Imagine you could get away with using no chemicals in your Laundry. Now imagine
there is a single product that would help you with all the cleaning in your
house – with no chemicals. Now take the leap and imagine the product I am
describing is natural and grows on trees, Sapindus mukorossi, the soap
berry tree. Soapnuts are also known as Soap berries or soap pods. Soap Nuts are actually not nuts, they are a
shelled seed or berry - it's the shells that we use. They grow wild in Nepal and
India and are a natural source of high quality Saponin. The seeds aren't the
part we want for cleaning, although they do have their uses. You could grow a
new soap berry tree, or the seeds do have other pharmaceutical uses but they
contain no saponin so you don't want to pay form the weight of a seed when you
want shells. To use them you take about half a dozen soapnut shells and chuck
them in a draw string cotton bag. Bung the bag in the washing machine drum with
your dirty washing and set it going. They are odourless so if you want fragrant
washing then add a few drops of an
essential oil of your
choice to the bag. Soap Nuts contain no bleaching agents and no optical
brighteners - so if you like your whites dazzlingly white you might want to add
a box of Ecover Laundry Bleach to your order.
Soap nuts 200g refill: No cloth
bag - £3.00
Soap nuts 500g refill: No cloth
bag - £6.50
Soap nuts 1kg bulk refill: No cloth
bag - £12.00
Ecover Bleach - Chlorine Free Laundry Bleach to keep your whites naturally
bright. Laundry Bleach contains: 100% oxygen based
bleaching agent (percarbonate - which is composed of soda
and hydrogen peroxide.) The most ecological bleach since
sunshine!
When you buy our Starter Set you will
receive 100g of Soap Nuts and a drawstring cloth bag. You simply need to pop 6 –
8 Soap Nut shells into the bag, do it up tightly and throw it in the drum of the
washing machine with your laundry load. Soap Nuts wash effectively between 30
and 60 degrees and this bag full will last for up to 3-4 washes. Your 100g pack
is usually good for 3 or 4 refills of your cloth bag and will last about a
month. When the Saponin has been used up the shells will look dark and soggy –
at this point you can safely throw them on your compost heap where they will
help your plants. Refill your cloth bag with fresh shells and off you go again.
