Homemade Hair and Body Care

Certain soaps can be used to create your own hair care products. For the following recipes, the only ingredient that can’t be found in your grocery store is optional–tea tree oil. I order it here.

Shampoo/Head-to-Toe Body Wash:

You will need–1 bar of pure soap, warm water, 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Grate soap.

2. Put in blender with olive oil and just enough warm water to make it pudding-y on WHIP/LIQUIFY.

**However, after your hair gets used to pure soap shampoo, you may find that you no longer need the oil. I don’t. In fact, it now makes my hair greasy. If this concoction ever starts to MAKE your hair greasy, omit the oil.

3. Once it’s SMOOTH, add enough water to get the consistency you want. Use like regular shampoo.

Now, I will tell you that I only do this for the hubby. I have no problem with scrubbing my head with a bar of soap, but he like the body washes and the liquid shampoos. So, we use what makes him happy.

Conditioner: 1/4 c apple cider vinegar, 1 quart of water. I searched forever to find a conditioning rinse, so thank you to this gal, for putting me onto this recipe. Also, I like keeping it in an old mustard bottle. That way I can “draw” on my head with it, instead of DUMPING. Rinse out and style as usual.

Vinegar on your hair! INSANE, right? Kid you not, though, you can run your fingers right through your hair right after you use it. Pulls out any left over soap and medicates a sensitive scalp. I also use it for astringent, ear cleaner, and sunburn care.

Deodorant: For many, baking soda powdered in the pits works fine. For stinky control, I find that it does it’s job swimmingly, but I like a little more bulk to my deo and a little moisture control as well. 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 baking soda is the way for me. However, the cornstarch reduces the length of effectiveness for me so I use this recipe: 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup baking soda , 10 drops tea tree oil–apply lightly with folded cotton cloth or powder puff. Tea tree oil is anti-bacterial. No bacteria? No stinky!

I switched to this when the store-bought stuff got iffy. It hasn’t failed me yet. Skipped shower days, step classes…SWEAR. (and ODDLY, this also has a double use as a ‘dry’ shampoo for those days when your in a pinch or just greasy in the bangs. Sprinkle in, brush out.)

I’ll also say a little something about homemade tooth powder/paste. I inquired at the dentist office about the effectiveness of baking soda as toothpaste. The answer was that baking soda is just fine, as long as you have fluoridated water. Otherwise, you’d need a fluoride source to protect you from cavities. Secondly, they said that if baking soda had a disadvantage, it might be a little too abrasive. So DON’T add anything to it to make it more abrasive (salt, etc.) And some of those ‘natural’ toothpastes are no more than baking soda with an artificial sweetener for taste. Xylitol or Stevia. So if you wanted to make your own, experiment with baking soda and one of the afore mentioned sweetners.

Well, speaking of showers, I NEED ONE. So, I’ll get back to you later.

Bubble-bubble, Ivory

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