Wash Your Clothes with Soap Nuts!

When my friend Kali told me about soap nuts, I knew I had to try them. Soap nuts are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree. They contain saponin, a natural cleaner. For over 2,500 years, soap nuts have been used for laundering silks and wools, by jewelers for shining gold and silver ornaments, as a hair wash, and as a skin soap. They are 100% biodegradable and hypoallergenic.

Here’s what you do.:

1. Put a handful of soap nuts in a cotton sack, tie a knot, and drop it in your laundry.
2. Reuse soap nuts for several wash-loads until they are soft and disintegrating in the sack – about 5 washes.
3. Throw disintegrated soap nuts in your compost pile.

Easy, huh? I’ve washed several loads since they’ve arrived, and I love them! Since I’m allergic to fragrance, I was worried if the clothes washed with soap nuts will make me break out. Nope, they didn’t.

I purchased my soap nuts from Maggie’s Pure Land. Several retailers sell them, so check around and start washing clothes with soap nuts!