Soapnut Shells

I was given by someone Indian Soapnut Shells.I've done 2 washing with them already and absolutely love it!!!Does anyone use them on regular basis?Are they really as good as I think they are?And finally where you buying them from?My washing has never been so clean

Never heard of them but will be really interested to see what other people say as well. x

I haven't heard much good about them I'm afraid... My Mum used them for ages on her clothes but they didn't remove stains and her washing machine started getting very very whiffy so she had to stop...

Seems they work well for some and not for others - I wonder if water type (soft/hard/etc) and washing machine brand makes a difference...

Fantastic if they work for you though!!

Thank you Velvetsteph!I've done another washing today and still can't complaint Choclate,spinach stains were gone and still the washing look much better than after non-bio...

Anybody else can share experience with soapnut shells?

ive used them a few times and ive never had a problem with them! although im not really fussy about the final result as long as they are reasonably clean and not smelly! i also used vinegar and essential oils as fabric conditioner. i kept putting them in a knotted sock, then forgetting which sock they were in and DP would come across mouldy soapnutty socks a few week later! using a little net bag is hander lol

i havent used them in ages now just because my mum has bought me 2 boxes of washing powder and im using them up!

they do well on nappies too! i bought a big bag of them off ebay pretty cheaply and ive still got most of them!

Gayle xx

We didn't get on with them. They just didn't seem to get clothes very clean - never dared use them on a nappy wash.

I've been washing nappies in soap nuts for 14 months!
You never have to worry about detergent residues, allergies, etc.
I would agree they do not get out stains. If you use liners, line dry in the sun, or just don't care about stains, this is not a problem.
I pre-soak in vinegar if there are nasty poo nappies, and add water softener to the wash since I have hard water. I do have a front loader machine (High Efficiency). It's possible a traditional machine might need more than the recommended number of soap nuts?
I do run the occasional wash with detergent and the occasional 90 degree wash, which I believe is recommended anyway. (you should also do the occasional 90 to keep your machine from getting smelly, this may be why pp had problems with a smelly machine)
I recently noticed my nappies are getting a soap nut smell so am questioning whether soap nut residue is possible after all. With that in mind I've started doing more detergent washes, and reduced the number of soap nuts I've been using to even less than it says on the package. If you have been using detergents it could be a good idea to use soap nuts for a while to get all the detergent residue out.
Give the nappies a test smell when you take them out. You should figure out whether they are clean or not!

Thank you clumsymumsy!I have washed my nappies recently with shells and they were so clean and had a nice nutsy smell! have added today few drops of mandarine oil and my washing smelled so yummy!I just culdn't belived that they are so good .

I've been wondering about this too! If a couple more people say they work for nappies I might give them a try, lol...