Thanks to a friend for reminding me to write a blog post about my experiences with simple natural personal care products. Hopefully it can inspire more people to turn to age old products from nature and save yourself and the planet from excessive chemical substances that are in every single one of today’s personal care products.
I got and read the book Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself – the link has Google Preview button if you are interested to check it out. The book contains personal care recipes based on 5 simple ingredients: baking soda, lemon, olive oil, salt and white vinegar. I replaced 90% of my store bought personal care products with these recipes which makes for lighter travel, happier wallet, healthier me and the planet.
The stuff I use:
- Toothpaste – baking soda.
- Facewash – baking soda.
- Deodorant – 50/50 of white vinegar & water. If it stops working after a few weeks like it did for me you can always use… baking soda.
- Moisturiser – I tried olive oil but found it created an occasional pimple. Perhaps because I don’t heed the book advise of “very little” too well. I have since discovered that sesame oil is a much better substitute as it is anti fungal and anti bacterial in addition to being a natural moisturiser. So now using that as a moisturiser instead of olive oil and have never had any issues. Make sure you verify the source and get it pure, I got Ayurveda sesame oil from these guys http://www.youthingstrategies.com recommended by a raw food restaurateur.
- Astringent – 50/50 white vinegar and water.
- Hair serum to smooth down fly away hairs – olive/sesame oil. The book recommends to use it on the ends to moisturise but a hair dresser has told me that oil just sits on the surface of hair and that a proper leave in conditioner penetrates and nourishes and hence is better for that purpose.
- Lip gloss – olive/sesame oil.
- Scrub – the book recommends salt/olive oil mixture but I have been a user of natural loofah for years now and that is enough of a scrub for me.
- Stain remover – baking soda.
- I have tried using baking soda as shampoo per book’s recommendation but can not get over the emotional need to have the stuff lather up to feel that my hair is cleaned so for now sticking with shampoo and conditioner for hair.
- Acne treatment – straight white vinegar for a surface wipe and salt/water solution for a spot disinfectant and dry out.
Make up store Sephora is a great source of empty cosmetics containers that I use to store my products.
At first my skin got better but then returned it its usual slight acne condition. I did cave in and bought an Avena skin care set after seeing it in homes of many different people and hearing about its “nature based” approach. My skin did not get any better, so after the stuff runs out I am going back to my REAL natural products.