Soap nuts are dried fruit shells that can be found on soapberry trees in India. Due to their cleaning properties, they work brilliantly at cleansing a multitude of things, including both our home surfaces and our bodies. Soap nuts are wonderful if you’re looking for a gentler option; they are hypoallergenic, odourless, anti-fungal and anti-microbial, making them suitable for even the most sensitive skin. They’re also 100% vegan and biodegradable, so they’re kinder on the animals and the earth, too. Here are 5 ways you can use soap nuts in your everyday life:
1. Shampoo
Many conventional shampoos contain harsh chemicals that strip our hair of its natural oils. So your hair, freaking out about becoming dry, responds by producing more oil, quickly causing greasy locks demanding another wash. So, we obey. And strip our hair.. again. And so, the process continues. Do you see the problem here? More and more people are therefore exploring more natural ways to wash their hair (known as the No Poo/Low Poo method), including using soap nuts. The aim of this is to be able to leave longer between washes, and avoid toxins. Soap nut shampoo is a Low Poo method, favoured for being much kinder on our scalp.
2. Hand & Body Wash
You shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat or drink. What touches our skin gets absorbed into our blood stream, so it’s important that the products that we use don’t have any potentially harmful ingredients. Similarly to conventional shampoo, many of our usual hand and body washes contain ingredients that we should probably avoid. Soap nut hand and body wash is the perfect solution – as well as cutting down on plastic consumption.
3. Washing-Up Liquid
How many bottles of washing-up liquid do you go through each year? Quite a few, right?! Now times your annual consumption by every other household’s, and you’ve got yourself a pretty big pile of discarded plastic bottles. In other words, washing-up liquid isn’t great for the environment. Using soap nut washing-up liquid scraps this issue, as well as protects your hands from coming into contact with any harsh ingredients. Soap nuts can also replace dishwasher tablets.
4. Washing Powder
Using soap nuts to do your laundry is simple, and also the easiest soap nut swap. All you need to do is place a few soap nuts in a muslin bag (around 5 or 6, depending on the size of the load), put the bag in the machine with your clothes, and you’re good to go! Soap nuts are also natural fabric softeners, so that’s another thing to cross off your shopping list.
5. All Purpose Cleaner
Soap nuts really do have a variety of uses. So get rid of your toxin-heavy, store-bought cleaners, save yourself some money and make one big, natural concoction of soap nut all purpose cleaner. Do the windows need cleaning? Soap nut all purpose cleaner is your friend. Need to mop the floor? Clean the kitchen? Even wash the car? Your all purpose, natural mixture will always be there for you.
