Sunday, June 28, 2009

In a Nutshell - It's Soap!


I've been undertaking the task of making some of my own cleansing products & bath/body care. However, almost every recipe that I've looked at has lye or glycerin in it, neither of which do I want to use. I have read a good deal of info on it too, and everyone says that you really can't make a sudsy soap or cleaner without lye.
WELL! Look at what I found! :) These Soap Nuts have been used for centuries as a cleaning agent and for personal hygiene because of the substance "saponin" found in large amounts in the shell of this fruit. Our Latin root for soap is "sapo." Interesting, huh?
I'm looking forward to getting my sample of nuts in the mail soon. After I do, I'll post a tutorial on making soap and laundry detergent. For now, you can check out the NaturOli and SoapNuts websites for more info.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Here's something I know...

people coined it "saponin" because it reminded them of soap. Sapo was (as far as people know, aside from some recent stories) first used by Pliny the Elder, but it referred to the Roman process of making stuff to clean from tallow and ashes. Blech. Anyways, "saponin" is like reverse, snobby naming. "Oooh, we know what the root for soap is! This looks soapy! Let's use it!"

Megan Gilmore said...

Thank you for that tidbit...it confused me, but after I read it three times I think I know what you're saying. :) But I don't think it's really reverse snobby naming, because it's basically the first part of the name of the species of tree that the "soap nut" (pretty down to earth name) comes from. And as you know, species of trees are classified in Latin. So don't think poorly about the poor tree and nutshell, they can't help the names they're given. Just give them a try! :)

Sarah said...

I am not very eloquent. I just know things I cannot explain...some people say that means I didn't really know them in the first place. Ah, well. Thank you for loving me anyway. And I will give them a try.

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