**Here are the winners:**

• Barbara says, “I’ve never heard of these, but I’d love to try them. Thanks for the giveaway.”
• Dee W. says, “Would love to try. Maybe we should plant some of these on our farm.”
• Abi says, “I “like” Nutz 4 soap on fb!”
• RB says, “Ohhhhh, I would love to win the soap nuts! I have heard a lot about them on my GFCF boards, but they are pricey on Amazon so I would love to try b4 I buy Thanks for this neat giveaway opp!”
• VickiRae L. says, “I never knew of soap nuts, so nifty. I already make my own laundry soap so it would be nice to make my shampoo too.”
• Margarita says, “Would love to try this, I recently found two recipes for making shampoo and conditioner with coconut oil and sweet almond oil, so trying new natural ways to clean my hair and my son’s will give more options. I had my thyroid removed in Oct, and was having issues with breakage and loss, first I stopped shampooing so much, then switched to natural cleansers, and then started taking Krill oil. Now my hair is starting to thicken and grow!”
• Sharon says, “I’d love to try this! thanks!!”
• Michelle M. says, “I’ve tried soap nuts for laundry but not shampoo yet, what a great idea!”
• Angela says, “I would be interested in trying these. Thanks for introducing me to them!”
• Lindsay T. says, “Would love to try this”

All winners have been notified via email with further instructions.  Stay tuned to The Thrifty Mama for upcoming giveaways!

Many people know that Soap Nuts are a a great eco-friendly alternative to laundry detergent. But did you know that you can make your own shampoo and body wash with soap nuts as well?

Here’s a really easy recipe for Soap Nuts Shampoo.

Ingredients:

• 8 Soap Nuts (without the seeds) in a cloth bag
• 4-5 cups of water

Directions:

Bring water and Soap Nuts to a boil in a medium sauce pan (usually your order of soap nuts comes with a bag).  Reduce heat and simmer for about twenty minutes, and then remove from heat. Let cool, and then squeeze the bag of soap nuts creating suds (make sure they are no longer hot!).  Rinse and squeeze again.  Repeat this for as many times as you like.

Aren’t these little babies beautiful? When choosing soap nuts, it’s important that you order pieces without the seeds. This is because you pay per pound when buying soap nuts, and the seeds are what weigh the most. The seeds can actually discolor your clothes too if you use these as a laundry detergent, so remove seeds if you find any.

Pour your liquid into an old shampoo bottle or some other squeeze bottle.  I used an old California Baby bottle that we had on hand.  Use a little on your hair when showering, and you can even use this as a body wash. Just keep in mind that this will not have the thick and sudsy consistency that you are used to in shampoos. And a little goes a long way!  You can also use this on babies and kids, but just keep it away from eyes because it will burn a little like soap does.

For a leave-in conditioner I recommend either coconut oil or Bhringaraj Oil (this one promotes hair growth and strengthening). Just don’t use too much, if any, oil in your hair for a few weeks while your hair adjusts.  Your hair is used to over-producing oil because of shampoos and chemicals that strip the hair.  When using a natural product, your hair will have to adjust to not producing as much oil.

Even after all of this, my soap nuts still have enough life in them to clean some laundry. I received these soap nuts to try out from Nuts 4 Soap, and they also want to give some away to my readers.

10 winners will each win a sample pack of Soap Nuts.