Homemade Foaming Hand Soap… Organic!

In this earlier post when I went on a rant about skincare products and how bad so many of them are for our bodies and health, I said I’d show you how I make my own organic foaming hand soap.

So, a little later than I had anticipated… here that is!

Here is what you need:

1. Pure Castile Soap

2. An empty foaming handsoap bottle (I just purchased one from Aldi and dumped out the handsoap that came in it but most houses probably already have these sitting around.)

3. Water

4. Measuring cups. Or not. This isn’t exactly a science.

Now, the measurements depend on the size of your handsoap bottle. But a general rule is about 4 parts water to 1 part castile soap. (For me, that’s about 2 oz. castile soap and 8 oz water.) Pour them together in the bottle, give it a shake and that’s it.

That’s it!

If you like, you can add a few drops of essential oil for fragrance.

Now, please note… this isn’t the silky super-yummy smelling hand soap you are probably accustomed to using, like I was. It’s a bit of an adjustment to get to used to the feeling of it.  It definitely doesn't have a luxurious feel. But as much as the kiddos and I wash our hands daily in this dusty place… I feel good knowing they aren’t getting any funny chemical on/in their skin each time they have to wash up.

Also, we do occasionally have to give it a single shake before I pump out some soap, it does tend to settle a bit.

The other good thing? You can purchase a 32 oz bottle of castile soap for around ten bucks. That makes about 16 ten ounce bottles of hand soap cost only about 60 cents each. Beat THAT, dollar store!

Happy foaming!

Toxic

Early last year I started a journey of learning more about what we put in and on our bodies daily. Is the food we’re eating really food? Are our cleaning products unsafe? Are our personal care products healthy? The information is overwhelming (and sometimes a bit sensational and one sided), but I wanted to start making real changes for the better.

It’s easy to get frustrated with all the information and suggestions. I try to learn and make gradual changes so my husband won’t call me crazy and promptly move out. He he. He would never do that!

I decided that since our skin is the largest organ of our body… that would be a good place to start. We scrub and smear products on ourselves and our children more often throughout the day than I realized. Deodorant. Shampoo. Soap. Sunscreen. Lotions. Lip balm. I read all about parabens and phlates and lots of other confusing words that essentially are the toxins in our products.

My research took me to The Environmental Working Group’s website called Skindeep. There you can find out how your toiletry and personal care products rate on their ‘hazard scale’. The scale is from zero to nine, zero being perfectly safe and nine being no good at all. So I went search crazy. I started searching everything our family used. And I was shocked. Floored. Freaked out! And my husband might have been annoyed, but whatever.

This face care line that was my yearly splurge ever since we moved to Africa where the sun is strong and harsh? Ranked an 8 for high hazard. Wow. I used these products religiously for five years thinking I was doing my skin good.

Wrong-o. Not good. BAD. Very bad.

L’oreal failed to inform me that they had in fact, been poisoning me for all those years. How rude of them.

And how about this sunscreen stick that I faithfully carried in my diaper bag?

It’s only a 3. But the identical Banana Boat version? A 7!!! A product marketed to protect babies from the rays of the sun was actually putting poison directly onto their skin (and therefore, into their bloodstream, cause that’s what happens when you put something on your skin).

Okay, maybe I sound like the sensational one here, but I get so angry! It’s so unhealthy! It’s toxic! And they sell it to us making us think that we are doing something good for our sweet little innocent offspring! Terrible. Just terrible.

Don’t even get me started on Johnson and Johnson. Okay. DO get me started!

Like many parents, we faithfully have bathed our children in Johnson’s baby wash and then smeared the sweet smelling lotion all over their tiny bodies from the start. This lotion rates a 7!

And here I am rubbing it into my newborn girlie after her first bath a couple year ago. Greeeeeeaaat.

Anyway it was recently all over the news (See here and here, for only two examples) that they admitted to their usage of toxic ingredients in their baby (and other) products. Basically, they knew it all along and kept doing it until they got caught.

Can’t we trust anyone these days!? Ha! I’m kidding. Sorta. I glanced through the list, and even Burts’s Bees and Aveeno had baby products rated at 7. And those are brands that are specifically marketed as natural and safe.

This rant could go on and on. But I think you get the idea.

Go to this website. Check out your products and learn about it for yourself. Know what you’re putting on your family’s skin. You may be surprised.

Some of our gradual changes have been:

-Making our own foaming handsoap with Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap (I’ll show you how soon!).

-Using Coconut Oil for moisturizing and to treat diaper rashes.

-Switching to unscented glycerin or organic soap instead of regular bar soap.

-Greatly decreasing the amount of shampoo we use.

Even these simple changes have greatly reduced the amount of chemicals we use on our skin greatly. We save money too (which is how I get my husband on board with some of these! Ha!)

Toxic

A few years ago I wrote this post about being 'green' and what I had recently learned about plastics. At that time the issue seemed to be of concern for the environment and not our own health. When H was a baby BPA wasn't much of a health issue. I had to replace our bottles when my little girlie was born because what was a non-issue a couple of years before was then front-page headlines.

Anyway, for some unknown reason this whole topic has circled around in my head and arrived at the front again.

I've known for awhile not to microwave food in plastic. That's not too hard of a rule to follow, considering I don't have a microwave. But recently I thought "If you're not supposed to heat the food on the plastic plate cause the plastic gets hot and leeches toxins, then does the same thing happen when you put hot food ON the plastic plate?"

Seemed like a logical question.

So I got my google on.

This article was a good one for basic info and practical ideas. And it seems that heat and plastic is a bad idea all-around. You could even say that food and plastic is also a bad idea all-around. Not every plastic is toxic. But frankly it's hard to know.

And now I see everything in my kitchen with new eyes.

How many times have I dumped all the hot ingredients for tuna tettrazini in that cheap plastic mixing bowl and stir them up before dumping them in the casserole dish?

How many times have I loaded our melamine plates with hot food straight off the stove before serving it to my family?

How many times have I poured hot lentil soup into tupperware to load into the freezer?

How many times have I poured a few cups of boiling water into a plastic pitcher before dropping in tea bags to make iced tea?

How many cups of hot coffee have I drank from my plastic travel mug?

The list goes on and on.

But wait.

There's more.

BPA (the most famous toxin in some plastics) has been found to be in ALL KINDS OF STUFF. You've probably heard that it's in some toys and canned foods, but did you know that they have found that many cash-register receipts also have a coating on it?! Also, not something we deal with on this side of the world, but in the States, hellooooo wallet busting with receipts and then feeding my kids and biting my nails, and... and... and... oh my goodness.

I'm so freaked out now.

So, I think I'll do some re-arranging in my kitchen and put my ceramic and glass and metal dishes in the more prominent locations. I'll also keep my eyes peeled for alternatives to purchase and use.

I want to protect my babies.

I don't want to mess up their little bodies. I don't want them to have trouble having kids or hit puberty a couple years too early.

But.

Despite how freaked out I am, I know that this is just another thing to trust God in. Doesn't He love my kids and our health more than I do myself?

Of course He does.

So I'll make changes and try to be more conscientious. But I'll just trust Him too.

Oh no.

So, it's about time to switch H out of his infant seat (okay, okay... it's probably way PAST time to switch him out of his infant seat). So I dug out the big kid car seat that was given to us and was about to wipe the layer of dust on it when I saw on the back it says. "Do not use after December 2005." Expiration date?

WHAT?! Did you know this? I did not!!

A marketing ploy... for sure, right?

Nope. Turns out car seats expire. Mostly due to material deterioration. Oops. Only made worse from storing car seat in hot temperatures. Double oops. The websites say that such a car seat should be hit with a sledge hammer so that no one ever tries to use it again.

Further investigation on the internet led me to some more links. And then I did what no mother should ever do. I followed a link to a test crash with a (plastic) child in an expired car seat on YouTube. Don't do it mothers. Just don't.

So, I guess my expired seat is better than me always holding my son in my lap in the front seat (like the locals do... and I do to sometimes, let's be honest!). And, at least there are no freeways to drive on. Gotta look on the bright side... cause it's all we've got!!

A Day of Study

I spent many hours today with a pen over my ear, my nose in a book, my laptop in front of me... scribbling on one sheet of paper all kinds of notes and questions.

The focus of my studies? Infant vaccinations.

Controversy has grown in the last few years and as a new parent I want to educate myself as we make decisions for our child.

The main concerns are the possible side-effects of vaccines (of which autism is center stage at the moment), the necessity of certain vaccines, the ingredients in some vaccines (questionable ones including animal cells, mercury and aluminum), and the timing of vaccines.

The general conclusion that I came to at the end of the day is that ideally all the vaccines would be given... but spread over a few years instead of the first 18 months. However, our situation is unique and will probably mean my boy will have a more rigorous vaccine schedule than I would like.

It's such a dilemma though, because if you choose not to vaccinate y0ur child, you are taking a risk that he could catch something serious. But if you do vaccinate your child, you are risking those rare but dangerous side effects that do occasionally happen. Either way I hate thinking about it!

Or as my husband so eloquently mentioned..."Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Anyway, all this conjures up such feelings of responsibility and worry and love for my little son. I'm a parent responsible for the life of this precious boy. This is serious stuff.

If you'd like to study for yourself... I highly recommend Dr. Sear's The Vaccine Book. It gives a very informative and non-bias view on the entire topic. Read for yourself. I was certainly educated and enlightened.

Today is Earth Day

We have two patches of dirt in our courtyard that add up to about 20 square feet. Earlier this week I dug up half of it to serve as a compost pit. I never thought of myself as a composting sort of girl.

Never say never, huh?

Have you thought about what you could do to be a better steward of this planet God has entrusted to us?

Green?

I have never called myself 'green.' But an article I read recently sure did make me think...

"Our Oceans Are Turning Into Plastic . . . Are We?", by Susan Casey. (click article name to read article)
Found in Best American Magazine Writing 2007.

It starts like this... " A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility...and worse."

Warning. After reading this you may:

1. Forever be considering how many nurdles are in your soup.

2. Be shocked when you realize how many plastic products you use on a regular basis (I was).

Sustainable

Today I got motivated to make our life here more sustainable. When we go back and forth, we load our suitcases down with stuff that we can't get here, or stuff that is available here for a VERY high price. But it would be good if I could get creative with what IS available here and cut down on that list a bit.

So, I have decided to make my own reusable baby wipes. Turns out it's really easy, it's good for baby's skin, and it's SO cost effective. We already wash cloth diapers, so why not toss in some wipes too? I also made my own disinfecting spray for the changing table. But I will bring back some essence oils to make it smell more like citrus and less like vinegar.

I mean, who wants to load down luggage with a case of baby wipes and lysol disinfecting wipes when the space could be used to carry books, chocolate chips, or my L'oreal face creme?

Who knows what else I'll come up with in the next few days...