Homemade Household Products

After learning how many harmful chemicals are allowed in shampoos, soaps, lotions and the like, I felt motivated to go out and find alternatives. There are some natural options in stores, but even those sometimes have sketchy ingredients (not to mention an expensive price!) I went online and did some searching, and here are some of my findings.

First of all, most of these recipes will have castile soap in them. This is a simple soap primarily made from vegetable oils. I buy Dr. Bronner's castile soap.

Soap

We like using liquid soap to wash our hands, so I found a simple way to make bar soap into liquid soap. Bar soap is cheaper and uses less packaging, so this seemed like the way to go.

Ingredients: 4-5 oz. bar of castile soap, 1 gallon water, essential oil (optional)

Instructions: Find them at http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Eco-Liquid-Soap-1734577

Lotion

I've really enjoyed this simple lotion.

Ingredients: 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup emulsifying wax, essential oil (optional)

Instructions: Find them at http://www.wabisabibaby.com/blog/2008/how-to-make-an-all-natural-lotion-with-only-3-ingredients/

Shampoo

I just started using this a few days ago. The first day my hair felt really weird and kind of oily. I read that some people go through an adjustment period as you stop stripping your hair of its oils by using standard shampoo. Each day since then my hair has felt better and better though, so we'll see. I hear castile soap shampoos work just fine for some people, so even if this doesn't end up working for me...

Ingredients: 2 cups hot chamomile tea, 3 Tbsp grated castile soap, 1 Tbsp glycerin, essential oil (optional)

Instructions: http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Organic_Shampoo_Recipes

Another thing I've heard works well is a ratio of 1 Tbsp of baking soda to 1 cup of water. You just pour this on the scalp and work it in with your fingers. I might try this out too and see which works best for my hair.

Conditioner

Vinegar is AMAZING conditioner. The first day I used it I was surprised at how soft and tangle-free my hair was. You just need to put around 1 Tbsp of vinegar per cup of water. I put it in a spray bottle that I had sitting around, and it's super easy! I've used white vinegar so far since that's what I had, but I just bought some cider vinegar since people suggested that it smells better. Speaking of the smell... It will smell a bit while you use it, but I've never been able to smell it after my hair dries.

Laundry Detergent

I used this once so far, and it seemed to work no better or worse than our old detergent. Our clothes looked and smelled clean, and that's all I ask for. :)

Ingredients: 3 cups borax, 3 cups washing soda (NOT baking soda!), 5 oz bar of castile soap

Instructions: Finely grate the soap. Stir all ingredient together. Store in a closed container and use 1-2 Tbsp per load.

I used almond castile soap because I liked the smell, but it doesn't smell very strongly after you wash the clothes anyway.