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| Ingredients (L to R, back to front): Coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, arrowroot powder, aloe vera gel, baking soda, tea tree oil, lavender essential oil, shea butter, vitamin E oil, cocoa butter, lemongrass essential oil, and beeswax. |
I already had a couple of these ingredients on hand, I just had to wait for my order from Mountain Rose Herbs to arrive the other day to make my concoctions possible. I will tell you at the bottom what I'm making. Hint: these items are for 5 different products, some with overlapping ingredients.
For the past several months I have been on a journey to change my eating habits. After my dad who is a vegetarian had to have a triple bypass, my sister & I pretty much had the same reaction of, "What the heck?" If that can happen to someone with our dad's eating habits, then something is amiss. We started studying Ayurveda (5000 year old Indian health science). I had also simultaneously come across a wealth of research on coconut oil, which has an insane amount of health benefits.
So following the rabbit holes of research as I always do, I started reading a ton about real food (essentially food as nature intended it) and how it's so much better for us and how contemporary ideas of nutrition are faulty. Here's a Reading Rainbow moment, you don't have to take my word for it, check out Real Food by Nina Planck. I haven't finished the book yet, but holy fruit it is eye opening and even infuriating to learn about our modern food industry. More on that later when I bring you adventures in raw milk, coming soon from a dairy near me. :)
Anyway, researching Ayurveda and real food inevitably led to information on how what we put on the outside of our bodies is as important as what we're ingesting. For awhile I have been fairly cognizant of the importance of using more natural bath/body/beauty products. Here's the kicker, though, the products and companies that seem to be more natural still use some pretty harsh chemicals. I used to be able to justify that, knowing at least generally what natural items many of the chemicals are derived from, but now knowing how bad they are for curly hair especially, I just can't accept it anymore.
I am now embarking on a journey to use all natural, primarily organic, homemade products. Not an easy venture for a curly haired girl to take on I assure you! Still, I think it is worthwhile. Now without further adieu, the ingredients above will be involved in my first experiments in making my own shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, hair gel, and deodorant. I'm very excited!
Just for the record, my sister and I decided that we're not hippies we're pioneering--think actual pioneers and people like Ree Drummond. :)
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