Soap Nuts

rare_stuff

Due to my partners 'chemical sensitivity' being so sensitive I think there is only one brand of wash powder/liquid she could use and it wasn't particularly cheap either. So,we decided to try some wash balls, and first went for the cheapest green rubber things. These were OK and came with a small stain stick which worked well on smells and stains. I don;t recall exactly how long they lasted but we were almost through the 2nd refill that came with these when one of the balls split and had to be held together with a cable tie.
Happy with the results but deciding to try something a bit more durable we went for something that was a step up. Similair in design but looking somewhat more durable were the 3 (green ones had only2 ) white plastic balls with the blue ring. These also came with a 'stain stick'. These lasted for nearly as long as the green rubbery ones, but the plastic 'mesh' broke on them about half way through the second refill. It would be difficult to say which of these two were better, but the results were satisfactory. And the stain sticks do seem to last forever!
Currently we decided to try these unusual shaped 'balls' though they call them discs theydo look remarkable space age and the advertising blurb indicated they would last for 2 years! They also came with a bottle of 'vegetable enzyme' which you add a cap of to each wash. Since using these we have not had to rewash anything, it was rare before but did happen. Also the times that we forgot to add the enzyme there wasn;t any noticeable difference on most of the wash.
I found some useful comparisons on washballs here that maybe useful - http://www.squidoo.com/eco_balls

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith

Hi, apologies if this has been said but we use Soap nuts and have done for about a year. Not sure where I heard about them.

Good points:
I have very sensitive skin and these are possibly the only clothes washing thing which doesn't irritate it.
I hate smelly washing - what exactly do black diamonds smell like and why do I want my clothes smelling like that? I love the fact washing with soap nuts leaves your clothes without odour, just clean smelling. On the very rare occassion I might want something to smell I pop a few drops of essential oil on the soap nut bag. Far more natural and more pleasant smelling and you can adapt it eg menthol on hankies when you have a cold.
Fully compostable and very little packaging (although airmiles might be an issue I admit)
We live in a small house and these take up far less room than a box of powder. A kg bag sits in a lock and lock box and lasts three months.
Cheap, We buy a 1kg pack for £11 including postage. It lasts about three months because we use most of the nuts twice. (You use about 5 soap nuts halves per wash).
Leaves clothes nice and soft
Less water pollution
Doens't bleach colours
No soap residue
Has a million uses. We use them to wash clothes, floors, windows, hands...
Can use them more than once if you wash in less than 40 degrees.
Washing powder makes me sneeze and my noise bleed if I accidently breath it. Soapnuts dont.
Don't make a mess when you drop the box!
Can use with wool, silk etc and can make a solution to do handwashing.
I think you cna buy premade soapnut solutions now but it's cheaper and easy to make your own.

Not so good points
Airmiles - although I'm happy to accept this as the actual weight of them and other environmental and social benefits negate this for me when compaired to powders in particular. Others might not agree.
Not great for very flithy clothes - we use Bio D washing liquid for dirty clothes and I have to pretreat stains with bicard/milk etc but soapnuts are fine for most of our washing
Doesn't contain any bleach/optical whiteners etc. This cna be a good thing but in a hard water area it makes keeping whites white quite difficult. We add Ecover bleach or vinegar or bicarb to white washes.
Can react with certain powders and leave a sort of film on your clothes the first few times you use them. When you wash with them the first time you'll see loads of bubbles in the washing machine. This isn't the soap nuts, this is the detergent left over from the last wash. It might take a few washes to get rid of this depending on how much you used. In the meantime the soapnuts won't wash it out and you might end up with your clothes feeling a bit "filmy". It will stop after a couple of washes when the detergent has all gone.
You cna boil the soapnuts to make a solution for hand washing etc. This doesn't store and goes moldy in a few days. Although the actual soapnuts won't if kept in an airtight container.
The soap nuts themselves cna smell a bit vinergary but your washing won't.

Anyway, I use them quite happily and will continue to use them. A lot of it is trial and error, as I say I've learnt when I need to use other things instead or as well as but the vast majority of my washing and cleaning is done using Soapnuts.

I've used ecoballs as well and wasn't particualrly impressed with them or the stain remover stick that came with them.

oldMcDonald

The Ubiquitous Mrs Smith

:T

Totally off topic - and I do apologise for going OT - but you have what is, quite possibly, one of the best user names ever.

kit

I got my 'free' sample today... will be trying them out shortly!

zoe33

Would be interesting to try them. I see some people are swearing by them and others aren't convinced! x

Sue-UU

Magentasue wrote: »

Mixing washing powder with soda crystals definitely saves money for me but I do buy branded powders. I know some people find no difference, but I find my mix works better than supermarket powders.

That said, before I started doing the soda crystals, I only ever used half the recommended amount of washing powder.

Mixing washing powder with soda crystals works wonderfully for me.

I also use soda crystals for cleaning the teapot, just put a teaspoon in and leave to soak for in hot water for 1/2 hr brings it up beautifully.

Sue

kit

kit wrote: »

I got my 'free' sample today... will be trying them out shortly!

Well I have tried them in a few washes.
Colours have come out fine, clean and stain free.
Whites are clean but not bright.... but thats to be expected cause there are no chemicals.

Will keep trying...... am waiting for DD to get covered in mud or something to really test them out!

greenbee

My original tiny bag of soapnuts finally ran out, so I have now replaced it with a 1kg bag from SummerNaturals, and fully expect it to last me for months. I was surprised how much I missed them... I was using up my stock of ecover liquid & delicate liquid for a bit, and it's just not the same!

I use ecover powder, laundry bleach and vinegar in the hot washes. I still have some ecover delicate liquid and fabric conditioner left to use up, and I'm sure I'll get through it over time as I hate to waste things.

It's just a pity that the soapnuts came packed in plastic this time... it would have been much better if the packaging had been recyclable.