Anyone use Himalayan Soapnuts for laundry?

[Maple Leaf Mama]

I saw this new product at my crunchy store last week.
They sound like a miracle product that I'm very excited to try.

Here is the link--

www.ecoideas.ca

Basically they a nuts from the Soapberry tree-from India and Nepal.

They provide you with a cloth bag. You put 6-8 half shells (the nut is removed) and you toss it in your washing machine. (Works for longer in cold water)

You use them a few times.
Then you can boil the used shells in water and use the liquid as shampoo or place in a spray bottle as a general cleaner or into a soap dispenser as hand soap. Then toss the spent shells into the compost heap.
And they provide jobs to otherwise unemployed local women.
How faboo does this sound??!

Anyone try this?

[sofysmommy]

oohhh I have been dying to know this too!

[Merilin]

Those seem to be very popular amongst my German friends, many of them use them successfully for their daily laundry for quite some time now - some of them even for years.

[polyhymnia]

I just received a sample of these from a friend of mine (www.buttermilkbarn.com), and I can't wait to try them out. Has anyone else made the liquid soap? The instructions Karen sent with my soapnuts say "boil 1/2 cup of soapnut shells in 400-500 ml water, simmer and strain off the shells. This will produce a liquid soap to use for cleaning around the house."

I can't do that with my sample as I don't have enough but it *sounds* great. Haven't seen any reviews of them though. Seems almost too good to be true! But if I like them I will definitely be buying more.