Adventures In Alternative Toiletries

As you may have heard, I've recently been venturing into the land of natural soaps, cleansers and toiletries. I thought I would share a few of my findings in case you were interested... in learning more about natural cleansers or in trying them for yourself!

  

Toothpaste:

They already make some great natural toothpastes and mouthwashes, but I'm pretty independent so I thought I would try to make some of my own. I found a few recipes online and most of them called for baking soda, some sort of glycerin product (straight glycerin to coconut oil), salt and any sort of essential oil- most people use peppermint or wintergreen.

Ok, I tried this using a mixture of baking soda, salt, coconut oil and a few drops of peppermint oil recipe I found on SimpleMom.net. I left out the Stevia at first, but added some later after I tasted it.

The Verdict: It cleans well and your mouth feels good, but the taste is not wonderful even with the Stevia addition.

I prefer using Tom's of Maine toothpastes as they come in better flavors and are very accessible- I can find them at all of my local grocery stores. BF doesn't like it so much, but I've found that I really like the Cinnamon-Clove flavor the best.

  

Deoderant:

  

Natural deoderant has come a long way from that weird looking rock crystal deoderant I remember seeing at the local health food stores when I was young- which I tried years ago and didn't like. They still have that rock crystal deoderant, but it now comes in many forms (crystal, spray and cream).

Companies are now making a variety of great, all natural deoderants that do not contain aluminum, parabens, PEG's, perfumes, dyes, and synthetic ingredients. I started my search at my local grocery store. There are a lot of deoderant companies that are in the regular deoderant aisle that claim to be natural and good for you, however I found after reading labels that most of these still have harmful and synthetic ingredients in them. I moved to the "Natural" section of my grocery to continue my search and found a few good starters:

  

1. Tom's of Maine- these come in a variety of forms such as liquid roll on and stick and a multitude of scents- unscented also available. So far I've tried the Garden Fresh roll on. I like the smell of this one as it isn't perfumy and doesn't irritate my skin at all. The only downside is that I usually have to reapply in the late afternoon.

2. Jason Everyday Natural Care- Jason makes a handfull of different deoderants, all available in stick or roll on. I've tried the Tee Tree Deoderant Stick and I really like it. It smells fresh and clean but isn't overpowering and it lasts all day. I'm a big fan of products that contain Tee Tree oil as it is an natural anti-bacterial and antimicrobial agent. I would reccommend this product to anyone looking to try a natural deoderant. Not all stores carry Jason products, but around here it's readily available. I find mine at Fred Meyer, New Seasons and Whole Foods.

3. Make Your Own Deoderant- there are a few recipes I've found online, but I've only tried one: Baking soda and cornstarch. You just mix the two together in a container and dust in on your armpits in the morning or at night. It works well, but also leaves powder on things so I wouldn't reccommend this method if you are going to be wearing a dark colored top where the powder might rub off and leave you a bit streaky.

  

I still have some leftover old deoderant that I'm trying to work my way through- so the transition isn't complete yet, but after reading about what types of things are in deoderants really made me wonder why people would put such terrible things in products that we use on our skin!

  

Hand Soap:

  

There are recipes out there to make your own soaps, however I don't want to spend time concocting things and making a mess, so I usually go to the store for these. My favorite soaps are:

  

1. Nature's Gate Pomegranate Sunflower liquid hand soap. It smells awesome and is super moisturizing. I find it at Fred Meyer, but I've seen that many stores in the area carry Nature's Gate brand products.

2. Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soaps- I've written about these soaps before and I LOVE THEM. They do tend to dry my skin out a bit, but if you have a good lotion or moisturizer you should be ok. This soap comes in so many scents which is great because you can find exactly what you like. I love the Almond, Lavender and Rose scents.

  

Face Soap:

  

I never thought I'd say this, but I've gone SOAPLESS. A few of my friends have done this and I was really hesitant to try it since I have this crazy combination skin since hitting my mid-twenties. I've been using expensive face soaps for the past few years to try to combat my t-zone issues and I go through cycles of victory against it and then sorely losing. Very frustrating.

Essentially for cleansing your face using this soapless method you just need a few items:

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2. Castor Oil
3. Tea Tree oil or any other essential oil you like.

Here is the recipe I use:

• 3 Parts Castor Oil
• 1 Part Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• couple drops of Tea Tree Oil

I just put all of the ingredients in a little travel sized squirt-top bottle and shake it up. If you have drier skin you can change the EVOO/Castor Oil Ratio to 2 to 2 or you can also use a different carrier oil instead of Castor Oil, like Jojoba or Sweet Almond Oil.

To Use:

After you've mixed your "face wash" up just squirt a little onto your fingertips and massage onto your face for about a minute. Take a washcloth and run under super hot water and wring out before setting on your face and letting it steam for another minute. Then just gently wipe the oil off of your face with the washcloth, you may need to rinse the cloth and wipe a second time.

It takes less time using this method of cleansing than it did with my 3 step super expensive soap method which dried my skin out and made me flaky while I still had pimples and blotchy spots.

It sounds totally counterintuitive to wash your face with oil, but it works! It has left my skin feeling ultra smooth and soft and, strangely enough it doesn't make me break out. My skin doesn't feel tight, but it doesn't feel greasy or oily either.

  

In addition to this, every few days I take a cotton ball after I wash my face and dab on a little bit of Witch Hazel over my t-zone to help dry up the little blemishes I have. I have noticed that the amount of large pimples on my face has decreased and the only skin issues I'm dealing with are the leftover pimples that were there before I started using this method.

There are commercially made natural face soaps, but since this recipe is so simple and easy to use/make I figure why buy it if I already have the ingredients?

So there are few of the natural products and homemade products that I have been using and have mostly found success. I hope you find the info helpful if you are looking for alternative products are wondering what it's like to use some of these products.

My next transitions will be hair products... scary. I LOVE good smelling clean hair so I'm super nervous about going 'poo less. I'll definitely write my findings for those of you who are curious.