Traditional shower products are usually based on sulphates. They can dry out the skin which leads to irritation and an itching feeling.
That's why at CÎME, we decided to develop a hand & body wash and volume shampoo based on Nepalese soap nuts. These are 100% natural and hypoallergenic. Durable for your skin and the environment!

Fruit for washing?

Soap nuts are actually the berries of the Sapindus Mukorossi, a tree that grows on the foothills of the Himalaya. The soap nuts for the CÎME products get harvested yearly through Community Foresting projects in Nepal*. Because of the favourable climate in the Himalaya, the fruits growing there are off the highest quality.

The harvest period runs from September until February, which means a long and durable harvest. It takes about 9 years before a soap nut tree carries fruit. But once the time has come, fruits can be harvested for over 90 years! With a 6-month harvest period a year, that's a lot of soap nuts.

After harvest, the fruits are dried and peeled. The skin contains a high amount of saponins, a component that acts as a natural detergent when it comes into contact with water, freeing clothes but also hair and skin from dirt, grime and oils. That is why for decades they have been used for washing in Nepal. They cleanse the hair and skin in a soft way and leave the natural protective layer intact.
In addition, they are completely biodegradable and can simply be thrown in the compost bin after usage. This way, they serve as nutrition for other plants, leaving no waste behind.

Soap nuts against global warming

Just like every other tree, the soap nut tree transforms carbon dioxide into oxygen and thus contributes against global warming. Thanks to the cultivation of these trees, we’re not just doing away with the chemicals of traditional washing products, but we're also contributing to clean air. More durable washing than this hardly exists.

In our new CÎME-collection ‘Nuts about you’, soap nuts are used as a natural alternative for sulphates in both the volume shampoo and the hand & body wash. The soap nuts extract provides a very fine foam and leaves a pleasant and soft feeling on the skin.
Due to their gentle functioning our ‘Nuts about you’ products are also suitable for sensitive skin types!

*More info on our Nepalese soap nuts and our fair trade projects can be found in this blog article about our trip to Nepal.