Tag Archives: soap nuts

Anti-Aging And Deep Cleansing Soap Nut Face Wash

This will be the last post from the soap nut series for a while, I promise : D I just couldn’t resist sharing this soap nut based face wash recipe as well. It’s quite simple really, the base is soap nut liquid again just as with the soap nut shampoo plus loads of added skin purifying and rejuvenating ingredients.

So first what you need to do is make the soap nut liquid by boiling 7 whole soap nuts in about 2 cups of water for 30 minutes on a medium heat. I also added a green tea bag into the boiling soap nut water because it has antioxidant (read: anti-aging) and anti-inflammatory activities when added to the skin. Then let the mixture cool and drain out the soap nuts and tea bag.

Then I used mortar and pestle to grind about 2 tablespoons of whole stevia leaves and 20 tablets of activated charcoal (if you’re using capsules of activated charcoal then skip the grinding part and just open up the capsules). Turns out that stevia leaf powder isn’t only good for your oral health but also for your skin. It effectively softens and tightens the skin, smoothes out wrinkles and helps to heal acne. Activated charcoal when added topically absorbs into the pores of your skin and draws out dirt and oils, meaning that it can help eliminate acne, bumps and blackheads.

I also added 4 tablespoons of Dead Sea mud, 2 tablespoons of neem powder and 2 tablespoons of rice powder to the face wash mixture. The Dead Sea mud helps in treatment of various skin ailments such as acne, eczema and psoriasis, it is said to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and hydrate and moisturize the skin. And just like activated charcoal it sucks out impurities and toxins from the skin. The neem powder acts as an astringent and tones the skin. The rice powder contains ferulic acid and allantoin. Ferulic acid is a powerful antioxidant and allantoin is a good anti-inflammatory agent, it soothes sunburns and promotes the skin’s repair. Rice powder also has some whitening effect on the skin.

When you have mixed all the ingredients together then add about 1 tablespoon of vitamin E oil for better preservation. You can also add a few drops of your favorite essential oil.

*If you want the face wash liquid to be less like a liquid and more like a paste so that you could also use it as a face mask then feel free to add any clay of your choice to make it thicker (I would recommend Rhassoul or French green clay for example)

 

 

May 8, 2012Permalink 1 Comment

Soap Nut, Clay & Neem Powder Shampoo

After making the dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent out of soap nuts I didn’t want to stop just there yet because I still have loads of soap nuts left and after doing some research I found out that they can be used for so many more things. For example you can make shampoo out of them. Shampoo made out of soap nuts is said to work very well in treating and preventing dandruff and hair loss. Since so far I’ve had really good experience with washing my hair with clay (read more about it here) then I decided to add clay to my soap nut shampoo as well. But not only clay, I also added chamomile, neem powder and lemon essential oil.

So first what you need to do is make the soap nut liquid by boiling about 10 whole soap nuts in 3 cups of water on a medium heat for 30 minutes (read more about making the soap nut liquid from here). For making the shampoo I also threw in 1 chamomile tea bag into the boiling soap nut liquid. I chose chamomile because it gives lighter hair really nice shine. If you don’t want to use chamomile then stinging nettle, rosemary, peppermint and basil are good for promoting hair growth. Raspberry leaf and sage highlight darker hair. Comfrey, marshmallow and calendula are good for dry hair. Yarrow and witch hazel bark are good for oily hair. So the choice is yours. When the liquid is ready then let it cool a bit, strain the soap nuts and the tea bag out of the liquid and add about 2 tablespoons of Rhassoul clay and 2 tablespoons of neem powder to the soap nut liquid.

I chose Rhassoul clay because it has the most purifying properties of all clays but so far I’ve been using French green clay as a shampoo with great success so if you don’t have Rhassoul then I think that any other clay would work fine as well. I also added the neem powder because it keeps the scalp healthy and also prevents dandruff and hair loss. You can use ready-made neem powder or make your own by grinding whole dried neem leaves with mortar and pestle. After mixing the soap nut & chamomile tea liquid with clay and neem powder you should have something like this:

Now pour the liquid into a container (I chose a plastic bottle with a pump for easier application) and add about 10 drops of some essential oil of your choice. I chose lemon essential oil because of its smell and because it highlights lighter hair. Basil, rosemary, burdock and fenugreek essential oils all promote hair growth for example. Lavender essential oil is soothing to the scalp and hair. Peppermint essential oil helps to stimulate blood flow to the root of the hair. Sage essential oil works to deep cleanse the scalp. Tea tree oil works to treat dandruff.

Note that this shampoo won’t be creating very much foam because of the all natural ingredients so make sure not to use too much as the soap nuts can dry out hair when used excessively.

May 2, 2012Permalink 2 Comments

DIY Dishwashing Liquid and Laundry Detergent Out Of Soap Nuts

Recently I have rediscovered soap nuts. I have used ready-made soap nut liquid before as a laundry detergent but this is the first time that I made my own from scratch! So basically all you need is whole soap nuts, water and some essential oil of your choice (optional).

Bring 3 cups of water to boil, add about 10 full nuts to the boiling water (it’s better to break them into smaller pieces first) and boil on a medium heat for about 30 minutes. Then set aside and leave the liquid to cool.

Strain away the nut shells and pour into a container of your choice, then add the essential oil if using.

Note that the soap nut liquid will be more watery than your regular dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent and not as foamy so it takes time to get used to it. At first I used way more of the liquid than was necessary but once you master it you’ll see that it works just as fine : )

April 25, 2012Permalink Leave a comment