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Soap Nuts-natural laundry soap

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Ceashels 
#1 ·
This morning I learned about Soap Nuts, which are apparently the fruit of a tree and make great laundry soap. You just throw one in with your load of laundry. The Sojourner says a large bag costs $30 and lasts 300 loads, and that they work great!

A natural laundry detergent alternative, yay!
 
#4 ·
Hmmm, I'm skeptical about this one.
I don't know if any of you remember the "amazing laundry balls" that came out in the 90's...? It was a plastic ball filled with a blue liquid. The claim was you use no detergent, just the ball. It was supposed to release some kind of negative ion's and clean your clothes.
I bought one and used it for months. My clothes seemed clean enough. Then, after months of using it there was a report on TV that the ball had been tested and it only contained colored water. There were lawsuits and everything. I felt like a big dummy. I kept the laundry ball to remind myself to not be a dummy in the future.
I don't see where these 'nuts' could be that cost effective. The main use of electricity in your home is your hot water heater, therefore if you wash in cold water, you're saving money. It says these things don't activate in cold water. I think whatever you save in using them you're going to pay back out in the use of warm and hot water.

That being said, I use Sun and Earth products. They are all natural and no more expensive than other detergents. I buy them online and the shipping is very cheap. So far I've found all their products work great. You can find it by doing a google search for sun and earth.
See Ya'll =)
 
#5 ·
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/saponin.html talks about the active chemical Saponin that has a foaming action. "The ability of a saponin to foam is caused by the combination of the nonpolar sapogenin and the water soluble side chain. "

This means it that like soap, it makes the water more.... "wet" by decreasing the surface tension. After all, water is the universal solvent (chemically speaking) and soap just makes it more efficient.

I think it would be worth trying out.
 
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