A quick apology for the lack of posts lately – We’ve been entertaining, had a slew of birthdays, putting up food that is coming ripe, lack of school for the kiddos since it’s summer time and I’ve been very busy experimenting with some new things.
I hope very soon to be doing some posts on lotion making, making household cleaners, shampoos and other things you would normally buy at the grocers. You all know that since we’ve stopped buying most things from the grocery store we’ve been sourcing them directly from the farmers or growing them ourselves.
The hard part for me is that I still need to buy soaps, lotions, shampoo and things to clean my house with. Even the quality products that I can find at PCC are made from many ingredients that I have no clue what the heck they are. And the cleaners? Don’t even get me started.
I’ve been researching essential oils, studying their properties and learning techniques for making them myself. I just got a stick blender last week for my birthday and I’ve put it to good use. Since it’s not really cream soup season I’ve used it mainly for homemade mayo and last night I finally managed to set aside a few hours when I should have been updating this blog to make shampoo and lotions.
This year I had stopped buying my fancy pants European face cream and it’s been showing on my over 40 skin. And you can imagine the toil all this food preparation, coop cleaning and gardening has been taking on my hands. I am happy to report that I’ve successfully made an amazing face oil that helps fill in those cracks, found a quality MSM supplement and US mined dietary minerals which I mix with my drinking water and now conquered the lotion barrier.
True I’ve only made one body lotion so far but it is the most luxuriously rehydrating lotion I’ve ever encountered. And it’s true that I’ve only used the shampoo once and my hair isn’t quite dry yet but my cuticles and hair are behaving abnormally well. I have curly hippy hair that requires a ton of product to keep under control, especially now that natural highlights (in the form of silver) are cropping up.
All of the ingredients I used for the lotion, cleaning agents, shampoo and conditioners (along with all the other lotions, salves, hydrosols, toothpastes, salts and mouth rinses, soaps and bubble baths I have bookmarked to try) are grown and produced in the US, with the exception of some of the essential oils, the coconut oil, the shea butter and the cocoa butter.
Many of the herbs and medicinal flowers I’m using now I’ve started in my garden and am hoping at some future point to be able to distill my own essential oils. For now I’m infusing carrier oils with the dried flowers and herbs and adding that to my lotions. Hopefully next year when we get bees the beeswax will even come from my own hives!
For now I’m content knowing what I’m using in my house and putting on my and my young children’s skin and hair. It’s such a great feeling to know that everything I’ve made is from food grade ingredients. Not that you would want to eat something made with shea butter but at least it wouldn’t harm you if you did. The cleaners are made from high quality essential oils mixed with various ingredients, occasionally vodka for disinfecting or vinegar for changing the pH that allows bacteria to grow so you wouldn’t necessarily want to taste those – but if you did you wouldn’t need to be rushed to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.
Stay tuned…although looking at our July calendar it will likely be August before I’m confident enough in all my recipes to share them. If you are interested in making a Weleda-type lotion along with me you may want to start now by buying some chammomile flowers in the bulk section at PCC, putting them in a glass canning jar covered with olive oil and letting them sit in a sunny window for 3-4 weeks. That is probably when I’ll be getting around to posting the lotion and you’ll be ready at that point to follow along.
Sustainable body care – both inside and out!
