Soap Nuts

I am not a fan of soap nuts powder as a natural laundry detergent. Soap nuts powder in the washing machine is probably the least cost effective way to use soap nuts.

However, I ground some soap nuts powder after receiving a sticky batch of soap nuts from a seller on Ebay. I didn’t want them to go to waste so I made soap nuts powder and some soap nuts liquid.

I put the soap nuts powder in my bath tub sometimes, and I use it as an exfoliating scrub on feet and hands.

A few days ago I was looking at a greasy bath tub ring caused by a gift of bath oil and just could not bring myself to use a chemical cleaning product on the tub, I soak in the bath tub for hours and the last thing I want is toxic chemicals being absorbed by my skin or to inhale the fumes from the residue.
It struck me that since soap nuts are a great multi-purpose chemical free cleaner for my house and my laundry, maybe I could use the soap nuts powder sitting on the side of my tub as a scouring powder (cleanser). I really had nothing to lose except the ingredients for the test.

I scooped a bit of soap nuts powder onto a moist sponge and began to scrub. As it turned out all I really had to do is wipe in a circular motion without any real scouring. Of course, soap nuts have never failed or disappointed me, and that day was no exception.

Sure enough soap nuts powder was a perfect solution to scouring the oily residue off my bath tub. No scratches, enough foaming to let me know the saponin was being released and the outcome was a sparkling clean, chemical free, residue free bathtub. Wow!

Filled with excitement I thought hey why not try in on that nasty black ring at the top edge of the toilet bowls. Now this took a bit of elbow grease since the ring has been a battle for months.

I scrubbed under the rim and saw the ring begin to disappear. Well, as I scrubbed I realized from the smell that it was actually fungus, mildew in fact like you get in the corners of the shower. The constant moisture in the toilet bowl ring feeds the mildew colony.

Since soap nuts are a natural antifungal it worked like a charm. It had been building (and growing) for quite some time so I did need to employ an additional technique I learned on a natural non-toxic cleaning site. This was simple though. I took a cheap pumice stone like you use on callouses and scoured up under the edge of the toilet bowl to get the last imbedded bits of mildew to come loose.

I flushed the toilet and then did one last scrub with the soap nuts powder. Sparkling results without chemicals, what’s not to love?

You will notice, as I have, that the ring has not begun to grow back even after a week since I scrubbed with soap nuts powder. I plan to do this at least once a week to keep the mildew from coming back in the toliets.

So if you have soap nuts powder sitting around, or you want to find another way to use soap nuts and replace yet another chemical cleaning product in the house, try substituting soap nuts powder on all the things you now use cleanser or scouring powder. You will be thrilled I am sure.

Soap nuts create no fumes so unlike most toilet bowl cleaners you won’t have to wear a mask or ventilate the bathroom when you scrub with soap nuts powder. I didn’t even wear gloves, you might want to use gloves.

Another note, sorry to talk dishwashing and toilets in the same post, but since many use steel wool pads or other scrubbing pads, or cleanser for pots and pans, try this same technique on those stuck on messes. The soap nuts will definitely suds in this use, and the powder is non-abrasive so you don’t have to worry about scratching your pots and pans or dishes.

Be sure you buy only the best quality soap nuts powder now available from NaturOli.

   Send article as PDF to

In the last few months I have gone crazy finding new ways to use soap nuts in place of chemicals in our house.

Many of you have probably read that you can wash your car with soap nuts, which have no chemicals in them or on them. Why would you want to do that? Everything in our world is interconnected and even something as simple as washing the car has an environmental impact.

If you wash your car with a name brand car washing product take a minute to read the label and you’ll see how many chemicals there are in the one you use. As you wash and rinse the car all those chemicals run off onto your driveway, into the street, storm drains (waste water system), and into the grass sometimes.

Those chemicals don’t just disappear with the suds. Now just try to imagine how many people all over the world wash their cars at home. Then multiply that times how many times a year each car gets washed. All of those chemicals end up in lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans. When that water evaporates those chemicals end up in the atmosphere trapped in the water vapor and get rained back down on every living thing on earth.

Then when the car is clean you use more chemicals to slick shine your tires and wheel rims and as you spray the product the chemical vapors get on your skin (over spray) and up your nose into your respiratory system. Toxically cleaned car there’s something to smile about (not).

Now let me tell you how my car turned out. I have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee. We bought it used and it was not well maintained so to spruce it up we recently had it repainted. This was the first time I had washed it since the paint job and I was thrilled with how it turned out. No water spots, no smearing, dirt and caked on bugs gone. It even did a great job on my wheel rims so I used no chemicals, that’s right zero chemicals to wash my car. I actually think it even helped remove some of the water spots that seem to be a permanent part of the windows and windshield. We then cleaned the windows using the soap nut liquid, vinegar, and water solution we mix up. One thing used for several cleaning purposes and all chemical free!

I poured about 1/3 cup of soap nuts liquid into a bucket added water to about half way full on the bucket. Got loads and loads of suds. I sprayed the car with the hose first to get the surface wet and also to rinse some of the dirt that had splashed up onto the fenders. I took a long handled brush and scrubbed using the soap nuts liquid. Got enough suds to make my mate happy since he still equates suds with clean, and then rinsed that car and towel dried it.

But for me the was the best part. When we hand dried this big Jeep we used only two, yes only two, bath size towels. These are what we call garage towels and only get used for cars, and soaking up spills. Since I do all my laundry using soap nuts my towels are so absorbent that I could dry my entire Jeep with just two towels. When we wash my mates 300 ZX we usually use at least five towels. Can’t wait to wash the Z with soap nuts liquid now. It’s black so if the soap nuts leave any kind of residue we’ll know for sure.

I feel secure the car will sparkle, but I have to test it for the mate’s sake. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I’m also curious if using soap nuts liquid to wash the cars instead of chemical cleaners will make the paint look better longer. It seems logical that many chemicals actually damage the paint over time and cause oxidation of the paint by breaking it down and stripping the clear coat and sealer. This is not proven, it’s just what I think happens.

Outcome on cleaning cars with soap nuts liquid instead of chemical based car washing products.
Clear winner is soap nuts liquid. But we are winners too because not only do I have a clean sparkling car and wheel rims but I don’t have a guilty conscience about adding to pollution by washing my car.

Next post will be about how soap nuts are beneficial to the environment on many levels.

   Send article as PDF to