Review - Soap Nuts

I've been trying to think how long we have been using soap nuts for now.....I think its about 2-3 years. I have to say I LOVE them! It takes a few goes to work them out and get into the mind set of them but once you have got your head around them there are huge benefits! So far I have only brought the Ecozone brand, but there are many brands out there.

They will save you money, they are better for your skin and the environment! 

So I started by buying a small bag of them, on a real wim! They where on offer and I needed to bump up my basket on a shop to get a discount....So I went for this odd thing called Soap Nuts! I have not brought washing powder since! 

How do you use them:

They come with this little bag, you use about 3-5 nuts at a time.

You pop your nuts, in the bag.

Place in the drum, on top of the washing.

Wash as you always have (without the powder) and using fabric softer if you do. (I always do, unless its a wash with nappies or coats in. As softer will remove the waterproof!)

And then use that same bag of nuts until the nuts change colour, from brown to grey.

Easy! 

We are a family of five, and I do so much washing that am sure am there are people living in my house I haven't meet! 

I could do 2 loads a day and still just about keep on top of the, potty training toddler, school uniform etc. I think one large 1kg bag of soap nuts lasts us about year. I have this week, just brought a new bag of nuts, so am going to update this blog in a year! I say about, as a pass on kindness thing I sent out packs of soap nuts to struggling families to see them through a little. So I will come back to this blog again when I know for sure how long a bag lasts us. 

To give you an idea, I used to buy pretty cheap washing powder (which the price kept going up.) I would need to buy it every 1-2 weeks. It was about 4-5 pounds. One bag of soap nuts was under 10 pounds....

So how does it wash? If you like your washing to smell, make sure you add a fabric softer. The nuts will not add a smell to your washing. I use oils in the wash too, so lavender, tea tree etc. I use cloth nappies a lot and these oils are fab for them. I use lavender a lot at home. 

For hard stains, you need to add more nuts to the wash. I mostly use the sun on hard stains, its the best thing! I have tried all the expensive stuff and still ended up with a stain (and all the horrible stuff they are made from!) Left it in the sun for a few days - gone! So its not just sun, its UV light, brakes up a stain. You don't have to have a sunny day to get it to work, just sit the item in the window and that will do it - I have had stain filled nappies, look brand new after being in the sun for a few days. 

Now a word of warning, the sun is a powerful thing, and it will brake down colour too. So don't over do it and ensure the whole of the item is in the sun so any colour fade is over the whole item. (I don't do this with light weight important items.) I also use a little lemon and water on school shirts ;)

I highly recommend soap nuts! Our little boys skin used to really fare up and now no problems!

There are many different makers of Soap Nuts but Ecozone are approved by:

Vegan Society

Cruelty Free International

Eu Eco Label

Allergy UK

You can find out more on their website. 

I have not been asked by the company to do this review - this is a product I have found and loved! 

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