Soapnuts

Barneysmom

Can anyone help please?
I ordered my soapnuts a month ago but they haven't arrived yet. I've sent 3 emails to them but had no reply at all. I feel ripped off.

toady

apologies if this is a silly question. I have just taken delivery of my first bag of soapnuts, and they are all that- whole nuts. do I need to chop them in half before using to make them more effective, or can I just use them whole in the bag/sock ?


thanks!

Barneysmom

Mine arrived, I think I mentoined in another thread.
I did a workwear wash yesterday, and a couple of things have had to go back in. Hubby's shorts that he uses while gardening have had to go back in, but most of the clothes are ok.
i think that it's ok if the clothes are 'clean dirty' but the 'dirty dirty' stuff will have to be done with ordinary washing powder.
I think doing it this way it'll still save a few pence but not much, as I'll have to do an extra load for heavy dirt.
I've already done the beds this week, so next week I'll do them with soapnuts and see how it all comes out, there's nowt worse than dingy grey bedding though.

toady

I want to wash all the baby stuff prior to arrival of first grandchild in hopefully 4 weeks, so thought they would be sensible to use...but am still not sure about if I have to chop them into half first

daleigha

i got my soapnuts, and used them for the first time yesterday!
i was a bit scared at the start, as they smelled a bit bizarre and were very sticky! :eek: any that were still 'whole' i just broke in half.
I used 8 halves (i thought i would just use the maximum the first time and reduce it each time and see how i go!!:D )
i thought they were great - i used some orange oil and the clothes came out smelling faintly of orange and 'clean' smell and were as soft as they are when i use fabric softener!!
ive been recommending them to my friends!!

xx

Mellika

princesstippytoes wrote: »

Boil 100g of soapnuts in four pints of water for half an hour. When its cool remove the soapnuts and you have soapnut shampoo.

Can the soapnuts be used for anything else afterwards? Or would they need to go straight into the compost bin?

And is this shampoo very runny and liquid? Or does it become goey (as I would prefer)?

tiddly_widdly

I must admit I dont like soap nuts. I dont find they work well. Mybe my kids are just filthier than most. I use ECOZONE ECO BALLS. They are initially an expensive layout £34.99 but because of the amounts of time you can use them I worked out that they last me 3 years 3p per wash !!
My lot are also allergic to all sorts of stuff so these are perfect. They work by oxygenating the water rather than adding nasty chemicals into it and you dont need to add anything else either unless you like the smell of fabric conditioner.

Cerisa

i love soapnuts. I initially used them for ecological reasons but am utterly converted apart from whites.

student100

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

I must admit I dont like soap nuts. I dont find they work well. Mybe my kids are just filthier than most. I use ECOZONE ECO BALLS.

Wow, you really are gullible.

Eco balls and similar products are nothing more than snake oil. They don't do anything scientific - the reason your clothes get clean is because plain water is actually quite good at cleaning. If paying £35 for a lump of plastic makes you happy using plain water for laundry, so be it - but you could buy an awful lot of laundry detergent for £35 (say maybe 300+ washes worth!) and it would actually do something.

http://www.hollings.mmu.ac.uk/~dtyler/ecochallenge/LAUNDRY_BALLS.htm

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_007b.html

mam2dylan02

Just ordered a 250g bag of soapnuts from http://www.stopforbreath.co.uk/html/soap_nuts.html for £3.39!!
Hopefully they'll be good for me, as me and my son arent that grubby (oddly!! lol)