Our experiments with Reetha/ Aritha/ Indian Soapnut

A Thread

Reetha or Indian Soapnut is a tree that is native to India. Reetha is a berry that has a hard seed and a soft covering on it. It has been used as soap in Bharat for centuries. People may remember their grandmothers using reetha to wash their hair

In 2019, as Abhi and I contemplated travelling across India, I wanted to switch to eco-friendly products that would not damage the environment. Since we planned to travel to villages, I did not want to carry my city pollutants with me.
That's when I shifted to reetha

My first experiment was with Reetha powder which I got from the local Ayurvedic store. Costed me Rs. 30/100 grams and I read up online on how to use reetha as a shampoo and used it once.
I was MINDBLOWN
My hair was dry and frizzy but when I used reetha, it was soft.

I had never seen my hair so soft, except when I got expensive parlour treatments done. No shampoo had ever given me these results. I thought it was a one time wonder and tried it again, and each time, my hair was exactly like you saw it in ads, shiny, soft and tangle free.

Reetha had now replaced my shampoo. I did some reading online and added shikakai and amla powder to my reetha mix. I got both from the local Ayurvedic store back in 2019 when moving outside was something we took for granted.

Our second experiment was using reetha as a detergent. Most of our commercial detergents lather because of chemicals called saponins that produce the white lather. We have been led to believe that more lather = better cleaning.

Reetha lathers naturally when water is added to it. If you add a few spoonfuls of Reetha to a bucket and start the tap, the force of the water will cause it to lather. So, we tried this for washing our clothes. And it worked amazingly well.

Reetha has eliminated sweat odours and has even eliminated period stains (Yes, I do stain on my periods. It is natural) However, it has not been too good with eliminating harsher stains like mud or food. But we don't wash the clothes. We soak it in reetha and squeeze it.

Our technique since March 2019 has been to add reetha in a bucket, pour hot water into it and soak our clothes for half an hour or so. We then squeeze the clothes and hang them to dry. The leftover water is used for flushing.

We have not had any skin irritations or faced any problem since shifting to Reetha. We keep thinking, perhaps that was how our ancestors lived, in complete harmony with nature. And our experiments proved that the humble Soapnut can clean extraordinarily well.

Thinking about the environment or stopping climate change does not mean doing big grandiose measures or planting trillions of trees. We don't have space for so many trees because of our population, but I digress. Change HAS to come small.

By shifting gradually to something that is completely natural,you can have a larger domino impact on the environment. For example,we now don't use shampoo. We don't use detergent except for washing our masks. The next step is to get rid of dishwash bars.Reetha will replace it too

This is a mindset change and it is going to take time. Read about all of this online. With everything available easily on the internet, finding alternatives is truly easy. Our ancestors had all the answers. And Reetha has truly shown us that a humble nut can save our water.