No Brainer Natural Beauty Recipes

Writing this, I’m wondering, “Do I do the beauty angle, the money angle, or the environmental angle?” There’s also a “we’ve been manipulated far too long” angle. (Damn gluttonous corporations.)

Here, it all started with cleaning products. About the time I had to call poison control because my toddler licked commercial furniture polish, I switched over to more natural cleaners. Mostly baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and some tea tree oil. Years later it occurred to me…if I’m so concerned about the chemicals in the stuff I clean my house with…how incongruous is it to not be concerned about what I put on my body & down my shower drain? (You might have gotten there faster; I’m slow to change.)

PSA: The secret to great hair, skin, and teeth is to do less, with less, and pay a LOT less. Bonus points for lessening your impact on the environment. How’s that for a secret?

I'm really happy with my hair. Shiny, soft, manageable, smells nice, and it cooperates with me daily. The purpose of saying that is to add this: I haven’t used shampoo in going on 2 1/3 years.  It started as a way to manage an increasingly sensitive scalp. Research drove home the environmental benefits. I forgo several more body products now. The thing that strikes me the most is how much BETTER everything feels and works. It’s like….wait for it….they were completely unnecessary all this time, and even caused a few problems.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the human design is pretty fantastic & quite low maintenance if we’ll stop screwing with it.

After the hair thing went so well and my scalp was no longer itchy/dry but my skin was, it seemed logical to try different methods of cleaning skin as well. So I did, and the laughably simple “recipes” are below, and my skin is great. Different method for face & body. Then there was this weird bump on my face and—via other research-- I stumbled onto the “no fluoride” thing. Stopped using fluoride. Teeth got whiter. Bump went away. Found a “no fluoride” dentist. Teeth are great.

Going “green”/lessening my negative impact on my body and on the environment is a work in progress. The more I become aware of, the more I want to do, and because I research a lot that “to do” list is overwhelmingly long. To make it manageable, I try something, do it for a while, then add a bit more, do that for a while….and if I am to give advice here, I’d say slow change is best for me but you do it your way.

What to Buy or Upcycle:

Products: Baking soda, Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), tea tree oil, essential oil of your choice (I like mint), pure olive oil soap, organic virgin coconut oil, pure aloe.

Containers: 6 oz-ish tub container with tight fitting lid, squeeze bottle

Recipes:

Main Mix: Fill the 6oz-ish container with baking soda, a few drops of tea tree oil, and a few drops of essential oil. Add enough water to make it a paste. Stir well. Secure lid.

Shampoo: For long hair, get into shower, put 2 Tbs Mix into squirt bottle, add warm water, shake, pour over dry hair, give yourself a little head massage, rinse hair and squirt bottle.

Conditioner: For long hair, while in shower, put 2 Tbs ACV into squirt bottle, add warm water, shake, pour over shampooed hair, massage in, wait a few minutes, rinse well.

Face Wash: Smear a thimble sized amount of coconut oil on face, concentrate on areas where makeup was applied, rinse off with washcloth and very warm water. Reapply if mascara is stubborn. (My advice is do this at the sink so you don’t risk a slippery shower floor). Your face should not feel greasy.

Face lotion: After cleaning with face wash, apply a little more coconut oil to really dry areas, apply aloe to the rest of face/neck.

Body wash: Put some of the main mix on your hands or a wash cloth and get busy cleaning body parts. Unless you are super dirty, using lots on drier areas like legs, arms, & torso isn’t really necessary. Focus on areas that stink. You know what they are.

Body lotion: Mix equal amounts of coconut oil and aloe in palm. Rub palms together to emulsify, apply to dry areas.

Toothpaste: Scrub toothbrush against olive oil soap, the dab brush in Main Mix (a tiny bit will do ya). Don’t forget to floss. (Bet you were wondering what that olive oil soap was for, huh?)

Expect:

·        fewer skin/hair problems over the course of a few weeks

·        a need to wash hair less often

·        more manageable hair

·        a fatter wallet

That’s it. As for shaving…I’m still working on that. Coconut oil works well but as stated earlier, can make your shower slippery (note: Main Mix cleans well too). I usually steal some of my husband’s all natural (yet, commercial) herbal conditioner. Deodorant…well, some would argue to just keep armpits clean….but there are interesting recipes out there. One on my list to try has coconut oil, cornstarch, tea tree oil and essential oil.

Shout out to http://ohsailyes.com/, friends living out their dream on a boat, for inspiring this post after quite the hiatus.