A while ago I was given a bag of soap nuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus). I have just finally gotten around to making up some liquid soap from them.

The instructions that come with them say to use a cup of soap nuts to a litre of water and simmer for 20 minutes, which I followed. Oddly enough, the result was a liquid that looked like dirty water (and smelt like concentrated mulled wine).

I poured it into a bottle and tried it in the shower – the liquid was way too runny for shampoo, and the bubbles from shaking it up did nothing much either. After the shower, however, my hair does feel a lot better

I then put half a dozen of the used nuts into a calico bag and put that in the washing machine with a load of clothes – the water felt extremely soapy, which I hadn’t expected, and the resulting greywater was a lot blacker than normal.

Overall, I recommend Soap Nuts for in the washing machine and that, but am yet to find a good way to use it as shampoo. I also think that the liquid, when well diluted, could be a really good general garden spray (soapy water can kill some pests, discourage others and in some cases help stop fungi and diseases).

I’ll update later when I have played with them and the “recipe” a bit more..