Healthy Body Challenge Revisited

 A few years ago I found myself needing to lose some weight.  Once I started working out, I also realized that what I put into my body (food and drink) was also important to my fitness and health.  I couldn't just work out and expect to be healthy.  Plus, my bad diet was sabotaging my workouts.  So, I changed my diet and the diets of everyone else who lives under my roof.  We cut out tons of processed foods...which meant that I had to learn to cook.

And I did.

Now that I am confident in my ability to both motivate myself to work out and to make healthy food for my family, I've decided to move on to the next healthy step: changing what goes ON my body.  Everyone in the house uses whatever shampoo and conditioner I can get on sale.  The boys in the house like manly-scented body soap and shampoo and are quite partial to the 3-in-1 soap that washes and conditions hair AND skin.  It's a dream come true!

However, I had never really thought about what goes in to all our soaps and cleaning supplies.  Some of it (like propylene glycol) is also an ingredient in antifreeze...and some foods.  O.M.G.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found so many helpful tips and recipes for body soaps, shampoos, conditioner, cleaning supplies, and face wash. 

So, I started with making some cleaning supplies: dusting spray, mirror cleaner, room deodorizer, etc.  Apparently, there is some pretty nasty stuff in my beloved room fragrance spray that shouldn't be inhaled. I still have a few bottles left to use up, but I am already experimenting with room sprays made with vinegar water and essential oil.  The homemade dusting spray?  Well, I prefer the deliciously scented store-bought variety, but it is also apparently laden with chemicals that one should NOT inhale.  The homemade kind?  It smells nice (lemon essential oil), but it will definitely take some getting used to as far as the way it cleans.

My beauty routine is changing drastically.  I'm not going to dye my hair anymore.  There.  I said it.

I've switched to the oil method of washing my face.  Who would've thought to use oil to clean my oily skin??  But...it works!!  I use a mixture of cold-pressed castor oil and olive oil.   I haven't yet been able to give up my oil-absorbing cream that goes on under my makeup, and the ingredients in that stuff are terrible.  I really need to stop.  Baby steps, baby steps.

I've switched to Castile soap for my hair and use apple cider vinegar as a conditioner.  I add Moroccan oil to my hair after the shower, but I hear that coconut oil is the way to go for a deep conditioning.  I will try it soon.  I miss the luxurious-feeling hair I get from commercial shampoo and conditioner but know that stuff isn't necessary for healthy hair.  Just like I love to eat fried stuff with cheese, I also know it isn't part of a healthy diet.  Castile soap can also be used on the body, but I prefer Chandrika's Ayurvedic body soap.  It is made of all-natural ingredients and smells like the most amazing mix of patchouli and sandalwood and amazingness.  Colby and I won't use anything else.  The smell is like crack for the shower.  Yes, I compared the smell of soap to crack.  It's that good.  (Side note: Ayurveda is an old-timey yoga-like religious belief system.  It's pretty interesting if you're into that kind of stuff.) 

I've used organic lotion and Burt's Bees lotion for a few years now, so I'll keep them in my beauty routine.  There are still a few crazy ingredients in the Burt's Bees stuff, but it's a lot better than most.  Someday soon I hope to make my own lotion.

I love perfume, and I own a ton of it.  Sadly, perfume is also filled with a bunch of crap we aren't supposed to inhale.  I've been making my own perfume oil using jojoba oil and essential oil.  My favorite is a premade rose-scented perfume oil that I bought online.  However, I realized that I can make my own for a whole lot cheaper.

And I did.

So, here's to new adventures in beauty supplies.  Rest assured that I will NOT be making my own reusable tampons or feminine hygiene pads.  I've seen that stuff on Etsy.  Hell.no.  However, I will let you know about any successes and failures in my new Healthy Body Challenge.  I've already started reusing the containers for my store-bought products, and I'm filling them with my homemade ones.  That bottle of Aveno leave in conditioner is no cider vinegar and water for conditioning my hair in the shower.  The Mason jar is filled with lavender-eucalyptus shower tablets that I made with baking soda and water.  They smell really good!!  

Let me know if you have some awesome homemade cleaning supplies or beauty supplies you'd like to share, or if you have some homemade FAILS.