DIY - Curly Hair Cleansing Mud and Rinse

 

I have decided to stop using shampoo on my curly hair.  It's just not good for it and after some research I have made my own cleaning system that I do a couple times a week.

Curly hair cleansing mud

1 Tbsp baking soda

5 drops of Thieves oil for the antiseptic factor

10 drops of Peace and Calming blend

Add the oil to the baking soda and mix it up until you have the oil thoroughly mixed and it fits cleanly in the container.

To use:  Put about a dime sized amount of the baking soda and add enough water to make a "mud".  Then rub the mud throughout the roots of the hair spending special attention to the roots.  This gets the oils, the products and dirt and odors off your head and gets it ready for conditioning.

After I went through the first batch of "mud"; I decided to make a baking soda liquid cleanser.  I simply used a squirt bottle, increased baking soda to 1/4 tbsp

Repaced peace & Calming blend to tea tree oil and made it10 drops

Increased Thrives Oil to 10 drops

Homemade  Cider Vinegar Conditioner For Curly Hair

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Distilled water

6-8 drops of an essential oil such as bergamot, lavender, lemon, rosemary, sandalwood, tea tree, or ylang ylang for oily hair.

6-8 drops of essential oils like tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, sage, or rosemary for dry scalp or dandruff.

*This time I used some lavender, a sprig of fresh lavender from my garden and some Joy oil blend.

  

How to use

Simply shake the bottle before each use and gently massage into the hair and scalp for a minute or two and rinse.  This conditioner is the best option for use after a homemade shampoo. The vinegar rinse will smooth the hair and eliminate the greasy, sticky feeling some of these homemade shampoos may leave. 

DIY BUG REPELLENT

Homemade Mosquito Repellent

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon vegetable glycerine
1/4 cup Witch Hazel
8 drops Citronella oil
3 drops Tea Tree oil
2 drops Cedarwood oil
Distilled water to fill spray bottle

Mix all of the above ingredients and spray.

DIY Dish Soap

Easy DIY Dish Soap

Ingredients

4 TB borax 

4 TB washing soda

 2 cups distilled water

1 1/2 cup castille soap

15-20 drops each: peppermint essential oil and tea tree essential oil

1 TB glycerin

½ TB nourishing oil (jojoba, almond, etc.)

Instructions

In a saucepan, heat the the water just until it reaches a boiling point. Turn off the heat and add the washing soda and borax, stirring to dissolve. Let the mixture cool for 3-5 minutes, just until warm, but no longer hot.Add the  soap and and essential oils to the water mixture. Vigorously whisk the ingredients together.Use a funnel to pour the dish soap into a soap dispenser. The soap may separate after sitting for 24 hours. If this happens, vigorously shake the soap bottle until the ingredients are combined.

DIY Steel Cut Oatmeal Scrub

Since I made the oatmeal lavendar soap and didn't want to waste the oats; I made this scrub.

Citrus Oatmeal Scrub
1/2 cup soaked oatmeal
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp jojoba oil
1 tbsp castille soap

Took the steel cut oats I had soaked for the hand wash.  Added baking soda, Citrus Fresh oil, jojoba, Vitamin E and soap.  Mixed well.

Placed into an amber glass jar for storage until use!  All natural stuff!

DIY - Oatmeal and Lavender Homemade Foaming Hand Wash

My quest for natural products and frugality continues.  Today was foaming soap.

Oatmeal and Lavender Homemade Foaming Hand Wash

Ingredients

3 cups water
1/4 cup oatmeal (steel cut or rolled are fine)
1/4 cup liquid castile soap 
6 – 12 drops lavender essential oil 
1 tsp vitamin E oil 
2 tsp jojoba oil

Plus you’ll need a foaming dispenser or two. 

Directions 

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Place oatmeal in a glass bowl and pour boiling water over oatmeal. Let sit for 1 – 2 hours and then strain water to remove oats from water. 2. In a small bowl mix castile soap, essential oil, vitamin E oil, and jojoba oil until fully incorporated.

3. Pour enough of the soap/oil mixture to fill about 10 – 15% of your foaming soap dispenser.

4. Pour oatmeal infused water into the dispenser until nearly full. Twist the lid back on and you’re done!

*This recipe will fill two average sized dispensers.

DIY All Natural Sunscreen

Sunscreen blocks UV rays which can lead to a vitamin D deficiencies. Vitamin D has been shown to reduce the risk of many cancers and for someone like me with osteoporosis it's essential to keep my brittle bones strong.   

Married to a redhead shows me just how easy it is to damage the skin and having spent my life in the sun baking myself slathered in cocoa butter; I am now rather obsessive about sunscreen. I see pasty white men riding shirtless around Phoenix and it makes me worry about their skin!  

However the chemicals in sunscreens I am not so thrilled with.  The pool chemicals are enough - our skin needs some natural protection and moisture.  So I did some research, found some recipes and directions then modified it.  Here goes!

DIY Natural Sunscreen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Shea Butter

1/4 cup Grated bees wax packed

2 Tbs Non nano Zinc Oxide Powder

A few drops of Vitamin E-Oil(optional)

10-20 drops Essential oils (for sun protection use carrot seed, mryhh - fot bug repellant option use Citronella, Cedar Wood, Lavender, Peppermint)

Start with 1/4 cup of organic Shea butter and 1/4 cup of grated organic beeswax.

Directions say to put those with 1/2 cup coconut oil into a double boiler.  Except here in Arizona our coconut oil at room temp is already liquid. 

 Also, it's over 100° at 11AM and I don't want to heat anything so the butter and wax are going outside by the sun tea to melt. 

Then we'll continue.

Just set out.....

After 15 minutes

An hour into it.

90 minutes of solar heat later.....getting closer!

4 hours in the Arizona heat later it's ready

Once melted, take mason jar out and GENTLY  mix in coconut oil, vitamin E, carrot seed oil, myrrh and you have the sunscreen oils added.  Then I added citronella, cedarwood and lavender for insect repellent.      

 This then got whipped up in the mixer.I sprayed the mixer and whisk with olive oil for easier cleaning.

While it's whipping, add the Zinc Oxide - (be careful NOT TO INHALE ZINC OXIDE). 

Allow to cool for a few minutes.  Pour sunscreen into a squeeze bottle like this one, an old deodorant tube, or a mason jar. Keep stored in a cool dry place!