I really try to make a lot of what we use at home. I spend time in the kitchen cooking whole foods for my family, I try my best to make healthy treats, sunscreen, playdough, costumes etc. So much so that sometimes my daughter gives me this look, as though she’s saying: just buy me something at the store already!!
One thing that I buy and not DIY is castile soap. I tried, really, but it was not something I enjoyed and the results were not very good. Meanwhile, I can source a great olive oil castile soap made locally by a family who grows the olives, press the oil and use last year's oil for the soap. It’s also really affordable.
Liquid soap is another story. I love Bronner's soap, but it is expensive where I live and it is imported. In addition, buying liked soap has the whole packaging issue. What led me to look for an alternative. Making our own liquid soap and shampoo spares a lot of plastic waste.
So I was so happy to find this great castile soap, I use it to make liquid soap and shampoo. It’s been a work in progress, I’ve been experimenting to get to the consistency I wanted.
Grate a whole bar (mine are 120-160 grams) of soap over with a small amount of strong honey and herb tea (fresh lavender, sage, mint, geranium, chamomile, calendula… Whatever is growing strong at the time.).Mix well until all the soap melts and set aside.15 min later it should be a thick gel consistency. At this point, repeat steps 2 and 3 until the soap reached the desired consistency. Add essential oils (for winter I use lavender, eucalyptus, mint, verbena. For summer: lavender, rose, jasmine, lemon balm.)
Now when I wash my daughter’s hair she’ll comment and applaud me for making a shampoo that isn’t too watery, because the watery soap gets into her eyes too easily.
