Homemade Reviews

In the past few months I've been all over the homemade/from scratch/natural recipes and stuff. I've learned some very important things that I think are important for all of you to know if you're going to making these things as well.

Deoderant- the recipe I use includes baking soda, coconut oil, cornstarch, and essential oils. I've learned that too much coconut oil makes it really difficult 1) to put on, 2) it gets all over my clothes, and 3) it doesn't work as well. I've also learned that too much baking soda irritates my skin horribly. Once I remember what the recipe for my deodorant is, I will post it. 

Cleaning Supplies- I borrowed a couple books from a friend at work. One was about baking soda (which i pretty much use to clean everything now), and green cleaning products. I loved the baking soda book, but was slightly disappointed in the other book because it had so many recipes including this castille soap everyone is so hyped up on. I don't really like the idea of using it. If I wanted to use something like that I'd make it myself. 

I also refuse to use dawn dish soap in any of my recipes because it's not natural. I have to chuckle at all these people posting recipes on Pinterest that include dawn, and they call it natural. Just say no.

So I have made all purpose cleaners, dusting spray, bathroom cleaners, and window/mirror spray. All of them include either baking soda or vinegar. I'm working on getting rid of our commercial cleaners and then we'll be switching completely to homemade, natural cleaners.

Shampoo- my sister introduced me to using baking soda as shampoo. I LOVE it, except that I don't feel like it gets everywhere in my hair. So what I've decided to do is make my own concoction including baking soda, xanthan gum....and of course essential oils. More on that later.

Conditioner- When I started out using baking soda for shampoo, I also tried out apple cider vinegar for conditioner. Nope, don't like it. It doesn't feel like it does anything except smell funny. So I stopped. Now I'm thinking of trying the same thing but once again using xanthan gum and who knows what else. More on that later as well.

Salves- I've made bug-repellent salve and a decongestant salve. I haven't had a chance to use the decongestant salve yet, but the bug repellent works great. My bug repellent is basically coconut oil mixed with a few drops each of vanilla and peppermint essential oils. I want to make another one using catnip too because I've heard that works well also. The decongestant salve I made with coconut oil, beeswax, eucalyptus e.o. and i believe lemon e.o. Like I said I haven't had the chance to use it yet so more on that later.

Bath teas and bath bombs- Way to much fun, they are. I will be doing a separate post on them (btw I made my bombs lemon and lime scented, yup, they smell like Sprite, it's awesome).

Soaps- I've made two batches of cold-process soaps now (each batch makes about 15 4oz bars). My first ones are orange-cicle scented (including orange peel for exfoliation), and the second batch is lavender and lemon with a hint of peppermint. They actually JUST got done curing a couple days ago so I'm anxious to try it out. Btw, if you haven't guessed yet, I refuse to make melt-and-pour soap. To me it feels like cheating so I'll stick with cold-process, which is way too much fun if you ever get the chance (especially if you have your mom help you).