Homemade Laundry Soap

So, I need a nice scentless detergent that does not cause build-up because I have to wash diapers. I also need it because I don't want all those nasty chemicals in my clothes either. So I've been getting expensive detergents that are phosphate free and dye free and perfume free. Well, I finally got fed up with the cost and looked into how I could go about washing our clothes and Skye's diapers cheaper. I found some recipes for homemade laundry detergent. It is easy to make and washes the clothes very nicely AND IS ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY. There much less packaging involved with mixing your own laundry detergent. And It's just awesome all around. Here is the recipe that I chose.

2 gallons of hot water
2 cups of baking soda
2 cups of borax
1 bar of soap (you can use Fels Naptha soap or dove or any other soap that isn't frilly-foo-foo. Frilly-foo-foo soaps will have all kinds of extra ingredients in them that will leave gunk on your clothes and stuff)

First grate the soap with a cheese grater

Add water to cover the soap

Cook the mixture on medium heat until the soap is completely dissolved

Put the mixture in a container. You can use a bucket or anything that works for you. Add the 2 gallons of hot or warm water. Then dump in the baking soda and borax and mix nicely.

Label your container so that it doesn't get confused with something else. Use about 1/2 a cup per load (more or less depending on the size of the load).

Be sure to carefully stir the mixture before scooping up the liquid to put into the washing machine

Vinegar

I use baking soda and vinegar to clean and disinfect pretty much everything in my house. Natural. Safe around humans and pets. No horrible smells (the vinegar smell disappears as soon as it dries). I believe with all my heart that vinegar and baking soda are excellent cleaning agents and work wonders. Well, I was having my doubts. Since we moved into our house in September, the master bedroom toilet has had this ugly yellow stain in it. It looked pretty gross. I always clean my toilet with vinegar. I pour some in and use a toilet brush to scrub it. Then I flush. I wasn't able to get the yellow stain off so I used a rag and got my hand in there and scrubbed. Then I used one of those scratcher things and that still wasn't really working. It sort of worked, but it was killing my back and hands to scrub that hard. So I gave up. Well, today I was cleaning the toilet like I normally do and thought "I'm tired of this nasty yellow gunk. I want a nice looking toilet" and thought I would go get some poison toilet cleaner to make it pretty. I forgot to flush the toilet. I forgot about the poison cleaner and took Skye out to play while I hung some wet laundry on the line. An hour later I entered the bathroom to use it and saw that I hadn't flushed, so I went ahead and flushed. THE YELLOW STAIN WAS GONE! So I was just flushing too soon all that time. And vinegar really does have magical cleaning powers.

 I don't have a before picture, but this is the after picture. Nice clean toilet. All vinegar, baby.

DREADLOCKS!!!!!!!

So, I finally got some courage and now I have the dreadlocks I have been wanting for many years. I remember wanting them way back when I was in high school. Jon just used the twist and rip method. This method requires that you twist a lock of hair and periodically separate it into two chunks and and "rip" it toward the scalp causing hair to bunch up near the scalp. You do this until there are knots all the way to the ends (or close to the ends) of the lock of hair. My hair started out looking like it had messy braids. Now that it's had a few days of wear, it's looking scraggly. It's starting to come loose a bit and there are many stray hairs floating about. But, I have read enough about natural dreads to know that this is normal. It will be a few years before my dreads start looking "good" and I'm prepared to wait. I have been using a natural hair wash for a few months and this wash helps to keep gunky build up from forming in my hair. Store bought shampoos and conditioners have a lot of harmful chemicals in them as well as useless fillers that build up in your hair. Shampoos also strip your scalp of its natural oils, causing your scalp to overproduce oil. This is why people who use these shampoos have to wash their hair every day if they don't want oily hair. In addition, since these shampoos strip your hair of all oils, conditioner is often needed to immediately replenish your dry scalp by adding artificial softener (something your own oils do quite well).

My natural hair wash routine:

A wash made of a tablespoon of baking soda mixed with a full glass of water.
I then use a mixture of 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with a full glass of water and a few drop of essential oil. I have been using vanilla but recently switched to sweet orange oil.

The above pictures are the day Jon finished my dreads.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Above is a picture of day 4.

 Day 4: My hair is forming loops and bumps. All part of the natural dreading process. The hair is tightening and pushing up.

 My hair is not really dreaded up near the scalp. I think that comes much later.

 Baby dreads!

Healthy Eating

I became interested in organic food many years ago but just recently purchased some books about it. They really made me want to go all organic. We really can't afford to go completely organic. We also don't live in an area that really has much selection when it comes to organic foods. I am trying to get in as much organic as I can though. I think it's extremely important for Skye to get as much organic as possible. I really don't want her body and brain damaged by all those filthy poisonous pesticides and herbicides. I want her to be as smart as possible (also why breastfeeding has been high on my priority list) and to not have infertility problems as an adult. I want her to live a long happy life free from cancer and other diseases. A great way to have some natural health insurance for Skye is to feed her healthy wonderful foods without dangerous chemicals in them. I know this in no way guarantees that Skye won't get sick or have health problems as an adult, but it sure helps a ton! Skye gets about 50% organic right now. I know that is not the best, but it's what we can do for her. I'm doing my best to feed her a ton of fresh fruits and veggies and most those are organic when i can find them. Organic bananas are easy to find, but it's harder to find peaches and apples. The farmers market helps a bit with that. I'm also thinking that when I get pregnant I will try to eat as much organic as possible. I want our new baby to get the best possible start, and that starts in the womb.