Catching Up

Hello, readers....if I still have any.  I mostly took the summer off from writing because it's hard to write with two little ones around and by the time the evening rolls around, I'm much too tired to do anything other than zone out.  On the rare night I'm left with some energy, I'm trying to use it by furthering my and my sister's little Etsy shop. 

But now the semester has started and so I can blog again!  (Don't tell my boss)

So I thought I'd do a little run down on where I stand with all my homemade crap...I mean, stuff. 

Shampoo: No 'poo did not work for me.  I tried the baking soda and vinegar and my scalp was not happy.  So I tried a castile based shampoo and my scalp still was not happy.  I've been back to regular shampoo for a while now, but I think I want to give the natural stuff another try.  Plus I've chopped all my hair off, so I'm curious to see if that effects how my hair and scalp react to a natural shampoo routine. 



Before...as my sister pointed out...I could have cracked a smile.

After...all smiles!

Toothpaste: This one was still a work in progress when we started remodeling the bathroom.  As a result of the remodel, I was lucky if I could find my toothbrush much less make and store all natural toothpaste.  Now that most of that chaos is behind us, I'm going to try again to finalize a new toothpaste recipe that will keep fluoride and other yuckies out of my mouth. 

Lotions and potions: I'm not big on make-up (I wear a little powder foundation and eye-liner when I go to work, and that's about it), so I haven't worked too hard to find or make alternatives to conventional make-up.  And while I did make a body butter that I liked, it got shoved aside during the bathroom remodel and as a result, I didn't really use it.  But my super awesome mother-in-law made me several body butters and sugar scrubs and I flipping love them and use them daily!

Oil Cleansing Method: I haven't been doing this because I was too lazy to wash my face at night.  I bought some African black soap and I use that to wash my face in the morning, but I have been using the lemon body scrub that my mother-in-law made me nightly.  So I have been using a natural, homemade product on my face!

So the bottom line is, I kind of suck at follow through.  I have a tendency to start strong and then let things slide as life settles in.  But I'm hoping that getting back to work will give me a little more structure in my schedule and that will allow me to get back on track with these things!

I have been doing a stellar job on canning and preserving the summer harvest, but I'll leave that for another post!