Best deodorants is plain old baking soda. You can pat it right onto your skin or mix it with a little cornstarch for extra staying power and moisture control. Try 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 baking soda. Some readers say that mixing in anti-bacterial tea tree oil makes it even more effective.
A simple Shampoo
Old-fashioned Castile soap can also be dissolved in warm water to be used as shampoo.
After shampooing, rinse your hair with lemon juice to make it shine.
Adding essential oils to store bought shampoo
If you like your store-bought shampoo but would like to add to it a little, the essential oils that old-timers relied on for hair care really do work.
- To nourish and moisturize, pour some shampoo or conditioner into your palm and add a few drops of cedar wood, chamomile, clary sage, lavender, rosemary, thyme, or ylang-ylang.
- To add thickness and body, use cedar wood or clary sage.
- To reduce oiliness, try bergamot, cedar wood, lavender, lemon, pine, rosemary, or ylang-ylang.
- To add luster, try sweet basil, Roman chamomile, or lavender.
- To detangle hair, use chamomile, grapefruit, marigold, passionflower, or sweet clover, and to relieve dandruff, try cedar wood, clary sage, lemon, pine, rosemary, or tea tree.
Homemade Moisturizer
- For healthy skin, add rosemary oil to the bathwater.
- Another age-old tradition to prevent wrinkles around the eyes is to apply a drop of castor oil around each eye before going to bed. Castor oil acts as a humectant, meaning that it attracts and retains moisture in the skin. This promotes healthier skin cell rejuvenation. Some plastic surgeons apply castor oil around an incision after surgery for this exact reason.
Eye Make-up Remover (Safe and Gentle)
- Save on those very expensive eye make-up removers with this recipe. Combine 1 tablespoon canola oil, 1 tablespoon castor oil, and 1 tablespoon light olive oil.
- For use on your entire body, put some castor oil in a little spray bottle. To maximize absorption, spray it on your skin after showering and gently rub it in while your skin is still warm and your pores are open.
Easy Oatmeal Soap
If you have leftover soap slivers in the bathtub or sink, you can recycle them into this yummy new soap! Oatmeal has proven moisturizing benefits.
- Gather these ingredients: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup small soap pieces, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil, 1 tablespoon water
- Put the soap slivers in a plastic bag and pound them into small chunks.
- Put chunks in a blender, add the oatmeal and pulse until grainy.
- Pour into a bowl and add the oil and water.
- Mix with your hands, removing any remaining bigger chunks of soap.
- Shape the mixture into a ball and let sit until hard, about two hours.
- Be sure to wash the blender thoroughly to remove the soap residue.
Toothpaste Tip
Washing your hands with toothpaste and water will eliminate fish odor.
Homemade Toothpaste
- Mix ¼ teaspoon hydrogen peroxide and ½ teaspoon baking soda, scoop the paste up with your toothbrush and proceed as you normally would.
Homemade Minty Toothpaste
- To make toothpaste with a more traditional toothpaste consistency and a mint-y taste, mix together 6 teaspoons of baking soda, 1/3 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons glycerin, and 15 drops of peppermint or wintergreen extract. Depending on how much you use at a time, this recipe is good for 15-20 applications and should be stored in any appropriately sized container with a snug lid.
