DIY Shampoo!

I posted on Facebook yesterday about how amazed I was with how great my homemade shampoo worked!

Some people asked how I made it, so here we go:

First, I used some of the soap I've been making. It came out too soft to use as bar soap (too much oil!), so I melted it down, mixed it with water and let it sit over night. After a good stir I had liquid soap! This variety was made with olive oil and veggie shortening and is lemon scented, infused with green tea leaves.

You will need:

Homemade liquid soap (keep in mind a store-bought soap doesn't have the awesome naturalness of homemade kind, nor does it contain the glycerin you need for this to work)

Olive Oil

Coconut Milk
Honey
Guar Gum
Any Essential Oils for smelliness :)
Container

I took about 100 mL of the liquid soap and mixed it in with 1/4 cup of coconut milk, a bit more than 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of honey that my sister's boyfriend sent us from Kentucky (I'm sure any honey will work).

I added guar gum (you can buy it on Amazon) to thicken, but keep in mind this won't be as thick as your store-bought shampoo.

I took my immersion blender (bought it at Walmart for $20) and blended it all and put it into an empty fizzy water bottle. You could use a cute container of some sort if you'd rather, but I figured this worked great for me.

Because this is more liquidy, I used more of it than I would my Head and Shoulders (aren't I fancy?). It doesn't bubble and lather as much, but it is getting your hair clean.

One of the biggest tips is storage: you can't keep this in the shower or it will go bad! It needs cool, dark conditions, so either under the sink or in the fridge for the longest keep. I wouldn't suggest making more than you would use in about two weeks. I heard adding Vitamin E can help it stay longer, so you could try that too.

I used my regular conditioner (Herbal Essences Coconut and Orchid) afterward and my hair kept great for 3 days! I am working on homemade conditioner, so stay tuned.

Just a note on hair type: I have shoulder-length, thick, wavy, darkish hair. I am convincing my sister Emily to try the recipe too (she won't let me test on the cat - just kidding! I wouldn't do that).  I can't say how this will work if you have curly, straight, thin, lighter, etc. hair. Regardless, if you'd like to test some I can provide you with a little bit and you can see if you like it!

What!?! Another blog attempt

So this isn't the first and likely won't be the last time I start a blog with good intentions of keeping it up. I'd like to say I'm turning a new leaf, but I won't get anyone's hopes up and promise I will be successful at updating this every day. But dear Tory Cooney encouraged me that as long as I'm enjoying crazy homesteading exploits, I should keep a project journal. Since she is awesome, I'll give it another go.

Today's Project:

Summery Lemony Homemade Candle

Did you know you can make candles with Crisco? Yep. It's true. In fact, a 6 lb. container should burn non-stop for 45 days (for all you doomsday-preppers out there). But if you aren't so concerned with prepping and would rather just have a nice summery candle in a mason jar, here are my not-so-specific tricks of the trade.

You will need:
1 mason jar (or any other glass container - but seriously, 12 mason jars for less than $9 at Walmart makes them very worth it) (Also, don't use plastic)
Enough Crisco to fill the jar
Old crayons (I may or may not have borrowed some from Sunday School with the intention of replacing them with nice, new crayons)

Lemon essential oil (Or, for a cheaper version, steep lemon peels in olive oil for a few days in the sunshine - Thank you pilgrim life for the art of making smelly oils)

A crock pot or double boiler

Wicks (buy them on Amazon, or at a craft store)

Let's begin!

I'm not sure if I should blame the pilgrim in me or my laziness, but I'm not one for precise measurements (unless, of course, I'm using lye, because I might die). I just scooped the Crisco into my crock pot until I felt like I had enough. I wanted to do different layers of yellow shades, so I just did a little at a time (However, the last two were more or less the same color, gotta fix that next time).

While that melts, take a crayon and use a knife to shave off as much colorant as you want. This is all up to personal preference, but do remember that it will be lighter than it looks in the end because hard Crisco is white.

Once everything is all melted, pour some lemony goodness into it (the essential oil) and then pour the mixture into the mason jar.

HALT!

Did you put the wick in? Now is a good time for that. You can either tape or glue to the wick to the bottom of the jar. Again, I'm not one to be precise, so I just had the wick suspended from a random piece of wood I found in the basement. The oil doesn't harden immediately, so you have plenty of time to adjust the wick as you need.

If you want a layered look, you have to let each layer harden before adding the next layer. The time for the Crisco to melt takes about as long as it takes for a smaller layer of Crisco to harden. My mother suggested I measure out the colorant to make sure each layer is different (seems so difficult, haha, just teasing).

In the end, it looks like this (if you fail with the layers)! Also, here is a pine-scented candle I made from some left overs of an old candle and Crisco - the specks are green tea leaves.

So, you could spend the time to make these, or if you want one, just let me know and for a small fee ($5-7 depending on the scent) I will create you your very own! :)