Yucca Vs. Soapwort Vs. Aritha/Soapnuts?

**Neoma** · January 23rd, 2009, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by mellie

Neoma, sorry that your results weren't as good the following day! The yeasty smell is not good, I wonder if that affected the cleansing. I always keep mine in the fridge. Since I only use 1 oz. of it and shake it up into a thick, rich foam, I don't notice at all that it's cold! Also your solution is very mild, too, so you might want to try adjusting that?

Thank you, mellie. I feel quite certain that I'll try them again. I really don't like cold stuff on my head in the wintertime. I used to make my powdered aritha in batches and keep it in the fridge. brrrrrrr...

I really suspect that the problem was that I added the peppermint EO, and that it cut the cleansing properties of the aritha.

**Neoma** · January 23rd, 2009, 07:19 PM

P.S. mellie, your hair looks fabulous! The shine and color... And, wow, it really is growing fast.

**mellie** · January 24th, 2009, 04:20 AM

Thanks Neoma!

You are using straight liquid right? In my method (you can see pics in my siggy link), I just take 1 oz of the liquid and shake it up like crazy till it's foam. So it's not cold in any way! You might want to give it a try! I'm with you, I don't like pouring cold things on my head either, haha!!

**Heidi_234** · January 24th, 2009, 10:55 AM

A little insight -
I made my mix yesterday (4 new soapnuts and 3 used ones - I wanted my mix to have stronger cleansing powers as I planned hot oil treatment). I had it in my big cup I use to soak soapnuts. In the shower, I poured just half of the cap into the ex-conditioner container so I'll have more space to shake it. But despite this the liquid barely produced foam, and it dissolved in my hands quickly. I think it was weak.
Then when I was out of liquid in the container I poured in the rest from the cup. This time it made a rich, thick foam in few shakes (I could feel the container full, and the content not moving inside anymore). The foam was much better from the second, lower part of the cup.
So all this means, that even if you're not using the foam method, it's essential to shake and mix the liquid right before using, as the detergents tend to settle in the bottom as time goes by.
Happy soapnutting everybody!

**mellie** · January 24th, 2009, 10:58 AM

I agree completely - the "good stuff" ends up at the bottom very quickly!

**tina1025** · January 24th, 2009, 07:04 PM

I wonder if i can add lemon juice to powder soapnut shampoo liquid?!?!? When i add lemon to henna mix, it gets rid of all the oiliness so it should work with soapnut powder.....I will try it on Monday......Any thoughts?

**mellie** · January 24th, 2009, 07:41 PM

If it works with henna mix, then I think it would work with soapnut powder, it's worth a try!

**jojo** · January 25th, 2009, 06:01 AM

this is the colour of my soapnut liquid, i aged mine for 4 days but didnt strain the nuts out. My hair washed really well, just soapnuts no lemon and didnt use catnip or conditioner afterwards. I did pre oil last night though with mega tek, castor oil and sweet almond oil mix. It washed all the oil out without massaging the scalp, just placing the foam on my head and letting it soak in for 5 minutes-brilliant result!

**mellie** · January 25th, 2009, 06:52 AM

Excellent!! So that's with sticky soapnuts, aged 4 days with the nuts, inside or outside the fridge?

**jojo** · January 25th, 2009, 07:30 AM

sticky ones and I kept them out of the fridge for the first 24 hours and then placed then in the fridge, where they still are. I use a litre ice cream tub, the rounded ones with a lid and I like to give the nuts a squeeze before decanting it into a smaller tub with a lid.

The nuts do go soggy but they dont spoil the mixture, im thinking aged nuts give even better results, which I didnt think was possible.