Customer Reviews

Maggie's Soap Nuts. (1 Kilo, 200-400+ Loads) 100% Natural Laundry Soap. Grows on TreesTM. Very Best Quality. America's Premier Supplier. Wild Harvested! Processed with NO Chemicals or Preservatives.

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The soap-nuts are as good as it states. It works well and I will not go back to liquid detergents or other natural laundry detergents. I have skin allergies with many things but I haven't had any problems with these nuts. I am sorry I had not discovered the soap-nuts earlier. I have used non-petro-chemical detergents for almost 30 years but never knew about soap-nuts until I saw it on Amazon. Thanks Amazon! Just want to point out that I don't use the dried soap-nuts into the wash as it states.Rather, pre-soak the nuts in some water in a large jar. I don't soak all the nuts at once but add to the jar as I use up the old. I use some of the liquid along with the nuts.I can normally do 3 large loads with 4-5 soaked soap-nuts and some of the liquids. The liquid will be light brown but does not stain clothes. It is the color of the nuts. I love this stuff. If you don't pre-soak your nuts as I do, you can throw some nuts into the little cotten bag provided and use a little hot water in your wash to start the activation process. Remember that the nuts are dried so it needs pretty warm to hot water to activate the soap. I leave the bagged nuts through wash and rinse cycle.If the little bag of nuts goes into the dryer accidently after the rinse cycle, don't worry, the nuts just gets dried up in the dryer but does not harm anything, just throw away the parched nuts. This is all natural and you can't hurt it but keep away from chidren. ENJOY!

I used 2 in my first wash and they made a right mess of my clothes. I called the company left a message, but heard nothing back. I am going back to Bodhi Soap Nuts. Sadly I ordered these because Bodhi Soap Nuts were out of stock. I have been using soap nuts for 2 years and have never had any problems until now.

I've replaced all conventional detergents in my house over three years ago and thought I was doing a good job "being green." Then I read how you also have to factor in "food miles" and "carbon imprint" or how much energy and fuel goes into manufacturing and shipping your products around the world. Ok, so now instead of buying detergents which are mostly water and heavy, I am buying one bag of soap nuts which is the purest form and concentrated. And this bag is supposed to last for 200 loads!

Plus soapnuts are a sustainable and natural resource-- they grow like crazy and each tree produces hundreds of pounds of soapnuts. There are no added fillers or dyes or chemicals and it is completely safe for our water systems.

I have used another brand of soapnuts and they were not as good. Maggie's soapnuts are very soapy and moist--like a fig or date. They do a great job at cleaning everything in the wash. I haven't tried it as a shampoo or regular household cleaner but I'm sure it will do a fantastic job, based on what I've seen in the wash.

One word of caution-- separate your whites and darks. Even if you use cold water, the soapnuts do too good of a job. Wash your jeans inside out to prevent dye leakage.

I've been using these in place of laundry detergent for several months and love them. Our clothes come out clean, soft & fresh smelling and I like knowing my family doesn't have all those chemicals on their skin. It's also nice to know I'm not harming the environment. Now if I could just find the same thing for my dishwasher!

These environmentally kind soap nuts leave laundry clean, with a fresh smell, and very soft. No nasty chemicals on your clothing or in your water. Highly recommend.

I've only used this product for a few loads of laundry so far, and I can say that these definitely clean your clothes! They come out smelling so fresh and clean. A few notes:
- Stains DO need to be pretreated. The soap nuts alone didn't remove the food stains from my 3-yr old's shirts.
- For brightening I added oxygen-based bleach to my brights and whites (as suggested by the included instructions)
and the clothes looked great. I had initially washed a load with no additives, and the lighter colors
definitely looked dingy, although smelled great. Now, our homemade oxy-stuff tends to leave our line-dried
clothes on the crispy side, so I do add 1/4 c. white vinegar to the rinse cycle to fix this.

My favorite thing about the soap nuts so far is how wonderfully it washes wool sweaters. I used to use mild shampoo or castile soap, but the soap nuts perform so much better! And, incredibly, the wool smells so clean and not like wet dog! I soak the soap nuts in about a cup of hot water for 5-10 min, then add the "soak" as well as the soap nuts to the washing machine for the cold water delicate cycle. It works beautifully, nothing else needed.

I'll definitely continue using these. Per load they're cheaper than the commercial "free and clear" we used up until 2 yrs ago when we started making homemade laundry soap. Although we still like our homemade (at $ 0.04/load ain't nothin' cheaper!), the soap nuts are more convenient (nothing to make, easy to use), equally effective, and even more biodegradable.

I really do try to support products that are good for the environment. And Maggie's Soap Nuts I'm sure are excellent for the environment.

That being said, after using Maggie's for about 3 months, I have noticed our clothes are becoming dingy; it is especially noticeable with the whites. They still feel soft and smell clean. I will continue to use Maggie's Soap Nuts but will occasionally resort to using something to brighten our colors and whites.

I just want to be honest about the product I'm reviewing and not tell people it's just as good as a regular detergent for keeping whites and colors bright. Is it worth it to use Maggie's 95% of the time and resort to another product to brighten colors and whites? You bet.

The instructions indicate to use an oxygen bleach as necessary. That was confusing to me, so I called the company and according to my phone call with the owner,this would be occasional. But 6 of my husbands white undershirts are now permanently dingy brown. In talking with the owner of the business a second time, he seems to indicate that I need to use the oxygen bleach anytime that I wash whites . The conversation was frustrating as he seemed to change his mind several times.
I have tried regular bleach, sodium perchlorate, and borax - nothing is taking out the dingy brown color. It seems that the literature needs to be changed to say always us an oxygen bleach with whites. In our case the dinginess is permanent.

The first soap nuts I ever bought came from Maggie's a couple years ago. They were very nice and worked great. Soap nuts have been a staple in my house ever since. They're a good substitute for all kinds of cleaners. The only reason I didn't buy from Maggie's again was because of the price.

I've had a couple bad experiences, but nothing like this. I have gotten some full of seeds and others that were tiny and didn't last long. They were very cheap ones, so I figure I got what I paid for. I've read some of Soapnutspro and learned a bit. At least I understand why they all aren't the same, and know basically what to look for and what to avoid.

As soon as I opened the box, a strong odor like stale beer about knocked me down, but that was the least of the problems. The soap nuts feel like grossly rotten, sticky prunes. Just getting a few out of the plastic bag was tough. I had to squeeze them out and they got squished trying. Yuk. The little paper packets of silicant were soaked with juice. Juice isn't the right word. It's like a greenish-black, gluey syrup. They're coated with it. They are so sticky that the gooey syrup gets all over everything. My hands and fingers became so gummed up that I had to wash them several times to get it off. Dark spots got all over our dish towels, and they still haven't completely washed out.

There's no way I would even consider using them in the washer. I put some in the wash bag and sudsed them up in the sink to see if they'd work. They soaped up fine, but the bag became badly stained right away. Then it got hard as a rock after it dried. I don't get that at all. I have never seen any do that before.

In all fairness, I thought that maybe this was a bad batch or something, so I asked around. Apparently, this isn't uncommon for Maggie's. That surprised me. I feel bad about the one-star rating since I started with Maggie's, but these are really that bad. I'm glad I have had some experience with soap nuts because if these were the first ones I had ever bought and used I am almost certain I would not be using soap nuts today.

I will never recommend Maggie's, and I'm returning these.

My daughter sent me a link to these once, and I decided to try them though they seemed rather odd. (which is why she sent me the link). I love them and have been using them every since.
I can smell *no* aroma from them on the clothes, so when I want to I add essential oils to the water (just a drop does it), and I can have clothes that smell of peppermint, or what ever aroma I want at the time.
They are very easy to use, I think even easier than measuring out liquid or powder detergent and fabric softener. It does well in bringing out the stains and when I need a little 'extra' power I toss in a scoop of Earth Friendly powdered laundry booster. They are great for front load washers!
Two little bags comes along with the *box* of Soap Nuts (didn't get one with the large bag - at least haven't found it yet, might be one in there). And also as an added gift 'with the box' there is a pair of earrings made from two of the smaller soap nuts. Cute.
You can make soap for different uses by soaking the nuts and using the tea from them, which I haven't tried yet but intend to eventually. I like the idea that they are kind to the environment as well...that is a BIG plus as I like to use green and organic products as much as possible.