Product Reviewed: Soap Nuts
Place of Purchase: BuySoapNuts.com
Purchase Price: $40/ 1 kg OR $22 for 500 g OR test them out for a penny plus shipping!
Product replaced: Long ago, I had used Purex… I switched to using a series of different more ecological options such as Seventh Generation Powder.
Ingredients: Nuts from the sapindus mukorossi tree.
Use: I was sent both whole nuts, which you place into a small cloth bag and powdered nuts, which you seep in hot water to extract detergent. I used both of these in place of typical laundry detergent. If you check out buysoapnuts.com, and read about it on wikipedia, you can find that there are many more uses!
Results: I first tried the soap nuts in a cloth bag (provided by buysoapnuts.com) and found that it worked rather well. Light suds were visible in the water in my washing machine and my clothing came out clean. The site I read said that you could use soap nuts a few times, however I did notice a little less cleaning powder and some articles of clothing were still a bit on the marginal side after a cleaning. I would say that one or two uses is fine with the soap nuts, but past that, you may see a decline in utility.
I especially enjoyed the soap nut powder, which was seeped in water, strained, and put into a jar in the refrigerator. To give it a little boost in power, I added a bit of washing soda to the mix. I found this to be the ideal for cleaning. The resulting natural soap is brown in color, but does not stain at all and left my laundry clean. It doesn’t appear that the site is still selling the soap nut powder, though I suspect putting the nuts through a food processor (or simply seeping the whole nuts themselves) would yield a similar result.
Best of all: No fragrances and no colors added! You can compost the remaining nut remains after use! This keeps potentially toxic chemicals out of your home and the environment.
Why try it? It’s all natural! These literally come from a tree, and you’re not going to get much more natural than that!
The drawback: You might find that if you’re a heavy sweater, that the soap nuts aren’t doing the job to fully clean your clothing. Also, stains are not greatly affected by soap nuts.
EASy being green! What green products are you using that you love? What products are you trying to replace? Got an idea for a product you would like to be reviewed?
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March 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Wesley,
Great review on the soap nuts! I’ve heard so much about these but I really wanted an honest, unbiased opinion and review on their use. (Oh no I totally phrased that wrong! What I meant is that I’ve heard a lot about these but before I try them I wanted to hear someone like your’s opinion of them.) I have a few (additional) questions.
What is the cost comparison of soap nuts vs. regular (green) detergent, like a Seventh Gen? For instance, from my 100 oz. bottle of 7th Generation Liquid Detergent, I get about 32 loads (I use twice the recommended amount usually – the bottle says 64 loads). That bottle costs me $14.99 ($12.99 on sale at Target). Is the price per load comparable for soap nuts?
Also, I’ve heard before that you can add an oxygen based bleach with soap nuts to help with stain removal. Is this safe, effective, and eco-friendly still? If this isn’t a good or effective idea, what else could you do to increase stain removing power?
Btw, do your clothes smell like anything after being washed?
Thanks!
March 19th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
“Great review…but I really wanted an honest, unbiased opinion…”
Sorry to only have provided an, “honest, biased,” opinion. Unbiased opinion har har, Matt. I’m biased in favor of green products, so sue me!
In all honesty, thanks for these questions, you bring up some stuff I should have fleshed out in the original review.
I think you may have been referencing my lack of commitment in favor of or against this product — and that’s because, as I mention above, it’s okay for some laundry, but not stains and not stuff that smells really bad — it’s a light, natural detergent, and I find it to work fine on clothing that has been worn but has neither stains nor has been with you to the gym. I love soap nuts for the reason that they are so natural and can work on some general laundry — pants and shirts that were worn and may need a washing, but aren’t really, “dirty.” I dislike them because that is pretty much their limit for cleaning (though check out buysoapnuts.com or other resources for more uses!). Beyond that, I have had good success with soap nuts powder, soaked in hot water, strained, and mixed with washing soda — that cleans clothing rather well.
I’ll answer your questions as best I can in the order you list ‘em…
First, I gotta call you out (because you’re my friend and I know you can take a little brow beating and will return it as needed) for using double the recommended amount of the Seventh Generation. I applaud you using it, but double isn’t necessary, it works great at the recommended measurement. But I’ll show both in my calculations.
Cost comparison for you:
7th Generation $14.99/64 loads: $0.23 per load (about $0.47 using double the detergent, as you are)
Soap Nuts: $22/500g, the site says enough for 200 loads — I would rate it at more like 100 loads (your opportunity to criticize me for not using the soap nuts as many times as the package says
so… $0.11 per load for the company’s recommended usage or $0.22 per load to get the results I found were best.
Your question regarding oxygen-based bleach, that is, I’m assuming a hydrogen peroxide — water with an extra oxygen molecule — is what you mean. I didn’t cover this because it resembled one of the, “tangential subplots … deserving probably their own thread,” you mentioned in your recent comments on another post (haaa), but I will say:
I have used hydrogen peroxide-based bleach alternatives with good success. They do a pretty good job with stains and a great job with general whitening of laundry. I would recommend to anyone to primarily move away from detergents with dyes — it’s amazing how dingy these can make your whites look at times (as well as shower gels with dyes — my rags are so much whiter now!).
If you’re still noting that clothing isn’t as white as you would like, a hydrogen peroxide-based bleach is much better for the environment than a chlorine-based bleach, which puts dioxin into our air, water, and soil, and is generally unsafe to breathe. I will follow-up with this, because Matt brings up a good question. Are hydrogen peroxide-based bleaches safe? Sure, it’s just water with an extra hydrogen molecule, but bleach is just table salt without the sodium. Both of these subjects warrant their own posts, and chlorine bleach will likely be the first profiled chemical in the new series, “Toxic Brew”.
My clothes smell fine after washing, although as I mention above, after a couple of uses, I stop seeing the great results with the soap nuts. I prefer to soak the soapnuts powder in hot water, strain, and use the resulting liquid with a bit of washing soda, which is another way of boosting stain-removal capability and making sure my laundry smells fresh!
Otherwise, a pre-soak in soap nuts water, or lightly rubbing a stain with some ecologically-friendly soap directly, such as a bar of soap, or even your dish soap, may help with a stain.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
[...] the past, I’ve used soap nuts and washing soda as well. These are all great options for you to explore, though none include [...]