Vegetarian Onion Soup Mix Recipe

Here is a vegetarian version of onion soup mix. Mix up a bunch and use as you would commercial mix. You can also add some vegetable bouillon if you would like!

Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse

I found a bunch of different recipes for apple cider vinegar rinses online. After reading through, I found that the recipes with a higher ratio of vinegar are better for long, dry hair. I am adding rose petals and rose hips so it complements my Rose Butter Bath & Shampoo bar I am using. Hopefully this will help with the coarse, dry feeling my hair has since I started using natural products.

Minty Toothpaste

I didn't really enjoy the first batch of homemade toothpaste I made. It was overwhelmingly coconuty and greasy. After it sat on the counter a while, the mixture started to separate. I poured off some of the accumulated coconut oil. Then I added more essential oil and stevia. Now it is much more palatable.

Exfoliating Salt and Sugar Scrub

Citrus Body Scrub

I have been having some trouble with ingrown hairs on my leg (just the left one) and I am not sure why. One of the most frequently recommended solutions I have found online is to use an exfoliating scrub. This falls nicely in with my new hobby of homemade body care products. I wanted to make something with the ingredients I already have in the house so I chose to make a super basic scrub recipe.

After looking around, I found that there is a general formula to follow for body scrubs.

• 1 part oil
• 2 parts abrasive (salt, sugar, oatmeal, etc.)
• Essential oil

I decided to make my own recipe using the above guidelines.

Unmixed Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 20 drops Lemon Essential Oil
• 20 drops Sweet Orange Essential Oil

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together. Place in covered container. Enjoy!

Homemade Citrus Lip Balm Pots

I need to stop using Chapstick so I decided to make some homemade lip balm pots. I found some tiny tupperware at the thrift store for 50¢. This little pot held half the recipe below.

Citrus Lip Balm

Recipe from The Spiffy Cookie.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp (1 oz.) beeswax
2 Tbsp coconut oil
4 Tbsp shea butter
5 drops lemon essential oil
5 drops sweet orange essential oil

Instructions

1. Melt beeswax over low heat. Add coconut oil and shea butter. Stir to mix well as they melt.
2. Remove from heat. Add essential oils.
3. Pour into pots and allow to cool. Cover.

Homemade Lemon Lavender Lotion

I found a great basic lotion recipe at Wellnessmama. It is very simple and I had already bought all of the ingredients, except the beeswax, for making my peppermint deodorant. Luckily, I found local beeswax for a great price at Abundant Life Natural Foods in Hilo.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (1 oz) beeswax
• 2 tbsp Shea butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
• 5 drops Lavender essential oil
• 10 drops Lemon essential oil
• tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Place beeswax in a jar.
2. Fill a medium sauce pan with 2" water and place over medium heat.
3. Place jar in water. Allow beeswax to melt.
4. Add Shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil cover loosely.
5. Stir or shake regularly to combine the ingredients as they melt.
6. Remove from heat. Stir every 15 minutes as the mixture cools. 
7. Once the lotion is cool, add the Vitamin E oil and the lavender and lemon essential oils.
8. Place lotion into small (8 oz) jars.
9. Use within 6 months.

I found another lotion recipe at A Sonoma Garden that had more in depth instructions. I made my lotion using a combination of the instructions from both sites. When I was done, I created the instructions listed above based on my experience. I think it is better to melt the bees wax alone first so you don't have to heat all the oils and butters up to the melting point of the wax.

I put a bit to much lavender in the first batch (7 drops) so I decreased to 5 in the written recipe.

Lotion cooling on the lanai.

Homemade Peppermint Deodorant

Yesterday, I decided to start my home made personal care item voyage with something simple. Why not deodorant? I am in Hawaii on an extended vacation and I don't want to have a ton of stuff to take back home with me. The ingredients are readily available and not overly expensive. Another perk is that is recipe doesn't require any special equipment. Perfect!

I want a scented deodorant and I found a great recipe at Angry Chicken. I modified it a bit to suit my needs.

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons shea butter
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa butter
• 3 Tablespoons baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch
• 2 vitamin E oil gel caps (I forgot to add these but will next time)
• Peppermint Essential Oil

Instructions

1. Melt shea butter and cocoa butter with baking soda and cornstarch. Stir until smooth.
2. Add vitamin E oil and essential oil. Stir well.
3. Divide mixture into tins and place in a cool place to set. Let rest over night. (You can also place in a pan of ice water to set faster. Be careful not to splash water into the mixture.)
4. Place in freezer for about 1 hour to loosen. 
5. Remove from tins and use.

On another of her posts she recommends making it into little pucks by placing the mixture in muffin tins, freezing and them popping them out. I found some little metal cups at the Salvation Army for 10¢ each. They worked perfectly. As an added bonus, Billy loves stacking and throwing these around because they make nice loud clanging noises =)

The deodorant is a bit tacky. I am not sure if that is just because of the humidity here in Hawaii or because there is to much liquid in the recipe. Maybe I should add some beeswax or more cocoa  butter next time? I will wait til I get back to the desert and see how the little bars fair in the drier climate before I go make another batch. Maybe it won't matter if I put it in a deodorant roll up tube and don't have to touch it. I found some empty, new deodorant containers on Amazon. They were 5 for 6.99. If I find that the deodorant works well, I will get some for future batches.

Homemade All Natural Toothpaste Fail

I found this simple toothpaste recipe on Familysponge.com. I changed it just a bit to suit my own tastes.

Here is the recipe I used.

• 6 tbsp coconut oil
• 6 tbsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp (65 drops) peppermint essential oil
• 3/4 tsp stevia

When I used this for the first time this afternoon, it was awful. Even though I had drastically increased the amount of essential oil, the coconut flavor was overwhelming. I definitely did not enjoy it. I will let the toothpaste sit and see if the flavors blend better over time. In the meantime I will look for a recipe that does not contain coconut oil or at least a much smaller proportion.

Beginner Soapmaking Recipes and Resources

Image Found Here.

After doing a lot of research, I have decided that I would like to try soapmaking. Since I can't do anything until I get home in August, I figured I would compile my lists of resources, recipes and suppliers so I am all set for when I can actually make some soap.

I think I should try both hot and cold process soapmaking. They both use the same tools with the addition of a crockpot for the hot process. I already have one so I might as well try.

Basic Information Resources

• Cold Process
• Lye Calculator
• Creating a basic soap recipe
• Properties of different oils

Supplies

Essential Oils from Bulk Apothecary
Cheapest Lye from Bulk Apothecary

Oils, Caustics, etc, at great prices from thesoapdish.com

Beginner Soap Recipe

I want to try a basic recipe before I jump in to more complicated waters. 

• Beginner Soap Recipe - From SmallNotebook.org
• 1 oz Orange (5 fold) Essential Oil
• 1 oz Ginger Essential Oil
• or
• 1 oz Lavender (40/42) Essential Oil
• 1 oz Lemon (5 Fold) Essential Oil
• or 
• 1 oz Peppermint Essential Oil
• 1 oz Vanilla (10 fold Oleoresin) Essential Oil

Assuming all goes well with the beginner recipe, I have chosen a few more recipes to try.

Shampoo

• Marshmallow Root Shampoo Bar - From sustaincreateandflow.com

For Brian:

• Manly Bar of Soap - From theartofmanliness.com
• Shaving Soap Recipe - From soap-making-resource.com; I can also make this with feminine scents for myself if it works well.

For Billy

• Chamomile Baby Soap - From soap-making-resource.com
• Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar - From soapqueen.com