NaturOli soap nuts are a green way to clean not only clothes but surfaces, dishes and even for personal grooming using the soap nut berry that is 100 percent organic and naturally free of processed chemicals.
Ease of Use/Performance: 4.5/5
Convenience/Storage 4/5
Appearance/Design 4/5
How much I enjoy 5/5
Total: 4/5
Soap Nuts are a natural way to wash clothes and for other uses like dish soap, cleaning countertops, washing dishes and even washing your hair. I have used soap nuts liquid soap that I made for cleaning around the house and I have to say I am very impressed; now a little background into what exactly is a soap nut.
NaturOli is the first company to send me soap nuts so I will start with their take on soap nuts, “Very simply, soap nuts are the dried shells (or husks) from the soapberry (or soap berry nut). …These shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect.” Saponin is a chemical compound found naturally in several species of plants but the soap nuts are strictly from the Sapindus family of trees and have been used for thousands of years in cleaning.
Saponin is a surfactant that chemically lowers the surface tension of a liquid or between a liquid and another liquid or a solid which is what all cleaners for laundry do. The main thing we notice about cleaners is suds but suds are not the main thing that is cleaning our clothes or hair for that matter, it is the surfactant.
The chemical compound that is lowering the hold between liquid and dirt or oil which is on our clothes, hair or other surfaces is what is cleaning things. To remove anything from a surface in the cleaning process the best way to get the dirt whether it is solid or liquid is break the surface tension between oil and water.
When we soak something in water such as presoaking clothes we are trying to soften the dirt or stain and have it wash away with the water we are soaking it in. To do this we need the dirt, oil and such to stick with the water and not the thing we are cleaning so we need to lower the surface tension between the oil or dirt and the water.
In most powdered laundry soaps we have washing soda or sodium carbonate while liquid detergents contain a similar chemical called alkyl sulfates. These chemicals break the bonds between oil and water to make those contaminants rinse out with the water when we clean our clothes.
Suds in a liquid simply mean there is some sort of surfactant acting in the liquid but how much suds does not indicate the power of cleaning. More suds just mean there is more of one chemical compound in the surfactant, just look at your dish washer.
When you are using machines like a dish washer or a high efficiency washing machine you don’t want suds but for years people have been equating suds to clean so companies added it to cleaners and even shampoo. Sodium laureth sulfate is the main ingredient of shampoo but they also add in sodium lauryl sulfate to make it foam up so you can see something other than just the water running out of your hair.
For years people have been thinking that suds equal clean and when we wash away suds the dirt goes with it but this happens on such a small scale that we really can’t see anything but the suds being washed away. It’s those surfactants working unseen that is really removing the dirt and with soap nuts that’s all you get is 100 percent surfactant without foaming agents, dies, fragrances or fillers.
You will still get plenty of suds but you don’t need to have a lot and especially when using an HE washing machine you can’t use a lot. The soap nuts work well but there are a few things you need to look at when thinking about them and one is the suds while the next is the smell.
Since using NaturOli soap nuts my laundry has almost no smell to it and I have been using NaturOli for over a month with great results. I have also received another brand of soap nuts and they also have a more neutral smell than anything else, I really cannot smell much on the nuts themselves or my clothes when they come out of the dryer.
Many people also equate strong smells to both dirt and to clean so companies add strong perfumes to laundry soap to make your clothes smell better when they come out of the dryer. Think about this, they have to use strong perfumes so when the clothes are washed, rinsed and dried they still smell but isn’t that something you want to get rid of from your clothes, smelly stuff.
Using perfumes may just mask the real smell of your clothes, if your clothes come out of the dryer and don’t smell isn’t that a real clean? I also suffer from allergies and am concerned about are all those chemicals we see listed on cleaners and are they a partial cause of allergies and allergy related problems?
There are 24 ingredients in Tide Liquid HE Free and while all of them may help to get your clothes cleaner and fresher how many are processed chemicals and not natural? Skin irritations and allergies from chemicals are a common problem but I have noticed a bit less irritation after using the soap nuts for a of couple months.
Over time this may change but for the time being I have no intention on changing my laundry soap to anything else and will be using more and more soap nut cleaners in my daily and weekly cleaning. The soap nuts I received from NaturOli came as a 1/2 pound bag which is 8 ounces of soap nuts but it also had a little cloth bag to use the soap nuts in.
You can toss four, five or six soap nuts in the little cloth bag and toss this into your washing machine with each load using the dried soap nuts. You don’t have to worry about removing the bag during the rinse cycle as the soap nuts release saponin when they are introduced to warm or hot water and most machines rinse in cold water.
If you wash with cold water you need to dunk the bag of soap nuts in a cup of hot water to release the saponin before starting in on a load of clothes in cold. You use four to six soap nuts in the small bag for laundry and reuse them until they no longer produce any soapy suds but I find it hard to tell when to stop using them.
I just skip this and boil a dozen soap nuts in about four cups of water to create my own liquid detergent for washing clothes, hair and dishes. You do need to refrigerate the liquid soap as it does contain natural stuff that is on the berries and will go bad after a week or more if left out.
Did I forget to mention that less than a tablespoon of liquid detergent goes into a load of clothes, four cups of liquid will last you a long time. I have been using the same canning jar full for cleaning my dishes, laundry and have been starting to use it for other things like my hair and have no complaints about it at all.
NaturOli has liquid, powdered and whole soap nuts as well as a liquid concentrate called Extreme 18X to use for whatever you want to clean but their liquid does not need to be refrigerated. I have been using soap nuts liquid and it works great for countertops and wood surfaces as well as the laundry and works on hair as well.
Soap nuts are a great way to go all natural and clean your house without chemicals and with a much more cost effective cleaner than those expensive detergents. NaturOli soap nuts cost about $22 including shipping for a 1/2 pound and can launder about 80 loads of clothes at a minimum but I think this is a conservative estimate as I have about a cup left after two months of use and a bag full of nuts for more.
When using the liquid form I use about a tablespoon or less of liquid in my HE washing machine, much more than this and I get suds all along the rubber liner around the door. For shampoo a teaspoon is sufficient to wash my hair but I recommend letting it sit for a half hour or so to warm up when using the stuff stored in your refrigerator.
If you want some fragrance you can add a drop or two of something like lemon, tea tree or sandal wood essential oils that work well for giving a scent to the liquid. I have been very impressed with soap nuts and NaturOli is a great place to buy the soap nuts in either liquid, powder or berry form.
I highly recommend you check out soap nuts for your next step toward a greener and more natural clean and NaturOli is a great place to buy them from. Also check out the Soap Nuts Pro website for full information, frequently asked questions, videos on harvesting and much more.
NaturOli website
Soap Nuts Pro Website
