I have posted previously about our journey into natural/handmade soaps and detergents. We have been using all handmade soaps and detergents for nearly a year now. Of course when we are gifted a nice store-bought item we try it out and may even use all of it depending on how it goes.
We made the shift to natural products at home for several reasons. It is cheaper, we have determined it saves us nearly $80 (or more) a month. We also did this for our skin and health. Both myself and my son have very sensitive skin and most store-bought products contain ingredients that we develop rashes or allergic reactions too.
As an infant, my son had horrible rashes all over his body. We looked for alternative safer soaps to use on him at that point (as we had determined it was detergents and soaps) and we were spending more than 4 times as much on a single bottle of soap that didn’t last us long. Even that soap, which helped immensely still had chemicals I wanted to avoid. Finally I read up and started making our own.
Why post about this now? Years later…
Well for Christmas our son was given (and it was a thoughtful gift) a wonderful character-based bubble bath and bath wash set. Really cute, and JUST the character he loves. We tried it (as I said we always do with gifts)… and the next morning after sitting in that bubble bath he was itching all over – and non-stop. By late day we took a look (it’s freezing cold and dry skin season and he tends to be an itcher)…. he was covered in rash on his back side! ALL OVER! BAD! One of the worst product-related rashes we had seen on him yet. He, of course, was more than willing to only use home-made natural soap from now on – as the itching was driving him nuts. We quickly treated it with our home-made lotion and anti-itch. By morning the rash had significantly subsided.
This just goes to show how some store-bought products can really irritate the skin. Now your skin may not react like that, but that doesn’t mean those chemicals aren’t at work on your skin. I imagine, and guess, as we always have, that he reacts to sulfates and parabens in soaps. Anything that creates a lather or bubble. Those products always created the worst reactions and this particular product was a special super-bubbly bath.
What do we use then?
Here are my favorite soap and detergent recipes. I have taken some liberty at modifying them to suit our needs and things I have learned.
Bath wash/soap/rinse & also shampoo for our pre-schooler
• 2 tbsp of lavender Dr. Bronner’s Castille soap
• 5 drops of lavender oil
• 2 drops of lemongrass oil
• 7 oz. of distilled water.
We use this in a foaming pump container. This was inspired by this blog:
http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-for-baby/
Winter Lotion
We use a very thick and heavy (WONDERFUL) winter lotion for skin all over. It is also very healing (in terms of things like a rash).
http://wellnessmama.com/3765/homemade-lotion-recipe/
We use olive oil, vitamin E (no shea or cocoa as I do not like the greasy feel), and lavender essential oil with that recipe.
Laundry Detergent
We have been using this for over a year and love it and will do nothing different here. It works great, no skin problems. No itchy!
http://livesimply.me/2014/02/11/homemade-liquid-laundry-soap-all-natural-detergent/
Hand soap at the sink
We use a variation of the body wash we listed above.
• 2 tbsp of lavender castille soap
• 7 oz. of distilled water
• 1/2 tsp of olive oil
• 10-15 drops of lavender oil
We put this in a foaming dispenser in the bathroom and at the kitchen sink. It was inspired by this blog: http://wellnessmama.com/8631/foaming-hand-soap/
I also make other products for our use, such as shaving cream for myself, my own deodorant, toothpaste for both myself and our pre-schooler. I also use a variation (depending on what I feel like) of counter and bathroom cleaners. I also make our own hand wipes (or baby wipes if you want to call them that). On bathroom toilets and tubs I simply use baking soda, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide as a scrub and whitener. I also make my own facial powder, and lip balm, as well as face wash and astringent, and moisturizing oil, and mascara. Most recipes inspired by wellnessmama.com and livesimply.me. Some were from various books and other resources I found in my research. Some were my own creation.
I have ventured out into making some food items as well such as peanut butter, pesto and spices for tacos, and other store-bought/company mixes that were very costly but that we enjoyed very much. I am on Pinterest and pin many of these recipes and items there. You can find me at http://www.pinterest.com/kate336/
I hope you enjoy the information and try some of these things for yourself. Your skin and body will thank you so much!