it’s confusing or anything else you may have come up with; you no longer have an excuse.

Extreme 18X - Soap Nuts Liquid Laundry Soap Concentrate

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Soap nuts are completely additive free, unlike so many other so-called natural detergents on the market today.

If you are at all concerned about the potential dangers and skin irritations caused by packaged laundry soap and detergents, then soap nuts should move to the top of your must have list.

Besides the lack of disclosure on most cleaning product labels, often even the ingredients that are disclosed are couched in terminology that few can decipher.  Naturally derived is one of my favorite terms to avoid in packaged products. The reason I avoid products with that terminology is that although it may be derived from a natural source, how they extract the natural properties is left to be guessed at.

The buying public are a trusting bunch, and manufacturers know it. They word things in such a way that we feel safe to use their products. The EPA is even in on this now, giving certain products a “stamp of approval” as being safer. Well now don’t we all feel better that they are safer than others in their class.

If you’re interested in reading about the DfE logo and program here’s the link http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/formulat/label.htm

If you’ve never noticed the DfE logo this is what it looks like.

U.S. EPA Design for the Environment logo

I personally will continue to use soap nuts as my choice for laundry and cleaning because I’d rather have an additive free detergent than one that has additives that are simply safer than the additives used by other companies. Let’s remember that there are no regulations on listing in ingredients for cleaning products, they are protected by various governmental agencies to hide behind proprietary formulas and never disclose one single ingredient to us.

Soap nuts are the only truly additive free detergent, because used in their traditional form they are just as nature grew them.

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Soap nuts users often ask if their white clothes will be white enough without adding bleach.

I’ve been perfectly happy with how white my white clothes are using only soap nuts with no whitening additive. We live in Central Florida which means that we have lots of white clothing and under garments. In addition if you’ve read any of my other posts you also know that my mate uses white cotton handkerchiefs. He has no complaints about our white clothes either.

However, after doing some research on chemical free stain removers I read that if one soaks the stained garment in salt water overnight that stains, even tough ones, come out more easily. Through a bit of inductive reasoning I started to think that maybe adding salt to my laundry along with the soap nuts might be a bit of a help for both tough stains and whites without bleach in the laundry.

Many people who live in areas with hard water have water softeners installed which use either rock salt or salt pellets. These water softeners are very common in Central Florida.

Yesterday I decided to give it a go and tried adding sea salt to my laundry to see if it made any difference in either stain release or whitening of my whites. In truth the only issues I really had were some synthetic handkechiefs that had a bit of a dingie appearance.

Well I am happy to report that ALL of my whites were even whiter by simply adding course ground sea salt to the water. I used between 1 tablespoon and 1/4 of a cup depending on load size. All of my clothes came out as soft as with soap nuts alone, but those dingie handkerchiefs and some grubby socks were white as could be with the addition of some salt. No need for bleach to whiten anything. I waited for the washer to fill and then sprinkled the salt around the wash tub to allow the salt to dissolve rather than clump up on the clothes. This technique should work well no matter whether you use soap nuts in the wash bag, soap nuts liquid, or soap nuts powder as your green laundry detergent.

I should also add that I did the laundry in cold water, and since it was pretty darn cold here the water was VERY cold. So don’t think you’ll need to use warm water to make this work. I didn’t.

Also for those of you who have hard water and don’t have a home water softener try the salt trick to soften the water and enhance the natural cleaning of soap nuts for all of your laundry.

If you are like me and refuse to use packaged stain removers or bleach (even eco-friendly bleach) then try adding some salt to the laundry.

I’m also thinking that I will mix some soap nuts powder and sea salt together and see if it makes cleaning the toilets, bathtubs, showers, and sinks easier.

My next few posts will be about other eco-friendly ways to remove stains if you use soap nuts.

Be sure to stay up to date with my posts because very soon we’ll be sharing some amazing news from NaturOli about a new soap nuts product they are about to launch.

If you have heard about soap nuts but still haven’t tried them, get a Soap Nuts sampler  and experience the benefits of this all natural laundry detergent.

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Soap nuts powder  was the subject of a previous post about the wonders of it as a chemical free scouring powder. Today I need to revisit the topic to add a bit of clarity.

You’ll see soap nuts powder offered on some websites for sale. Folks, please just grind the soap nuts yourself from your bits and pieces and use a container you already have to reuse and renew and make soap nuts even more green.

Now if you are going to grind soap nuts powder for use as a chemical free laundry detergent then you will want to grind it to a very fine powder, something close to a dust because you want the powder particles to dissolve as they release the saponins and go out of the washer and down the drain, not stick to your clothes.

However, if you plan to use soap nuts powder as a chemical free scouring powder or cleanser, like for scrubbing sinks, pots and pans, and the toilet bowl, then you will want a more coarse grind.

I share this tip because I have tried it both ways and find the more coarse powder gives not only more scrubbing power because of the size of the particles, but it also gives you more “suds” so you can gauge the amount needed more easily.

By the way, I have been scrubbing my toilet bowls with soap nuts powder for a couple of weeks now, and the black ring has barely returned and now a quick swish of some powder on the dry edge of the toilet bowl and the toilet brush dampened in the water is all it takes for a quick touch up.

NO MORE SCRUBBING TOILETS!

Boy do I love that. But as any of you who have read more than one of my posts knows I just generally love soap nuts and can’t say enough about how much I enjoy cleaning my house and doing laundry now that I have this wonderful green and truly natural cleaning alternative.

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Soap nuts once again come to the rescue in my home. This time soap nuts got pressed into service as a chemical free upholstery cleaning solution.

We “live” in our home. In other words, we lie on the couch watching television and often nap on the couch or have overnight guests who sleep there. We’ve also been known to eat dinner or snack in front of the television which means more than a slight chance of food or drink spilled onto the upholstery.

Besides all of that abuse there’s more than a small bit of cigarette and cigar smoking that goes on in our home, especially when we have dinner quests. Over time all of that abuse can take its toll on the upholstery especially in the form of odors and stains from perspiration and smoke.

A few months ago my mate and I both noticed how much wear the couch (and love seat) were showing. There were obvious stains and a lingering stale odor. The living room furniture is over 6 years old and suffered through being closed up in our home in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina then loaded into a moving truck and put into storage for a few days. So as you can guess the upholstery needed a good cleaning.

Like your sheets your skin is in contact with the furniture upholstery. We don’t want chemicals in our bed, on our clothes and skin, nor do we want them on the couch and love seat. It’s all part of our chemical free cleaning approach.

I had washed the pillows from the couch and love seat in the washer using soap nuts many times and am always thrilled at how soft and fresh they come out. But the cushions posed a problem because they are too big to put into the washer so I got brave right before the holidays and peeled the covers off them and tossed them into the washer with soap nuts. It’s icky, but the once soft fabric actually felt stiff from all the dirt and perspiration that had built up on the cushions over the years.

I let them soak in the cold water with the soap nuts for about fifteen minutes and swirled it all around with my hand a couple of times to be sure the water tension had broken and the stains were being presoaked. You really don’t realize how much dirt has built up in something over the years, until you see clear water turn brown from the dirt imbedded in the fabric

I then ran the washer as usual using cold water wash and rinse, and when I pulled the cushion covers out of the washer I was dumbstruck by how much lighter in color the tan areas were and how much brighter the black parts were. The fabric has big squares of black and tan with areas that are kind of tweed. The results of cleaning the upholstery with soap nuts was overhwhelming, and that was before they got dry.

Once dried, I took them out and replaced them onto the foam inserts and I could not believe how soft they were to the touch.

I am sure you could use soap nuts liquid in a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment, but since our foam cushions are so think I opted to remove the covers and wash them in the washing machine like regular laundry.

Soap nuts once again a perfect chemical free solution to an everyday cleaning task, and one less product I need to buy or package to recycle.

Soap nuts – chemical free upholstery cleaning made easy!

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