Natural Detergents

We have been suffering some serious water shortages and it can only get worse as the dry season wears on. There has been a lot of discussion about water conservation etc, which is the same old re-hash we get every season so I decided to take a different spin on this topic. Unless we all decide to go all caveman, it is very important that we continue doing our daily activities. One of these is laundry. Now, I have always been a strong advocate of hand washing. Not only from a water conservation point of view but because a lot of my clothes just cannot be washed in a machine without some form of damage. I also wear a wide variety of colours which makes it impossible to ever get a full load at the end of the week. I have been using soapnuts for my hand washing and so far I can tell you that it certainly uses a lot less water than any other detergents. Soap Nuts are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree. They contain saponin, a natural cleaner used for thousands of years to clean clothes. I use them for most of my hand washing and so far nobody's complaining. Of course you can use other detergents that do not contain harmful chemicals but I don't know if they use less water and they are certainly a lot more expensive. It hurts me everytime I buy these detergents to know that I can pay up to five times for these detergents vs the usual chemical laden ones that are commonly used. But that is the price that I am willing to pay to ensure that I don't add to the burden of wastewater treatment in this country.