Want a FREE sample of Maggie's Soap Nuts?

Wow! Sarah and I were blessed to have been contacted by the folks at Maggie's Soap Nuts. They wanted to know if we would be willing to blog about our experience using their product and we said to each other, "Eco-friendly laundry soap? Easy to use? Supporting small business? We are in!"

So...it has been a few weeks since we started using Maggie's Soap Nuts and we were totally blown away!

You may be asking yourself, "What the heck is a soap nut? Is that some sort of crazy hippie product that requires rubbing my clothes with a nut until they barely suds up, at which point I give up because my hands are raw?"

Absolutely not. I am here to tell you that this product is nothing like that at all! Soap nuts are as easy to use as any other laundry detergent. Phew! Thank God....

If you notice the photo above, you can see that the actual nuts resemble dried lychees or rambutans (they are in the same family). They are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry Tree (Sapindus mukorossi), and are harvested in India and Indonesia after the nuts fall to the ground.

Maggie's says the following about how the soap nuts work, "Maggie’s Soap Nuts work like a detergent. They contain saponin, an all-natural surfactant. Conventional detergents are manufactured, chemical surfactants. Surfactants work by breaking the surface tension of water so it can more easily penetrate into fabrics, effectively making water “wetter.” Once wet, the agitation of your washing machine (or your hands) shakes the dirt loose from your clothes. Then Soap Nuts’ saponin holds the dirt in suspension in the water (preventing it from re-depositing on your clothes) until you’ve rinsed it away."

Sound groovy?

It sure sounds groovy to us!

We have this preconceived notion that frothy and soapy and bubbly equal clean. But the soap nuts do not get very "bubbly." It takes a little while to get used to the fact that your clothes will still be "clean" even though you saw no bubbles in the washing machine. But if you can suspend your preconceived notions, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Actually, due to the low sudsing, Maggie's Soap Nuts are ideal for High Efficiency and front loading machines (but may be used in any machine).

So back to our own journey here...

Sarah put about 4 soapnuts into a cute little cotton bag that they come with, and then threw that bag into her first load of "experimental" laundry. The smell of the nuts was like mild vinegar, but not offensive by any means. I thought for sure her laundry would come out smelling anything but fresh. Well, we were in for a surprise!

Our laundry smelled fresh and was very soft after taking it out of the washing machine (the soap nuts can also be used a few times until they are no longer shiny and smooth when wet). So, next was the fabric softener test. Would the laundry be full of static after drying? Would it still be fresh and soft?

All of the laundry was static-free! And it was still fresh and soft (with no added softeners).

This was SO exciting! So Sarah and I tried a few more loads and were very happy to see that the soap nuts kept on working like the first load.

Maggie's also makes a liquified soap nut product with essential oils for those who like a little fragrance in their laundry (also biodegradable and just as easy to use!).

Laundry is not the only thing you can do with Maggie's Soap Nuts. They are also wonderful for pest repellants in the garden, adding them to your compost, household cleansers, etc.... There are too many uses to list!

Now here's the cool part... Maggie's is offering other people a chance to try out their product, too! They are offering either an 8 load liquid sample or a 5 load raw soap nut sample.

Are you in?

Here's what you need to do:

1. There will be five winners and are first-come, first served. U.S. entries only, please :)

2. You need to have your own blog that you write or else blog about your experience with Maggie's as a "reply" to this blog.

3. Reply to this blog with your reason why you want to try Maggie's, and why you are either disatisfied with your current product or why you wish to move away from what you are currently using.

4. Be sure your e-mail address or a way to contact you is within your response, and someone will contact you for address info to send the soap nuts.

5. Get ready to be amazed! Maggie's Soap Nuts are raw, sustainably harvested, equally exchanged, very effective and compostable!

Happy washing, everyone! Looking forward to those replies to this blog so we can send you some Maggie's!

Much love and eco-friendly soap,

Julie and Sarah