Recently, I made an amazing discovery. From the title of this article, you probably can guess the subject of what amazed me so much. Yes, it is Soap Nuts or Sapindus mukorossi or Ritha (Reetha). These nuts originate from India, so often they are called “Indian soap”.

What are soap nuts?

Soap nuts are among the popular herbs and minerals in Ayurveda. They can replace your liquid soaps, shampoos, face cleansers, as well as laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent and other household items. The amazing washing power of soap nuts is due to the fact that they contain saponin – a natural soapy substance that forms a thick foam when in contact with water.

Soap nuts for hair

I want to caution you, soap nuts can irritate your eyes! If they get into your eyes, it feels like red chili pepper was sprinkled into them. So wash your eye area very carefully. Also the smell of these nuts can be little disgusting. To me they smell like vinegar mixed with syrup. But I will tell you how to make them smell good if you keep reading below. By the way, the smell won’t get on your hair, skin or clothes. Don’t let this tiny issue scare you, because it is nothing when you consider the amazing benefits of the nut.

Soap nuts for hair are really amazing. They treat a number of diseases, such as a skin fungus, dandruff, and rashes on the body. It treats them by removing the causes of the disease. I mean it destroys the fungus, so that the problem disappears. The skin takes on a pristine state, free from flaking and irritation.

And these are not just empty words! I already did an experiment. The brave experimenter was my friend’s grandfather. He had washed his hair with conventional shampoo from the supermarket and had severe dandruff as a result. So we added few drops of shampoo (not that one he got dandruff from) to a soap nuts infusion. Actually the infusion can be used just on its own too. The first time you use this technique, you might find the absence of foam and the fact that it’s very liquid a bit odd, but believe me the results will exceed your expectations. And here is the most amazing part, after washing his hair twice, the dandruff disappeared! This is probably one of my successful experiments ever! So if you suffer from dandruff I strongly recommend you to try soap nuts.

Soap nuts can also be used to treat hair loss. I haven’t experimented with this yet, but I think the result will be also stunning, as I saw lots of very positive reviews over the Internet.

Soap nuts shampoo recipes

Using soap nuts can initially be troublesome. In order to make the decoction, you will have to boil nuts, and this should be done 1 – 2 times a week, because they can’t be stored longer. Also keep in mind that the shell of the nut is used, and not the nut itself.

To prepare the decoction, take 4 shells and pour them into a glass of water. Bring this to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes (boiling promotes the recovery of saponins and mixes them with water). The mixture that you get can be used as shampoo, liquid soap, shampoo for animals, cleaning detergent for dishes and other items. The absence of abundant foam will not affect the performance of the soap.

You can also use this decoction with other ingredients.

Here are some soap nuts recipes:

I boiled nuts in chamomile herbal tea- I just added one chamomile tea bag (you can use other herbs too), this way water will not have a bad smell while you are using it. Keep the liquid on your head for a minute, then massage and rinse off.

Here is another shampoo recipe. Take 2 tablespoons of mustard and mix it with boiling water until you have a thick cream consistency. Let this mixture sit for a couple of minutes, and then add 1 tablespoon of soap nuts decoction. You can use this as a simple shampoo.

You can also make the nut decoction into foam and use the foam to wash your hair.

Soap nuts for skin care

All owners of greasy, oily skin with blackheads and comedones, rejoice! These nuts can fix these problems also. Just use the soap nut decoction instead of your cleanser.

I am already using soap nuts on my skin, everyday in the morning and in the evening. I have noticed that my little red pimples have dried a little. I also love the feeling after washing my face; it’s like after using light baby soap. Also I can feel that all the impurities and excess of oil have been washed off and I can apply a moisturizer without worrying.

You can also use soap nuts instead of your shower gel. Just dip a bath sponge into the soap nuts and clean your body.

Soap nuts for laundry

I have just few words about using soap nuts for laundry. You can take 4 nuts and put them into a small cloth bag (which should come with the nuts) and just put this into a dishwasher or washing machine. You can use the same bag 3-4 times. The results are really great!

Benefits:

• Washing clothes, even with your hands, will no longer cause any dryness or irritation. Clothes will smell clean and like you used laundry detergent.
• You will remove another allergen and carcinogen from your daily life, as soap nuts from the laundry and the dishes wash off easily.

Where to buy soap nuts?

I bought mine from the local store; however, I also found some on the Internet. An online shop called Naturoli sells USDA and ECOCERT certified organic soap nuts. What is more amazing that they have beauty products based on soap nuts extract which is formulated with only the finest, pure healthy natural ingredients.