Maggie's Pure Land Soap Nuts

I love these Soap Nuts -- I use them on everything from smelly gym socks to more delicate nightgowns. Each package comes with a small cloth bag in which you put about 3 nuts, then just throw the bag in with the laundry. Clothes come out clean and NO TOXINS or PERFUMES! A family size box gave me about 55 loads. For stain removing power I sometimes add Meyer's Oxygen powder, too, but for most laundry loads all you need are the soap nuts.

Also you can get a trial size for $2.99. All on eZoetic.com.

Before you begin reading this review, be forewarned: I am a little crazy when it comes to laundry... 

When I first got my soap nuts, I read the directions and initially I was slightly confused- the number of soap nuts you use depends on whether you are using hot or cold water, and there was information about making a soap nut tea.  So many options!  I was doing a load of sheets, and I always use hot for sheets to get rid of dust mites, so I threw two soap nuts into the cloth bag, and dumped it into the washer.  I loaded my sheets, turned in the water, and read the rest of the brochure.

Wait...soap nuts don't create suds?  How will I know I put enough soap nuts in?  How will I know my clothes aren't just getting a good rinsing?  (Did I mention that I am a worrier?)  The brochure sounded reassuring- so I waited until the laundry was finished, and was pleased that everything appeared clean.

Still, I worried.  I really loved the idea of using soap nuts, but I wanted to know for sure that everything was getting cleaned.  I decided to do a little field testing.

I took a white washcloth and poured some grape juice, spaghetti sauce, chocolate soy milk, and cranberry juice (which actually doesn't make a very dark mark) onto it.  It was like I was trapped in a laundry commercial...all I was missing is a grass stain!

All the stuff I spilled on the wash cloth set for 3-4 hours, and I didn't do any pretreating.  Two soap nuts and a load of hot towels later, and the grape juice stain was the only one that stuck around, and even that was significantly faded.  Check out the before and after photos under the action shots tabs to see for yourself.  The bottom of the after washcloth appears stained in the photo, but is actually just in shadow due to our crappy apartment lighting.

My cleaning power concerns have been proven wrong- and I am now a soap nut believer!

I got the sample and was sad to see it came with a cardboard top stapled to a plastic bag and with a tri-fold full color brochure in the padded envelope that sold an image and not the value of the product. I don't know if the boxed ones come in a recycled box or not, or how much extra packaging is used.

It annoys me when a company that sells an earth friendly product does not package it or ship it in an earth friendly way. I really don't like it when a company markets themselves as being an earth friendly company and then uses so much unnecessary and non-recyclable packing to get it to the user.

All the use instructions I needed were on the website, or they could have emailed me the instructions with my order confirmation.

I've tried three other companies and found other larger much more effective soap nuts from other companies. I think these are over priced for the quality.

I was amazed when I received these little nuts as a sample, could they really work....I was a non-believer at first and it took me a while to try them. Then I started thinking, these have been a traditional cleaning method in so many cultures long before conventional laundry soaps have been around so why not? I threw 3 of these guys in the bag they came in and tested them out......to my surprise they worked...they really worked!

I tried them in a load of whites and although they did clean, it just wasn't quite as good as I would've wanted...maybe a little non-chlorine whitener would've helped them along? I would definitely use them for my colors though and will probably buy them again. I would recommend them to anyone thinking of trying them.