Consumer Review: My Favorite DIY Organic Body and Household Recipes

It's been 2-3 years now since I shifted to using more organic options in my home and I have tried a wide variety of things and learned a lot. These are my absolute favorites. They are inexpensive and easy to make/use. I think it is time to share them.

Body Stuff:

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil Make-up Remover and Facial Cleanser -- Lots of companies (see illustration above) have started selling this now. But plain old extra virgin olive oil from my kitchen works just as well. I have been using this for a couple years now. I keep it in a little plastic jar (recycled from some other lotion) in my medicine cabinet. I wet my hands and face squirt a little on my hands and rub my face with it. You can use a dark colored wash cloth with it or I just use my hands to keep splashing warm water on until the make-up is all off. This works better than any other store bought make-up remover that I have ever tried and it moisturizes your hands and face at the same time.

2. Vinegar Hair Rinse -- I was pretty skeptical about this at first, but it works great. My hair is very fine and when I used to use conditioner I always felt like it looked sort of limp. But now I use an herbal shampoo followed by this hair rinse and it has much more bounce to it.  There is a nice article and some recipes here and here.  I like to make mine with an extra large jar, about 1 liter size. I put in 1 cup chamomile for improving my blond highlights, 1 cup calendula petals, the peel from 1 orange, and then fill it with warm apple cider vinegar and let it steep in a cool dark place for a couple weeks, shaking every day or two.  Then I strain the herbs out and put it in an old Dr. Bronner's soap container in the shower. It will keep for a couple months at least. When I am about to use it I squirt what looks to me like 2 tablespoons into one of cups/pots/kid toys that are always in my bathtub and fill the rest with water then pour it on my head and rinse it a little bit.

3. Cradle Cap Oil Treatment -- For some reason all of my kids have had bad cases of cradle cap and it seems to flare up from time to time. I have a recipe that is from one of my herbal remedy books that I always use for this, and probably should not share that since it's copyrighted. But the basic elements are these - olive oil, comfrey root extract, chamomile, calendula petals, and tiny bit of tea tree oil, steeped together and strained. You could probably just use the olive oil with a few drops of tea tree oil (naturally anti-fungal) mixed in. The key it to put it on the troublesome spot and gently scrub them with a tooth brush.

One example of Baby Bum Cream Recipe (similar to the one I make)

4. Calendula Cream, Diaper Rash Cream, or Extra Healing Body Cream -- I have made cream using this recipe several times now for my babies, my husband's cracked hands, and baby shower gifts. It is a knock off version of the expensive Burt's Bees Calendula Cream. I love how it works and how nice it smells. Just be careful if you are using cloth diapers to put a cloth wipe between it and the inner lining of the dipe or it will make it less absorbant.


Household Stuff

 5. Homemade Laundry Soap -- I have used many variations of this over the last 3-4 years, both liquid and dry. The version that I have settled on is 1/2 C. Borax, 1/2 C Washing Soda, 1 C. grated Ivory soap or Oxyclean (cloth dipes and whites do better with the Oxyclean even though it's not organic) all mixed together. I make this in large batches and store it a recycled gallon size glass mason jar. It only takes about 2 Tablespoons per load of laundry. The biggest mistake that people make with homemade laundry soap I think, is using too much.  You can mix in essential oils to give your homemade laundry soap a clean smell (I love mint and lavender).  I also like to throw in some peroxide or some blue Dawn dish soap if the load is very soiled. Blue Dawn Dish Soap (yes, it has to be blue and Dawn brand) and peroxide I am convinced are the best stain remover known to man. I use an old bottle from Shout stain remover to scrub stains, but just keep refilling it with blue Dawn.

6. Baking Soda Pee Cleaner -- for potty training accidents on carpets or in shoes, this is my best friend. I sprinkle it on the carpet by the cup full until I have got it all absorbed. Then sweep it with a dustpan and brush, follow-up with another round if it still seems damp at all. It absorbs all the pee from the carpet while deodorizing at the same time and any residue comes up when you vacuum.

7. Tea Tree Oil Disinfectant Spray -- I love using this as well as all the other organic household cleaners, like baking soda and vinegar because I don't have to worry about my kids helping me with it.  I no longer keep any "fancy" cleaners at my house.  I have a bottle of bleach that I use as a diluted disinfectant for the worst germs (things like poo or puke on the floor) and also for the disinfectant cycle that I run in my washer after I finish a load of cloth diapers.
This is also SOO easy to make: fill an empty spray bottle with water add 20 drops of tea tree oil and it's done. If you want to be fancy you can add lavender or lemon essential oil to make it smell nice, but I kinda like the smell of tea tree oil.  We use it all the time.

8. Vinegar Mildew Remover - We live in a humid climate. I am constantly reminding myself and my husband of that when it comes to towels needing to be spread out to dry (not just hung on a hook) or the shower needing sunlight and air circulation to delay the inevitable mildew invasion on the ceiling and along the tiles. But when it does get bad, I use a spray bottle half full of white vinegar and half water and soak the whole shower tub area with it. I let it sit 15 minutes, scrub with a bristle brush, wipe it down repeat the spray of vinegar, and then scrub and rinse. It seems to work miracles against the mildew and also on the soap scum in the tub. Borax or baking soda also do a decent job cleaning the grout, but need to be followed up with a vinegar rinse otherwise it leaves a residue.