Extreme Clean

Yesterday was a long day. I started in the morning making some liquid soap. I just got Making Natural Liquid Soaps by Catherine Failor in the mail and decided to make a universal castile soap. It takes 3 hours to get the paste done. I decided to use my crock pot rather than a double boiler. Unfortunately, the crock pot is not extremely large and there was not a lot of room to stir. My arm was insanely tired by the end of this experiment but the resulting paste yielded 2 gallons of liquid soap. They are currently lined up on my dining room table like beautiful jars of jello to sequester for a week or two.

In addition to making liquid soap, I promised the girls we would have Spa Day. I had received another new book, Organic Body Care Recipes. It is loaded with fun lotions, potions, and scrubs. We made some mud masks and walked around for 20 minutes with our faces drying and cracking. We followed up with a vinegar/lemon astringent and some homemade lotion. The results were fabulous and my 10 year old claimed her skin had never looked so good. I guess you don't need a good detergent to get your skin squeaky clean. Maybe we don't even want our skin to be squeaky clean.

I made the decision to use gentler cleaning products in my home. It was a change in mindset at first. I couldn't remember what to use where and had to repeatedly consult my Clean House, Clean Planet book. Over the last couple years, I have transitioned to knowing just the right product for every circumstance, even dog vomit. I do not own a jug of bleach. I don't even venture down the cleaning product aisle at the grocery store. I am not tempted by the newest, most fabulous cleaning fad to come down the line. I used to buy them all with their wands and cloths and promises. I know better now. Why didn't I change my personal care first? Maybe I needed to test my natural cleaning products on something less personal first. If my house could take it, then maybe it would be ok for me. If my house didn't smell or turn green, then maybe I wouldn't either.

I have a friend that is trying the "no poo" experiment. Basically, you give up shampoo in favor of baking soda and vinegar. The result is supposed to be fabulous for sad, thin, lifeless hair. The point is to get your natural oils back rather than the mineral oil we get from conditioners. Another friend has given up industrialized soaps in favor of some liquid Dr. Bronners in the shower. Of course, I have given up purchased soaps in favor of my own. My husband said there were so many bars in the shower he didn't know which one to use. My daughter used face soap for her entire body because she didn't know it was face soap. I also just started using the Oil Cleansing Method on my face. So far my skin looks and feels much better. I will continue and keep updating.

An update on the homemade laundry soap...
I used it to wash the nasty dog bed and it did an amazing job. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested. 2 bars soap, 2 C borax, 2 C washing soda, 1/2 C oxyclean Grate soap and then put everything in the food processor and give it a few pulses. Use 2 tbsp. for a front loader or 4 tbsp. for a top loader. I cannot advocate using it in a front loader in light of what my appliance repairman father said, but I can say that it does work to clean really well.