In my quest for eco-friendly household products I recently came across Greenfrog Natural Soap Products. Soapnuts are environmentally friendly, sustainably produced and bio-degradable with their natural cleaning properties coming from nature’s detergent, saponin, which soapnuts are rich in they make a great non-toxic home cleaner. I am new to soapnuts and their derived products, but wanted to give them a go in our home. I had some questions, like whether they would smell clean, would they be as effective as other cleaners, and with these questions in mind I undertook a test of Greenfrog products!

Greenfrog’s range currently comprises of laundry soapnuts, natural washing up liquid, liquid soap and kitchen cleaner. The products are free from nasty chemicals, have naturally anti-microbial and antibacterial properties and can be used instead of laundry detergent for soft, clean clothes on sensitive skin.

Here’s what we tested, over the course of a fairly average week in our busy household:

First up was the bag of soap nuts, these really intrigued me, they look like wrinkled hazelnuts and smelled a little like vinegar, but they are in fact little gems. Through using cloth nappies I learned that when things are clean and detergent build up free they should smell like nothing at all, and that bubbles are just to make us think things are clean, so I quite like clean washing without the smell of flowers or other strong smells, the soap nuts did their job with two big loads of family washing, the instructions were easy to follow and I was delighted by how everything was cleaned. I also tried them with a nappy wash as we’re fairly low soiled at the mo, and again was impressed with the results, the nappies didn’t smell of anything at all which is what we want!

Next up was the cleaning spray, with a really lovely lasting neroli and geranium scent this made me feel happy to be cleaning! I’ve tried lots of natural cleaners, I haven’t used anything that did as good a job of degreasing in the kitchen as this spray, and we all loved the smell, this was definately my favourite product, and one we will use again! I can see why this was shortlisted for ‘Best New Natural Living and Home Product’ at The Natural and Organic Awards 2013! Our kitchen has never looked so clean!

Geranium features again in the handwash, alongside mint and aloe vera with softening honey too, a lovely creamy handwash with a peppermint kick, low foaming for a fast but clean wash.

Last up, the washing up liquid, lemon and neroli, both naturally anti-bacterial, this was easy to get along with, I like a low foam for the dishes as it makes drying them so much easier!

This is a really impressive range, I would like to try experimenting with different oil blends alongside the laundry nuts for our less soiled cloth nappies as I think with teatree we would get a great antibacterial clean, I’ll be seeking some advice on this one, and heading to our local Greenfrog stockist in York as this is easily the best eco range we’ve tried!