Stuff and Things

I'm too lazy to try to find the post(s), but I've mentioned - maybe a couple times - that I've been thinking about giving up shampoo. Some other cleaning DIYs I've done: laundry detergent, dish detergent, face wash, lotion, body wash, and cleaning spray. I have posts over some of those, some I don't. Look - if you're coming here for fancy pants DIY tutorials, just leave. Just...go. That's not going to happen. There are people out there who do that exceedingly well. I am not one of them. I take their ideas and try them. So far it's been mostly a win. If you want to do any of the things I've done, just Google it. 8P

Anyway - giving up shampoo/conditioner. All this started when I read this post. That was some time ago. I like to wait until I'm out of the evil store-bought products before I move on. I'm not just doing this to get chemicals out of my house - I'm also trying to save money. Throwing half a bottle of perfectly fine, chemical-riddled shampoo away is just silly talk. But, I only have 1/3 the hair of a normal human. So it's been taking for.ev.er. to go through my shampoo. I finally just moved it over to Mr. T's basket - I doubt he's going to want to go 'poo-less any time soon, so it will help keep him happy for a bit longer. And now I'm shampoo-free!

The spray bottle has the apple cider vinegar in it, and the ketchup bottle is baking soda. Well, there's 1.5 Tbs of each in them - the rest is water. It's super diluted. Like...super diluted. As with all these DIY things I've embarked on, the general consensus is "Do whatever works for you." Which, lesbianest, is NOT HELPFUL. Some people use only enough water to make a paste with the baking soda. Some people have a cup and mix the baking soda/vinegar with water in the shower. This seems pretty wise, because pouring room-temperature tap water on your head while taking a nice warm shower....that water is gonna feel really fracking cold. Just FYI.

You need more/less of each depending on how oily your hair is. More baking soda, less vinegar if you have oily hair. I just went with what worked for her. If my hair starts getting funky I'll try to adjust it. Also, there is the "adjustment phase" where your hair gets super gross and oily. See, it's used to chemical-y shampoos and conditioners that totally screw with your body's natural balance of oils and whatever. And that makes your hair oily. So you use more shampoo/conditioner and get more oil..on and on and on. Or something. I don't care. But it takes your scalp awhile to realize you're not slathering all this weird stuff on it, so it keeps on producing too much oil. They recommend pony tails, scarves, head bands, and a willingness to look a little skanky until your body adjusts. And you can also use dry shampoos.

omg, guys - I'm turning into such a dirty  hippie. Well, hopefully a clean hippie. lol! It's kind of fun. And doing all this allows me to be all DIY and crafty without spending a ton of money like trying to redo our living room would be. We are saving up to remodel our bedroom. Hopefully going to do that this winter as a Christmas present to ourselves. I can't wait!! You should follow me on Pinterest. Here is the board for our bedroom. I have so many plans!! 8} It's gonna be so nice.... <3

DIY Body Wash and Lotion

I'm moving on to the next car on the DIY crazy train. I've already made my own face wash and dish detergent (and laundry detergent, but I've never made a blog post about that one). I was going to do shampoo/conditioner next (it's just baking soda for shampoo and cider vinegar for conditioner), but since I have 1/3 of the hair I should I don't think I'm ever going to run out of shampoo/conditioner! But I am almost out of both body wash AND lotion! I've mentioned it before, but I've been using the same lotion for nearly a decade. It's so cheap! But...look at this! They're not terrible scores, but DIY could be so much better! Plus, I've drank the Kool-Aid and there's no going back now....

My friend Banana (needs a new nickname) posted a link to 101 Uses for Coconut Oil on my wall not too long ago. I got her a ticket on the train, too. ;) She's done...deodorant, I think? And something else. My memory, it's weak. I'm not up for homemade deodorant, though. At least not yet. I think that will be my final experience. I just...hate sweaty, stinky arm pits! And I love my deodorant. 8} Of course, they say it causes Alzheimer's and all sorts of terrible things. So maybe one day...if everything else works out.

Anyway! Now that we're on this Dave Ramsey budget, I have to plan out my purchases and look for recipes that have repeating ingredients. I found this lotion that only has 3 ingredients (cocoa butter, aloe vera gel, and sesame oil). I already own the oil for my face wash, so zing! There is also this sugar scrub on that same site. Ingredients: coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. We already own brown sugar, so zing! And I feel like the vanilla extract is optional, for scent. So I'll probably skip on that, if it comes down to it. I also found this recipe for lotion and this one for lotion bars, but they seem a bit more complicated and require more ingredients. None of which I own. So maybe next time...

The only thing I'm struggling with is body wash. I *think* I'm going to go with this recipe. It has a lot of ingredients, but most of them are optional. Required ingredients: water, citric acid, coconut oil, honey, castile soap, and guar gum. She infused oatmeal and rosemary to "soothe and tone" whatever the f that means. And all three of the recipes have an option for essential oils, which just add scent. They are also supposed to be good for you and different ones do different things. So that's another thing that, if I have any money left over I might purchase something. I'm only getting $30 in pocket money this month (curse you, Dave Ramsey!!) so I'm not sure how much of this I'll be able to do. Let's do a price breakdown, shall we?

Ingredients Needed:

• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa butter - I think I can replace this with coconut oil
• 1/2 cup aloe vera gel
• 3/4 cup sesame seed oil
• 1 tsp citric acid
• 1 Tbsp honey - I think we own some honey, but I need to double-check
• 1 1/2 cup liquid castile soap
• 1 tsp guar gum

Coconut Oil:
I'll need about 1 1/4 cups (12 oz.) of this total. On this site I can get 32 oz. (four cups) for about $15. Which is half my budget, but that store supports family farms in the Philippines! (Say that five times fast.) And you get this book full of recipes that use coconut oil. (I think all for cooking, but whatever. I guess I can eat it, too...) I checked Amazon and you can't really get 32 oz. for much cheaper.
Total Price: $15.00
Sigh....this has gotten a bit too expensive. I'm going to have to drop down to the 16 oz. one for $8. That will give me 2 cups, which will have to do. I just can't spend half my budget on coconut oil!
Total Price: $8.00

Brown Sugar:
I'll need a cup of this. I already own it, both dark and light brown sugar. I'll probably do half of one and half of the other, so I still have a little of both left for cooking.
Total Price: $8.00

Aloe Vera Gel:
I'll need 1/2 a cup of this. Found a 32 oz container of it on Amazon for about $7.50. Interesting thing I learned just now - you can eat aloe vera! I always just put it on my skin for sunburns and cuts...THE MORE YOU KNOW. Still not sure I'll eat any...
Total Price: $15.50 (aaaaand...I'm almost out of money. 8P)

Sesame Seed Oil:
I'll need 3/4 cup of this. I already own a big ol' bottle of it for my face wash, so it's FREE!
Total Price: $15.50

Citric Acid:
I only need a teaspoon of this, and she said it's to prevent bacterial growth in the body wash. None of the other recipes I found called for this, so I may not include it. I only have $6 left!! Yeah...I'm not finding it for very cheap on Amazon, soooo....imma pass. If I get some funky bacterial growth I'll call it a life lesson learned and do better next time. 8P
Total Price: $15.50

Honey:
I'm pretty sure we already own some honey. At any rate, she doesn't explain why she put honey in the body wash...I think it may just be for the scent. So if we don't have any, I won't worry about it.
Total Price: $15.50

Castile Soap:
I'll need 1 1/2 cup, or 12 oz. of this bad boy. Budget panic!! I found a two-pack of 32 oz. that only costs $1 more than a single bottle of the self-same stuff. Strange... But it's still going to be $19!! There is this stuff which has citric acid in it already. So that would make my not buying it more justified. Everything I saw said to use Dr. Bronner's, though. And this is Dr. Wood's. The reviews are "meh" on it. Dr. Bronner's is 4.6 out of 80+ reviews, while Dr. Wood's has 4.2 with 14 reviews. But...it's only $5, so I think I'm going to have to take it. Budgets!!
Total Price: $20.50

Guar Gum:
I did some research, and guar gum is just a thickening agent. So I can replace the 1 teaspoon of it with about 800 teaspoons of flour and get the same result. 8} You need 8x the amount of corn starch to replace guar gum, and you to use a bit more flour than asked for to replace corn starch. (I have never been able to find corn starch!!) So let's say......12 teaspoons? That's 4 tablespoons. So 4 tablespoons of flour, which I own. Bam! Done!
Total Price: $20.50

*whew! I think that'll have to do. I had to get half as much coconut oil as I wanted, and a cheaper brand (and half as much) of the castile soap as I wanted....but I stayed in budget! Even with S&H! (I hope...) I won't really be able to buy anything else fun this month, but what can you do? DIY is a harsh mistress.

Update with S&H:
Price for purchases from Amazon: $22
Price for coconut oil: $15.50

Grand Total: $37.50



Balls.






ALRIGHT. So screw you, local Philippine farmers! I'm going to buy THIS coconut oil off of Amazon for $7.30 (plus shipping)!! THAT will put my total Amazon order....to $34.37. Mother. Of. Pearl. It's impossible! It's just...impossible.

Okay, okay - total idea redo.

I'm still going to make the scrub, because it's only coconut oil and brown sugar. Instead of making lotion, I'm just going to rub coconut oil on me. What?? Lots of people do it! Don't judge!! And I'll make the same body wash. If I go back to the original store for coconut oil, it will be $15.50 with S&H. Then the only thing I'll need to buy from Amazon is the castile soap (does this even make sense anymore?) and the cheap bottle of that + S&H will be $8.66. $24.16! BAM! Done.

I'm exhausted.


Now, of course, I can't order any of this until after my paycheck on the 15th (thanks, Dave Ramsey), so God knows what will happen to all the prices by then. But! For now...this is my plan. 8P I need to go take a nap now.

source

God, I love Jennifer Lawrence.

Let's Talk Faces: Update

I posted a few days ago about switching to oils to wash my face instead of face wash. Well, I finally bought stuff! Mixed it up and I've used it for a couple nights now. Ummm....I haven't broken out all over the place, so yay? Other than that, nothing too exciting to report. I did find a different source. Which, they give way different ratios for the two oils than my previous source.

Source 1:

• Oily Skin: Try a blend of 30% Castor Oil to 70% Sunflower Seed Oil.
• Balanced Skin: Try a blend of 20% Castor Oil to 80% Sunflower Seed Oil.
• Dry Skin: Try a blend of 10% Castor Oil to 90% Sunflower Seed Oil.

Source 2:

• For those with oily skin, try three parts castor oil to one part EVOO.
• For those with normal skin, you could start off with a one-to-one ratio of castor oil and EVOO.
• For those with drier skin, start off with one part castor oil to three parts EVOO.

I consider myself oily-to-balanced, so I put in 1 part castor oil and 3 parts sunflower seed oil. I don't know what to believe anymore! Castor oil is way more expensive than the sunflower seed oil - I could only find a tiny little bottle of it at Kroger, for about $1.50. And I got one of those huge containers of sunflower seed oil for less than $4. I don't even have enough castor oil to attempt to make it three parts of the sunflower seed oil that's already in my container! I just don't see how there can be such a huge difference...

So, yeah - I'm going with my first source. It seemed to be a fairly legit site, and there was a link to a forum where everyone was doing the same kind of ratios. So 8P !!

At any rate, even though I apparently trust "Simple Mom" not one little bit with my face....I think I'm going to try her 'Poo-less hair cleaning method. Or at least do some research on it. I feel like I'm turning into a total hippie, but I'm all about saving me some money. And not destroying the environment. I'll probably do the same thing I did with the oil face cleaning stuff and just wait until I'm out of shampoo. So...one day you'll be getting another post about how all my hair has fallen out or something, I don't know.

Let's Talk Faces

Alright. In high school I had not bad acne. I would get pimples but I wasn't one of those poor souls that just gets covered. Ugh. What little acne I had cleared up in college. I was smooth-faced. It was lovely. Then...I guess it was birth control that broke me. I feel like I'm back in high school these days. Twenty-somethings with careers shouldn't have 5-10 pimples on their face on any given day. It just shouldn't happen. IT SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

What's even worse is that I get them on my back now, too. That all started when I got my lantern tattoo. I had to put A&D on it, and then my back broke out, then I picked at it, then I got more pimples, then....ugh - I'm disgusting. Make it go away!!

I finally decided it's time for a change. My dear darling (off-brand) St. Ives Apricot Scrub is no longer cutting it. Obviously. I'm trying to become more DIY lately. Other than just crafts, I also made my own laundry detergent and am using vinegar and aluminum foil balls as fabric softener and static removers, respectively. I guess I need to do a post about that, too...if I can remember how I did it! So....new face wash + desire to be more DIY and natural = I'm gonna try to make my own face wash!!

I started out just Google-ing "natural face wash" and clicked on the first link. That link led me to this link and I think I'm gonna give it a go. Just need to buy castor oil and either sunflower seed oil or extra virgin olive oil. I figure even if this is a bust those are a couple good things to have around the house, anyway. And it sounds like doing the deep cleanse is going to be really soothing....I like that. Maybe take a bath and do it...so nice. 8}

The only thing I'm not sure on is the line "This deep cleansing method should be done regularly, but not too frequently." What does that mean?! I know they say it depends on your skin and if it's getting dried out, do it less....but where do I begin? Once a week? Every other day? Once a month? I would like some sort of an idea! And what do I do when I'm not doing the deep clean? Because they also say "First and foremost, this is typically done in the evening, prior to bed. There should be no need for deep cleansing in the morning if you're waking up with skin cleansed the night before. In the morning, a quick wipe with a warm washcloth should suffice." That makes it sound like you do it every night. Or at the very least, it only accounts for the day after the deep clean.

I was thinking of doing the Apple Cider Vinegar Natural Face Toner that is discussed in the first link. Because it's just vinegar and water, and I think I already have the vinegar. Maybe dab that on every morning? Except the morning after my weekly deep clean? Maybe I'll try to do the deep clean every other day and see what happens? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING.

Any advice? Have you tried DIY natural face/body cleaners and have any advice for muah?