Soap nuts!

Today I received a delivery from Amazon containing 1kg of soapnuts that I had only ordered on Saturday (very quick delivery, gets the thumbs up from me!). I was so excited for these to arrive, and now I'm even more excited to try them out. They have a sweet kind of smell that I can't describe, and look like dried nut shells, and they came in a lovely little bag, with three muslin drawstring bags for putting the nuts in to the washing machine in. So far so good..

For those who have never heard of these before I'll give you a very brief description;

Soap nuts are actually berries grown on trees in India and Asia, and they contain a natural soap called saponin. They have been used for washing for thousands of years, and have also been used to treat many other conditions (head lice, epilepsy, chlorosis, anti venom, to aid childbirth,and to treat anaemia to name but a few!). Allegedly, they are the perfect alternative to washing detergent and fabric conditioner, especially for those who suffer with skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis as they are 100% natural.

The idea is to place a few (different sites have different opinions on how much you need, varying between 3 and 6 nuts) into a muslin bag and pop into your washing machine and wash as normal. Couldn't be any simpler really. Ill probably use about 4-5 at first and see how I go. The clothes supposedly come out smelling clean and fresh but (obviously) un perfumed, which I'm happy with but you could add a few drops of essential oil to the muslin bag if you would like a scent on your clothes (I'm not sure if the smell would remain after the clothes have dried).

I scoured the Internet looking for reviews on these little nuts, and was happily convinced that I should at least give them a try. I had originally planned on switching to a home made version of washing detergent to wash our cloths, but these would be cheaper to buy, less time to prepare (no preparation involved) and are as natural as can be, so I opted for these and called off the search for the ingredients for the washing powder. Hopefully they will work out well, making a laundry powder wouldn't have been much work, but these are even less work so would be the perfect solution to washing my clothes  without a heap of chemicals that will harm our earth and my family.

I have yet to try them, I'm being lazy today and not washing any clothes, (although I should!) but tomorrow I will be using them for the first time and I will give my verdict as soon as I'm done!

Have you or would you try soap nuts? What is your Eco friendly washing solution? I'd love to hear!

Stay tuned for my review of soap nuts!