Admitting the truth about my homemade cleaning products:

For a couple of years now, I've been trying to learn how to make my own cleaning products.  I've written a bit in earlier posts, including my attempts with shampoo, which I finally gave up after I grew tired of having stringy, greasy, limp hair.  Sometimes, it's hard to admit failure.  Instead I refill my shampoo bottles at the co-op and call it good.

I've been making scouring powder for general cleaning, and it works ok, but the texture is strange.  I will keep working on the recipe.  Last summer, I started making my own automatic dish detergent, and it was working as well as my store-bought eco-friendly detergent until a few months ago.  Lately, every load of dishes comes out half clean.  Sometimes, in fact, there are clumps of grit or dirt that seem to be added during the wash.  I don't know where it's coming from!  I'm getting tired of pre-washing and re-washing half of every load of dishes.  I even bought a product for cleaning out all mineral deposits in the washer, and it looks good as new, but the dishes are still not coming out clean.  While I am committed to finding a way around bringing all of the extra containers home and using chemicals, and to saving money, my enthusiasm is waning. I want clean, sparkling dishes.

My liquid dish soap is also less than satisfying.  It works for getting dry or sticky food off, but oil or butter just redistributes.  I'm missing some ingredient that will cut through grease.

In the meantime, I have learned how to make my own lip balm and deodorant, and I've been refilling spent plastic roll-up dispensers.  The lip balm is great, although I still like Burt's Bees best.  My deodorant is a bit sticky.  My husband won't use it because it goes on like soft butter.  I sort of dab it on, rather than smearing. I need to tweak that recipe next time, too.

When I finally find or create recipes that I am happy with, I'll post them, or links to them.  Lip balm is easy, and if you do a search, you can find a recipe to play with.  My helpful hint: I melt everything in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time or on "thaw" setting until it's melted.  Then I whisk it and pour it into containers and it is done.  Most recipes recommend a double-boiler system, but I've done fine with the microwave.

If you have found a recipe for cleaning products that really works for you, please share it!

Experiments in homemade cleaning products

The other day, I played with a shampoo recipe I found in a book.  It called for 1/4 cup herbal tea, 8 oz. liquid castille soap, and 2 tsp. light oil.  I used green tea and mint for the tea portion, added some honey, and I happened to have calendula-infused olive oil (heavier, but infused after all.)  The recipe said to simmer the combination over heat, which I did not do.  This may be the problem.

The shampoo smells great, but it's runny.  I added salt, which has thickened my castille soap products nicely in the past, but it didn't have any effect on this mixture.  I have it in a squirt-bottle, which allows me to apply it directly to my hair.  I was disappointed in my initial shampooing experience.  I felt like I needed shampoo to rinse out my shampoo.  There was a light stickiness while my hair was still wet, which is probably from the honey.

Once my hair was dry, it was fine.  In fact, it felt thicker and more controllable than usual.   I will try heating the mixture now and see if I can thicken it, plus I should add glycerin for moisture retention and easier rinsability and some tea tree oil for extra cleaning power.  I'll report back.  All in all, it was a good first attempt, but it needs some adjusting.

Yesterday, I followed a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent.  This called for a 1-to-1 ratio of citric acid and washing powder, plus essential oils.  That's all.  I had citric acid, which I ordered online to make bath fizzies.  Washing powder can be found in the detergent section at any grocery store, and is useful for many cleaning products.  I added lavender and tea tree oils, which smell clean and fresh.  Both have antiseptic properties - good for cleaning, no?

My first load of dishes came out as clean as when I use any store-bought detergent.  The downside is that, when I went to use the mix this morning, it had stiffened.  I had to bust up the powder with a metal spoon, and it was flying all over the kitchen.  I suppose there is some chemical they add to commercial detergents to maintain the powdery consistency, and I'm hoping to figure out a solution.

Today, I need to make liquid dish soap, because I'm plum out.

"Why are you doing all of this, rather than simply buying it pre-made from a store?"  one might wonder.  Part of it is my stubborn urge for self-sufficiency.  Part is the fun of mixing stuff up, adding nice smells, and seeing what happens (reminds me of being a kid.)  My biggest goal has been to reduce the number of plastic containers we have to recycle or toss out.  Even if we manage to recycle all of our bottles, we send a ton of caps and dispensers to the landfill.  However, I have had to face the fact that all of the ingredients I use come in plastic containers with caps.  Eventually, I hope to find a source that will allow me to refill my containers.

I'll try to keep updating my progress as I play with these recipes and let you know what works and what doesn't.