I recently wrote about making our own dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, and foaming hand soap. We’re still using our homemade dishwasher detergent and foaming hand soap, but I mentioned that I was really unhappy with the DIY laundry soap and wanted to try soap nuts instead. After Mrs. High Heels’ glowing recommendation, I finally bit the bullet and ordered some from Amazon. We’ve been using soap nuts to do our laundry for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve been really happy with them!

What exactly are soap nuts? They’re not nuts, though they do look and feel like them. They’re actually fruits in the berry family that produce a cleansing agent. They are completely natural, hypoallergenic, and biodegradable. You can use the whole nuts, buy or create soap nut liquid, or buy soap nut powder, and you can use it for cleaning many things other than just laundry. You can even use them on cloth diapers!

In this blog post, the author applies various stains to a shirt, cuts it in half, then washes one half in regular detergent and the other in soap nuts. The soap nuts did an amazing job removing very tough stains your clothes wouldn’t normally have, and it doesn’t have any added chemicals.

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We use the whole soap nuts to do our laundry. I put 5-6 inside a small muslin bag that came with the nuts and toss it into the washer. If I’m doing a cold cycle, I let the soap nuts sit for a couple of minutes before running the cycle. I don’t have to do that if it’s a warm cycle. Then when the washer is done, I fish out the bag before tossing the clothes in the dryer (although it’s ok if you forget and the soap nuts run through the dryer). You can also put some vinegar in the rinse cycle which will get your clothes even cleaner and softer. I need to let the soap nuts dry out in between uses, so I rotate two different muslin bags because I’m always doing several loads of laundry back to back. The soap nuts last for 5-6 washes, and then you toss them.

I know it sounds a little crazy, but they actually work! When I have a stain, I always apply a pretreatment, but I would do that if I were using regular detergent as well. If your little one has sensitive skin, you’re looking for a more eco-friendly laundry detergent, or you’re looking to save money, I think soap nuts are definitely worth a try!

Here’s a FAQ that answers a lot of questions you might have about soap nuts.

Have you tried soap nuts? Would you give them a try?