Using Lemon for Deodorant

Of all the personal care products that I've switched out for organic, all natural or otherwise inert options, antiperspirant/deodorant is the one product that I just can't make the switch.

I've tried countless natural deodorants (they didn't really work or irritated my skin), made my own (definitely irritated my skin) and always ended up back with the nasty aluminum based antiperspirant. It was the only thing that kept the stink at bay. Unfortunately, it also seemed that the more I used it, the more I relied on it to combat the stank.

I've been reading a lot lately about the human skin microbiome and how, with all this washing and scrubbing and antibacterialing, we've completely offset the balance in our skin. The "good" bacteria gets disturbed, allowing the "bad" bacteria to run amok. For the last month, I've only used soap on the more critical areas - pits and bits. Not only does this keep my skin from drying out, but I'm hoping it is also allowing my skin bacteria to return to its preferred external homeostatis. I'll write more about this later (I'm doing another experiment there), but back to the pits.

Anyway, a reader on Facebook (thanks Brenda!) recommended using lemon slices as deodorant and there seem to be many people it's worked well for. It's one of the few things I haven't yet tried. Rubbing alcohol or vodka is the only other one I haven't tried, but I'm afraid they're too drying and it seems like they would really wallop skin bacteria in a bad way. However, maybe that's what's needed. But, I digress.

So, starting today, I'm going to use lemon slices for deodorant for a week and will report back and let you know how it's going. I'm giving it a week mainly because I suspect there will be some residual benefit of the commercial antiperspirant for at least a few days. Hopefully, if it fails, peak stink won't occur until the weekend, when I'm not at work.

What's your favorite non-commercial (non-antiperspirant) method to not repel the rest of humanity?

Nontoxic wrinkle cream

Looking for a natural wrinkle cream that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or an eyebrow? Well, I think I've finally found my fountain of youth. In a rather haphazard way.

I decided, oh about ten years ago, that I should probably start really taking care of my facial skin to help ward off signs of premature aging. I dutifully began a regimen of department store brand cleansers, moisturizers, anti-aging lotions, sunscreens, scrubs and the whole ball of wax. At around 30, I figured that my head start would help me out tremendously and I'd be looking fresh as a daisy well into my 60s.

Since then, I had dropped some of the products and really just stuck with moisturizers, anti-aging lotions and microdermabrasion type products with a healthy dollop of sunscreens. I mostly stuck with Estee Lauder products and even branched out to La Mer for a while, which was quite lovely.

Over the last three years, I noticed a considerable aging of the skin around my eyes with a lot more dark circles, which I contributed to the immense amount of stress in my life and so I quit some of the anti-aging products and started using a Retinol SA based product on the areas that were showing more wear and tear. I have to admit, I saw some extremely amazing results - my skin looked years younger. But, I still saw wrinkles around my eyes that weren't there before and just chalked it up to aging.

Then, early this year, a few things happened. I started having an allergic reaction to a product I received for review and the Retinol really aggravated it. So, I stopped all commercial, chemically-laden products cold turkey and switched entirely over to nontoxic products to solve the problems I was having. Which meant that I was relying solely on coconut oil (from my soap making and beauty product stock) as my moisturizer.

I've been using coconut oil morning and night as an all over facial moisturizer, particularly heavily around my eyes since mid-January. In addition, I got rid of all my toxic makeup and switched over to Gabriel cosmetics. I've noticed two things.

The first is that the circles under my eyes have lessened quite a bit. I'll chalk this up to less irritation and probable allergic reaction to the chemicals I've been exposing my facial skin to over the years. It certainly isn't because I'm getting more sleep since I've been getting a lot less lately.

The second thing I've noticed, and I honestly can't really believe this myself, is that the wrinkles around my eyes have all but disappeared. Seriously. I've been trying to figure out what the deal is, but my theory is that my skin is recovering from the toxic chemical burden which has halted the aging, and the coconut oil is providing enough moisture and plumping to make the wrinkles that I do have less visible. From what I've been reading, coconut oil helps in preventing premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its antioxidant properties.

For what it's worth, I'm sold. It's been incredibly effective for me and it's super cheap and, most importantly, it's completely nontoxic. I don't have to worry about a hodgepodge of chemicals being slathered on my skin. Plus, I use it for pretty much everything now. Moisturizer, makeup remover, deodorant base, soap and any skin treatment I'm experimenting with.

I can't say that others will have the same results as I have, but it's worth a try. I never would have gone this route if I hadn't had a reaction to a product that I couldn't pin down and had to stop using everything potentially toxic that touched my skin.

For those of you who are worried that coconut oil will cause your skin to break out or be too greasy, well, let me tell you I have combination skin which is oily in spots and I haven't had an increase in acne. The coconut oil goes on oily, but is immediately absorbed into the skin. That said, I haven't tried the type of coconut oil that is found in the grocery store, just the kind for soap making, so I don't know if there's a difference.

Image courtesy of bizior.

Homemade hair coloring

I got the most recent copy of our natural food market's newsletter in the mail yesterday, and it contained some recipes for natural skin and hair care. I thought I'd share the natural hair coloring recipes in case you would like to try them yourself!

If you want lighter hair:
Skip the uber expensive (and toxic!) highlights at a salon and give this homemade lightener for light hair a whirl by mixing equal parts rhubarb stalks and honey steeped in three parts of white wine. After steeping for a few hours, strain and apply it to your hair. That is, if you haven't sipped it all away while you are waiting. Leave it in until your hair is dry and then rinse out.

If you want darker hair:
If you are looking for a harmless hair darkener, look no further than your root cellar. Pare a dozen potatoes, cover them with cold water in a pot and let them boil until soft and strain. When the liquid is cool, apply it to your hair. Leave it in until your hair is dry and then rinse out. Watch out for husbands trying to apply sour cream and chives to your head during the drying time.

If you want reddish highlights:
To add reddish highlights to your luscious locks, mix 1/2 cup beet juice with 1/2 cup carrot juice and pour over damp hair. Be careful where you do this as you don't want your house to look like a crime scene. Or a DivaCup explosion. Leave the mixture in your hair for an hour before rinsing out.

Caveat: I haven't tried any of these, so if you do (or already have), please report back here and let us know how it goes!

Photo credit: Pocket Farmer

Badger love

I've been having this weird allergy to lip balms and lipsticks going on three years now. I had been using conventional products for lipstick (which I rarely wear) and natural lip balms back when this all started. The first month when it started my lips felt like they were tingly and numb and then peeled. And peeled and peeled. For about a month.

I switched from one natural product to the next, never quite figuring out what the ingredient in them that was causing the problem. I thought maybe it was the lanolin or maybe the SPF or some natural preservative like vitamin E. I finally got desperate and started using petroleum jelly and that's all that has successfully worked for me for the past three years.

Anytime I would try my luck and wear an old lipstick, just for one night, the tingling would begin again. If I used it longer than once, my lips would peel for weeks. I eventually did find one tinted lip gloss that worked for me, but it had questionable ingredients in it and I didn't like the fact that the two things that worked for me were petroleum oil based.

A while back, a reader emailed me saying that, she too, was experiencing the exact same problem and that petroleum jelly was the only product she could use on her lips or she'd have the same reaction. At this point, I knew there was something going on in some of these products, but still couldn't figure out what it was.

About two months ago, I spied another product and thought I'd give it a whirl. It is Badger Organic Cocoa Butter Lip Balm. And, by gum, it works and doesn't make my lips swell up and peel. I've been using it daily and have branched out to a number of the different "flavors" and haven't had any problems whatsoever. I love the Vanilla Bean (it smells like cookie dough), the Creamy Cocoa and the Mocha Cocoa. All of them rock.

The best part is the ingredient list:

*Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
*Organic Cocoa Butter
*Organic Golden Yellow Beeswax
*Organic Castor Bean Oil
*Extract of Organic Aloe Vera
*CO2 Extracts of Rosehip and Organic Seabuckthorn Berry

So, if you are looking for an organic, natural lip balm or are having problems with allergies and swollen, tingling, peeling lips, give the Badger a try!

The usual small print thanks to the FTC: I am in no way compensated for this review, nor have I been in contact with this company. This review represents my own experiences and I have, in no way, been coerced (or, shall we say, badgered?) by large, midsized or small badgers into writing this review.

Shampoo bar recipe

I have to tell you guys something. I've been keeping it a secret, more or less, for about six weeks now. Okay, admittedly, it's not very exciting, but I wanted to let you know that I stopped using shampoo and switched over to using shampoo bars instead.

I switched out my shampoo mostly in an effort to reduce my plastic consumption, but also to avoid some of the toxic chemicals in the salon shampoos I've been using. Even the Aveda stuff I have has a few nasty things in them and want to avoid.

I ran across a new shampoo bar in my local grocery store, sold by Camamu out of Portland. I later saw that it was sold at my local co-op in a number of different kinds. I've tried both the Rosemary and Laranja bars and liked them a lot. The Laranja works better for my hair since it's blondish. My husband has been using the Rosemary (he has black hair) and has been totally loving it as well.

It took about a week after using it for my hair to feel decent, mostly because I think it was adjusting to not being stripped and having all those silicones getting deposited as with the standard shampoo. My hair looked fine, not greasy or anything, it just kind of felt a little weird. But, I was also trying to switch out a few things at once so I'm sure that had something to do with it as well.

Anyway, now I just use a shampoo bar, a little Aveda conditioner (without any creepy parabens and whatnot) and that's it. One thing I've noticed is that my hair is super shiny. Like fake, hair commercial shiny. My hair has never been shiny, probably because of the shampoo film that's been coating it all these years.

About two weeks into my shampoo bar adventure I was in love and decided that I wanted to try to make my own. So, after extensive research and going through my soap making stock, I settled on my own recipe. Below is the basic recipe, I'll tell you how to customize it for your hair color at the end.

Oh, and one more thing, this is a cold process soap. Please follow all the basics for making this type of soap. In other words, be careful with the lye - I'm not responsible for soap making calamities by posting this recipe online. If you don't have the right fats, feel free to switch them out (use an online lye calculator to adjust the lye!), just make sure to leave in the castor and jojoba oils. That's what makes this a shampoo bar and not a body soap.

Basic Shampoo Bar Recipe
4 ounces castor oil
2 ounces jojoba oil
4 ounces sunflower oil

3 ounces palm oil
1 ounce cocoa butter
8 ounces coconut oil

8 ounces distilled water
3 ounces lye

1/2 to 1 ounce essential oils at trace

Cut into bars when solid. When I made it, this took about 4 days, but check frequently.

Let the bars cure, covered by a towel, for 4 weeks.

Lemon Chamomile Shampoo Bar
(for blonde hair)

I like to call this one, California Sunshine Shampoo Bar. Follow the above recipe except, instead of the distilled water, steep a half cup or so of chamomile tea herbs in 12 ounces of boiling distilled water and strain well. Measure out 8 ounces and use this for your water.

At trace, add in 1 ounce of lemon essential oil or use a mix of citrus essential oils. I used a combination of lemon, orange, lemongrass and bergamot.

Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar
(for dark hair)

Follow the above recipe except, instead of the distilled water, steep a half cup or so of chopped rosemary in 12 ounces of boiling distilled water and strain well. Measure out 8 ounces and use this for your water.

At trace, add in rosemary and mint essential oils.

Affiliate links

Here are some great molds that are the perfect size for shampoo bars, plus they are easy to pop out once they are set! These are the ones I use:

Mose Cafolo 2 piece silicone molds round shape - these feel really nice in your hand

Large silicone mold - if you are looking for something bigger and more soap bar shaped

Sakola 2 pack honeycomb silicone mold - if you are looking for a more fun shape!

Nontoxic mineral makeup giveaway

I've been really disappointed in trying to find a decent line of makeup that doesn't have parabens, toxins and other nasties in it. I've also been really disappointed by all the mineral makeup and organic makeup lines that purport themselves to being all-natural and good for you.

Yet, when you look up their ingredient lists they are just as nasty and sometimes worse than drugstore brands like Cover Girl and Revlon. Take, for example, Physicians Formula Organic blush and bronzers. If you look them up on Skin Deep they rank not so fairly. Same story with popular mineral lines who claim they are good for you, but use the same preservatives.

Another issue with mineral makeups is how they are processed. You will want to avoid mineral nanoparticles. That smooth coverage is due in part to pulverizing or "micronizing" the minerals into microscopic or even nanoparticle size.

"Research shows that when some molecules are dramatically reduced in size to the level of a nanoparticle, they can have very different and very toxic properties than that same molecule would have in its conventional size," says Jane Houlihan, research director of The Environmental Working Group.

"Minerals like zinc and titanium are safe when applied to healthy skin but in a micronized nanoparticle form, there remains a concern, particularly when applied to damaged skin, or when inhaled," says Houlihan.

In other words, let the buyer beware even if it says "organic" or "mineral" on the packaging, there may be other chemicals or inherent issues lurking within.

It is by happenstance that I noticed the makeup that is carried at my local co-op. It is a local company called, Gabriel Cosmetics, Inc., and as soon as I got home I looked up the ingredients in their products on their website. I really couldn't find anything wrong with their ingredient line-up and went back to the co-op to buy some to try out. So far, I've been extremely impressed.

In fact, I'm so excited about my discovery that I would like to share it with you guys. So, I'm offering a $50 giveaway of Gabriel products (either the Color or Zuzu Luxe lines). If you would like to enter this giveaway, add your name to the comments of this post and tell me what makeup you currently use. You have until midnight PST Saturday, March 20th, to enter.

Good luck!

Related books:
Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry
Toxic Beauty: How Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Endanger Your Health

Dirty Hippie Deodorant

After alternating for the last few years between Ban Roll-On (for days I know are going to be stinky and stressful) and The Rock, I've finally succumbed to the allure of homemade deodorant. There are quite a few recipes online for making your own.

Some people use straight up baking soda and have found that it's a little irritating, so they cut it with cornstarch. Other people have found success by mixing equal amounts of baking soda, cornstarch and coconut oil to make it into more like a deodorant bar.

I liked the recipe I saw on Angry Chicken (us chickens have to stick together), except I didn't have shea butter so I fiddled around a bit with the recipe to make a deodorant bar that is more like what you get from the store.

Here's what I ended up using:

2 T coconut oil
1.5 T cocoa butter
2 T baking soda
2 T corn starch
Sandalwood essential oil

Let me first point out that most sandalwood essential oil isn't sustainable. But, the stuff I have is really old and it gives the deodorant a nice hippie feel to it. Sandalwood is supposed to be antimicrobial, for whatever that is worth, so if you have some use it, but don't go out of your way to get it. The cocoa butter kind of overpowers any smell in there, so if you don't like that make sure you buy deodorized cocoa butter if the smell is too strong.

Anyway, I melted the oils in the microwave, added in the dry ingredients, mixed well and added in the essential oil. You can pour the cooled, but still liquid deodorant into a 2.5 oz deodorant plastic applicator for easy application and put in the fridge to harden. Make sure the applicator is the kind with the "screw" in the middle of it. If you don't have an old applicator, you can pour it into a small wide mouth canning jar or other small lidded container and put it in the fridge to solidify.

If you want to read about the potential dangers of commercial antiperspirants and deodorants, check out this post, The Dangers of Deodorant.

I know what you all are wondering: sure it looks easy enough to make, but does it work? Well, I've used this on the day I got my legs sugared at the local beauty academy (totally worth the $10, but man they sucked) and came out smelling okay in spite of the profuse sweating going on in there.

I also used this deodorant when I got my nose pierced the other day which was, needless to say, quite nerve-wracking and lo and behold, no stink! So, if I can make it through those sorts of events that would normally require a Ban Roll-On kind of day, then I'm sure it will work fine on your average day's stress and sweating.

Ridding the chains of beauty

With all the stuff I talk about removing from our home that is either unsustainable or not organic or whatever, some of the last things I've been dragging my feet on getting rid of or replacing has been makeup, moisturizers, anti-aging things and the like.

Well, I've been doing some research for a new project I'm working on and finally felt compelled to start cleaning the junk out of my trunks. I hate throwing this stuff out because not only is it expensive (some of it crazy expensive), I don't have a replacement for some things, and I can't really do anything with it to get rid of it, so in the garbage it goes. I hate throwing it into the waste stream, but I really don't want to be absorbing any more phthalates, parabens, nanoparticles and other potential toxins.

But this first part is baby steps for me. Now, let me be clear. I haven't completely gotten rid of all of it yet. I'm considering this to be a 5 step program. This is the stuff that I've replaced with other products that are relatively inert or that I don't use. I'm still using some things that are questionable, but those will fall into the rest of my step program.

I must admit that I've found this to be the hardest chain to let go of. Sure, I'll do all manner of nutty things like give up toilet paper and standard menstrual products. Hell, I'll even pee on my plants for nitrogen. But, this one? It's been difficult. And, to admit things further, I've really only been more compelled lately because I've been having more and more allergic reactions to products I'm using. And this includes even the organic stuff (more on that later).

But, I'm so unforgivably indoctrinated by the beauty industry that I've been absorbing for the last thirty years that it's hard to give up the promises, I mean, products, that are out there. The promise to look beautiful. The temptation to turn back the clock. The packaging and glory that comes with the goods. I know a lot of you don't care about this and probably think I'm nuts for giving a crap, but it's important to me for whatever reason. Possibly because looks do matter, no matter what people like to think.

So, this is step one in ridding myself from the chains of conventional beauty products. I won't be completely forgoing beauty products altogether, but I'll be looking for products that are sustainably produced, organic if possible, and as non-toxic as available, referencing the Environmental Working Group (EWG) cosmetic safety database as much as possible. Expect to hear more about this later. In fact, I'll tell you more about this project as I get a little further into it.

Easy peasy makeup remover

I've been trying out all sorts of new stuff this last week, the most recent using coconut oil as an eye makeup remover. And, let me tell you! It's super.... well, you might as well read my review over on Green Goddess Dressing instead of me repeating myself here.

Let me just tell you this: the average person uses as many as 25 personal care products, exposing themselves to upwards of 100 different chemicals before breakfast. So, since the FDA does not test the chemicals in any cosmetic product before it hits store shelves and is not authorized to require recalls of cosmetics that are found to contain toxins, why not give the natural alternative a whirl?

Clean your face with honey

As a follow-up to yesterday's discussion on eco friendly facial cleansers, I gave washing my face with honey a try last night. I also went to town and used coconut oil as a facial moisturizer.

Sound crazy? Go read my report over on Green Goddess Dressing.

Preventing ingrown hairs naturally

If you shave, wax or otherwise remove hair from your body and suffer from bumps, ingrown hairs and the like, it can be extremely annoying. Not to mention painful and very unsightly. There are a number of products on the market that purportedly help prevent or reduce skin irritation and ingrown hairs but they tend to be expensive. They work fairly well but the cost can be prohibitive. If you are African American or have very curly hair, ingrown hairs can be a considerable headache.

I've just started using Whish Flawless Ingrown Hair Serum, but at $22.50 for 1.1 ounces, unless it works miraculously I'm not sure it's a habit I can keep up. Another very popular product is called Tend Skin which is cheaper at $20 for 4 ounces, but many find it to be too harsh.

So, what's a bumpy girl (or boy) to do? Well, I found a recipe for making your own version of Tend Skin, which consists basically of Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, witch hazel, purified water and uncoated aspirin, which are similar to the main ingredients in Tend Skin. It sounds like you can skip the witch hazel and water in the mixture, if you want to keep it simple. The beauty of making it yourself is that if you find the original formula to be too harsh, you can dilute it by reducing the alcohol and/or aspirin and increasing the water.

Anyway, the cost is considerably less to make it yourself so it's definitely worth a try even if it doesn't work out for you. Here's the basic recipe:

5 oz Isopropyl alcohol
15 uncoated aspirin

Add the ingredients to a squeeze bottle and shake to mix. You'll need to shake before use as some settling may occur. Apply with a cotton pad or cloth after shaving or showering or however often is needed. And, remember to exfoliate several times a week and moisturize to help prevent ingrowns.

Related posts:
Sustainable hair removal
Homemade clay mask
Hand rescue cream