Soap Nut (Reetha) - Amazing Benefits With it's Uses

Tired of trying all kinds of shampoo for smooth, shiny hair? Here’s the age-proven solution. Reetha, also known as the soap nut is the best natural solution for shiny, silky hair. With the re-adoption of organic and natural ingredients for hair care, Reetha has gained huge popularity again, especially in shampoos.

What Are Soap Nuts?

It is an eco-friendly and herbal solution to healthy skin and hair. Known as the soap nut, it is one of the natural nuts that feels like soap when it comes to contact with water. It contains the element called Saponin that has good cleaning properties. Owing to this soapy property, it is known to have wide application in washing and cleaning with a long-lasting natural shine. Reetha is the Hindi name of Soapnut. One of the herbal products, it has been long used for enhanced hair and skin care too. With regular use, Reetha results in a long shiny hair along with an even-toned skin. It is widely used as a natural cleaning agent. Reetha is hypoallergic, which makes it safe for use by everyone. An odourless ingredient in most shampoos and organic cleansers, Reetha does not cause any damage to clothes and is pretty mild on the hair and skin. Soap nut is known by various common names such as Reetha, Wash nut, Thali, Boondi Kottai, Kumkudukaya, Soapberry, and Dodani.

Reetha(Soap Nut) Benefits

1. Reetha Benefits For Hair

A Natural Cleanser

The soapy texture of the Soapnut helps your hair to have a clean wash along with absorbing the enrichment. Over regular use, your hair gets smoother and achieves a long-lasting shine. It imparts Vitamin A, D, E and K to the hair roots, thereby nourishing the scalp and the hair follicles.

Anti-Microbial And Insecticide Properties

If you have the trouble of lice, Reetha is the one solution. With its insecticide properties, it can easily kill the lice without damaging the scalp. Reetha is trusted to cure and prevent bacterial infections and dandruff.

Smoothing Effect

• It gives a soft and smooth texture to the hair strands and helps tame dry and frizzy hair. It acts as a natural shampoo cum conditioner.
• It helps easily detangle hair thereby making your hair ready for any hairstyle.

Also Read : Reetha (Soap Nut) for Hair - Benefits, Uses & more

2. Soap Nut For Skin

Natural Moisturizer

• Keeps the skin hydrated and prevents dryness.
• Highly recommended for sensitive skin as it is mild on skin.
• A Trustworthy Skin Product
• Improves skin tone and results in glowing skin.
• Useful in skin care against psoriasis, blackheads, pimples.

Useful For Babies Skin

Since it is mild on the skin and hair, Reetha powder can be used to bathe babies. The liquid solution can help in diaper rashes.

3. Soap Nut For cleaning And Antiseptic Use

• Soap nut has high antimicrobial properties. Therefore it is used as a natural hand wash especially due to its soapy texture.
• Due to its detoxification properties, Reetha is also used in cleaning fruits and vegetables from the chemicals and pesticides.
• The antiseptic property is utilised by safety kits and used in many injury treatment ointments.
• Powdered Reetha mixed well with alum can make a superior toothpaste with good cleansing properties.

4. Health Benefits Of Reetha

• It is a common ingredient in Ayurvedic treatments to asthma, hysteria, epilepsy. Soap nut is also known to inhibit the growth of tumours, which thereby keeps you away from the risk of cancer.
• Soap nut uses its anti-inflammatory properties to help in case of joint pains and oedema. It increases your immune system, by preventing the growth of pathogens in the intestines and also keeps a check on the cholesterol levels.
• It is said to be helpful for controlling diabetic conditions as well.

5. Soap Nut As A Cleaner

• It is the best natural cleanser for all kinds of clothes, stains and even glass surfaces.
• It is highly effective against soiled clothes, with its herbal antibacterial benefits.
• Earlier days, Soapnut was widely used in septic tanks to prevent bacterial activity. It is useful for cleaning utensils and highly efficient against oil stains.
• Soap Nut finds its use in popular floor cleaning brands and also effective for getting rid of the bad odour of carpets, mats and curtains.
• It can be used as a pesticide for plants in your garden too.

Uses Of Soap Nuts (Reetha)

Reetha is an all-natural and versatile herbal solution to various problems. Its sustainability and multi-usability are well appreciated for which it finds many applications in home care products. Through this article, we list out all the uses of Soapnuts, along with the ideal methods to extract the complete benefits of the Soapnut.

1. Soap Nut Liquid Soap

With Saponin, Soap nut is widely used as a liquid solution for its soapy texture.

Ingredients

• Water
• About 2 or 3 half mashed Soap berries

What To Do

1. Take a pan and add some water with the berries.
2. As the berries soften, fully mash them to take out the complete saponin out of the Soap berries.
3. Simmer the solution for about 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Turn off the flame and let it cool.
5. You can add some lemon or essential oils to increase the fragrance and store it for later.

2. Soap Nut Detergent

Soap nut possesses extremely good cleaning properties for which it is used as a fabric cleaner. Also, it leaves the clothes conditioned without loss of colour, bleaching effect or any fabric damage.

How To Use Soap Nut For Laundry Detergent

• In case of soft water, use the powder of 1 or 2 berries as the detergent in the washing machine.
• In case of hard water, you would require the powder from 8-10 Soap berries.

3. Soap Nut Shampoo

The Reetha benefits for hair is a huge list. Right from being a perfect mild cleanser, it helps get rid of dandruff, lice and aids to get a shiny, smooth and healthy locks within a few days of use.

Also Read : Effective Home Remedies & Tips For Dandruff Control

How To Use Reetha For Hair Wash

1. Take some shikakai and a few soap berries.
2. Soak them in a bowl overnight to extract the essential juice.
3. Seal the bowl and shake well until the liquid sets aside completely. Strain the liquid.
4. This is the Reetha and shikakai Shampoo, which works together for a healthy thick mane.
5. Store the leftover solid remains of Reetha and shikakai dipped in water for the next use.

Shikakai is another natural hair care product that aids in treating damaged hair and scalp to give it a new look.

How To Use Reetha As Shampoo

If you look for a perfect shampoo with foaming effects along with a good natural fragrance, try this:

1. Take about 30 gm of Soap nut powder and mix it well with little water and 2 or 3 drops of your favourite essential oil.
2. You can use baking soda or lemon as an optional ingredient to this mixture.
3. Once this is ready as the Soap nut shampoo, you can use a 1:1 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water as a conditioner, with the final rinse.

4. Soap Nut Hair Mask

Soap nut is highly recommended as a natural hair mask treatment to your hair every few days. It helps your hair and scalp to completely absorb the nutrients of Soapnut and give an enhanced result with shiny locks.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 Soap nut, ground to make the Soap nut powder
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons of yogurt

Also Read : 7 Amazing Benefits of Curd (Yogurt ) for Hair

How To Use Reetha For Hair

1. Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl, evenly without forming lumps of the Reetha powder.
2. Wear a plastic glove and slowly massage the paste on your hair and the scalp, concentrating on spreading it evenly over the hair strands and gently rubbing the scalp in circles.
3. Wear a shower cap, once you have completely put the hair mask. Let it dry for about an hour. Rinse it with warm water.

5. Soap Nut Jewelry Cleaner

To bring back the natural shine of your precious jewellery, you can rely on Soap berries. They easily remove the dirt and grease layers on the ornaments without damaging the material or the colour.

How To Use Reetha For Jewelry

Take some soap nut powder of about half teaspoon in a large open bowl. Dilute it well with a glass of water. Place your jewellery into the bowl and leave it undisturbed for 10 to 20 minutes. Clean the ornaments with a soft toothbrush. Pad it dry and store them safely.

6. Soap Nut Dish Washing Soap

Apart from being a good cleaner, Soapnut works well against oil stains, compared to the conventional chemical counterparts. They are comparatively cheaper with more efficiency and no damage to the skin.

What To Do

Place the Soap nut powder of 4 to 5 soap berries in the cutlery holder and add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of white vinegar in the rinse dispenser of your dishwashing machine. If you resort to manual dishwashing, mix the above two ingredients with some excess water and use a scrub to clean your utensils. 

7. Soap Nut As A Glass Cleaner

Soap nut is highly efficient as a herbal glass cleaner. Unlike other chemical glass cleaning products, Soapnut avoids irritation to eyes, nose and skin. It's a choice that our environment needs from us as well.

How To Use Soap Nut As A Glass Cleaner

• Mix the Liquid Soap cleaner solution with some baking soda and a few drops of essential oil for natural fragrance.
• Use it on glass surfaces of windows, doors, table tops, shelves etc., for a smooth finish.
• You can use Soap nut for washing your car as well. It cleans more efficiently preventing future dust buildup. Also, it gives an extra-long lasting shine to your car.

A Sense Of Eco-Friendly Values

The best part of using Soap nut in your everyday routine is to have a cleaner and enhanced living along with being kind to the earth. As a natural product, the water after rinsing with soap nut powder can be used as a natural pesticide for your plants in the garden. Moreover, it does the earth a favour by being 100% biodegradable.

Safety Precautions Taken While Using Soap Nut

1. Though the Soap nut has immense advantages for healthy and supple hair and skin. Its benefits are restricted to external use only. Do not ingest soap nuts, its internal consumption is said to be especially harmful to expecting women or women planning to conceive.
2. Avoid contact with eyes as it irritates. The insecticide property of the soap nut causes a stingy feeling. In most cases of eye contact, try to wash with clean, cool water immediately. If ignored, it can cause eye allergies like dry eyes and swollen eyelids.
3. Before using it on your face and hair, try it on a patch on the skin on your inner arm. In the case of no rashes or skin irritation, you can confidently use it for better skin and silky hair. Stop the use of the product, if in case of any irritation and discomfort.
4. Always opt for good quality soap nuts for high efficiency.
5. Use the product only in minimum yet adequate amounts to prevent overuse.

Conclusion

Nature often has the best solutions for most of our problems and goals. It provides some of the most effective treatments for the body and also prevents us from harming other organisms. One such offering from the nature is Soap nut (Reetha). So, stop worrying about your rough, dull and unhealthy hair and skin. Choose Reetha for your care and enjoy the benefits of naturally glowing skin and lustrous black hair.

 

 

 

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