Deodorant, shampoo, detergent- all things clean and fresh.

A couple of people have asked me recently about the laundry detergent, so I'm going to give an update. Or at least try anyway. I have had two occasions this week to use post hole diggers and I promise you, I was not cut out for such madness. My arms are like noodles. I was meant for dainty tea and cake type things, I'm absolutely sure of it.


So anyhoos - I do still use it and I still like it. I use the recipe I posted here. If I have some particularly stinky towels or some things I want to try to keep really white I toss in some extra Borax. Or Super Washing Soda, whichever is near.


I use vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser and I also squeeze a few drops of Eucalyptus oil in the vinegar for towels and linens. I'm sure you could do that with any scent in all your loads if you want.


As far as measuring, I don't. We kept an old store bought detergent container and I just use the top and pour however much I think I may need. Now we have very, VERY hard water, so if you don't, take that into consideration.





Now, here is Heidi's recipe for shampoo:

3 oz Liquid Castille Soap (she sent me Dr. Bronner's)
1 1/2 cups chamomille lavender tea*
1 1/2 Tablespoon glycerin

*Steep 4 teabags. I used 2 cups water to steep and drank the 1/2 cup leftover!

Cool and mix in bottle. Take a brush in the shower with you and brush it through your hair. She says this is very important.

Here are some of her tips and a link for conditioner and she touts her love of glycerin here.


I think my hair is oily. It is thick, but fine, oily and wavy/curly (read: wild). I tried the baking soda mix, but could not make it through the adjustment period. I can see how that one could be great for some people, my hair was fuller and somewhat more tame, but I just didn't have the will to make it through that adjustment.


The first time I used Heidi's concoction, I was coming off of a "volumizing" store shampoo. I guess volumizing is code for very drying. My head itched like everything. I had not washed it for several days just trying to get it back to somewhat normal.


Her recipe felt wonderful! It felt soooo good in the shower. Like medicine for my scalp. I washed it again a few days later and it felt a little on the oily side. Kind of like a coated feeling. So the next night (last night) I took my vinegar/water spray bottle in the shower and sprayed my hair. I didn't shampoo, just vinegar and this morning it feels great.


It feels clean, smells nice, isn't oily at all, and looks good. This recipe gets all lathery and smells good and those are a plus for me. It seems like to me that everyone has to work a little bit with whatever they do to figure out what works. We have trained our hair for a long time to be completely stripped of natural oils and be replaced with fake ones. You don't just fix that with one use.


Oh, also, I haven't had any glycerin, but that is on my list for this week.


Now for deodorant I started out with what seems to be a pretty popular recipe:

5-6 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1/4 cup Cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)

Combine dry ingredients, then work in coconut oil. I worked it in just like I do when I make biscuits, use a fork and mash, mash, mash.

NOW! Our pits broke out in a rash (only the left side, what is with that??!) after using this. So I added more oil and cornstarch which straightened it out. I guess the abrasiveness of the baking soda was just too much.

This has worked so well for us. We have found we don't even need to use it every day, of course that may change when the dog days of summer truly arrive!

But, what we found was that, truly, NO store bought antiperspirant worked for us. We would sweat anyway and have more of a smelly-goat-in-a-flower-field aroma. You know, B.O.+perfume. Blech. Not good.

This recipe is NOT an antiperspirant. We still sweat, same as we did before, but now there is absolutely NO smell. NONE at all.

I keep mine in a little glass storage container. I just stick my finger in it and rub it in. It doesn't take much at all, too much may even be abrasive like I talked about above. I can't imagine how long it is going to last!

So there is my super long inside view of our personal hygiene. Pretty exciting, huh?















I'll keep you updated on how it goes.