Monday, March 9, 2009

In the Kitchen

I've spiced up my kitchen with a couple of non-edible concoctions. 

Deodorant and laundry detergent. 

I've been wanting to make my own deodorant for a long time, but it takes me forever to go through a stick because I only wear deodorant if I am going somewhere. Eww gross, I know. I found the recipe on a blog called Angry Chicken. I love that blog and read it when I need craftiness inspiration. 

3 Tablespoons Shea butter
3 Tablespoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons corn starch
2 Tablespoons cocoa butter
2 Vitamin E oil gel caps (this was omitted because I forgot to pick some up)
Essential Oil

Mix everything together. Put in microwave for 30 sec. Stir. Microwave again until almost melted. Stir. Pour into container of choice and put in fridge until set. 

Next time I might try it without the cocoa butter because I can't stand the smell. I did add some essential oil (lemon, actually...I love lemon), but I didn't want to add too much just in case it didn't agree with my arm pits. I had enough Shea butter to make a total of eight ounces of deodorant. I poured it into two glass four ounce containers. Tomorrow will be my first day so we'll see how it goes. 

I also made laundry detergent tonight. It was so easy and didn't take long at all. The hardest part was finding washing soda and grating an entire bar of soap. The lady's website says nothing on her page can be put anywhere else so I'm just going to link to it. 


Instead of using the recommended soap, I used a whole bar of Dr. Bronner's. I am hoping it works and doesn't get too sudsy. If it doesn't work, I'm not out much money and will try again with something else. Here's the cost breakdown:

Washing soda (Hy Vee was the only place around me that carried this): $3.19 
Borax: We already had a box, but I think it's $3-5 
Soap: Dr. B's was $4

The cost of all of the ingredients was still cheaper than a big thing of HE detergent. I have enough washing soda and borax to make several batches so the only thing I need to keep buying is soap. I have read a lot of good things about homemade detergents and am hoping it works. I will continue to use regular detergent on our cloth diapers, but I use so little detergent for them that what I have left should last a very long time.

2 comments:

Becky said...

I am interested in the results of these projects (something I don't feel I can take on while in Korea b/c I don't know where to get stuff!). I will put this on my mental list of stuff to do when we are back in the US (probably next year).

Anonymous said...

I am always looking for more information on how to make healthy products for use at home instead of buying chemical-laden commercial products. Good info!