My honest experience with Soap Nuts

I'm ashamed to admit I had never done laundry before I came to Seville. Since I lived with my family, it was a chore that I was never in charge of. Because of that, I never had to worry about which detergent to buy. But now that I'm living alone with my boyfriend, that changed, and of course I didn't want to get a non vegan, regular brand, polluting detergent! Luckily for me, a few months before I came to Seville I went to Veganário Fest (a vegan event in Lisbon), in which I found not only great food but also  something that I had been interested in ever since I heard about them: Soap Nuts

disclaimer: I am a newbie with these soap nuts so although I did a little bit of research, this blog post is based on what works for me and what I discovered through (not a lot of) experimentation!

What are Soap Nuts?

Their scientific name is Sapindus Mukorossi, and they are a fruit from a tree that grows in India and Nepal, which in contact with water release saponin, a substance that acts like a natural detergent. They can be used to do the laundry and wash the dishes (it's possible to make liquid detergent out of them - I personally haven't tried it though)

How to use them?

I'll be talking only on using them to do the laundry since that's what I've used them for. It's pretty easy: you put a few nuts (I've been putting around 5, so about a handful of them, like shown in the picture) in a cloth bag and put it inside the washing machine's drum with the dirty clothes, washing them exactly like you normally would. You can reuse the same soap nuts for a few times: when you hold them, they should feel a little sticky and that means you can use them again. When they're all used up they'll be dry - I found mine were too dry after the second wash, but I've read that some people use them for more times, I guess it depends on how you set your washing cycle.

I also read that, if you use too many soap nuts, the clothes will feel stiff. Mine didn't feel like that at all so I'm guessing I used the right amount - if you have this problem, try using less nuts. 

Do they work?

I honestly wasn't expecting much from the soap nuts, and they totally surprised me! The first time I tried them I only put old clothes and underwear, and I thought the clothes would come out as stinky as they went in, and with a lot of sweat stains, but that didn't happen at all. I sniffed all of my clothes and I will say there was a particularly stinky shirt that, when sniffing after washing, I did get a tiny hint of sweat stink in the underarm. But to be honest, I don't really care about it - it's so mild, and no one is going to stick their nose there. All the other clothes were perfectly clean and I didn't get bad smell at all! They also didn't smell good - they just smelled like clothes - and the soap nuts themselves had a weird smell but don't worry, your clothes won't smell like that after washing. In the future I might try to add a few drops of essential oils to the cloth bag, as I read you can do that to get nice smelling clothes!

Do I recommend them?

So, it depends. For someone like me, who doesn't get their clothes super dirty, I definitely recommend to try them if you can find them, especially in bulk (unfortunately mine came in a plastic bag so I'll keep looking for an alternative). They're a really good, eco friendly, vegan alternative to detergent. I only need to do a little bit of research on how well the workers are treated, since they do come from places susceptible to unfair labor conditions - which unfortunately, is hard to avoid in any thing that you buy, so I'd say do the best choice with what's available to you.

However, if your clothes need intense washing - say you get vomit in your clothes, or poop, or you just sweat a lot - don't use soap nuts. I don't think they would do a good job in removing those intense smells, but I might be wrong. Sorry, parents, this one is not for you.

Overall, I'm really happy with my soap nuts and I'll definitely keep using them until I run out... and then we'll see!

Have you ever tried soap nuts? How was your experience? Do you have any tips you've learned? I'd love to know! 

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