Adventures in DIY Personal Products

Some fun facts I've learned off of Facebook memes recently:

Parabens are chemicals that serve as preservatives in antiperspirants, cosmetics, & sun lotions.  99% of breast cancer tissue contained this everyday chemical.  Scientific research has shown that most breast cancers develop in the upper-outer quadrant of the breast.  And it just so happens that area is closest to the lymph nodes exposed to antiperspirants.

26 seconds is all it takes for the chemicals in your personal care products to enter your bloodstream.

These facts look much more dramatic in their original meme form, but as I'm not into copyright infringement, I won't post them here.  But suffice to say that the Internet in general, and Facebook in particular, is full of factoids like this, depending on where you look.

The more I learn, the more I really want to venture into making my own personal care products, as I vowed to do sometime back around the beginning of the year.  (Of course, I also vowed to start blogging more, and we can all see how well that has turned out so far...)

Why yes, that bottle of baby wash does, in fact, have a mustache.

I actually have made a few things though!  I made Little Bug some baby wash using a recipe from Heather Dessinger's DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.  I love how it smells (so clean, with just a hint of sweet orange), and it literally leaves his skin squeaky clean.  I only wash his hair about once per week anyway, unless it gets food or something gross in it, and I use the wash on his skin once every two or three days, depending on whether or not he needs it (most of the time a good soak gets any accumulated dirt off just fine).  The only real adjustment we've had to make to our bath routine is that I have to be extra careful when I rinse it out of his hair, as it's not "tear free" as the Aveeno baby wash we used to use.

I've made myself face wash and toner, also from DIY Organic Beauty Recipes.  Both make my face feel clean and balanced and wonderful.  Next on the list is her recipe for tooth powder, which I will make once my current tube of Tom's of Maine runs out.  And then deodorant; I am planning to try a recipe posted by the lovely and talented Mrs. H.

Some time ago, I actually made up a batch of homemade laundry detergent, and I haven't looked back since.  I use it for everything and it seems to work wonderfully.

Soap, soap, soap, soap...

And this desire to make my own is slowly spilling over into all kinds of other areas too.  A few weeks ago I started a bottle of vanilla extract.  And after seeing a few other memes up on Facebook and reading this article, I now have a glass on my windowsill with green onion root tips in it, which I'm hoping will grow into new plants.  I have some other plans floating around in my head; I'll just have to see where this takes me!

Obligatory cute picture of Little Bug.