I have found it very empowering to make my own products. However, I wonder if Brian thinks I've lost it a little. I was so excited to show him what I'd made. His response: What are you now, Amish? (No offense to Amish people. But come to think of it, they wouldn't be reading this anyway.) I know he was only teasing me (I think). Although, he has yet to try any of my concoctions...
There are several things that I am trying, or plan to try, but I'll share two that I have tried so far and am quite pleased with: deodorant and an oil-based face wash. ( I know that last one sounds strange, I thought so too. But really, it is great.)
Thanks to my new Pinterest obsession, I find all these great ideas for do-it-yourself projects. See, it isn't a time waster at all...Anyway, one thing I came across was a recipe for deodorant at this site. I have tried buying natural deodorants before and been very disappointed...and, well, smelly. I was pleasantly surprised by this concoction. I've used it for two days now and at the end of each day I am still stink-free. Promise.
The recipe is quite simple:
1/4 c organic coconut oil
1/4 c arrowroot powder
1/4 cup baking soda
5+ drops essential oil of your choice
You mix all of the ingredients together to form a paste. I personally found the coconut oil to be quite hard as it was, so I put the jar in some hot water to melt it and then mixed it in. I added probably a tablespoon more than the above recipe because it still seemed a little dry. Also, I didn't buy any arrowroot powder and just used cornstarch instead. I had bought some peppermint essential oil for the homemade toothpaste I'm trying out so I just used that for the scent, but you could really use whatever you like the smell of. Then I stored it in a small mason jar and I just use my finger to take a little bit and rub it in. Once the oil hits your skin, it softens and dissolves very well.
Another option for deodorant is maybe the simplest thing I've ever heard: 99% isopropyl alcohol. Yep. And you know what? It works. You do not end up smelling like alcohol either.
Now on to the face wash. I am very excited about this one. It sounded very strange to me to use oil to wash your face, but the lady on the site said her skin had never looked better so I was willing to try it. Especially considering it only takes two ingredients! One I already had in my house.
You simply mix one part castor oil (yes, the stuff in the drug store you take for constipation) with one part either sunflower or olive oil. I used olive oil since I always have some in the house. Since my skin is sometimes on the oily side, I did two parts castor oil to one part olive oil.
To use, you massage a quarter-sized amount into your skin for about a minute. Then run a wash cloth under very warm water, squeeze out the excess water, and lay over your face for another minute. Next rinse the wash cloth and gently rub the remaining oil, dirt, make-up, etc off your face.
My skin feels really smooth and not too dried out like with some cleansers. It also acts as a great eye make-up remover and doesn't sting your eyes. It's cheap, does a great job at removing make-up, and makes my skin feel great. I don't think I'll ever go back to using cleanser again.
It feels really good to know exactly what is in the products I use and know that they are safe. Admittedly, I'm not actually a great environmentalist, but the fact that these things don't hurt the environment either is an added bonus.
Bonus tip - You can also use coconut oil to shave your legs!
Update: I had to stop using the deodorant; it was giving me rash. I went back to using regular deodorant for awhile and am now trying out various store bought natural options. I also stopped using the oil face cleansing method. My makeup was not staying on my face during the day and as soon as I stopped using the oil, it was back to normal. Oh well. Worth a try.
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