Friendly Baby April Competition

Friendly Baby have teamed up with Ethics Trading for the Friendly Baby April Competition. This month we are offering you the chance to win an eco cleaning set containing soap nuts, organic essential oil and Ecover laundry bleach.

Why have we teamed up with Ethics Trading?

A lot of us that use cloth nappies do so because we don't want the chemicals used in disposables to come into contact with our baby's delicate skin. However, how many of us think about the chemicals we put in our cloth nappies when we wash them? Soap nuts are a natural alternative to conventional laundry detergents.

Soap Nuts are actually not nuts, they are a shelled seed or berry - it's the shells that we use. They grow wild in Nepal and India and are a natural source of high quality Saponin, a basic soap. The seeds are useless unless you want to grow a soap berry tree, although they do have uses other than cleaning, but they contain no saponin.

To use them you take about half a dozen soapnut shells, or 20-25g of broken bits, and chuck them in a draw string cotton bag. Bung the bag in the washing machine drum with your dirty washing and set it going. They are odourless so if you want fragrant washing then add a few drops of an essential oil of your choice to the bag.
Soap Nuts contain no bleaching agents and no optical brighteners so they won’t ever get that dazzling white we’re used to from supermarket washing powder. Ecover Laundry bleach can be added for an extra boost.

You simply need to pop 6 – 8 Soap Nut shells, or 20-25g of broken bits, into the clothbag, do it up tightly and throw it in the drum of the washing machine with your laundry load. Soap Nuts wash effectively between 30 and 60 degrees and this bag full will last for up to 3-4 washes. When the Saponin has been used up the shells will change and look soggy – at this point you can safely throw them on your compost heap where they will help your plants. Refill your cloth bag with fresh shells and off you go again.

Soap Nut Juice
50 grams of soap nut will make approximately 1 litre of Soap Nut Juice, which can be used for pretty much any cleaning you need to do around the home, including surfaces, the floor, bath, windows, car etc. Add it to water like you would any other detergent
When you think you've extracted all the saponin, throw the Soap Nuts in the blender with a bit of water and you'll have a wonderful 'liquid' soap for the hand basin. Leave the shells in to get the exfoliating effect after blending - add essential oils if you wish.

More information can be found on the Ethics Trading soap nut page.


So to be in with a chance to win an Ethics Trading eco cleaning set head over to our Competition page.