DIY Deodorant.....Yes, Deodorant

I have seen some websites about making your own deodorant, but this was something I never planned on trying.

Walking around with greasy arms and legs from homemade lotion is one thing, but walking around in my own pig pen type funk is something else entirely. 

But then a friend of mine tagged me in a Pin about making your own deodorant and told me I should try it.  I wasn't to excited about it but.....



The pin that my friend tagged me in was one of those that gives you all the details in the pin so there is no need to click on it.  However, I did click on it to see if there were any other details that weren't in the pin description and hello...... it took me to a site that had nothing to do with deodorant.  It was a site about going 'poo free.  As in not using shampoo to wash your hair.

Of course this intrigued me and read the blog learning a lot about keeping your hair clean without shampoo, but that is for a future post.

Since I have no idea where the details about making your own deodorant came from I can't give credit where credit is due, so I will just put on the details from the pin.

Homemade Deodorant
Best deodorant ever!!!! 1/4 c. baking soda, 1/4 c. cornstarch, and 6 T. coconut oil (which you may have to melt first). Mix well, add more coconut oil if you need a more creamy consistency and I put it in a glass bowl on my bathroom counter. It’s unbelievable. You can wear your shirt for days if need be. 

Every homemade deodorant recipe I have read has tea tree oil in it, since I am a huge fan of tea tree oil I decided to throw in a few drops. 

I melted the oil in the microwave then mixed everything together.  The baking soda and cornstarch dissolved very easily.  I then poured it into an old deodorant container and let it cool.

I used it for three weeks and for some crazy reason the entire world decided to ask me what my latest DIY project was during those weeks.  When I told them I was testing a homemade deodorant the typical reaction was this.

I can't blame them. I pretty much had the same reaction when I first read about it. (that is my younger sister, in case you wondered)

The Verdict:
(Disclaimer: I don't sweat much.  Pretty much not at all, I'm the person you see at the gym that is all red faced but completely dry. So keep that in mind while you read my verdict and decide if you want to try it for yourself)
It worked a lot better then I thought it would.  The first week I had a couple of "HOLY SMOKES!!! I STINK!!" moments. But I think I wasn't using enough.  Once I put more on in the mornings it worked great.

One morning I realized that I had completely forgotten about a social event that I had to be at and was suppose to leave the house in 5 minutes.  During my mad dash of clothes, make up, and shoving food at the kids I never reapplied the deodorant.  Of course I remembered this half way there and did a quick pit check.  All was well.  What I had applied the day before kept the body stank at bay for almost 36 hours.

However, I am not fully convinced that this is a great deodorant.  I want to try it in the summer to see how it holds up in the heat.  However, I did put it up against a very intense miracle workout and it seemed to work the same as my store bought deodorant.

The consistency took a few days to get use to.  It would sort of melt onto my skin, but dried fairly quickly.  It also seemed lighter, like some how my armpits didn't have goop slathered all over them. 

Unfortunately, It didnt' last long in the old deodorant container.  It worked for about 5 days and then for some reason I couldn't pull it up anymore.  I got out the rest of the deodorant out of the container and put it in a bowl.  I tried to apply it with my fingers but that was a huge hassle and very messy.  I ended up just putting toilet paper around the bar and applying it that way.  When I make it again in the summer I plan on finding an easier way to apply it.

And there you go, never judge a book by it's cover.  Who knew that I would actually enjoy a homemade version of deodorant and that it would work.  At least I think it does, no one has told me that I smell.  Maybe everyone is just being polite. 

UPDATE: 7/12/13 - I ended up using this deodorant for 3 months.  I love it.  It's very easy to make, I like the way it feels and it works great.  The biggest problem with it though is that it melts easily.  My bathroom tends to get fairly warm in the summer so once the temperatures started to rise in May I wasn't able to use it anymore because it was always halfway melted and the ingredients would separate.  Maybe I need a mini fridge in my bathroom.

DIY Drano

We are what's known as Corporate Gypsies. In some major corporations there is limited career growth if you stay in one place.  In order to progress in your career you have to bounce from one business site to another while staying with the same company.  This is why we move every 2-3 years.

In our (almost) 12 years of marriage we have lived in 6 states.  There have been good things with each one but North Carolina will always be one of my favorites.

While we lived there I became close friends with a women who is about 25 years older then me.  She is very much a southern women and she taught me many wonderful southern things such as what yonder means and how far a tator chuck is.

She had some fantastic cleaning tips, but the one that has been the most useful is homemade drano.

Homemade Drano
You will need
Baking soda
vinegar
boiling water.

Pour some baking soda in your sink. Pour in some vinegar until it stops bubbling.  Let it sit awhile.  Pour the boiling water down the drain.

The southern folk don't measure things.  They have this gift of knowing exactly how much of something they need, so I can't tell you how much baking soda and vinegar you need, but here is what I do.

I grab a box of baking soda and just pour it in.  It usually comes out to around 1/2 to 1 cup. 

 Then I slowly pour in the vinegar a little bit at a time until it stops bubbling. 

I boil about 3 cups of water then pour it down the drain. 

The Verdict: This doesn't work great for really clogged sinks.  It's more of a preventative item, but I have had success on drains that are slow and getting close to clogging.  My friend told me she does this to all her sinks and tubs/showers once a month and she has never had a clogged drain. 

So if you have drains that are off like a heard of turtles then this drano will help the water get through faster then green grass through a goose.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

DIY Tupperware

When I had my first child some women in the area brought us dinner. It was of course greatly appreciated. One women brought her dinner in old plastic cool whip and cottage cheese containers.  She told me that she always has these on hand so that she can take food to people and not worry about getting her good Tupperware back. 

When I heard this I had one of those "D'OH" moments.  The kind of moment where something is so obvious that you can't believe you never thought of it before.

So my Tupperware cupboard is now full of old plastic containers and I have used them for many things but mostly for organizing the kids stuff like crayons or cars.

They work great, but the down side is I never know whats in them since my photographic memory is still in the shop (it broke during my first pregnancy.)  I saw a post about getting the ink off of the containers and was very excited about it.

Remove Ink From Plastic Containers
You will need
Acetone (found in the beauty section next to the nail polish remover)
Dishpan
Rag
Gloves

Directions
 Wear the gloves to protect your hands and saturate the rag with the acetone.  Make sure you are in a well ventilated area.  Wrap the rag around the container and let it sit in a dishpan for 3-5 minutes.  Check the container by rubbing the paint.  If it doesn't come easily off then keep soaking.

I had never heard of acetone but it was easy to find. It was right by the nail polish remover and it was around $3 or $4. I can't remember exactly.

I soaked my rags.... then passed out from the fumes.  Ok I really didn't, but I never knew there could be a smell that is worse then ammonia.  I put the rags over the containers then went outside to get some air, the whole time I was wondering if I had any brain cells left.

After about 5 minutes I went back to rub a little of the ink to see if it would come off.  I then had to run and shove my hand in ice water to warm it up.  Yes you read that right.  I have no idea what acetone is or what  is in it, but something that smells that bad and burns my gloved hand from being so cold should be banned.  It was like grabbing dry ice.  (yes I am exaggerating again, but the rag was freakishly cold and I had to keep taking breaks so my hands could warm up.)

The Verdict: After rubbing at the ink with the wet rags I was both surprised and disappointed.  The website said that some containers will work better then others.  I ended up doing about 6 of them to see how each one would work. 

This Greek yogurt worked great.  It took very little effort for the ink to come off the container and it's lid

You would think that this is a before photo, but it's not.  The acetone didn't even smudge the ink.

I had a couple of containers that looked like this.  I bet if I soaked them longer in acetone then I could have gotten all the ink off, but this would have required longer time with the fumes and freezing rags. 

It works, and I like that I can use dry erase markers on them so I know whats it in, but I won't do it again.  Save yourself the  headache (literally) and spend the money on cheap Ziploc Tupperware. 

Detox Bath

My little sister once said "the only thing worse about having sick kids, is being sick and still being needed by kids."

It's hard to have a sick child, to see them miserable and know that you can't take it away from them.  It's hard to watch a toddler vomit and then look at you, pleading with you to take away the pain because that's what mommy does, she kisses it better and takes away the pain. 

Sometimes it's even harder to be the one that is sick and to still crawl out of bed to make breakfast, clean the kitchen, find shoes, fight traffic on the way to school, convince a child that they really do need a nap, make lunch, play  dolls, play house, play play-doh, make dinner, step on Lego's, mop up the floor after bath time and do it all with a smile and without losing your temper. 

I saw a Pin about a detox bath and in the instructions it said, "This is especially beneficial if you are trying to rid the body of a bug of some sort, like the flu, or a cold."

Worth a shot.

How To Take A Detox Bath
Fill your tub with comfortable hot water
add epsom salt

• For children under 60 lbs, add 1/2 cup to a standard bath.
• For children 60 lbs to 100 lbs, add 1 cup to a standard bath.
• For people 100 lbs and up, add 2 cups or more to a standard bath.

add 1-2 cups of baking soda
add 1TBS to 1/3 cup of ground ginger

Soak in the tub for 40 minutes.  The first 20 minutes are said to help your body remove the toxins, while the second 20 minutes are for absorbing the minerals in the water

The ginger can make you sweat profusely so be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the bath. 

The website has a lot of great information on what each of the ingredients do and some tips to help make the bath more beneficial.

So I waited until I felt something come on.  I didn't have to wait to long, tis the season for bugs. The kids got some sort of strange bug that left them tired and with a low fever for a few days.  About 4 days into it I started feeling warm and tired.  After I put the kids in bed I got my ingredients and filled up the tub. 

The ginger made the water look pretty nasty and I was surprised at how much the scent of ginger filled the bathroom.  The epsom salt and baking soda dissolved immediately.

The website talked a lot about how ginger can make you sweat, so I started out with 1 Tbsp.  Ten minutes later I was actually getting cold and not sweating at all, so I added two more tablespoons.  I still didn't sweat but I sure did tingle.  My skin was really tingly for the rest of the bath.

Sitting in the tub for 40 minutes sounded like a long time, but I grabbed my ipad and a book and really enjoyed myself, despite the tingling. As I was soaking I kept thinking about how the website said that the first 20 minutes are for the toxins to be pulled from your body and the next 20 minutes are for your body to absorb the minerals in the water. Soooooo, the toxins come out..... where do they go?  Isn't your body going to soak them right back up? 

 The website also says that it's best to take the detox bath at night so you can immediately get into your bed and rest. During the 40 minutes in the tub I felt great, but as soon as I stood up I was surprised at how drained I felt.  I felt weak and tired and was more then happy to follow the websites instructions by getting into bed.  I was asleep in minutes and it was only 9pm

The Verdict: I woke up the next morning feeling fantastic.  I was energetic and happy and even had a Snow White moment when I was singing silly songs while making breakfast.  I never got the illness my kids had.

Of course there is no way to prove that the detox bath is responsible for keeping the illness at bay.  However, I have taken 3 more when I felt as though something was coming on and I always woke up the next morning feeling fantastic.

The last time I took one I purposely waited to see if something was really coming.  Sure enough i got a minor stomach bug.  Half way through my first day of worshiping the porcelain thrown I took a detox bath then took a nap.  I didn't feel any better and I was sick for another 24 hours.

So it's hard to say whether it works or not, but I do know that I enjoy them and I will probably be stocking up on more ground ginger

Window Blind Cleaner

Do you have a window in your kitchen?  Does that window have blinds?  On a scale of 1-5, how dirty are they?  Off the charts?  Yes I thought so.  Blinds are one of those things that tend to get really gross because you either a) don't think about cleaning them or b) know you should clean them but it's such a hassle you prefer to ignore the problem.

Recently I keep seeing Pinterest posts about cleaning blinds.  Most of the cleaning methods I have seen involve putting a sock over your hand.  While that is a great method for some blinds, it doesn't work well for the common metal blinds that are in most homes.

Let me share with you a trick that my mom taught me.

Window Blind Cleaner
1/2 cup Vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda
bathtub full of hot water

Take a look at the top of the blinds. Do you see that little box on the top right and left corner?  The front of the box opens and you can take the blinds out.  Amazing!!!

Now some blinds don't come out, if that is the case with yours then sit tight and we will address that later. 

 Fill a bathtub with enough water to cover the blinds.  Pour in the baking soda and vinegar and mix it all up.  Put the blinds in the bathtub then go enjoy an episode of Downton Abby

I usually leave it in the tub for at least an hour and some times up to 8.  It just depends on when I get to it again. Drain the tub then rinse the blinds with the shower head.  It's easiest with a detachable shower head but it will still work without one.  Basically you are blasting the blinds with water to take off all the gunk that was just softened during it's spa treatment. 

Let it air dry in the tub or on a towel before you hang it back up. 

The Verdict: This works so well and is so easy to do. The hardest part is cleaning the tub after your done. Here are some before and after photos of blinds I recently did.  You can see the the big blob of something, along with little blobs of who knows what else.

 Nothing is left but water. 

All the blob spots and a little fly ended up in the tub. 

Now for all you folks who have metal blinds that won't come down easily.  Fill a spray bottle with mostly water then some vinegar and baking soda.  It really doesn't matter what ratio you use.  Put a towel under the blinds then spray away.  Spray until the blinds are completely soaked.  Let it sit for awhile then wipe it clean.  You will probably have to do more scrubbing with this scenario, but it still works.

And there you go, you no longer have an excuse for not cleaning your blinds. 

Dishwasher Soap

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we have friends staying with us, so you get another short and straight to the point post. Plus I don't know how to make a post about dishwasher soap interesting.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

• 2 c borax
• 2 c Arm & Hammer washing soda
• 2 c lemi shine*
• 1 c kosher salt

Mix all together and use 1 Tbsp per load. 

You can get the borax, washing soda and the lemi shine in the laundry aisle and the kosher salt in the baking aisle.

The Verdict:  This is a perfect example of why I like to try things for awhile before I give an opinion.  It started out great.  My dishes were very clean and sparkly.  But after about 2 weeks it stopped working.  (one batch lasted me about 6 weeks and that was doing a load a day) A lot of the dishes on the top rack would have a strange greasy film on them that I would have to scrub by hand to get off.

I was baffled by this.  Why would something work so great for 2 weeks and then stop?  I tried cleaning the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. I tried cleaning the dishwasher itself with homemade products and store bought products.  I even had my mother in law do the dishes once and she is a perfectionist when it comes to clean dishes.  Nothing worked. For some reason the dishes came out with a greasy film on them.

Plus the mixture was very picky about where it needed to be stored.  I tried keeping it in an airtight container under the sink but after a few days it became rock solid from the humidity so I had to make another batch. I kept that batch on top of the fridge and that kept it from becoming a solid mass. 

So there you go.  Once again I have saved you time and money by testing something for you. Your welcome.
 Have a Happy New Year. 

Long Hair Part 2

I find it amusing how many people have asked about my hair after they read my post about using apple cider vinegar to make my hair grow faster.

My hair is something that I have always been a bit prideful about.  It's very thick and healthy and no matter what I do to it, it always bounces back.  I can soak it in lemon juice and let the sun fry it to a crisp and within 1 week it looks just as healthy as ever.

One day I may end up looking like Gollum because of my pride and for all the strange things I do to it, but for now it is just fine.

After the disaster with the apple cider vinegar I let my hair take a few weeks off then I started in on a potato mask.

Potato Mask For Hair
Just juice 3 potatoes, add in one egg yolk and some honey and you got yourself an awesome potato hair mask! This will absolutely help make your hair grow faster and it’s natural! 

Once again this website did not give any detailed instructions.  How often do I put it in?  How long do I leave it in? Do I put it on wet or dry hair?  These questions are essential when smearing vegetables in your hair!

After reading about different hair masks I decided to try this mask once a week.  My plan was to put it on dry hair then let it sit for at least 20 min before washing it out.

Since my hair is shorter I decided to juice one large potato instead of three.

I had a little less then two cups and it was enough to cover my hair.

 I leaned over the tub and soaked my hair.  I then wrapped my hair up into a shower cap and had to quickly grab a towel because nasty brown liquid starting running down my face.

 I wish I had grabbed an old towel instead of ruining my nice white bathroom towel. 

The Verdict: *insert gagging noises* This was just plain gross!!!! I only tried it twice because the thought of doing it two more times to finish out the month made me sick.  Even with the shower cap on, brown liquid ran down my neck and face the entire time I had it on.  This pretty much left me immobile because I didn't want to get brown spots on the floor.   I can deal with gross brown liquid, what made me sick was the smell.

As time went on, the smell got more and more disgusting.  It was as though the potato was very quickly rotting.  After 20 min I jumped into the shower as fast as I could and scrubbed my hair, using about 1/2 a bottle of shampoo.  But that smell lingered.  No matter how many times I scrubbed my hair, I smelled like a rotten potato for 4 days.  It was like that old Sienfeld episode where the smelly B.O car sticks to Elains hair.

It also left my hair feeling very strange.  It was like a dirty but clean feeling and I did not like it.

To top it off, I have no idea if it made my hair grow faster.  I didn't think it would because I only did it twice in a month, but I forgot to measure my hair before I got a trim at the end of the month and I'm not about to call the lady and say "hey, how much of my hair did you cut off?  I need to know if my potato mask worked."

So I am now 0-2.  Lets hope my next attempt isn't as disappointing as these last two.