Isn’t is good to know that what you are making contributes to a more gentle touch upon the environment as well as yourself ? These preparations benefit your body on the long term. It is a kind of self care, to mind what goes into and onto our body. Progressively as you think about your activity in a circular manner you consider what you intake and what you produce. The theme of trash is also interesting: rather than leave it into the shadows, talking openly about waste and dirt opens up opportunities to take on a holistic approach to Eco-consciousness.
It is also fun, like cooking a cake (it smells just as good) and it can make for a great gift idea. So lets get to it !
All Purpose Cleaner
Difficulty: easy
I think we all use distilled white vinegar to get rid of limescale (oh and what a sight it is to see the before after!) but less of us know that it can basically replace the entirety of our scrubbing paraphernalia. Not only that, but it doesn’t have all the toxic ingredients found in mainstream cleaning agents. From Trash is for Tossers again, is this super-easy recipe for an all purpose cleaner that can act as “stain remover, mildew eliminator, fabric softener, room deodoriser” with only three ingredients:
Fill a reusable spray bottle 1/2 water and 1/2 distilled white vinegar. Add 15-20 drops of and essential oil of your choice for scent: for instance citrus, peppermint, lavender, etc.
Done! Lauren recommends cleaning often when using this non-toxic product.
Toothpaste
Difficulty: medium
The second recipe I pull from Lauren’s Trash is for Tossers is this recipe for toothpaste. She rightfully points out that toothpaste packaging is wasteful and that if the box it comes in can be recycled the tube will most likely end up in a landfill. As well as waste concerns, Lauren points out that many toothpastes contain harmful ingredients such as Triclosan and Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS), a foaming agent also found in shampoos (here is my experience if SLS-free hairproducts). What can we do so that our dental health does not come at such cost? An economical alternative is this coconut oil based recipe which is also found on Zero Waste Path:
In a glass jar, put 2 tbs of organic coconut oil + 1 tbs of baking soda + 15-20 drops of essential oil for taste.
The reason why I marked this a medium difficulty is because the usage isn’t ideal -you have to scoop it out of a jar with a spoon- and because the texture fluctuates a little making it not super easy to use. Also, it involves more trust since I would think more about how I treat my teeth than my kitchen floor, however who says that mainstream brands rightfully deserve the trust I give them? I will make sure to give this a try and report back.
Moisturiser
Difficulty: easy
Natural ingredients have all the benefits we need: as Zero Waste Path points out Shea butter is a deep moisturiser, coconut oil an anti age and anti bacterial argan oil is softening and essential oils such as raspberry carry SPF protective power. So without further adieu, let’s make our own fluffy body butter using her recipe:
Deodorant
Difficulty: hard
Lauren also offers a video explaining how to do a DYI deodorant (not anti-perspirant) that is toxic free and economical. This is the recipe:
2 tbs of arrowroot powder
1 tbs of baking soda
1 tbs of coconut oil
1 tbs of Shea butter
Melt all over double boiler until creamy liquid.
Add 10-15 drops of essential oil for a scent of your choosing. Stir and pour into jar. Refrigerate for 20 mins until hard, keep cool.
This DIY is tricky because you might have to have a few tries before you find the mix that works for you. The dosage “trying out period” might make you want to consider buying waste free ready-made deodorant directly. Lauren recommends this one, I also found Lush offers a few alternatives.
Coffee Body Scrub
Difficulty: easy
You may have seen the Instagram craze about coffee scrubs, with beach babes covered in grind raking in the likes. As it turns out, coffee grinds are not only a non pollute source of small particles but also the caffeine contained in it increases blow flow (good anti-cellulite). As it turns out, I have easy access to large amounts of espresso residue so I am eager to try out this reusing tip. To make your own coffee body scrub you will need:
About 50 g of used coffee grounds
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
Melt the coconut oil slightly to a semi solid consistency. Mix the coffee and raw sugar together. Then add coconut oil bit by bit to get to a slightly crumbly consistency and will firm up in time. Pour into an airtight container.
The proportions change across sources but ingredients remain the same. I chose this one from The Healthy Mummy that was well reviewed.
So that was it! I will update this post as I try out each of these myself, overall one of the things I take away from this is that if you have a big batch of coconut oil you will get some use out of it. Do you use any of these already? Let me know your experience in the comments I would love to hear it.