Soapnuts and Soapmaking

November 11, 2008

Soapnuts

The first time I'd heard about soap nuts was on my friend Cori's blog (which she no longer publishes). I make most of our household soaps, including laundry soap so I didn't pay it too much attention. I like practicing the centuries old craft of soap making. I felt unsure that I'd get the same satisfaction from throwing nuts in the washing machine (which seemed like a kind of new fangled idea to me). Maybe I need to reconsider.

Recently The Good Human posted a review of using soapnuts, including an on-line source for buying them. I have to say, I'm impressed. The following was especially interesting, "The term soapnut refers to the crushed seeds that contain saponin, a natural detergent, which has been used by people to clean clothes for a very long time".

Firstly, coming across the word saponin was somewhat reassuring. In traditional cold process soap making when you mix the oils with lye and water a chemical reaction takes place and you are left with saponified oils. It's the saponified oils that does the cleaning. Makes me think these soapnuts might actually do what their name implies. Then to read that people have been cleaning clothes this way for a long time reassured me that if I choose to use these I can still feel connected to centuries old wisdom. This isn't just some new fad being marketing to the Whole Food's crowd. I'm not totally convinced because I think making my own soap is still cheaper. Need to figure that one out.

Soapmaking

I'm still very much into making our own skin care soaps. For some time I've wanted to post a soap making tutorial but that's a lot of work.

So, I'm happy to report that I've found an awesome beginners tutorial over at Small Notebook. A very cool blog in and of itself. There are other tutorials out there but I haven't found any others as clear and aesthetically pleasing as this one (presentation matters to me).

Couple notes: I make larger batches than her instructions and the process from start to finish usually takes me 2.5 hours. I also add essential oils so the bars cost more than a basic unscented bar.

This is a very old post published in 2008. For more up-to-date soap discussion, recipes and tutorials please see my Homemade Soap & Body Care page

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