Homemade stuff ...

[chibi_brooke]

So I've decided to start making a few more things on my own ... dish detergent, laundry detergent, maybe even shampoo and toothpaste (!!!).  But I bought some toothpaste from Costco a few years ago so we probably won't need it for a few more ... years ... (our toothpaste is still "too spicy" for Carmen

Comments

[peachysudweeks]

I use that powdered laundry detergent recipe. I only had problems with it once: Elizabeth had horrible diarrhea and the detergent didn't get the poop smell out of her fleece jammies, so I just re-ran the synthetic materials through a hot wash with store bought detergent, no big deal.

I've never heard that about washing soda!

I tried going shampoo free. It is a little tricky. After the hump, my hair was great for awhile, but it didn't stay great. It got oily again after awhile. Idk, I wasn't a fan. Some people say their hair just smells dirty forever. :/ my sister got horrible dandruff because it was drying.

About those shampoo recipes, you can just wash your hair with strait castille soap,you don't have to mix it with other stuff. I've read recipes for actually making shampoo (and liquid castille soap) from scratch, but I haven't seen them on the Internet because idk, soap making isn't a fast and easy project. It involves chemicals that are tricky to find. I can recommend a book if I could find my library records.

Try making bar soap, it's fun!

[chibi_brooke]

When I was a kid reading historical fiction books, I used to fantasize about making my own soap. (I was a weird child.) It might be fun to make my own soap!

We'll see what happens with the shampoo thing ... I like the smell of some essential oils, so I might add some to the soap to my homemade shampoo (the kind that's not just baking soda and vinegar) to make my hair smell like roses or whatever. :P

I had a weird dream several nights ago about making shampoo out of green beans and peanut butter. O.o I guess those avocado/egg hair treatment recipes I've been reading got stuck in my head!

[krisology]

I like my hair smelling nice. I like Toby's hair smelling nice. I don't get the no poo thing. Kayla does no poo and adds smell to it but her hair smells like dirty covered with rosemary. Shrug.

[chibi_brooke]

**sob** I don't wanna smell like dirty. Maybe I'll skip the baking soda thing and go straight to the essential oils + castille soap/coconut oil/etc thing. I'd like to stop using things that have stuff like "cocamidopropyl betaine" in them (picked a random ingredient off my Pantene Pro-V shampoo) ... but who knows. Maybe I'll eventually resort to the chemical beauty products because they will make me gorgeous at 50 and Science Wins. I'm so horrible at this beauty stuff. O.o;

I'm also going to try making my own antiperspirant/deodorant, but I don't know how well it will work ... I'm really sweaty ... and stinky ... and ... it sucks. But! Someone I know IRL who made her own deodorant said it worked really well for her! .... unfortunately, she's in Utah and I'm here so I can't smell-verify it. And I might conclude that it's too messy and gross and settle for dying from armpit cancer. Because then at least I won't have lived my whole life being stinky.

[wulfbyu]

I don't really understand the avoidance of "stuff like 'cocamidopropyl betaine'" myself. I mean, you've been putting citric acid in your dishwasher, and that's also known as "3-carboxy-3-hydroxypentanedioic acid".

That's not a criticism; I just don't really understand why people tend to get up in arms about using "chemicals." EVERYTHING is "chemicals." I understand that there are certain chemicals to avoid, but that doesn't necessarily mean that every chemical you don't know the name for is something evil.

Again, that's not a criticism, just a statement that I don't get it. Am I missing something? :-/

[chibi_brooke]

Yeah, mostly with the deodorant/shampoo it's a, "Look what I can do! Cool!" thing and with the detergent it's a "soooo much cheaper to make my own and it's just as effective" thing. And the smell of lots of cleaning supplies make me dizzy. I would prefer bleach and vinegar and baking soda if it cleaned just as well. If the shampoo thing doesn't work out, at least I tried. But I don't want to smell like hippy for the sake of "being all-natural". With shampoo/deodorant, I'd rather like my hair and not smell funny and die of armpit cancer than live to be 100 and be remembered for smelling like a wet dog.

With food, I actually care. It's a "soylent green is made out of people!" thing and a "why did you put that in there?!" thing. I've realized that real food is more expensive because it's not full of the modern equivalent of sawdust. It's real sour cream vs. something engineered to imitate sour cream, but it's not, and it's cheaper because filler is cheaper (like watering down milk/wine/etc). Like these brownies. I thought I liked Betty Crocker, but she's got NOTHIN' on these brownies I made. They are just SO MUCH TASTIER. And it's nice to know that I've got all these staples lying around so I can make anything I want, and I don't have to go to the store for chocolate cake mix and frosting, or whatever.

[peachysudweeks]

Oh yeah, I did that too. I sweated so, so bad. :( I was very smelly. And the essential oils burned my armpits after I shaved. I gave up after a few days. Maybe I was extra sweaty because I was in the thick of breast feeding, but for now I'm sticking with the antiperspirant that will probably give me Alzheimers.

[chibi_brooke]

I've had a really hard time finding an antiperspirant I like ... except for the clinical strength Dove deodorant I bought last summer because breastfeeding made me SO SWEATY. O.o I'm good with dying of armpit cancer if it means I got to live my life dry and un-stinky. Same thing goes for shampoo. But it would be COOL to make something of my own and have it WORK!

[krisology]

I have heard that you can make your own deodorant, but you will never be able to make your own antiperspirant. Coconut oil and/or deodorizing rocks only go so far.

Honestly, I would rather smell decent and feel clean than have heart attacks about cancer whatever. I am all for chemicals. YAY CHEMICALS.

[chibi_brooke]

Yeah, I read that at first, then I read something else that was like, "It actually works as a decent antiperspirant, too" and I was like ORLY?!

But if it doesn't work I'm going with the armpit cancer. I'd rather die of cancer than live sweaty. Unless I die of cancer at 40. THAT would suck.

[peachysudweeks]

My hippy friend it's like your hair producing oil. You will be sweaty for awhile, then your body slows production when it realizes you're not using antiperspirant.

That said, my hippy friend only rinses her body and hair (no soap) and uses straight baking soda as deodorant.

I hope you didn't mind my two cents! I think it's worth seeing if it works for you.