'the soap that grows on trees' soap nuts review/giveaway

look to the pre-industry days and you will find safe, gentle, and highly-effective cleansers for your home, body, and laundry, like lovely raw soap nuts.

soap nuts are the fruit of chinese soapberry trees; relatives of lychee and rambutan. they have been used in china for generations and in europe for decades. in ancient india soap nuts, known in hindi as reetha, were used for body and hair washing, as well as laundering fine fabrics and cleansing precious metals.

the hypo-allergenic soap nuts are 100% natural, making them safe for babies and those with sensitive skin.

to cleanse, soap nuts contain the all-natural surfactant, saponin (conventional detergents use manufactured chemical surfactants). surfactants work by breaking the surface tension of water, allowing it to more easily penetrate fabrics, effectively making water "wetter". agitation shakes dirt loose and the saponin holds the dirt in suspension until rinsing.

 other uses for soap nuts include:

• toothpaste
• fruit and vegetable wash (a ten minute soak in a solution of soap nuts removes 95% of surface pesticides and chemical residues)
• hair and body wash
• food-safe cleaner in the kitchen
• in the garden as an insect-repellent

harvesting soap nuts is an environmentally-sustainable practice. as maggie's pure land points out, their factory is a tree! there's no waste, no waste water, and no toxic byproducts. maggie's pure land even uses the nuts and black seeds to make jewelry!

the kind people at maggie's pure land responded promply to my request for a sample to review, and to my delight sent me a box of soap nuts and 32 ounces of liquid soap! i've been using both for a few weeks now and am officially a soap nut!=)

when doing laundry, i just place 5 nuts in the small cotton sack and toss in at the beginning of the cycle. the soap nuts can be reused up to 5 times and composted when spent. for the liquid, i use 2 tablespoons as i would normally. no fabric softener needed! i find both nuts and liquid do an equally amazing job, but the soap nuts are more fun to use.=)

my laundry comes out so nice and clean, just as though i used conventional laundry soap. especially pleasing is how effortlessly the soap nuts removed a watermelon stain from my white cotton skirt and stains from john's white linen pants! my clothes feel so soft, and i love how they smell fresh and odorless - the way clean is supposed to smell!

note: maggie's pure land soap nuts do not produce suds. the bubbles created with conventional soups are not an indicator of cleansing ability. most labaratory cleaners contain foaming agents to "trick" consumers that the product is working. don't be fooled!

in a time of globalization, i feel it's so important to support small businesses and our neighbors. especially when big corporations harm the planet and our health, for profit. (look at me on my soap box, talking about soap nuts!=)

so why not enlighten your load with the soap that grows on trees?=)

***

maggie's pure land has extended the sampling to you!

'the soap that grows on trees'
giveaway

TWO lucky readers
will choose an

8 load liquid sample 

or a

 5 load raw soap nut sample!

woohoo!=)

to enter:

(mandatory)

visit maggie's pure land and comment below with one thing you learned from the site.

extra entries:

(leave a new comment for each entry.)

• tweet about the giveaway (1 entry for each tweet, 1 per day. please leave a link in the comment.)
• blog about the giveaway (5 entries. please leave a link to the post.)
• maggie's pure land  is a proponent of breastfeeding. leave a comment telling me a benefit of breastfeeding. (you may enter up to 5 benefits.)
• follow animal-friendly eating. (1 entry)

the contest will close wednesday, august 11th at 11pm est. the winners will be chosen by a random number generator and announced shortly after. this contest is open to u.s. and canadian residents only.

(maggie's pure land kindly asks the beneficiaries of the samples to post of their soap nut experience to help spread awareness of truly eco-friendly soap!)
 

happy entering!

=) 

if you're not into giveaways, you can purchase yourself a sample here.