Why natural laundry soaps? Well, that could be a separate article in itself, but to keep it short and simple, these are the top few reasons why:
- Your clothes will last longer, the fabric would be intact because you aren’t stressing it with strong chemicals
- You wouldn’t need fabric softeners
- It’s great for the environment- safe for ground water and prevents plastic pollution
- Prevents skin allergies and even problems like asthma. Do you have a stubborn skin problem like eczema or rashes. try switching to a natural laundry solution.
- Great for babies because their skin tends to be sensitive.
Let’s get started with a quick DIY laundry waash. For this, you would require soapnuts. Soapnuts are called reetha in hindi. They have a natural foaming agent called saponin that produces foam when boiled in water. They can used for surface cleaning, dish washing etc.
I get Soapnuts from a company called Stonesoup. I order it from my Big Basket app. You can find reetha in local stores in your locality. It is often used in herbal hair wash powders.It is very cost effective and comes at a fraction of what one would spend buying chemical detergents.
Laundry Wash: Take 4-5 soapnuts and boil it in 200 ml water in a saucepan. you will see it foaming. Heat it in medium flame for 10 mins and transfer to a separate dish. Try to mash the soapnuts into the water once you cool it down a little bit, so that you don’t burn your fingers. Filter this solution to a bottle and add few drops of lavender essential oil. Use this solution in your washing machine to wash clothes. If you are going to wash clothes by hand, immerse the clothes in water and add the laudry solution and let it be for half an hour before washing,
I usually prepare a small batch every week. If you want to make a big batch, please refrigerate it. This process takes 5-10 minutes and is hardly any extra work. Do try it out!
I hope you like this. I will add more pictures to this article so that it is helpful for you all. This laundry solution is natural, delicate and safe. You could also put the soapnuts in a muslin bag and directly drop it into the washing machine, but I like the solution better.