You've probably heard about soap nuts, right? But have you tried them yet? Soap nuts have many great advantages over most conventional laundry detergents.
Problems with conventional laundry detergents
If you read the ingredient list on laundry detergent packages, you'll find words like phosphonates, surfactants, zeolites, polycarboxylates, TAED, soap, enzymes, bleach, and perfume. And most of us have little idea what these chemicals mean. The main problem with conventional laundry detergents is that they can contain allergens, environmentally harmful and other unwanted chemicals such as perfumes and preservatives. One of Sweden's most popular conventional laundry detergents contains, for example, the preservative methylisothiazolinone, which is both allergenic and environmentally harmful.
Even in laundry detergents with a clear environmental profile, you can sometimes find environmentally damaging substances such as methylisothiazolinone and the fragrance limonene – both harmful to aquatic organisms. According to EU law, a complete ingredient list must be available online, but unfortunately, this can be very difficult to find. This makes product certifications important. Products with the Asthma and Allergy Association's symbol are allergy-free and limit potential allergens. The Nordic Swan is the Nordic eco-certification, the EU Flower or EU Ecolabel is the European environmental certification, and the Falcon is the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation's own environmental label.So besides having to become something of a detective if you want to avoid unwanted chemicals in laundry detergents, they are often expensive too. Many people also overdose on laundry detergent, but this doesn't make clothes cleaner. On the contrary, it causes unnecessary wear on textiles and wastes money.
Problems with conventional fabric softeners
Fabric softener, or conditioner, is not necessary for clean clothes. Just as we use conditioner to protect our hair, fabric softener is used to protect clothes, as it reduces friction during washing, prevents static electricity, and makes clothes smell good after washing. It works by having polymers in the fabric softener bind moisture to the textile's surface. Clothes stay soft because they remain slightly damp. Fabric softeners also contain emulsifiers that dissolve mineral oil in water, as well as preservatives and perfume. Fabric softener is therefore directly harmful to certain materials and is not environmentally friendly. It's better to iron and wear garments to soften them. Or use vinegar.
Wash Ecologically with Soap Nuts
Instead of the strong surfactants in conventional laundry detergents, we can wash naturally with saponins found in various plants. Soap nuts are especially rich in saponins. Additionally, you don't need to keep track of complicated ingredient lists. Saponins function just like surfactants by softening the water so that dirt loosens from textiles. The saponins dissolve from the soap nut shells when they come in contact with water warmer than 30 degrees Celsius.
The warmer the water, the more saponins dissolve. Therefore, it can be strategic to use slightly higher temperatures when washing with milder agents such as soap nuts.
Washing Clothes in the Machine
When you wash clothes with soap nuts, here's what you do:
Place 4-8 soap nuts in a small cotton washing bag or an old, thin sock that you tie up and put in the washing machine with your clothes. Let them remain in for the entire washing program. Soap nuts can be used for multiple washes, but when they lose their shine, it's time to compost them and use new ones. The higher the temperature, the fewer washes they will last for.For white washing, you can add ½ dl of sodium percarbonate to the detergent compartment. Soap nuts are naturally softening, so that's another reason to skip fabric softener with its unnecessary chemicals.
Soap nuts can be found in eco-friendly stores and online retailers.
Scented Clothes
It might feel a bit strange at first when your textiles don't smell of anything after washing. If you want them to have a scent, you can add 2-5 drops of essential oil such as lemon, lavender, or another favorite fragrance to the fabric softener compartment.
If you have stains, you can treat them before washing with baking soda, sodium percarbonate (stronger), olive soap, or ox gall soap.If your clothes smell bad, you can add vinegar to the fabric softener compartment.
Vinegar is also softening. For really smelly clothes, you can soak the garment in vinegar water before washing. If you want to learn more about how you can reduce your expenses by starting with eco-cleaning, I recommend this online course.
Do you have any good tips on how to make laundry feel soft and smell good using natural methods? Please share in a comment so others can learn from us!
