Product: Demetria Organics Soap Nuts. I mentioned these a couple months ago, and they’ve finally launched!

What they are: Soap nuts are actually dried berries, not nuts! They’re orange-brown, hard, and hollow. They smell a little like apple cider vinegar, and are a little sticky if you squeeze them. This bag of soap nuts can be used about 4-5 times before becoming grey and soggy, at which point they can be thrown into the garbage or composted. What to do with them: All you have to do is throw three or four berries into the bag, and toss the whole thing into the wash! I like my clothes scent-free, so I stop there. If you do like a little scent, though, put a few drops of your favourite essential oil in the bag with your soap nuts. (I found grapefruit oil at the supermarket the other day, and it was to die for! I might have to pick some up…)

From there, your clothes wash normally. The berries are low-sudsing, so you won’t see as many bubbles – but as you’ll find, bubbles do not equal cleanliness. They’re just fun to watch in a side-loading machine :P Soap nuts can be used for other things, but I haven’t tried anything else with them. I’d be excited to see how they’d hold up in different situations, though!
Things I love: They’re easy to use, you get to pick your scent (if any!) and they’re incredibly environmentally friendly compared to normal detergent. (Plus, Demetria is Canadian… bonus points? I think so.) But let’s get on to the important stuff: will these get your clothes clean?

Effectiveness: These soap nuts were pretty darn effective! My clothes are clean, but I realize that’s not very difficult – I could probably get away with washing my clothes for six months with only water, seeing as I never really actually get them dirty. (No, I haven’t tried… don’t worry!) Anyhow, they feel soft, there’s no residue, and there most certainly is no scent! However, if you regularly wash very soiled clothes, these may not be the best option.The verdict? I love the results, and paired with the fact that they’re a) eco-friendly, b) being sold by a Canadian company, and c) work out to being about $0.10 per load, soap nuts are definitely a winner in my books.

Now, this is a phrase that beauty bloggers (well, bloggers in general) don’t usually get to say due to the fast-paced speed of the internet, but theNotice gets the pleasure of saying it today: *ahem* This has been Rae for theNotice, and you heard it here first!