The Little Chemist
Well, varying success. I managed to make a conditioner that looked OK, although by the time I got into the shower and used it, it seemed to have thinned a bit. My hair is very soft and not fly-away at all after using it, but when I had brushed it out there were hardly any waves in it at all. After I had sprayed it with plain water and scrunched it a bit with my hands, it looked like this:
It's pretty obvious that if I put aloe vera gel into it while still wet, and then spray it with honey water and scrunch it when it's dried, it gets more wave and shine than it does if I don't. But at least with this new home-made conditioner it got less fly-away.
The hand creme refused to emulsify. I've put it into a bottle and if I shake it up I can use it on my hands, and it works OK, but it's obviously not at all how it's supposed to be. *grumpy*
The Calendula ointment turned out fine. It's still pretty soft, but I've put the two little jars in the fridge, and hopefully it will settle after a bit. Or it will be that soft, which works since the consistency is still within the boundaries of OK. I used organic cold-pressed rapeseed oil and yellow beeswax as the base.
The problem is, of course, that I made very tiny batches, because I don't want to make a huge batch of something that turns out to be rubbish. (Why can't I ever get a cheap hobby?) And when you make small batches, it's much harder to measure things correctly and get the right proportions. And have you ever tried to mix two somethings in decilitre measures in hot water-baths, while trying to reach and keep a certain temperature for both? Yes, I could have used bigger bowls, but it would have been really hard to mix, and then half of the stuff would have been left on the sides of the bowl. (Note to self: get a good, small, soft spatula for scraping off this stuff. An extra pair of arms wouldn't go amiss, either.)
Anyway, it was still fun, a bit like playing with a home chemistry set. :)
It's pretty obvious that if I put aloe vera gel into it while still wet, and then spray it with honey water and scrunch it when it's dried, it gets more wave and shine than it does if I don't. But at least with this new home-made conditioner it got less fly-away.
The hand creme refused to emulsify. I've put it into a bottle and if I shake it up I can use it on my hands, and it works OK, but it's obviously not at all how it's supposed to be. *grumpy*
The Calendula ointment turned out fine. It's still pretty soft, but I've put the two little jars in the fridge, and hopefully it will settle after a bit. Or it will be that soft, which works since the consistency is still within the boundaries of OK. I used organic cold-pressed rapeseed oil and yellow beeswax as the base.
The problem is, of course, that I made very tiny batches, because I don't want to make a huge batch of something that turns out to be rubbish. (Why can't I ever get a cheap hobby?) And when you make small batches, it's much harder to measure things correctly and get the right proportions. And have you ever tried to mix two somethings in decilitre measures in hot water-baths, while trying to reach and keep a certain temperature for both? Yes, I could have used bigger bowls, but it would have been really hard to mix, and then half of the stuff would have been left on the sides of the bowl. (Note to self: get a good, small, soft spatula for scraping off this stuff. An extra pair of arms wouldn't go amiss, either.)
Anyway, it was still fun, a bit like playing with a home chemistry set. :)