[wordup] Laundry soap product grows on trees, replaces laundry detergent with eco-friendly solution

[Adam Shand]

Anybody actually used these?  Heard of them?  My curiosity has been  
piqued ...

Adam.

Source: http://www.newstarget.com/021875.html

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus

Revolutionary laundry soap product grows on trees, replaces laundry  
detergent with eco-friendly solution

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 by: Mike Adams
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I've discovered an amazing new product that replaces commercial  
laundry detergents with a natural soap that literally grows on trees!  
This is a very big deal because the laundry room is one of the most  
toxic rooms in the home of a typical consumer. Commercial laundry  
detergents, fabric softeners and dryer sheets contain alarmingly high  
levels of toxic chemicals well known to cause cancer, liver  
disorders, neurological disturbances and hormone disruption. I still  
haven't figured out why so many people actually wash their clothes in  
these dangerous chemicals and then wear them around all day, allowing  
the chemicals in the clothes to penetrate their skin and enter their  
bloodstream where they cause serious harm.

Even worse, all those toxic chemicals get flushed downstream where  
they contribute to the mass killing of fish and ocean ecosystems,  
including all the various lifeforms that depend on the fish (such as  
birds).

What if there were a natural laundry soap that actually grew on trees  
and could replace commercial detergents for good?

It sounds too good to be true, but in fact, it's real. For the past  
two months, I've been washing all my own clothes with this simple,  
natural laundry soap that's been used in India for centuries, and  
I've never felt happier (or more environmentally conscious) about my  
laundry.

Here's the story about the natural laundry detergent that literally  
grows on trees. I'll reveal what it is, how it works, and how you can  
get some right now.
The soap that grows on trees

Across the jungles of India and Indonesia, a surprisingly practical  
tree called sapindus mukorrosi grows a small fruit surrounded by a  
firm outer shell, much like a lychee or rambutan. This tree, also  
called the Chinese Soapberry Tree, is unique in the fact that it  
synthesizes its own natural soap-like saponins that coat the shell of  
the fruit. When the fruits ripen and fall from the tree, local  
families harvest the windfall, then remove the inner fruit from the  
outer shell. The shell is then dried in the sun, using absolutely no  
chemical processing or manufacturing processes. In fact, the whole  
process uses no fossil fuels either, except in the transportation of  
the product to the western world (which is efficiently accomplished  
by ship).

It is this outer shell -- rich in natural saponins which act as water  
surfectants -- that the native families in India have used for  
centuries to wash their own clothes. They toss 2-3 shells into a  
small burlap bag and work it in with their laundry (which is usually  
washed by hand, by the way). The soap nuts, as they're now called  
(even though they have no relation to actual nuts), absorb water and  
release their saponins which circulate as a natural surfectant in the  
wash water, reducing the surface tension of the water and freeing  
dirt, grime and oils from the clothing.

When the clothes are rinsed, the soap nut saponins are washed  
downstream where they remain harmless to the environment. No  
synthetic chemicals, no fragrance chemicals, no foaming agents or  
other toxins. Just nut shells grown by nature. (See the resources  
section at the end of this article to learn where you can buy these  
nuts in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and elsewhere...)
Soap nuts can replace all brand-name detergents

Even though these soap nuts have been used for hundreds of years in  
India and Indonesia, they're barely known in the western world where  
brand-name chemical detergents are heavily marketed to consumers  
through advertising, coupons and in-store displays. Packed in eye- 
catching boxes and scented with artificial fragrance chemicals, these  
synthetic detergents are literally scooped up by tens of millions of  
consumers who have no idea they're bathing their clothes in cancer- 
causing chemicals while destroying the environment by flushing  
dangerous chemicals downstream.

Until now, there have been few options for eco-conscious consumers.  
While an increasing number of eco-friendly manufactured laundry  
products now exist in the marketplace (such as Seventh Generation and  
Biokleen brands), no natural laundry product has appeared in the  
western world that is 100% manufactured directly by nature. And many  
of the so-called "natural" laundry products are still made with  
fragrance chemicals, anyway.

When I first saw these soap nuts, I got really excited about the  
possibility of publicizing an eco-friendly solution that could  
replace all the manufactured laundry products currently being bought  
by consumers. So I decided to financially support the Maggie's Soap  
Nuts company by buying a large number of her soap nut products and  
stocking them in our Phoenix fulfillment center. They're now  
available for you to purchase (at a very reasonable price, by the  
way) at www.BetterLifeGoods.com

When you purchase these soap nuts and put them to use, you're not  
only protecting your health and the environment, you're also  
supporting the families in India and Indonesia that sustainably  
harvest these nuts as a way of life. Remember how I'm always urging  
us all to "vote with our dollars?" This is the perfect opportunity to  
do so. Vote against the chemical laundry companies and vote FOR  
natural, tree-grown laundry products by switching to soap nuts!

This is the "miracle" laundry product made by Mother Nature that I've  
been looking for. It's made by a tree, with absolutely nothing added  
or taken away (except the fruit, of course). It's natural through and  
through. No other laundry product even comes close.

Maggie's Soap Nuts replace both laundry detergent and fabric  
softener, by the way. They leave your clothes clean, unscented and  
feeling cozy soft. It's the first laundry product I've ever found  
that I was truly happy with. This is what I'm now washing all my  
clothes with.
But do the soap nuts really work?

Of course, any skeptical consumer would be asking one question right  
now: "Do these soap nuts really work?"

I was skeptical, too, that a soap nut grown by a tree in India could  
really replace my high-tech eco-friendly laundry soap made in  
America. So I bought a box of Maggie's Soap Nuts and tried them  
myself. I took 3 soap nuts and dropped them into the small cotton bag  
that comes in each box of Maggie's Soap Nuts, then I tossed them into  
my laundry and avoided using any other detergents or laundry  
products. I set the temperature on warm and gave it a normal wash  
cycle, then I hit the start button and walked away.

An hour later, I returned and examined the finished load. They sure  
smelled clean. But the real test would come from wearing them during  
a workout, so I took them outside to dry them in the sun (since we  
have such great sunlight here in Arizona, I often use it for drying  
clothes). After a few hours of blazing desert sunlight, the clothes  
were completely dry. I suited up with a pair of workout pants and an  
A shirt, then headed to the gym for an intense workout designed to  
produce lots of sweat.

The short version of this story is that the clothes were really,  
truly clean and they smelled just fine, even after an hour of sweat- 
inducing cardiovascular activity. (It also helps that I don't drink  
dairy products, which makes people stink, but that's another  
story...) My workout clothes seemed just as clean to me as any other  
load of laundry I washed in various eco-friendly laundry products!

Over the next few days, I continued washing more loads with the soap  
nuts. Every load came out clean, yet unscented (just the way I like  
it). I washed grimy socks, workout pants, hiking shorts and sweaty  
underwear, and everything was cleaned to my satisfaction. In other  
words, Maggie's Soap Nuts really clean your clothes just as good as  
commercial soap products! I remain convinced that these tree-grown  
soap nuts are just as good as any other soap products on the market.

One thing I did learn in all this, however, was that you probably  
shouldn't wash bedsheets with these soap nuts. What happened? In my  
wash, the small cotton bag holding the soap nuts got wrapped up in  
the sheet, and the soap nuts soaked the sheet with a slight soap nut  
color (sort of rust colored). This color came out in the next wash,  
because it's not a permanent stain or anything, but it taught me that  
for the soap nuts to be really effective, they needed to be able to  
circulate freely in the laundry and not get caught in a large bedsheet.

Aside from the bedsheet incident, everything else came out of the  
wash sqeaky clean!
How soap nuts clean your laundry

The process by which soap nuts clean your clothes is naturally quite  
simple. The soap nut shell contains a natural saponin that works as a  
surfectant, making your water "wetter" and allowing it to penetrate  
the fibers of your clothing, working away the dirt and grime that  
makes clothes dirty. The surfectant then holds on to the dirt,  
keeping it in suspension in the water until it's drained away, taking  
the dirt with it.

What's left is a load of clean clothes and nothing else! That's the  
way laundry should be. Much like clean water, clean laundry should  
NOT contain toxic chemical residues. In fact, it's more important to  
consider what laundry products do NOT contain than to look at what  
they do contain.

What Maggie's Soap Nuts do NOT contain include:

? Foaming chemicals that fool consumers into thinking their clothes  
are cleaner because there are "suds" in the wash. TRUTH: Suds have  
nothing to do with cleaning. They are chemical additives used to  
create the illusion of cleaning action. (Silly consumers actually  
expect suds, so the manufacturers add them in.)

? Fragrance chemicals that make laundry "smell" clean. Most  
commercial laundry products use toxic, synthetic fragrance chemicals  
that are, in fact, well known to promote cancer and liver disorders.  
Laundry products are not really regulated by any single government  
agency, and there is currently no law banning the use of known cancer- 
causing chemicals in laundry products (much like with cosmetics).

? Filler ingredients. Nearly all commercial laundry products are made  
with at least 50% filler ingredients to "bulk them up" and make them  
appear to deliver more value for the price. Consumers are mostly just  
buying the illusion of detergent, made mostly with filler.

You won't find filler or toxic chemicals in Maggie's Soap Nuts. Just  
pure, natural saponins grown by a tree and engineered by nature. In  
my opinion, that's where more of our products should ultimately come  
from. Wouldn't it be great if shampoo also grew on trees?

Actually, it does.
More than just laundry soap

The natural saponins found in Maggie's Soap Nuts are universal  
cleaning agents. Sure, they work great in the laundry, but did you  
know they are also traditionally used to clean skin and hair? In  
fact, the soap nut saponins work on everything from pets and children  
to washing fruits and vegetables. In ancient India, jewelers even  
used the soap to shine their precious metals and stones, giving them  
a beautiful natural luster.

By the way, all children's clothes should be washed in these soap  
nuts to avoid exposing infants and children to the toxic chemicals  
found in commercial laundry products. And while you're at it, why not  
save yourself from that exposure, too, by washing your own clothes  
with nature's laundry soap?

Using Maggie's Soap Nuts, you can make your own ultra-pure  
multipurpose cleaner.

Here's the recipe:

Simmer 1 cup of soap nuts in 4 cups of water on your stove, then  
allow the liquid to cool. Mash the soap nuts by hand (squish them  
around to get out all the saponins), then drain the resulting liquid  
through a cheese cloth or nut milk bag. Voila! You've got a  
concentrated cleaner made by nature! Use it around the kitchen, in  
the shower, washing the dog... it's all good. You can even use it to  
wash your dishes.

Remember: This natural soap isn't going to foam up like phoney  
cleaning products made by chemical companies, and it sure doesn't  
smell like fragrance chemicals. So don't expect it to look or smell  
like the products you might have been using. However, soap nuts get  
things really clean. The soap works so well that it's actually being  
studied right now as a way to decontaminate soils from exposure to  
toxic chemicals. How's that for a natural solution? Nature's soap can  
save the planet from man's soap.
The bottom line: Nature's replacement for manufactured soap products

Overall, I'm incredibly delighted to have discovered Maggie's Soap  
Nuts. They're nature's gift to the world, and we would all be smart  
to stop buying manufactured laundry detergents and switch to natural  
laundry soaps that grow on trees. It's good for your health, your  
family and your environment. Plus, it ends the cycle of monetary  
support for manipulative consumer product companies that poison the  
world with their harmful chemicals products. All those brightly- 
colored laundry detergent boxes lining the shelves of your local  
grocery store are, indeed, quite poisonous to both you and the planet.

How much do soap nuts cost? The price of using these soap nuts in  
your laundry is well under fifty cents a load (U.S.), making it quite  
comparable to other eco-friendly laundry products. It's not as cheap  
as dumping foaming chemicals into your laundry, but then again, if  
you're the kind of person reading this website, you're probably far  
more concerned about saving your health than saving a quarter on a  
load of toxic laundry. Isn't it good to know that you can protect  
your health and protect the planet as the same time?

Washing your clothes doesn't have to be bad for the environment.  
There's a new option now in the western world: Soap nuts!
Where to get your soap nuts: U.S., Canada, U.K. and more

Our e-commerce site www.BetterLifeGoods.com is now shipping these  
soap nuts throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Hawaii and Puerto  
Rico. Orders are also accepted from other countries, but we urge  
consumers to carefully consider the fuel resources needed to ship  
such items internationally. If you live in Australia, New Zealand or  
anywhere near Asia, we encourage you to find a regional source for  
these soap nuts to avoid redundant international shipping. Here are a  
few sources we know of right now:

U.S. and Canada: www.BetterLifeGoods.com (that's our e-commerce site)

UK & Ireland sources for Soapods, another brand of a similar product:  
http://www.soapods.com/stockists.html
Frequently Asked Questions about Maggie's Soap Nuts

The following information is borrowed from Maggie's Soap Nuts  
website. It answers most of the common questions about soap nuts:

Can I use too many nuts?

We recommend two whole Maggie's Soap Nuts per load of hot water wash.  
For really dirty clothes, giant loads, or when washing in cold water,  
you can use more nuts. You'll know you've used too many nuts if your  
clothes feel stiff after washing. The stiffness results from excess  
saponin in the rinse water and is not harmful to you or the clothes.  
The stiffness will go away after the next washing.

Can I use the Soap Nuts more than once?

It depends on the temperature of the water you're using. The saponin  
in Maggie's Soap Nuts releases quickly into hot water, and more  
slowly in cold water. When washing in hot water you only need two  
soap nuts per load and they'll release all of their saponin in about  
one wash. When washing with cold water, up to 4 nuts and reuse them  
up to 4 times. You'll know the saponin in Maggie's Soap Nuts is used  
up when the nuts no longer feel squeaky clean or sudsy when you rub  
them.

Can I use Soap Nuts with any temperature water?

Yes! The saponin in Maggie's Soap Nuts releases quickly into hot  
water, and more slowly in cold water. When washing in hot water you  
only need the equivalent of two whole Soap Nuts per load. They'll  
release all of their saponin in about one wash. When washing with  
cold water, up to 4 nuts and reuse them up to 4 times. Alternatively,  
pre-soak your cotton sack containing two soap nuts in a little hot  
water to release the saponin. After a couple minutes of soaking, add  
the mixture to the cold-water wash.

Do I have to remove the Maggie's Soap Nuts from the washing machine  
during the rinse cycle?
No need to remove the soap nuts from the rinse cycle. There's no  
soapy residue to rinse away! The little bit of saponin left in the  
rinse adds softness and body to your clothes.

Are Maggie's Soap Nuts hypoallergenic?

Yes! Maggie's Soap Nuts are 100% natural, safe and hypoallergenic. We  
recommend them for babies and people with sensitive skin. In Indian  
Ayurvedic medicine, Soap Nuts are used traditionally to treat skin  
disorders like eczema and psoriasis. With Maggie's Soap Nuts, there's  
nothing between you and your clothes but Mother Nature!

Do I need to clean the chemical detergent residue out of my washing  
machine before I wash my clothes with Soap Nuts?

You can use Maggie's Soap Nuts to purify your washing machine. To  
remove chemical residues from your machine, run a full load of rags  
through a warm or hot wash cycle with 4-5 soap nuts in the sack.

I'm allergic to nuts. Can I use Soap Nuts?

Yes! Maggie's Soap Nuts are actually a dried fruit related to the  
lychee. People with nut allergies can safely use Soap Nuts! They are  
not actually nuts.

Do Maggie's Soap Nuts have a fragrance?

Yes and No. On their own Maggie's Soap Nuts have a mild, fresh,  
vinegary smell. They will not fragrance your clothes. For added  
fragrance, add a few drops of you favorite essential oil on the  
cotton sack. For a refreshing wash, Maggie likes to use geranium,  
coriander, or neroli.

Do I need to use fabric softener?

Nope. Maggie's Soap Nuts naturally soften and add body to your  
clothes! In fact, Soap Nuts are used commercially to give body and  
sheen to expensive silks! You'll love how your clothes feel after  
washing with Maggie's Soap Nuts.

Are Maggie's Soap Nuts safe for my delicate washables?

Yes! Soap Nuts are ideal for gently cleaning delicate fibers like  
wool and silk!

Will Soap Nuts keep my colors bright?

Yes! Maggie's Soap Nuts are 100% natural and gentle. Your colors will  
look brighter!

Will Maggie's Soap Nuts get my white clothes REALLY white?

To maintain sparkling whites we recommend that you always separate  
your colors. For extra stain removal, when necessary add a scoop of  
environmentally friendly oxygen bleach to the wash.

Can Maggie's Soap Nuts help me Save Water and Energy?

Yes! Since there's no soapy residue to rinse away you can use shorter  
rinse cycles on your washing machine.

What do I do with the leftover shells?

You'll know the saponin in Maggie's Soap Nuts is used up when the  
nuts no longer feel squeaky clean and sudsy when you rub them. If  
they're re-useable, let the shells dry out and use them again later.  
When the shells are ready to retire, add them to your garden compost.

Why is the plastic bag and silica gel desiccant necessary?

We import Maggie's Soap Nuts from humid climates. Without a plastic  
bag the nuts absorb moisture from the very wet air and get black and  
sticky as they release their saponin. We pack a desiccant inside each  
bag to help absorb any moisture that gets trapped inside.

My Nuts are sticky! What's up?

Yikes! Soap Nuts turn black and sticky as they absorb moisture from  
the air. If your soap nuts are exposed to long-term moisture, like  
humid air, they may change color. This doesn't affect Soap Nuts'  
cleaning power. In fact, some people think the sticky nuts clean  
better because they are pre-releasing their saponin. We like our nuts  
to release when WE are ready, so we pack them with a desiccant.

What's this little black marble I found in my box of Soap Nuts?

Lucky you! That little black marble is a seed. You can plant your own  
Soapberry tree!

###

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and  
technology pioneer with a passion for sharing empowering information  
to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer  
and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and  
consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around  
the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from  
reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and  
accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes  
about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs,  
a maker of energy efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2  
emissions. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally- 
friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its  
profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a  
well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing  
Director' software currently runs the NewsTarget subscription  
database. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer  
Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities,  
nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics. Known on the 'net  
as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements  
and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org