Wednesday 16 April 2008

In a Nutshell


A Soap Nut Shell that is ...

I quite enjoyed trying to take "artistic" photo's of these little babies. They are Soapnuts. They grow on trees in India. They wash things because they contain natural soap - saponin! They don't pollute the water table or the ocean, and they are COOOL! You can wash dishes, hair, clothes, and windows with them! Admitedly, I haven't tried them on my son's grass stained, muddy skateboarding clothes, but I have tried them on bedclothes, and my own clothes - which are mostly black and so benefit from the lack of brighteners, whiteners or bleaches found in conventional soap powder. They are also particularly good for when you pre-shrink your fabric. I got mine online from a nice lady who will send you a sample for 75p. They come in a nice cotton drawstring bag, with a small cotton drawstring bag for the washing machine. However, I find this doesn't work brilliantly - they fall out - so I make a little pouch from light canvas scraps sew it all up and use that - a bit like a teabag.

7 comments:

dottycookie said...

I have some of those under the sink! I go through phases of using them; and actually since the price of Ecover just seems getting higher and higher thank you for reminding me to dig them out again!

Anonymous said...

I've got some of these too. Got them from Lakeland. My husband thinks I am mad using them in the washing machine.

kerri said...

How out of the loop am I? I had never heard of these before, but am always on the lookout for alternatives to detergents. Thanks for posting about them!

Marmadaisy said...

Grrrr blogger ate my comment AGAIN!
Do these smell- because the reason hubby doesn't like ec balls is the lack of smell on his clothes - he thinks they're not clean.

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Wow! I've never heard of these! I'll have to try to hunt them down. And yes, I think they'd work well with my wash balls.

And on a completly different topic, I just wanted to say that I love what you've written above this comment box. I was going to do a post in the next day or two about comments, I like to reply, but don't always have their email address. I might have to steal your blurb if you don't mind ;)

Anonymous said...

I've been using soapnuts for our washing for years now, but it's even more important since we moved onto a massive barge last year and all our grey water goes directly into the Thames. We find that a big bag from the inasoapnutshell lady lasts months and even gets my incredibly smelly gym clothes clean.

Marmadaisy - there isn't any scent whatsoever. We use about 5 drops of essential oil to get some nice smells on our clothes. The "green tea" and "line dried cotton" oils from the Body Shop are our current favourites. :)

Florence Knapp (Flossie Teacakes) said...

I'm so jealous yours actually arrived! Both me and my mother in law sent off for a sample of these months ago and have received nothing! They do look very lovely when photographed like that...which makes me think that I must try harder to pursue them!