NaturOli Soap Nuts/Soap Berries - 1-Lbs organic (240 loads) + 18X Travel Bottle! Select Seedless - 1 Wash Bag, 8-pg info, Tote Bag. Organic Laundry Soap

I am a soap-nut convert. Not going to lie, I was a little skeptical when I got these; but I have been trying to weed out all our synthetic chemical and overly fragranced cleaners so these were where I landed. Let me give you some of the highlights:-Clothes come out feeling and smelling clean. (if you LOVE the smell of your Tide or whatever- don't switch, when I say they smell clean, I mean they're not actually smelly (scented)... they're fresh and have a very natural clean smell to them)) My husband works in construction and we have a toddler, so anything that gets *those* kind of messes/dirt out is excellent in my book!-Oil (body, cooking, or otherwise) is no match for the concentrated liquid. The nuts themselves required an extra washing to get clothes feeling super-clean again... but the liquid was a first-time deal. I had some gross pillowcases from an oily teen that had gone a little too long without a washing and they are back to smelling fresh and looking good.-I've used them up to 5-6 times before needing to replace them (it all depends on how dirty the clothes are in the first place though- one especially dirty week we only got 4 uses out of our nuts before they got mushy and needed to be pitched)-They are super-environmentally friendly. I don't have to worry about their affect on the water supply and when they're spent I compost them.A few tips for people considering these:You're not going to need fabric softener anymore (especially the liquid kind). I rarely need it, but for things I want extra fluffy/soft (like towels) I would recommend wool dryer balls.When you get your first bag and open it, there's going to be a bit of a fermented/vinegary smell. Don't freak out. That smell is not going to be what your clothes smell like. I keep our big bag in a glass jar (which isn't even air-tight) and don't even notice the smell until I open up the jar *and* the muslin storage bagIt might seem like a lot of money for laundry- but it's not. Like I said before, I get a lot of use out of one little pouch of soap nuts- I have no guesstimate on how many soap nuts are in the big bag. BUT- I can tell you that I use 3 nuts at a time in a laundry pouch. I use that pouch 5-6 times before discarding said nuts. That for me, is a week of laundry. I'm not even 1/4 of the way through the bag after 3 months. When I was buying powder detergent (I used Biokleen powder which was an "80-load" box), I'd break open a new box every 3-4 months.They will work in cold-water washes, but I'd recommend either using nuts that had been previously used in a warm/hot water wash OR soaking the nuts for 15-20 minutes before adding clothes and starting the cycle. It helps get them softened up and ready to clean.They can go through the dryer without any issues- no staining of clothes, no harm to the nuts (or the bag)

These were good. a little tacky. nice and in whole shells. the berries last a long time. i'm a first time buyer of soap nuts and they've treated me well so far. i've used them for shampooing, as a body wash, a face wash, laundry detergent, and dish detergent. i read that the liquid can sting your eyes. they make mine really itchy, but it's fine for me. these soap nuts are very good as laundry detergent. they don't leave a smell on my clothes. i am trying to avoid artificial scents in commercial laundry detergent. these soap nuts also work very well as dish detergent. i'm not sure if it's better than dish detergent, but it is just as good in my opinion.and as SHAMPOO, i have very, very fine, straight hair. i have had trouble with other natural shampoo recipes, trying to remove all excess oil from my hair so it doesn't look greasy all the time, which it does very easily, because my hair is really fine. I'm chinese, and my hair is so fine that if i don't at least partially blow dry it after shampooing, my hair dries like how it is as it's wet, and it looks greasy after, because it's clumpier. these soap nuts work very well for hair like that. i also like having to do fewer things in the shower, and though i don't plan on continuing my use of soap nuts as a facial cleanser for long (because my face needs more lovin than plain soap nut liquid), using this really shortens the amount of time i spend in the shower because i can just pour the liquid all over my hair and body.ALSO, my boyfriend (the account holder) has eczema and psoriasis. he's itchy all day every day. maybe not 24/7 though. anyways, he has a huge problem with shampoos and soaps drying out his scalp and skin, which makes him itch even more. he has dry, flaky skin in some areas, and other areas are just plain dry. he never uses soap or shampoo for this reason, and a regular rinse under the shower is enough for him to get clean or else he'd itch way too much from soaps and shampoos. these soap nuts work wonders for him. they don't magically vanish his dry, patchy spots, but they sure do help. his scalp is also less itchy after shampooing with this. his scalp starts getting very itchy every evening/night, because he's sensitive to having too much oil on his scalp. we found this out after i suggested he use soap nut liquid as a shampoo instead of simply rinsing with water. he has used this on his face as well. he has eczema on his face. he says it has made his skin softer. recently he did something stupid: he diluted 10% ACV with water, put it on his face, and left it on there for hours (reading miracle stories of other people leaving it on their face) and gave himself a chemical burn LOL. because he had such good results with soap nut liquid on his scalp, he decided to give it a try on his face, and it relieved him of a lot of itching and irritation. he hasn't used this for his body, yet, but i'm sure it will be great, since it was great on his scalp and face.BUT, my boyfriend always rubs on moisturizer in his scalp and his face after washing with the liquid, and paired together is how it works great on him. he does not use commercial, chemical-laden moisturizers. i make him 100% organic and natural moisturizer with high quality and nourishing ingredients. i've informed myself of how to tell higher quality ingredients from lower quality ingredients, or things to stay away from... like how most essential oils are bs, and filled with synthetics, etc. if you're interested in using essential oils in your homemade products, please research this, as it's very important. ^_^sorry for maybe weird wording and stuff, i haven't slept in a while and thought i could write a very informative review to help anyone else with my or my boyfriend's problems.