Homemade Deodorant That Really Works!

I attended an outdoor wedding last night and had sweat dripping in places I didn't realize I could sweat. It got up to 102* and I am sure it must have been in the high 90's, if not 100*, at the wedding. Thankfully it was very shaded. We all were sweaty and yet the bride, as beautiful as can be, was still radiant!
I, on the other hand, looked like I had just run a marathon. My face was bright red, my curls were limp and I entertained thoughts of going commando. No, I made that last part up.... or did I? Needless to say I was a hot mess! BUT, my armpits were fresh as a daisy! A DAISY I SAY!

(Photo source... that would be me!)

Ok, so that's not a daisy, but it looks fresh. Right? Hello?
I got home and kept sniffing just to be sure (did I go too far with that?). I bet you want to know what deodorant I use? Well, I make my own. Psh.. of course you do Lizzy! Why? Because its non-toxic and cheap! Now I didn't come up with the recipe, I found it over at one of the most entertaining blogs I follow, The Elliot Homestead. Visit her site for the recipe. Read some more posts. She is HILARIOUS!!!  Its a super simple recipe with only 3 ingredients. Four if you want to add essential oil. I haven't yet. I put my mixture in an old deodorant container, but I am too lazy to take a picture (its 102* at 7:30pm so lay off me!) The only problem with that is it doesn't travel so well since coconut oil is liquid at around 78*. I will have to switch to a little jar for travel. It scoops out nicely and when you rub it on your pits it melts right into your skin. I just rub whats left all over both hands. Don't you go ewww, my pits are clean! Then I rinse my hands off. It leaves them soft and moisturized too! Give it a try. I am telling you, my pits don't even have a hint of B.O. when I use this! It passed the stinky, sweaty test several times now. Its a keeper recipe.
That is all I have to say. I think we all just had a moment of bonding. Did you feel it? I feel closer to you, oh gentle reader.

And now, because I feel bad for yelling at you about not taking any pictures of the deodorant, I give you this self portrait of me (myself ?).

You're welcome. 

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

Last year I decided to start making my own non-toxic health and beauty products. I made my own face cream,  lip balm,  lotion bars and sunscreen. Of course I still make my own laundry soap too.

I intended to write this post for nearly a year now but I have also been making my own hand soap this year. I started off making my own liquid hand soap, but I didn't like it so much. Mostly because I used scraps of soap I had laying around and it smelled funky. Plus I just didn't care for the consistency of it. It was like the goo from a snot flower. I don't know the real name, but growing up in Florida we had these purple flowers in our yard and when picked there was a clear goo in the middle.. like snot... but clear. Ok. so.. right then. Here is what it looked like (the soap that is).

 The Farmers Nest blog has a great tutorial on how to make liquid soap from a bar. I didn't bother Googling how to make mine so it wasn't very fabulous. I really wanted to use it in a foaming pump dispenser stretching it even further. It just didn't always dispense all that well from the foam pumps and needed to be shaken a lot. So I decided to try another method.

First off you will need some foaming soap pumps. I had done some Googling on foaming pumps and most everyone said the ones from Bath and Body Works were the best to be had. Well I didn't want to spend a lot of money for their soap just for the containers so I searched for cheap foaming pumps. Turns out it was  just cheaper for me to get the B&B soap.  I had been receiving daily (grrr B&B) email from them and in one they announced a clearance sale online with free shipping on a $20 (or $25 maybe) order. So I got right on there and ordered 10 bottles because I needed 3-4 and what if one or two broke? I now have spares.

I had thought to just use the soap in it then gradually refill it with my homemade stuff, but that Twisted Peppermint stanks! (sorry to those who love it) I can't deal well with artificial fragrances as I get headaches/migraines and allergies flare up.  It also contains Triclosan, as well as other stuff I don't need to get clean,  and I want to avoid that in my products.
So I just emptied it out, saved it for a while because it seemed wrong to pour it down my drain, or throw it away. Eventually decided to pour it out and.. where was I? Oh. So I poured it out peeled off the labels and cleaned up the sticky residue with Goo Gone (love) and then soap and water.

Next, choose a liquid Castile soap that you love, or make your own if you want. This is way easier.
You all probably know of Dr. Bronner's but there is another cheaper one (like $6 less a bottle) that I found out about just after like within minutes and I couldn't change the order I ordered the Dr. Bronners that I actually like better. It is called Dr. Woods. You can get Dr. Bronners just about anywhere. My local grocery stores sell it and so does Target. It is several dollars cheaper from Trader Joes if you have one. My TJ's only had peppermint, sadly. Those above are the 3 that I have acquired. I prefer the Dr. Wood's. It may be because of the shea butter in it, but it seems nicer to me. Both are organic, so yay!
You could even find a plain castile soap and add essential oils to make your own smell if you like.
I bought my Lavender and Dr. Wood's from Vitacost.com . I love that site as they have very good prices on vitamins and lots of other stuff.

Once you have your soap picked out fill your thoroughly clean dispenser about 1/4 to 1/3 full of castile soap. In mine it was about 1/4 cup or 2oz. of soap.

Finally,  fill the rest of the bottle with water, but not all the way up to the top. Leave about an inch for the pump. Shake it up and enjoy. Thats it. Super simple. Can't believe it took all of that writing for such an easy recipe!

 Note that this will not be as slippy and slimy as your normal soap. It will get your hands clean though and you will get used to the feel of it. I did add a dash (didn't measure) of vegetable glycerine to the one I made for this tutorial just to try it out. It may help take away that feeling that I am having a really hard time describing. Its like.. your hands are stripped of all moisture and they drag.. does that even make sense? Only they are not dry. I use this soap because my kids and I get eczema hands and this soap makes a big difference.

I figured out that this soap costs me $0.56 a bottle. I am telling you friends, you seriously should consider making your own products. This is way cheap. I think you can get even cheaper if you use bar soap melted and heavily watered down. Even with having to purchase the bottles (about $2 for me) it is cheaper than buying it. The best part is that the ingredients are non-toxic and gentle on my skin.
One way to save is if you have a friend who uses B&B foaming soap ask them for the bottles that they most likely throw away. Then direct them to my blog so they can  make their own soap.. after you have gotten a few bottles that is. I didn't have any friends so I had to buy mine.

Guess what? You can also use this as dish washing soap (Not dishwasher!).
Also, I re-used a Kandoo foaming shampoo container and the kids use this concoction as shampoo and even body wash! Its gentle so you could wash your face with it also. I haven't actually tried that yet but it says on the bottle you can. Yay for multi-purpose items!


I hope you will give this a try.

Homemade Sunscreen

Last night I made my own sunscreen. Yep, I sure did! Did you know you could make your own non-toxic sunscreen? Ok. By now I know what you are thinking. You're thinking this right?

Thats me hugging on a tree :)

Well its not true. I would SO cut down that tree! Just teasin'..oop dont send the hate mail! 
Seriously though.  Why?  Do you know about all of the crap that is allowed to go in sunscreen? I mean, We use sunscreen to supposedly help prevent skin cancer yet there are chemicals in the commercial junk that are carcinogens!!!! Thats so messed up! Skin Deep has some great info on sunscreen. Check it out for yourself.
You already know I am trying to use only products that are not toxic to my body's largest organ (my skin of course). After searching the Skin Deep database for a sunscreen that wasn't too bad for me I came away a bit disappointed. There are only a few that are decent, and I am just not willing to pay 13 plus bucks for 4 ounces (or less) of decent sunscreen. I thought I found a sort of good one but when I ordered it the manufacturer was out of stock, sigh. So with my  little less than decent sunscreen getting to the I-need-to-cut-this-open-and-scrape-it-out phase I decided to do some research on making my own. There are tons of recipes out there! With all the choices I decided to find a recipe that calls for very few ingredients, and hopefully some stuff I already had like Shea butter and coconut oil. I knew that Zinc Oxide was a very safe product for your skin, but you cant just get it at Wal-mart. That junk that you put on your baby's butt? uhhh thats another topic, but there is petroleum and all sorts of mess in there. I needed zinc in its pure form, which I found at Soapgoods.com . I also get my Shea butter from them and a few other things.
Alrighty. Let me get to the recipe.
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
2 Tablespoons Shea Butter
1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 teaspoon Aloe Vera Gel (not the juice, this is pure gel)
Heat all the above ingredients in a water bath, a bowl inside a pot of simmering water, until melted. This wont take long at all. Once this is melted, remove from heat and stir in:
1 Tablespoon Zinc Oxide powder.
Note:
please cover your face with a mask when you use this as it can be harmful in powder form if inhaled. I didnt have a mask so I used my t-shirt over my nose.. ya know like when someone farts and you dont want to smell it?uhh ya, moving on.

Mix thoroughly and pour into a dark container. I got a cheap, blue, plastic container from SoapGoods.
This should have a shelf life of about 6 months or so. I will just make a new batch every summer since I dont need it in the winter.
The mixture will start to solidify once you take it off the heat and mix in the zinc. Here is what it looks like when cooled -

I also added several drops of lavender because I dont like the smell of the sesame oil. Which by the way I really think you could do without that oil.
Its a great creamy spread which goes on quite well and takes effort to wash off. I am perfectly ok with a white tint to my skin if it means I am being protected, but this was really not that noticeable on my white skin. If you have dark skin it will certainly show up more, but hey! Its non-toxic!
This recipe makes about 2 ounces.  I had everything but the zinc oxide so I didnt have a big start up expense in making this. I figure that 8 oz is a typical sunscreen size. If I quadrupled this recipe to get 8 oz. it would cost me only $2.45. HUGE savings and non-toxic! Hello? This is great! Plus most of my ingredients were organic, except maybe the zinc, but I dont know if that is even possible and the sesame oil. Now yours might be slightly more or less depending on your ingredients and the prices. But $2.50 for any sunscreen is excellent.
How does it work? VERY well! I used it today and got burned a little.. ok. I knew better and forgot to reapply it, but I swam for 3 1/2 hours, and dried off with a towel several times in between.  I have been more burnt by the commercial stuff when I forgot to reapply after towel drying than I did today. Plus I am fair skinned and burn VERY easily!
Will I keep using it? Definitely! I feel good enough to use it on my kids now that I tested on myself. 
I do believe you can add as much zinc oxide as you wish for a stronger sun protection, but keep in mind it will leave a white film on the skin. Also, I dont know the SPF of this. Probably around 20 the way I made it, but thats a guess.
One great thing is it will be great for my sensitive skin. I use pure Shea Butter as my everyday moisturizer. Coconut oil is a good moisturizer too. Zinc is also good for acne, wound healing, its an astringent, rashes (think diaper cream) and one of the safest and most effective protection from UV rays. I think this would make a great every day face cream for your face.
Guess thats about it. If you try it let me know how it goes for you.

Non-toxic Lotion Bar Recipe

I was in Target one day and came across a lotion bar. Now I had never seen such a thing and so I thought I would Google it and see if I could make one myself. Preferably with Shea butter since I had a few recipes I wanted to make with it. I came across a very simple one from MadeOn. She doesnt have the recipe there anymore, but she does show how to make it from the kit you can buy from her, or if you dont want to make it, she sells the bars.
I am going to show you how to make them yourself. Its super simple to do and only requires 3 ingredients. This is going to be just like when I made my lip balm. Same organic ingredients even. Just a different mold and ingredient weight.

Non-toxic Lotion Bar Recipe:
 5.5 oz Coconut Oil
4.25 oz Beeswax ( see my beeswax tips)
4.25 oz Shea Butter

Now this makes a lot of bars. I gave several away and still have plenty left and they last a long time, so you may want to cut this recipe in half .
I used a kitchen scale to measure out my ingredients.

Its as simple as melt all ingredients together. I start with the beeswax since it takes much longer to melt then add the shea butter and coconut oil. For my bars I used a glass measuring cup placed inside a pot of simmering water. (Just like my lip balm) A wooden skewer makes a great disposable stirrer.

Once they are all melted you can add essential oils. I added some Frankincense and Myrrh.
Then pour them into the mold of your choice. I got a soap mold from Michaels for a couple of bucks.

I still had lots of liquid left so I filled up a mini muffin tin, which made a nice size.

Let it cool completely. As it does it will harden up nicely. I think I let the ones in the soap mold harden overnight because they were so big. The mini ones were ready much sooner. To release from mold, pop into the freezer for a bit and they should come right out.
To use simply warm up the bar by rubbing it in your hands then rub on skin. I love to use it on my heels! Great for eczema, psoriasis, dry hands, feet and elbows or all over. Now I dont typically like the all over the body feeling but it sure makes your skin soft so its great in the winter when my eczema flares up. You could probably even use it on your face if you have super dry skin. It feels greasy at first, but will absorb nicely.
Use caution if you store this in a hot climate, car, purse... The Shea Butter and Coconut Oil have a very low melting point ( between 72 and 76 degrees)
Hope you enjoy this wonderful non-toxic lotion bar. I am still looking for the perfect non-toxic soft lotion recipe, but when I do find it I will share. Thanks for reading.

The "freckles"" on top of the bar is my Myrrh resin that didnt quite mix in so well. No harm, it works just as nicely.

Home made laundry soap

I have been making my own laundry soap lately, and really like it. It works well in my High Efficiency Front Load Washing machine, is really cheap , and super easy to make. I only used 3 ingredients and my food processor. Here is the Duggar family recipe... you know the family that has 18 children and counting! They estimate the cost at about $2 for a batch that does about 40 loads. I guessed about that much for mine, or maybe a little cheaper.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar ( use one half a bar for Zote)
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

I used Zote soap this time, which is why it is a pretty pink. I found Zote at Big Lots, but the Fels-Naptha can be found in the laundry aisle with all the rest of the ingredients. I have used both of these soaps, but I understand you can also use Ivory, Sunlight and Kirk's Hardwater Castile, and maybe Octagon if you can find it.

There is a liquid version, but it takes more time, and the one time I made it , I didnt care for it as much. Powder is easier for me. Here is the Duggar version for liquid if you wanna try it.
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

UPDATE 4/15/11: I still make my own powder and love it, but I now use this recipe which works just as well.

1 bar Fels Naptha
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda