Top smells: Rosemary, grapefruit, just-rolled-in-the-grass-dog: none of which are featured in the above photo. Good job, Sarah.
******************************************************
One fine day a few months ago, my friend Des and I whipped up a few DIY products in her kitchen. We tried them out for a few weeks and now I've made new batches of the products I really enjoyed and guess what? I'm gonna tell you how to make them.
But first, I learned a valuable lesson when I started this endeavor of switching to all-natural, homemade bath and body products. For whatever reason, I thought it'd be a great idea to try out the "no poo" method AND try oil-cleansing on my face at the same time. Even though I had done a ton of research on both methods and knew very well that it was going to take time for my body to adjust to the processes, I still had this idea in my head that after a few days my hair and skin were going to be more beautiful and healthy than I had ever imagined. But four days in, I felt like a gigantic greaseball. My hair was a static-y mess on the ends and totally greasy at the roots, I was wiping away oil that was gathering around my nose about every thirty minutes and I felt absolutely disgusting.
I needed a do-over.
On the fifth day, I jumped in the shower and couldn't completely dry out my skin and hair fast enough. Once out of the shower, I immediately shared my delight in once again feeling like my old, overly cleansed self to my husband, who informed me that he didnt even notice my greasiness, which, in his defense, I'm sure was supposed to be supportive. What I heard was "You look just as gross today as you did yesterday." Oh man, poor Mr. Heller. Sometimes I think it's hard being a husband. Sometimes.
Ha, so anyway! I decided to focus on skincare first and the two of the products I've loved the most are: a face balm cleanser and a hydrating rose toner. Since I know oil-cleansing isn't for everyone, I'm going to skip that recipe for now and share with you my favorite toner ever. It's recommended for normal to dehydrated skin and there are only a few ingredients. In fact, there's just four:
This is the cleanest this dresser will look for the rest of the year. The following recipe is from a book I have called Natural Beauty. I love how basic this formula is and I've been noticing that the simpler the recipes I use are, the better results I get. I know it may not always be the case, but for now it's the trend.
Rose and Aloe Vera Toner
(from Natural Beauty by DK Publishing)
Ingredients:
3 1/2 oz mineral water
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1 teaspoon aloe vera juice
Directions:
1. Boil mineral water, add rose petals and steep for ten minutes; strain (I just used a tea infuser)
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into sterilized bottle. Once cool, seal with a cap or atomizer. Store in fridge. Keeps for 6 weeks.
Shake well before use. After cleansing, apply with cotton ball or spritz on face. You know how to use toner.
So, my notes here are that I totally didn't keep this in the fridge, in fact, until I just typed it out I never noticed it in the directions. Ha! Mine lasted four weeks on my dresser in the dry Colorado air. My advice is, when you shake it, if it starts to get pretty cloudy, it's time for a new batch. And I don't know what a sterilized container is, I used a plastic spray bottle I bought at Target. Maybe one day I'll have beautiful vintage atomizers that I'll boil before I use them, but for now, plastic's what I got.
Side note: My toner started getting cloudy sooner than I expected (now I know why) and I felt bad so I started spraying it like crazy on my face to try and use it up before it went completely south. Let me tell you, it was not a good idea to drench my face in products starting to go bad. Don't feel bad, just make a new batch.
Now I'm going to convince you that you can use all these ingredients again for other things, in case you don't want to make this recipe because you can't imagine what else you're going to use aloe juice for.
So, steeping dried rose petals will make your house smell like.......roses. And I can't get enough of it. I made a bunch of batches of this toner for some friends because I couldn't get enough of the smell. I drink the leftovers too, because I can't just boil 3 ounces of water here in Colorado and get 3 ounces back- mostly because I'm not used to water boiling so quickly as I tend to boil way more water AND I'm at high altitude. So basically half of it is gone before I realise it even started boiling. I usually steep two tablespoons of dried rose petals in 6 ounces of water, (or 3 T in 9 ounces) let it cool, then remeasure and drink what's leftover. The rosewater for this recipe is pretty strong, not like the Tulsi rose tea I drink, so it tastes a little...perfumish...but whatever. Rose supposedly hydrates your insides as well as your outsides. I get my rose petals at Apothecary Tinctura in Cherry Creek. They have herbs and teas "self service" style, so you can measure out the exact amount you need if you want. I like to have a lovely glass jar filled with rose petals on my dresser, it's a little piece of pretty amongst the disaster area that becomes ground zero for makeup, cotton balls, hair, jewelry, loose change hair, and for some reason, mail I don't know what to do with (and hair). But you can use dried rose for many other crafts. Potpourri, drawer satchels, maybe you can decorate a cake with them. Put em in the bath. Just search "dried rose petal crafts" on Pinterest. Worth it.
Aloe Juice. Aloe juice. What can you do with it? Well first off, you can drink it. Mr. Heller used to take shots of it everyday, but I toss it in green smoothies occasionally. And salad dressing once in a while. But also, I've been putting it in my hair like a conditioner. I'll talk more about that at a later date. Also, aloe juice lasts like three months in the fridge.
Vegetable glycerine, you can eat it! No, no don't eat it. I don't have any other ideas for vegetable glycerine, so I'll just point out that it's an ingredient in MANY face and body products, so just keep making body products, right?
Onward to hair products! After my deodorant posts, a few people suggested that I try the “no-poo” method, which consists of washing hair with baking soda as well as an apple cider vinegar rinse a few times a week. I tried it for about six days, and I came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t ready to make a switch like that. I have a deep personal connection to my morning shampoos and I just really, really, really don’t want to give it up. It stems from when I quit drinking. I got really depressed, which is a pretty normal(but shitty) thing that happens when someone quits, and some days the only “win” I had was taking a shower. Sometimes I’d even stand next the tub and stare at the water coming out of the shower head. I’d think about how much I didn’t even want to get IN the shower. I’d let the sound of the water hitting the tub fill my ears and I’d cringe like the hot liquid about to hit my skin was going to pelt me like hail and burn me like lava. But then I’d pull out my super yummy smelling shampoo and something about a squeaky clean scalp just made life worth it. Wherever one finds solace, right? I figure I'll get used to a more natural shampoo and just try to shampoo less often before I try the "no-poo" method again.
Des and I made a honey-citrus shampoo that we based off this recipe (we didn't have authentic African black soap or vanilla, so we made substitutions). At first, I really liked how the honey added great texture to my hair (it never felt "sticky") but to be honest, the honey built up and after three days my hair just felt dirty. I may attempt to reformulate it, maybe less honey, more soap. But since my goal was to find a good DIY shampoo for everyday, I decided to try a different recipe: coconut milk shampoo.
I. love. it. LOVE. it. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE using a gentler soap on my hair. It doesn't strip away all my natural oils, which accomplishes two things: 1. Makes my hair look thicker. I dont know why. 2. Puts structure back into my wave. Again, not a scientist, can't tell you why. In fact, I subscribe to a subscription box called Goodbeing, which sends me a few all natural products to try each month and I got a sample of an all natural shampoo and conditioner a few weeks ago. I used the samples for three days and I missed the heck out of my homemade shampoo. The wave in my hair started to look sad again too.
Another benefit of making products at home, I get to make them smell however I want. So, this sample shampoo was "Passion fruit" scented and I thought it smelled like the bubblegum flouride treatments I used to get at the dentist when I was a kid. I was not stoked on it. Also, I JUST bought a new Rosemary essential oil and I can't stop smelling it. It's my favorite smell right now. I am currently putting it in everything. Except deodorant. Inspired by another sample I received in a past Goodbeing box, I decided that grapefruit is also my new favorite smell, and so into the deodorant it went. (Last year I couldn't get enough Lavender.)
Anyway, just a heads up if you want to try this shampoo, there's no "squeaky clean" feeling. That was a little hard for me to get used to, but now I hate the feeling of super "clean" hair.
Oh yah, want the recipe for this shampoo? I based it off this recipe from a youtuber named Ela Gale. As you will see below, I left out some ingredients for no other reason than I didn't have them. Still works great.
My variation of Coconut Milk Shampoo
Ingredients:
1/2 c. Coconut milk
1/2 c. Castille Soap
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
20 drops rosemary
15 drops lavender
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. Put in container.
Shake well before use.
A few notes: When I originally tried this recipe, I halved it, using 1 teaspoon of vitamin E oil because I only had capsules and it effing sucks to empty out a tablespoon of vitamin e oil from capsules. This time I made a full batch but kept with the same amount of oil. If I think there needs to be more oil, I'll add another teaspoon of ALMOND oil. I didn't use the fenugreek powder that is listed in the linked formula for no other reason than I didn't have any.
Also, not sure if it matters what kind of Coconut milk to use. I mean, the kind I used is out of a box but it worked and I used the rest in my coffee and mac and cheese, so this is the cheapest shampoo I've ever bought! Ha!
I measured out the liquids in a pyrex cup and then transfered them to a tupperware container to shake up, before pouring the mix back into the pyrex to then pour in my bottle. I don't have a funnel, so...I should get one. But I wanted to try and show you the really nice froth this shampoo makes, it's not the best picture, but check it out:
I think it's luxurious....oooooooooo fancy......I know. It just looks like milk froth in this picture, but it FEELS amazing with the oils in it. I want to squish it between my fingers forever.
I use a face balm to oil-cleanse my skin at night, but during the day I wash with Mad Hippie Cream Cleanser and so I have a whole bunch of these brown glass bottles with pumps, because they are too nice to toss, and it turns out they work perfectly for storing this shampoo! (So it WASNT hoarding, see?) The full recipe would fill two of these bottles but I am going on a trip in about ten days so I put some in a travel bottle. In the picture, the travel bottle has a spray lid, but that's because my other travel sized bottle currently houses honey-citrus shampoo that I gotta clean out before my trip.
I had no problem keeping this shampoo in my shower, but like I said, I halved the recipe the first time, so we'll see how long it can sit on the window ledge in the shower this time.
I am still on the lookout for a good conditioner recipe. Apple cider vinegar just isn't enough moisture and a recipe I tried with shea butter and coconut oil is just too heavy, but turned out to be a fantastic ROSEMARY scented body butter. I am in the process of trying an aloe vera juice rinse while also trying out all the carrier oils I've collected over the last six months on my hair as well.
ANYWAY, that will be a different adventure to write about.
If you use any of these recipes, let me know! I absolutely loved hearing about the deodorant some of you made after my last post.
I am going to start doing yard work this year. I am a notorious plant killer, but our yard has gone to pieces because my gardener..I mean...husband...is in school and has ZERO time, so I mean, it can only get better, right?? Pray for my yard.
Because I feel like there's just not enough pictures in this post, here's a photo collage of my recent attempt at container gardening:
And, last but not least, I added a new little dude to my etsy shop, Goodnight Sprite! Use code APRIL2016 for 10% off ANY order for the rest of April.
See you next time!
I needed a do-over.
On the fifth day, I jumped in the shower and couldn't completely dry out my skin and hair fast enough. Once out of the shower, I immediately shared my delight in once again feeling like my old, overly cleansed self to my husband, who informed me that he didnt even notice my greasiness, which, in his defense, I'm sure was supposed to be supportive. What I heard was "You look just as gross today as you did yesterday." Oh man, poor Mr. Heller. Sometimes I think it's hard being a husband. Sometimes.
Ha, so anyway! I decided to focus on skincare first and the two of the products I've loved the most are: a face balm cleanser and a hydrating rose toner. Since I know oil-cleansing isn't for everyone, I'm going to skip that recipe for now and share with you my favorite toner ever. It's recommended for normal to dehydrated skin and there are only a few ingredients. In fact, there's just four:
This is the cleanest this dresser will look for the rest of the year. The following recipe is from a book I have called Natural Beauty. I love how basic this formula is and I've been noticing that the simpler the recipes I use are, the better results I get. I know it may not always be the case, but for now it's the trend.
Rose and Aloe Vera Toner
(from Natural Beauty by DK Publishing)
Ingredients:
3 1/2 oz mineral water
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1 teaspoon aloe vera juice
Directions:
1. Boil mineral water, add rose petals and steep for ten minutes; strain (I just used a tea infuser)
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into sterilized bottle. Once cool, seal with a cap or atomizer. Store in fridge. Keeps for 6 weeks.
Shake well before use. After cleansing, apply with cotton ball or spritz on face. You know how to use toner.
So, my notes here are that I totally didn't keep this in the fridge, in fact, until I just typed it out I never noticed it in the directions. Ha! Mine lasted four weeks on my dresser in the dry Colorado air. My advice is, when you shake it, if it starts to get pretty cloudy, it's time for a new batch. And I don't know what a sterilized container is, I used a plastic spray bottle I bought at Target. Maybe one day I'll have beautiful vintage atomizers that I'll boil before I use them, but for now, plastic's what I got.
Side note: My toner started getting cloudy sooner than I expected (now I know why) and I felt bad so I started spraying it like crazy on my face to try and use it up before it went completely south. Let me tell you, it was not a good idea to drench my face in products starting to go bad. Don't feel bad, just make a new batch.
Now I'm going to convince you that you can use all these ingredients again for other things, in case you don't want to make this recipe because you can't imagine what else you're going to use aloe juice for.
So, steeping dried rose petals will make your house smell like.......roses. And I can't get enough of it. I made a bunch of batches of this toner for some friends because I couldn't get enough of the smell. I drink the leftovers too, because I can't just boil 3 ounces of water here in Colorado and get 3 ounces back- mostly because I'm not used to water boiling so quickly as I tend to boil way more water AND I'm at high altitude. So basically half of it is gone before I realise it even started boiling. I usually steep two tablespoons of dried rose petals in 6 ounces of water, (or 3 T in 9 ounces) let it cool, then remeasure and drink what's leftover. The rosewater for this recipe is pretty strong, not like the Tulsi rose tea I drink, so it tastes a little...perfumish...but whatever. Rose supposedly hydrates your insides as well as your outsides. I get my rose petals at Apothecary Tinctura in Cherry Creek. They have herbs and teas "self service" style, so you can measure out the exact amount you need if you want. I like to have a lovely glass jar filled with rose petals on my dresser, it's a little piece of pretty amongst the disaster area that becomes ground zero for makeup, cotton balls, hair, jewelry, loose change hair, and for some reason, mail I don't know what to do with (and hair). But you can use dried rose for many other crafts. Potpourri, drawer satchels, maybe you can decorate a cake with them. Put em in the bath. Just search "dried rose petal crafts" on Pinterest. Worth it.
Aloe Juice. Aloe juice. What can you do with it? Well first off, you can drink it. Mr. Heller used to take shots of it everyday, but I toss it in green smoothies occasionally. And salad dressing once in a while. But also, I've been putting it in my hair like a conditioner. I'll talk more about that at a later date. Also, aloe juice lasts like three months in the fridge.
Vegetable glycerine, you can eat it! No, no don't eat it. I don't have any other ideas for vegetable glycerine, so I'll just point out that it's an ingredient in MANY face and body products, so just keep making body products, right?
Onward to hair products! After my deodorant posts, a few people suggested that I try the “no-poo” method, which consists of washing hair with baking soda as well as an apple cider vinegar rinse a few times a week. I tried it for about six days, and I came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t ready to make a switch like that. I have a deep personal connection to my morning shampoos and I just really, really, really don’t want to give it up. It stems from when I quit drinking. I got really depressed, which is a pretty normal(but shitty) thing that happens when someone quits, and some days the only “win” I had was taking a shower. Sometimes I’d even stand next the tub and stare at the water coming out of the shower head. I’d think about how much I didn’t even want to get IN the shower. I’d let the sound of the water hitting the tub fill my ears and I’d cringe like the hot liquid about to hit my skin was going to pelt me like hail and burn me like lava. But then I’d pull out my super yummy smelling shampoo and something about a squeaky clean scalp just made life worth it. Wherever one finds solace, right? I figure I'll get used to a more natural shampoo and just try to shampoo less often before I try the "no-poo" method again.
Des and I made a honey-citrus shampoo that we based off this recipe (we didn't have authentic African black soap or vanilla, so we made substitutions). At first, I really liked how the honey added great texture to my hair (it never felt "sticky") but to be honest, the honey built up and after three days my hair just felt dirty. I may attempt to reformulate it, maybe less honey, more soap. But since my goal was to find a good DIY shampoo for everyday, I decided to try a different recipe: coconut milk shampoo.
I. love. it. LOVE. it. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE using a gentler soap on my hair. It doesn't strip away all my natural oils, which accomplishes two things: 1. Makes my hair look thicker. I dont know why. 2. Puts structure back into my wave. Again, not a scientist, can't tell you why. In fact, I subscribe to a subscription box called Goodbeing, which sends me a few all natural products to try each month and I got a sample of an all natural shampoo and conditioner a few weeks ago. I used the samples for three days and I missed the heck out of my homemade shampoo. The wave in my hair started to look sad again too.
Another benefit of making products at home, I get to make them smell however I want. So, this sample shampoo was "Passion fruit" scented and I thought it smelled like the bubblegum flouride treatments I used to get at the dentist when I was a kid. I was not stoked on it. Also, I JUST bought a new Rosemary essential oil and I can't stop smelling it. It's my favorite smell right now. I am currently putting it in everything. Except deodorant. Inspired by another sample I received in a past Goodbeing box, I decided that grapefruit is also my new favorite smell, and so into the deodorant it went. (Last year I couldn't get enough Lavender.)
Anyway, just a heads up if you want to try this shampoo, there's no "squeaky clean" feeling. That was a little hard for me to get used to, but now I hate the feeling of super "clean" hair.
Oh yah, want the recipe for this shampoo? I based it off this recipe from a youtuber named Ela Gale. As you will see below, I left out some ingredients for no other reason than I didn't have them. Still works great.
My variation of Coconut Milk Shampoo
Ingredients:
1/2 c. Coconut milk
1/2 c. Castille Soap
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
20 drops rosemary
15 drops lavender
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. Put in container.
Shake well before use.
A few notes: When I originally tried this recipe, I halved it, using 1 teaspoon of vitamin E oil because I only had capsules and it effing sucks to empty out a tablespoon of vitamin e oil from capsules. This time I made a full batch but kept with the same amount of oil. If I think there needs to be more oil, I'll add another teaspoon of ALMOND oil. I didn't use the fenugreek powder that is listed in the linked formula for no other reason than I didn't have any.
Also, not sure if it matters what kind of Coconut milk to use. I mean, the kind I used is out of a box but it worked and I used the rest in my coffee and mac and cheese, so this is the cheapest shampoo I've ever bought! Ha!
I measured out the liquids in a pyrex cup and then transfered them to a tupperware container to shake up, before pouring the mix back into the pyrex to then pour in my bottle. I don't have a funnel, so...I should get one. But I wanted to try and show you the really nice froth this shampoo makes, it's not the best picture, but check it out:
I think it's luxurious....oooooooooo fancy......I know. It just looks like milk froth in this picture, but it FEELS amazing with the oils in it. I want to squish it between my fingers forever.
I use a face balm to oil-cleanse my skin at night, but during the day I wash with Mad Hippie Cream Cleanser and so I have a whole bunch of these brown glass bottles with pumps, because they are too nice to toss, and it turns out they work perfectly for storing this shampoo! (So it WASNT hoarding, see?) The full recipe would fill two of these bottles but I am going on a trip in about ten days so I put some in a travel bottle. In the picture, the travel bottle has a spray lid, but that's because my other travel sized bottle currently houses honey-citrus shampoo that I gotta clean out before my trip.
I had no problem keeping this shampoo in my shower, but like I said, I halved the recipe the first time, so we'll see how long it can sit on the window ledge in the shower this time.
I am still on the lookout for a good conditioner recipe. Apple cider vinegar just isn't enough moisture and a recipe I tried with shea butter and coconut oil is just too heavy, but turned out to be a fantastic ROSEMARY scented body butter. I am in the process of trying an aloe vera juice rinse while also trying out all the carrier oils I've collected over the last six months on my hair as well.
ANYWAY, that will be a different adventure to write about.
If you use any of these recipes, let me know! I absolutely loved hearing about the deodorant some of you made after my last post.
I am going to start doing yard work this year. I am a notorious plant killer, but our yard has gone to pieces because my gardener..I mean...husband...is in school and has ZERO time, so I mean, it can only get better, right?? Pray for my yard.
Because I feel like there's just not enough pictures in this post, here's a photo collage of my recent attempt at container gardening:
And, last but not least, I added a new little dude to my etsy shop, Goodnight Sprite! Use code APRIL2016 for 10% off ANY order for the rest of April.
See you next time!
