Homemade Deodorant (?!?)

You might say I've gone full-on crunchy granola mom. There was about a month where I tried the no-poo movement (skipping shampoo and letting my hair go au naturel) and the time I tried oil pulling. Most recently, I decided to make my own deodorant using some of my essential oils and other products I had in my cabinet. I'm loving it! Don't be scared--it's not near as time consuming as it sounds. It took less time to make my own deodorant, than it would have taken to go to the store and buy some. Seriously!

I found my base recipe via Pinterest, because let's be honest, that's where you find everything these days. I tweaked it just a bit to my fragrance and consistency preference.  There was mention of a "transition period" in which your body would need to adjust to using a natural deodorant (read: you're gonna stink.) So, of course, I decided to try it out in July in Florida! I was expecting to be pretty potent, but I haven't had an issue AT ALL. It's not near as solid as my typical deodorant, but I'm okay with that--I just dab it on. 

In typical new-blogger fashion, I forgot to take photos until the process was complete, but I promise it was SUPER easy, y'all. Be sure to save an old deodorant tube. Other than that, here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup baking soda

3 Tbl. unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil (not pictured--another rookie mistake!)

1 - 2 Tbl. beeswax pellets (so much easier to melt than a block!)

*5 drops of Purification (known for it's cleansing properties)

*5 drops of Lavender

*I love the smell of purification and lavender together, but you can adjust to your preference. Be sure to at least include 5 drops of a 'cleansing' oil like purification, tea tree, maybe even manuka which is great for skin, plus one for scent like lavender or lemongrass.

Directions

1. In a double boiler, melt the beeswax and coconut oil together. 

2. Remove from heat and add the rest of your ingredients. Stir until well blended. 

3. Pour into your empty deodorant stick, it will begin to set up quickly!

I had a little extra left and I poured it into an empty mint tin for my mother-in-law to sample--it was perfect! I set mine in the fridge to cool faster--mistake. Though it is fine to do that, don't immediately try to turn the dial and put it on. I was anxious to try it and ended up breaking the dial since it was so hard right out of the fridge! I ended up scraping it out, reheating, and putting it in a different stick. 

I will definitely be making this again!

WTF? What's the Flavor Friday?

You know when you throw something in the trash can, and you just know it's going to smell if you don't immediately take it out? I did that last night. Then I forgot about it. Then, today when I came home from running errands, as soon as I opened the door, I was smacked in the face with the stench of my mistake. I immediately knew I needed to diffuse Purification.

Purification is a blend of Citronella, Lavandin, Lemongrass, Rosemary, Myrtle, and Tea Tree for a scent that's clean, crisp, warm, and a little bit spicy. It's great to diffuse on it's own to knock out bad smells, but can also be diffused with lemon or thieves while cleaning to really amp up the clean scent! I also love putting it on bug bites to take the itch away! I think I'll try a cotton ball soaked in Purification in my husband's hockey bag. Nothing, I repeat NOTHING, smells worse than hockey gear, y'all! What ways do you use Purification?

'Spring' Cleaning

Yes, I know it's 85 degrees and school is out but, technically it's not summer yet, so here's my Spring Cleaning post!

I'm quite the opposite of a hoarder; I throw away everything! When it comes to under my sink, however, there seems to be a plethora of household cleaning products. A product for mirrors, one for the kitchen, one for bathrooms, one for toilets, one for carpets...yada, yada, yada. Insanity! I kept putting off purchasing YL Thieves household cleaner because I didn't want to shell out the twenty bucks but, as I inventoried my sink collection, I realized all those different bottles added up to well over $20.

Since Thieves can be safely used on any surface in your home, and most mixtures only use a single capful, it was a no-brainer to finally order my first bottle. Now as I anxiously await it's arrival, I can't help but wonder what the heck took me so long?! I am SO excited to throw out all the yucky, stinky chemicals under my sink and replace them with a single bottle of plant and mineral-based cleaner. Not to mention, Thieves smells delicious--like being outdoors in the fall delicious. Here's just a few things you can do with Thieves household cleaner (don't forget to use a glass spray bottle when using citrus oils!) What's your favorite way to clean with Thieves?

Oil Organization

Organizing makes me happy--like two glasses of Pinot happy. Yes, THAT happy! So you can imagine my happiness when my love of organization and essential oils collided in an aisle at TJ Maxx. I discovered this adorable little makeup organizer for $7! SEVEN DOLL HAIRS, Y'ALL! The best part? Unlike most lipstick organizers (which perfectly hug 5ml bottles of essential oil) this also has larger cubes for nail polish--which perfectly hug 15ml bottles! [Insert jazz hands emoji.] Just make sure to use these bottle labels so you can quickly locate the oil you need (how colorful and pretty do they look, too?!) What ways to you organize and store your oils?