The Dirt on Laundry Soap Round 2: Soapnuts

 My very dear (and insanely wise, and talented, and I could go on forever) friend, Mandy from the Wandering Interrobang left a comment on my last post about Zote Soap about soap nuts. I was not aware that this was even a thing. My homemade laundry detergent started off as a quest to save money, but I know many of you are interested in eliminating toxic products from your homes and using more environmentally friendly alternatives, and soap nuts may be the way to go for you. The vast amount of information about them is very confusing, so Mandy has graciously agreed to explain them for us (and be my first guest post!). 

My wonderful (beautiful, kind, wicked smart) friend Mrs. Bacon has asked me to elaborate on a comment I made on her most recent posting about home made laundry detergent. Basically, I said “I don't use detergent, I use the much cheaper and non-animal-fat-containing soapnuts.” I have been using them for years, and I sometimes forget not everyone knows that they are a thing.
Soapnuts (or soap berries) are a type of fruit that grows on a tree. They are kind of like a cherry in that they are fleshy fruit around a small hard pit.

Where they differ from cherries is that they are not an eating fruit. Their juice is almost pure saponin (the part of soap that does the cleaning). They have been used for centuries as a natural cleanser for clothing and bodies. They mainly come in two different species, Sapundus mukorossi and Sapundus trifoliatus. I've used both and had both work well.

When purchased, they will be dry. This is okay, even though I said it was the juice that has the soap. Like a dried cherry has concentrated sugars, a dried soapnut has concentrated saponin. Some places put value on selling whole berries, but pieces works simply fine. They will have a vinegar smell in the box or bag, but will not transfer this smell to your clothing.

One word of warning here, however. Try not to put a soapnut seed through the wash. They are intensely black in color and may mark your clothing. Fortunately, reputable sellers will have removed them before packaging. Soapnuts are sold by weight, and since the seeds don't help in the washing, they would only serve to beef up the shipping weight. Some may remain here or there, but I've never had more than two in a large bag.
Using them is simple. Place about 4-5 berries in a permeable bag, and toss it in with your laundry. Wash as usual. That's it. Most ship with a small muslin bag, though I use a bigger mesh one as it is easier to locate and remove from the washer.

4 berries should do up to five loads. After each load, pull the bag and rub one of the berries. If it is slippery/soapy feeling, or produces small amounts of suds, they are good for another load. When spent, you can compost them, or just throw them away.

I have been using these for years now, and I would NEVER go back to chemical-y detergent. I have a pretty severe skin allergy to most perfumes and dyes, and soapnuts are great for people with sensitive skin, in particular infants.
If purchased in bulk, the cost is only about 12 cents per load. Putting all those things together, I really never recommend anything else. I love them and use them every time I do laundry. My experiments on using them for dish detergent are not going so well, but I digress.
I kind of hate to recommend a place to buy them, but there are a lot of scammers out there. I personally buy from NaturOli, as they have proven to be consistently less expensive, and yet higher in quality than anywhere else we have found.
Wherever you get your soapnuts, I hope that you will find them as hassle free and inexpensive as I have.