Saturday, March 17, 2012

Homemade DIY | Natural Cleaners and Moisturizers


I just ran out of moisturizer and I decided to whip up some homemade moisturizer for a fun afternoon project.  I've been using the same moisturizer, which costs me about $20 per bottle, since I was in college.  Branching out is a little scary, but I'm ready for something more natural.  Will it work long term?  We'll see.

For recipes, I went to Google and found some great ideas.  Here are the recipes that I tried below, in no certain order.   Of course, I couldn't just make one thing.  I had lots of fun experimenting today.

So far, my favorite recipes were the oil cleanser from Simple Mom and the Moisturizing Body scrub from A Delightful Home.   Stephanie from Keeper of the Home also has a nice video blog about oil cleansing.  You might find it helpful.  I did!

Here are my reviews and tips.
Moisturizing Body Scrub
**I used Rosemary and Lavendar essential oils in the Moisturizing Body Scrub (linked above).  I love this stuff.  My hands are so incredibly soft.  It starts off feeling greasy, but the oils are quickly absorbed and even last through a few handwashings.  As an in-shower body scrub and moisturizer, this recipe gets 5 stars.  
I plan to make this again, but without the brown sugar, and use it as a face moisturizer.  Yep, I liked it that much.

Oil Cleansing
**I think I'm going to love this cleanser.  I'm pretty impressed after only one use.  My skin is glowing and feels amazing.  I have never washed my face twice a day like the beauty magazines say I should.  I typically only use water, unless I'm in the shower.  Then I reach for that name brand cleanser with it's long list of ingredients.  I didn't use any essential oils, just kept it simple as described on the Keeper of the Home video blog.  I bought a pretty blue bottle with a dropper and only needed 5-6 drops to cleanse my face.  That makes this recipe very economical.  

Face Moisturizer
**I also made a moisturizer with earl grey tea.  It feels great going on, but it has already begun to separate so I'm sure I did something wrong.  I used half virgin coconut oil and half organic EVOO in the recipe.  I love the benefits of coconut oil but didn't want the fragrance to over power the bergamot of the Earl Grey tea.  I'm not sure I will make this recipe again, but reserve the right to change my mind.  As I said, it does go on very smoothly.

Liquid Hand Soap
**My little ones and I made liquid hand soap weeks ago.  This recipe made a LOT of soap.  More than a gallon.  And then over the following few days it thickened up quite a bit so I have to add water when I refill the soap dispensers.   For about $4 in ingredients it made about 1.5 gallons of soap.  And I love it.  I add a little bit of essential oil (Rose for mine, Grapefruit for my youngest daughter, Rosemary and Lavendar for my husband...) to the soap dispenser and mix when I refill.  I just filled up my son's body wash bottle with soap, water, some rosemary and lavender EO.  Cleans really well and leaves skin feeling soft, not dry.  FWIW - I didn't use the Meyer's soap; I've just never been a fan of Meyer's products.  I just grabbed a nice bar of soap that I already had on hand.   I plan to make it again using vinegar instead of glycerin to make a hand dishwashing soap.

Dishwasher Detergent 
**And to top the day off I made up this dishwasher detergent.  So far I've only used it on one load.  Dishes came out sparkling, though.  I used a scant tablespoon divided between the pre-wash and wash and always use vinegar in the rinse aid.  I did a rough measure as I was transferring the detergent mix from the mixing bowl into a glass jar and it looks like this recipe should wash almost 60 loads of dishes.  (We have a brand new dishwasher and soft water.)  Not bad!  I'll report back if this ends up giving me cloudy dishes or something.

Laundry Soap
**I'm still making this same recipe from long ago.  And I still love it.   A little goes such a long way.

Kitchen Cleaner
**Vinegar, water, and maybe a few drops of essential oil.  Simple, safe, cheap, effective.  What could make it even cheaper?  How about using the orange peels after you peel that orange for your little one's?  All these years I've just been throwing those peelings away, until I saw this idea on Pinterest.   I filled up a jar with vinegar a few days ago and have added orange peels to it as they came available.  It smells great already.  I'll post back if this solution doesn't work, but I'm sure it will be just fine.
Update:  The orange peel vinegar solution actually works really well for cleaning up the kitchen and the cooking area.  And it smells really nice.  But it's a bit of work and I just never find myself making it.  I much prefer a dash of castile soap and a few drops of my favorite essential oils added to a spray bottle of water.


This post is linked up with Homemaker's Challenge.  Lots more great tips over there.


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