DIY beauty products

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Anglewannabe

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Has anyone ever made their own soap or shampoo? Just curious, but what is the motive? Is it to save money? Is it because of allergies? Or is it for the environment.

I saw a recipe for deodorant. I am thinking I will no longer constantly be throwing out the empty plastic container, yet, I will be using the containers the ingredients come in. Just wondering which is worse for the environment.

I also calculated it is about 1/2 the cost. However it goes on thicker and I will probably use it up twice as fast. So not much of a financial gain there.

For years I have used vinegar to clean my floors and that is cheaper than floor cleaner. Also, in the winter (in Canada) the harsh weather REALLY dries my skin. I use to have to spend big bucks on face creams. I few years ago I started to use coconut oil at night. I could never leave the house in the morning with all that shine.

So can others share easy to use recipes? A lot of the things I find on-line require special equipment I would not have room to store in my small place. Also, some are not practical. Instead of a face toner put egg white on your face for 10 minutes. There is no way I have time for that every morning

Angie
 
I think it really depends on what you have time to do and if this product actually works.

Growing up, I lived in a house that used well water. The water was extremely hard with a lot of minerals and deposits.

It did a number on my sister and my hair. So my mom used the mayo trick or apple cider vinegar.

It was gross but it worked.

I’ve read up on methods for laundry detergent…especially when we were cloth diapering. They were all disasters and hubby and I will always shell out the money for Tide. Why? It simply works the best to get stains and clean clothes. Harsh chemicals be darned!

When I was training as a ballet dancer we would reuse costumes for shows like the Nutcracker and other annual ballets.
Those costumes can not be put into a washing machine or they will be destroyed.

An old Russian trick was to use Vodka in a spray bottle to kill germs and neutralize the smell.
Now we mix the vodka with febreeze.
 
I used to do my own shampoo and conditioner, but I buy it so cheap with coupons now that it’s not worth the effort to make.

Baking soda and vinegar clean just about everything.

I have made my own laundry soap for years for our regular laundry (bought separate for cloth diapers). $15 for a year for a family of four (We’re now five, so it may get used up faster.)

1 box washing soda, 1 large box baking soda, 1 box borax, 3 bars (I think) Fels-Naptha, grated. 1 container OxiClean, optional. Stir in a bucket with a yardstick, one tablespoon per load. I use vinegar as fabric softener.

A 50/50 mix of olive oil and castor oil works great for eye makeup remover. I used to do the oil cleansing method for my whole face and it works, but it requires hot water and my bathroom faucet is touchy about that. 😛 I also use sugar scrubs for exfoliant - sugar, olive oil, and a few drops of vanilla for scent.

For me it’s about cost effectiveness primarily.
 
My first DIY product that I made was for my little boy’s eczema. It was a 1:1:1 (by volume) of honey:olive oil:beeswax. And it worked great. It made his skin a little waxy— because it had wax in it!— but it was pretty instantaneous. In a couple of days, the eczema was gone, so I stopped treatment… but it was just suppressed, and it came back. So then I did it for about 2 weeks straight, putting it on him before he went to bed, and covering it with clothes (because it was messy) before I stopped again, and this time, it was gone for good. I take that back— it did come back once, about a year later. I tried using some Aveeno (which is what the doctor had recommended, and I still had a partial tube lying around, so I figured I would use that, since it was “neater” than my goop). It must have separated in the tube or something, because it made him scream when I put it on him. So I threw that away, pulled out my faithful jar, and he’s been doing fine since.

I tried making some bath bombs for the kids’ baths, but my citric acid didn’t really fizz. I think I got a bad batch. Blah. I had been given some robot-shaped bath bombs that the kids loved, but I couldn’t see myself running off to Lush or someplace to get “real” bombs. So I just make bath bombs with different scents and colors, and we call them “humpty dumpties”, even though they’re really a bit of a failure.

I got some soapmaking supplies because I got lured into awesome YouTube videos of some soap projects, and I wanted to make some as gifts for people, but I never quite got that far.

When we cloth diapered, we used the cheap Hispanic brand of laundry powder, and they did great for the diapers. However, it was bad at dissolving, and when we rooted the line, we found cakes of laundry detergent. So since the boys were potty trained by this point, I switched to a liquid detergent. But then I discovered the boy who had eczema also has a skin sensitivity to something in the liquid detergent I was using… so now I’ve started making my own laundry detergent out of soap/washing soda/Borax. While there are various “perfume free” laundry detergents out there, I decided I would just make my own, and his rash disappeared in no time.

So-- I guess for me, part of it’s trying to get a luxury product (but not willing to pay a luxury price for it), and part of it is realizing that industrial-produced things aren’t always so great, and with a little time and effort, I can make something as good or better for my family. It would be cool to bring that to its full destination, ie, taking greater control over the food we ingest via a personal involvement in gardening/homesteading/etc— but local ordinances make it difficult to have practices that were common and everyday even 70 years ago.
 
Anglewannabe said:
Has anyone ever made their own soap or shampoo? Just curious, but what is the motive? Is it to save money? Is it because of allergies? Or is it for the environment.

I saw a recipe for deodorant. I am thinking I will no longer constantly be throwing out the empty plastic container, yet, I will be using the containers the ingredients come in. Just wondering which is worse for the environment.

I also calculated it is about 1/2 the cost. However it goes on thicker and I will probably use it up twice as fast. So not much of a financial gain there.

For years I have used vinegar to clean my floors and that is cheaper than floor cleaner. Also, in the winter (in Canada) the harsh weather REALLY dries my skin. I use to have to spend big bucks on face creams. I few years ago I started to use coconut oil at night. I could never leave the house in the morning with all that shine.

So can others share easy to use recipes? A lot of the things I find on-line require special equipment I would not have room to store in my small place. Also, some are not practical. Instead of a face toner put egg white on your face for 10 minutes. There is no way I have time for that every morning

Angie
Click to expand...
It sure wasn’t for ‘the environment,’ or to save money. I’ve always had a burning desire to make things, to know how it’s done.

Have successfully re-melted lipstick/lip balm scraps together. You really need no special equipment for that!

Soap? That went pretty wrong. I didn’t like playing with lye! These days, I might just re-melt soap scraps and pour them into a mold.

I think I want to learn to make those hard lotion bars, too. I doubt I’ll save money, but it might be fun.
 
Because of two sensitive babies, tried my hand at the laundry soap and bath soap. I didn’t try lye, but re-batched ivory soap by melting it and adding honey, ground oatmeal, etc. Also melted glycerin based soap from craft stores. Went back to using tide when the sample that came with a new washer made my dingy clothes come back to life. By using 1/4 cup vinegar in the rinse must have ceased the allergic reactions.

Used the deodorant crystal-rock for years then slowly weaned off. Maybe because we are vegan, but we don’t use/need deodorant anymore.

Best floor cleaner ever, Dr. Bronner liquid soap. Nothing has ever really cleaned my linoleum except that. A squirt in a half a bucket of hot water! I also use his bar soap as shampoo, vinegar as a rinse, softest hair ever.

Toothpaste: squirt some hydrogen peroxide on your toothbrush then sprinkle on some baking powder. If you want a minty feel, add a drop of peppermint oil.

I had to stop using Coconut oil on face, made me break out, now I use olive oil again. Best toner, distilled witch hazel, generic at Walmart, 16oz less than $2.
 
Personally, I’ve never had much luck with them. I’m also a sucker for pretty packaging so I get a kick out of buying products. I do; however, do things like mix some pure avocado or grapeseed oil with my moisturizer.
 
Well, I tried to make face wash. I am only 1/2 disappointed. The recipe is basically castile soap and raw honey. The honey is at the bottom of the bottle so I suspect I washed my face with only the castile soap. the good news, from now on I can just use the castile soap diluted and it will be cheaper than my nivea 😃
 
This might sound weird, but I have oily skin and used to spend a lot on oil-absorbing facial creams and makeup primers. Now I use Milk of Magnesia- much cheaper and works a lot better.

I did use mayonnaise in my hair once. It worked great- made it very soft. It was so gross though, and smelled awful. I never did it again.
 
Bag Balm is the greatest thing there is for dried skin. My son says it smells like death, but it is great for dried hands and feet. That’s just me, but I thought I’d throw that out.

Sometimes the old-fashioned answer is as good or better, but sometimes it cannot compete. Most of the time, I’d say you want to know what different ingredients are supposed to achieve and what end you are trying to achieve, and then use just the amount needed to achieve that end.

For instance, the ingredients sodium laureth sulfate or sodium lauryl sulfate, commonly found in personal care products, are essentially grease strippers. You’ll hardly find a shampoo that works the way you expect shampoos to work that does not contain some of that stuff. OK, but do you want to use a grease stripper indiscriminately on your body? Well, no, let’s hope not, not unless you have pretty oily skin. It is an irritant, especially to mucous membranes such as the lining of your mouth. That is an ingredient to check for when some product irritates your skin, then. It is also a reason to use just as much shampoo as you need rather than more than you need. Don’t go running big piles shampoo suds over your poor dried facial skin, either!

I’d say if you get the cleaning results you like with vinegar, go with vinegar. Why not? If you find a product that is a deodorant but not an antiperspirant works for you, why use add the antiperspirant ingredient you don’t need? I use a product called Biz to launder microfiber clothing, because it is the only thing I’ve ever tried that gets the smell of teenage boy out of it. With cotton fabric, though my regular low-ingredient-list laundry soap works fine. For swim trunks, I have a product that targets chlorine. I only use it on items that have been in a pool or a hot tub.
 
Kelfa28 said:
I think it really depends on what you have time to do and if this product actually works.

Growing up, I lived in a house that used well water. The water was extremely hard with a lot of minerals and deposits.

It did a number on my sister and my hair. So my mom used the mayo trick or apple cider vinegar.

It was gross but it worked.

I’ve read up on methods for laundry detergent…especially when we were cloth diapering. They were all disasters and hubby and I will always shell out the money for Tide. Why? It simply works the best to get stains and clean clothes. Harsh chemicals be darned!

When I was training as a ballet dancer we would reuse costumes for shows like the Nutcracker and other annual ballets.
Those costumes can not be put into a washing machine or they will be destroyed.

An old Russian trick was to use Vodka in a spray bottle to kill germs and neutralize the smell.
Now we mix the vodka with febreeze.
Click to expand...
You had soap scum building up on the fixtures, too, right? Soap (or hair oil) plus minerals in the water equals soap scum, which looks dull. I would guess the vinegar (an ingredient of mayonnaise) stripped the soap scum out and the oil replaced the hair oil that was stripped out with the vinegar. The mayo is also an emulsion rather than a liquid, so it is easier to work through your hair.

I’d be interested in whether one could use lecithin (an emulsifier present in eggs), lemon juice, almond oil, and a certain amount of water to make a scum-stripper and conditioner for hair exposed too many times to hard water. It would probably be easier to find a product formulated in a laboratory. Getting the ratios just right is why they pay chemists. (Shampoos made to combat hard water contain mineral-binding agents such as EDTA.)

Again: these are soap scum strippers, so you only want to use them as often as needed and only as much as needed to achieve the desired effect.
 
Hey Angie!

I have alllllll sorts of recipes for natural stuff. I write a blog about it, as I am an herbalist/herbal alchemist.

I make my own soap, from scratch. It’s amazing what you can do, and make.

You can go as natural as using soapwort (boiling the roots which makes a lather) but it’s pretty backwoods.

I’m pretty knowledgeable in this area since as an herbalist I make my own soaps, lip balms, etc. I have a recipe for lipstick.

If you want a specific recipe, let me know.

I will say you want to avoid shampoos with sulfates. That stuff is bad for your hair. And the BEST rinse for healthy hair? Beer. Because of the hops. Truth. I make beer soap all the time. It’s amazing in beauty products.
 
I use apple cider vinegar as a toner, and I also use it in place of water when mixing with clay masks.

I also use green tea as a face spritz. Let it cool off and place in a spritzer bottle. The freshness would last about a week or so without a preservative.

Mix yoghurt and camu camu berry powder. Use it on the face for softness.
 
What a coincidence! After years of procrastination I finally made soap yesterday. Castile: olive oil, distilled water, and lye. Essential oils for fragrance. I split the batch in two, one for jasmine and one for eucalyptus. The jasmine is looking good, I think. The eucalyptus never reached trace, but I poured it into the molds anyway to see what happens. I have no idea why the mix with jasmine worked but the other didn’t. :confused:
 
on_the_hill said:
What a coincidence! After years of procrastination I finally made soap yesterday. Castile: olive oil, distilled water, and lye. Essential oils for fragrance. I split the batch in two, one for jasmine and one for eucalyptus. The jasmine is looking good, I think. The eucalyptus never reached trace, but I poured it into the molds anyway to see what happens. I have no idea why the mix with jasmine worked but the other didn’t. :confused:
Click to expand...
Here are a whole load of possibilities…
millersoap.com/trouble.html

I’d say the diciest bit is using a scoop instead of a scale to measure. Get a good scale, too. There are many, many uses for it. Remember, too, that when you scale down a batch, you change how fast it will cool, you magnify the importance in any small measurement mistakes, and so on.
 
EasterJoy said:
Here are a whole load of possibilities…
millersoap.com/trouble.html

I’d say the diciest bit is using a scoop instead of a scale to measure. Get a good scale, too. There are many, many uses for it. Remember, too, that when you scale down a batch, you change how fast it will cool, you magnify the importance in any small measurement mistakes, and so on.
Click to expand...
Well…I used an electronic kitchen scale that measures in grams.

Second, I did the mixing outside on our deck, in 40° weather, so maybe it was cooling too fast?

Third, maybe I added too much eucalyptus oil to the second batch.

Fourth–I mixed the lye in a white plastic bucket. Poured the lye into the olive oil, which was in an enamel pot. THEN, after it was combined, I poured half from the enamel pot back into the bucket.

I was concerned that there would be tiny amounts of lye left in the bucket, so before pouring back into the bucket, I swished some vinegar in it to neutralize excess lye. Then I wiped it out. However, the oo/lye mix that went into the bucket never traced.

After almost 48 hours in my (cold) garage, the eucalyptus mix is still mostly liquid and there’s a film of oo on top.

The jasmine mix, which had traced, is solid but waaay too soft to take from the molds.
 
Maybe the olive oil, on the hill?

I know in cooking, olive oil tends to not solidify unless its in the fridge, then it liquefies pretty quickly.

Maybe you needed a less viscous fat, like coconut oil? I’ve heard of milk fats being made into soap as well.
 
One of the best things you can do for your skin is to make your own vitamin C serum. Really just Vitamin C and water. Use it as a treatment at least once a day before moisturizer.
Good for wrinkles, Agnes and general brightening effects. Very cheap, especially when compared to the store bought ones.

Google a recipe, they are everywhere. Most recommend starting with 5% vitamin C and working your way up to 15% when your skin is used to it. Has the benefit of being slightly effective against sun damage.
 
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