Soapnuts

ksh123

cw18 wrote: »

Mine should be on the way (I hope) -- I ordered the £10.30 batch on 25th September, and was really hoping they'd be here by now

(And each time I've done some washing I've been holding some back until they come, so I can test them straight away -- sad or what? )

Not sad at all - in these difficut times it IS exciting to find something that helps the plant AND our pockets - I find the idea of not shelling out (no pun intended, :rotfl: ). All soap powders etc are expensive and the ones that are kinder to the environment even more so. So I am delighted to have found something I can afford that will suit me and the planet:j
I do remember them being quite slow on delivery but you could always drop them an email if you are concerned
Apologies for excessive use of smilies..........

ksh123

CravingSaving wrote: »

Ahha - InaSoapNutShell have finally cottoned on to the fact that Soapnuts from Salveo.co.uk were cheaper. I think they have price matched, though tried to be clever with the quantity!

IMHO, the soapnuts from Salveo are better quality, much more sticky stuff on them.

Still a good find though!

OH OK! I'll hhave a look at them too!

cw18

ksh123 wrote: »

All soap powders etc are expensive and the ones that are kinder to the environment even more so.

Tell me about it -- and that's one place I've not been able to economise much! Hubby gets bad eczema flare ups, and we've discovered over the last few years that the only washing powders and washing up liquids (he does most of the pots, and rubber gloves set him off) that don't make it worse are the Ecover or stores own equivalents. So I'm really hoping he's happy with the results from these, but am also planning on letting my DD and my Mum have a try with them -- neither of them uses 'kind to the planet' types at the moment, and DD buys the cheapest she can get due to the amount of washing my two GDs generate!!

ksh123

Yep I hope to get my sister and GN converted this year by giving them some gift wrapped at Christmas. But they probably won't like them

Thistle-down

Has anyone actually made and used soapnut shampoo?

CravingSaving

Yes I have tried it. Cant say it worked wonders on my nut :rolleyes:

It does work well as an all purpose surface cleaner though. I just put about 10 in a pan, poured on half pint of water, brought to boil then turned off and left to cool completely and decanted into old squirty bottle. It worked well on kitchen tops, sinks and bathroom. I dont put essential oils in the bottle as it does something wierd to the plastic, but put a couple of drops of Ttree oil on cloth before I start wiping.

SmallEnglish

Hi there. This is my first post so thought best to start on a topic I know a "little" bit about! I've been reading these forums for months and picking up tips so now it's time for me to share!

I ordered some soap nuts after reading about them on here - trying to save money, trying to be kind to the environment, trying to be kind to my skin and plain old curiosity drove me to try these soap nuts. Even though it meant my friends and colleagues thought I was crazy!!

I've been using them for about a month for laundry. The first time I tried them out I did it on my bed linen - figured I'd rather risk ruining bed linen than my clothes! I've actually been pretty impressed. My clothes are only ever really "clean" dirty, the most dirty they get are the odd beer stain from my part time job in a pub! But the soap nuts get that out just fine.

I have found that my towels are not as crunchy as they used to be when using powder - I never used fabric softener on them as it made them less absorbent. The fragrance is very subtle, everything just smells clean and a very slight herbal smell. On my clothes I still use a quarter of a dose of Lenor just because I have some to use up and I like the smell. Once it's run out I'll just use essential oils I think...

I am one of those people that has to research something for ages before I will give it a go and I did find out that there are two types of soap nut: sapindus mukorossi and sapindus Trifoliatus. Sapindus mukorossi is the larger paler soapnut and apparently is the one you need to use. From the info I read there are some suppliers that will mix sapindus mukorossi with sapindus trifoliatus (small, darker soap nuts), or even just supply the smaller nuts altogether, so you need to make sure that wherever you buy them from you are getting the right kind else I guess they won't do the job.

chipmunk13

Good afternoon,

I've been using Soap Nuts and Eco Balls alternatively for just over a year now, my eczema has gone, my clothes are clean, I live in a hard water area and don't need conditioners etc....however, I currently still live with my family, who, despite my plea's, still insist on using soap powders for their washing.

I was surprised to see on UK Whitegoods website, that soapnuts etc are bad for your washing machine and not great for your clothes.

As I am about to get my first home (and first washing machine!) I am concerned that if I continue to use the eco products solely, that whilst saving money and the planet, I will end up causing long term damage to my machine.

Has anyone had any bad experiences with long term soap nut use?

cw18

Just had a read of the article......

I've always been sceptical about the ecoballs, but the soapnuts seem OK to me. I accept what they say about extra dirty clothes needing an 'extra something' at least once in a while -- and that's not a problem to me (especially as we use the Ecover type products as they're the only ones guaranteed to not trigger DH's eczema)

As for the limescale build up in hard water areas (which we are too judging by the build up in the kettle and basins/sinks/WCs if not cleaned very regularly), the adverts for Calgon and such say you should use these all the time anyway -- so surely it's kinder to use them alongside soapnuts than a 'normal' washing powder

I don't personally use Calgon or anything like that, but I do have a stock of limescale remover intended for washing machine (picked up dirt cheap in a clearance section after trying the kettle version and seeing how well that worked) that I shall use at 'regular' intervals. Haven't worked out how often yet, as I've run washing machines in hard water areas since 1987 without knowingly needed to replace a machine due to this (my first packed in completely at 7 years old when the dryer side of it blew for the third and final time, and we passed out second one on to my SIL when it was about 6 years old as she couldn't afford a new one and we really needed a larger one).

Our current machine is (I think) 8 years old, so I shall continue with my newly started soapnut useage and see how things go......

greenbee

If you want to stop limescale buildup in your machine, clean it out with vinegar occasionally. If you use this regularly instead of fabric conditioner in the rinse cycle, then you probably won't get a build-up of limescale, and it also helps to remove soap residue from the machine. A hot wash with soda crystals (I put all my cleaning cloths in when I do this!) will also clear out any grease/soap residue (but not limescale).

I use soapnuts, ecover liquids & powder, vinegar, ecover fabric conditioner and soda crystals (I also add salt for dark colours, as it helps restore them) depending on what I'm washing. I haven't had any problems with any of them, and have seen no impact on my machine.