Anyone make their own soap and/or beauty products

I have only made lye soap once and did not enjoy that.  The homesteaders here will probably think I’m a wimp.  I prefer to purchase bases that I can add ingredients, fragrances, etc. to.  Then I simply melt the bases, mix with what I want, and mold them or bottle them.  I have always found the supplies at Wholesale Supplies Plus to be very reasonable.  The mango butter soap base is very possibly the loveliest-feeling thing I’ve ever put on my skin.    I also make a variety of “pretties” for gifts.  They have a huge library of ideas and recipes at the store site and I’ve never run out yet.  

Hi Trulyblessed,

We are also trying to make most of own toiletries as well. There are A LOT of recipes out there for shampoos. Since hair types vary so much for individual people, I hesitate to give specific recipes for shampoo. I have found that much experimentation is needed in order to get a shampoo that works for you and your family. Also, when going from store bought to homemade and all natural you will need to give your hair and scalp time to adjust. It’s almost like a detox time. For some it is only a week or two but for others it can be a couple of months. So make sure you are giving enough time for a recipe to really work before you make a verdict. However, there will be some that you will know right away that you just don’t like it. Right now, I am using a baking soda and plain water mix to wash my hair and then spraying on apple cider vinegar as a rinse/conditioner to restore ph balance. After giving it some time, it is working the best for me out of all the things I have tried. The AC vinegar seems to be something that can be used with most washes. It works pretty well.

You cannot make true soap without lye. If you use it properly, it is not bad. My hubby and I will be starting our own soapmaking in the next few weeks. We will be making a variety of things. When I know more recipes you can ask me more questions, if you like.

HTH!

-Miranda

Hi Robin, I found for my hair that somewhere between 1-2 TBS. Of BS mixed with 1 and 1/2 cups of warm water is the ratio that workswell for me. I put it in a little, recycled squirt bottle and then “squirt” the water onto my hair and rub the area that I just squirted until I have coveredmy whole head. Then I just rinse well while I am rubbing my scalp to make sure that there is no residue. Then I spray my apple cider vinegar mix on the length of my hair and rinse again. I have found that the AC should be mixed lightly. And applied in small amounts. Thats why I just use a spritzer. I think I must only put in about a TBS in 1-2 cups of water and then this mix lasts me at least a couple of weeks or longer depending on others using it. The baking soda mix usually only lasts about 1 or 2 washings depending on how much was squirted at a time. It can be a little difficult to control the amount that comes out with each squirt. If there is any left in the bottle by the end of the shower, then I leave it in the shower caddy until next time and just make sure I shake it up again in case there was any settling. But usually it just dissolves and is fine. You really do need to play around with the ratios to get the right portions for your hair, though. To much BS and you will have dry hair, to little and you may not feel clean enough. If you use to much ACV I have found that my hair actually gets “greasy” faster. Weird, I know. After a few weeks of washing this way, though, I have found that I need to wash my hair less often. And I am no longer using ANY styling products when doing my hair, anymore. I may want to try making a homemade hairspray for times when I need extra hold for pictures or something, though. Everything I have seen uses sugar, though! I don’t really want a million bees, wasps and other critters being attracted to my head! THAT would be an awkward picture moment!

HTH!

-Miranda

Truly blessed leave it with me and I will type up a few recipes for you – I too have combi skin, so that helps, though I have recipes for all skin types. I have stuff for face, body,feet and hands so that is ok. I don’t make shower things or shampoo, but lots of bath goodies especially for relaxation. I will try and get some of these to you next week if that is ok. I was recently reading about the baking soda and apple cider hair stuff and it is very popular and is supposed to do a great job, but as I have not tried it I can’t say for sure – it sure is popular though. Not sure about the dark circles, could be allergies or sinus, and some people just are genetically predisposed to having them. Linda

Yes, it does work! No, it does not lather. In fact the reason that most soaps lather so much is because of the chemicals like SLS. When I first started with this stuff I kept telling myself, “bubbles don’t clean!”. BS is a great cleanser. But like I said, I don’t know how or what will work for all the different hair types out there. You can make a heavier bs mix that will deep cleanse your hair and really strip off all of the gunk that may have built up through a lot of product use but then you should do a deep moisturizing treatment because your hair will get dry from that. A lot of people do moisturizing treatments using olive oil or coconut oil. I did this and did it wrong, I think, because it took a good two days to get the stuff out! I don’t think your baby would need anything like this for cleansing the hair. I would look into making a different type of shampoo using something very gentle like green tea as the base. For my kids, ages 5, 6, and 9 I use either a bar of all natural castile soap or the bs mixture. For all of these things, though, you will need to not be bothered by no or less lather. Also, I have never tried any of these on bi-racial hair. I googled a lot of these things and experimented until I found one that worked well enough for me. I would encourage you to put in some research in order to really get the result you want.

HTH! Have fun!

-Miranda

I tried the baking soda “shampoo” and vinegar rinse last night – it was weird, for sure, but it worked great.  My hair feels very soft this morning.

As it was kind of a last minute thing, I just made a bit of paste in my hand with soda and water and rubbed it in – it felt a bit chalky, but I rubbed it around.  I think I will make some up in a bottle as some have described to be more liquid, but this seemed to work.

Nothing to lose – just try it! I have not been happy with any of the expensive natural shampoos or shampoo bars that I have tried.  Why did it take me so long to try this?  Just couldn’t get past not understanding the “shampooing with baking soda” concept, I guess.  I have a friend who had every conceivable allergy who has been using this for a while and reports that it is still effective after several months…

Iamasahm- for my hair, I do 1-2tbs of BS in about 1and a 1/2 cups od warm water, then stir or swoosh or shake, to dissolve. You may need to find the right amount for you. One thing I will say, though, this is used in your scalp, you do not need to rub it into the length of our hair, so it does not really matter how long your hair is. Then you just rinse well and shake and rub the water through the length of your hair. It should get clean. If you use to much BS it will dry out your hair.

Gem- I know, the first little while is weird, for sure! I would caution you that if you use it in a paste form to often you may start to get dry or “stripped” hair. I only used it that way when I was wanting to make a “clarifying shampoo”. So to speak. That is, I wanted to strip off all of the build up from products and have a clean start to my new hair regime. It worked for sure, but I needed to adjust the amount of BS in the water after that as it was starting to get kinda frizzy and dry. Just thought I would give you a bit of a heads up.

Hope you find your right “concoction” soon! It’s kinda fun, isn’t it?

You can also use lavender decoction as a base for a shampoo as well. I have tried it, but only once. It smells really nice but don’t mix BS with it….it will turn green instantly! Not kidding! Any chemists on here that can let me know what THAT is all about! And I put a white cotton cloth into it to test the color and after about 30 seconds in the green lavender and BS mix, the cloth was colored a green color! I feel very thankful that I didn’t just do one after the other in the shower like I was going to. I have a feeling I would have had a bit of a green tint in my hair! LOL!

Well, have fun!

-Miranda