Soap Nuts

[YangLiQiu]

When we lived in the States, I used to soak my nappies (diapers) in BioKleen's stain remover powder soaking stuff (can't remember the name exactly) and then wash with the soap nuts. Everything smelled clean and wonderful. Now we moved to China about 3 weeks ago where I can't find anything natural to wash diapers or clothes in for that matter so I brought with me a years supply of soap nuts. BUT everything (diapers and clothes) stink! There's two possible reasons for this: one is the soap nuts and two would be the fact that it is very humid and takes everything a good two sometimes three days to dry. Plus I have no sun or anywhere to hang my clothes outside (and no, a clothes dryer isn't an option because they don't seem to exist here).

Sooo...my question is, could it be my soap nuts? I don't remember having this stinking clothes problem last time we were living here.

[Lineymom]

Is the water harder there, perhaps?  I mean harder water needs more soapnuts.

[YangLiQiu]

Hmm...I'll give that a try! Thanks!

[Smiller529]

Soap nuts are AWESOME!

 we have hard water, and we only wash in cold. The first load i did with them i got really annoyed because i used the little bags. But then i tried making the "liquid soap" and i am VERY happy. The liquid is not hard to make at all. Just boil the nuts in hot water and freeze them into ice cubes. they last a really long time when they are frozen (PLUS- no "soap" in the rinse cycle, this annoyed me when using the soap nuts in the bag). When making the liquid, the house smells a bit like vinegar, however, items washed with soap nuts come out very clean smelling. NO FRAGRENCE, just clean.  I wash all my towels, cloth mama pads and underwear with them.  I still use regular detergent with some of our clothes, but when we have children, i plan to wash everything with these. I will update this post after i have washed a few "fully loaded" cloth diapers and let you know what i think then.

And here is a great site with lots of info. Check out the harvesting vid. yay for sustainability!

http://www.soapnuts.pro/soap-nuts-harvest-video/