This week, we have Agy, founder of Green Issues who shares with us her experience and her own method of using soap nuts. Agy is a very talented craft maker who loves to sew. She is real good at transforming what people see as waste to something useful, wearable and fashionable. I am often inspired by her creativity. Besides her up-cycling projects, Agy also blogs about our environmental concerns. Below is a short post by Agy on using soap nuts and how it has helped her family.
I have been using soapnuts in my laundry regime for a close to half a year now. Initially I was rather skeptical as I was not sure whether it could clean my clothes. However, I needed to make the switch as my husband’s skin is very sensitive and would always break out with hives whenever I use any detergent containing Sodium Laureth Sulphate. I saw soapnuts as a viable option as it also meant I didn’t have a lot of plastic laundry detergent in the house!
Before doing my laundry, I would steep about 4 whole soapnuts in very hot water and then use a pestle to crush the nuts to make a soapnut solution. This solution then goes into my washing machine (minus the nuts) together with about half a cup of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). It’s really easy, but if I’m feeling really lazy, I will do this the night before and pop it in the fridge.
So far, we’ve had no skin problems at home, and our laundry is just as clean, if not better than a wash in commercial laundry detergent. A plus factor is there is no over-powering detergent smell!
About Agy
Agy is a working mum with a crafty streak. She has been working in the environmental field for over 10 years, and is very passionate about leading a sustainable lifestyle. When she’s not at work, she’s busy blogging at Green Issues by Agy (www.greenissuessingapore.
Read more on What Others Say About Our Soap Nuts.
Thanks for featuring, Lee Cheng 🙂 Happy to share my experience with the soapnuts.
Excellent, I’d really love to try out soap nuts, they sound great for washing without nasty chemicals
Thanks so much once again, Agy. =)
Hi Erica, thanks for dropping by! And yes, soap nuts is a great alternative if you want to avoid and replace chemically formulated detergents. Do give it a try.