the best baby wipes ever

A couple years ago I learned about making my own baby wipes via pinterest. Now I have a recipe I like even better.

Homemade wipes don't take long to make, and they have only good ingredients. There is no alcohol of any kind, so they don't dry out your baby's bum. I'm sure they are cheaper than store-bought wipes, but I haven't done the math yet as to how much. And quite frankly, they work better: especially with newborn poop, paper towels really picks it up more easily!

I got a new recipe from doTERRA's blog. I like it better than my first homemade one because these ingredients are completely natural, and lavender's healing properties prevent diaper rash.

What you need:  paper towel roll, a plastic container, 2 tablespoons fractionated coconut oil, lavender essential oil, 2 cups pre-boiled water, & a serrated knife.

Any paper towels will do, but I like using the paper towel rolls that have the half-sized sheets. That's about all you need sometimes anyway. The pictured plastic container was a great find. I happened upon it in a mom-n-pop kitchen store in Cambridge. I think this link is the same thing. It's expensive, but think of it as an investment. It does the job so well and I can re-use it if I stopped making wipes. It's great because the flip top can be opened with one hand (so I have the other to hold Mikayla's toes up and out of her poop). It seals tightly, and fits a half-paper towel roll nearly perfectly. It's a bit snug, but it all works out for the best. [If you want to spend little or no money on a container, check out my new discovery for a container at the end of the post!]

The steps: 
First remove the core from the paper towel roll. If you pinch it and twist it, it comes out easily.

Then cut the paper towel roll in half. My dad suggested I borrow his band saw, and it certainly would be easier. But as few of us have access to one, a serrated knife does the trick. 

 See how much fun I'm having with this? 

Since my roll is a bit too fat for my plastic container, I take off a few layers until it fits. I fold them accordion style...more on those bits later.

Stuff the roll in the container and draw up the center piece a little. This is where you'll start pulling the wipes.

You will need 2 cups of water. I pre-boil my water, to sterilize it. We're not adding any preservatives, so I do this as a precaution. In months of making baby wipes I've never had a problem, but I've heard they can start to mold. Add 2 tablespoons fractionated coconut oil to the water. (Fractionated coconut oil is coconut oil that has be processed so that it is liquid at room temperature. You can purchase it here.) 

Then add essential oils. I do about 5 drops of lavender. This smells great, but it's not only for scent! Lavender soothes skin irritations, helps skin heal, and is soothing and calming. If you haven't experience lavender's essential oil, it's Nothing like synthetically created lavender scent  that you'd find in dryer sheets.  It's lovely. You can buy it here.

Alternatively, add 3 drops each of lavender and melaleuca. Melaleuca also has cleansing and regenerative properties. I don't think Melaleuca's smell is as pleasant, and it's so strong so I didn't want to use it on Mikayla when she was just a few days old. I figured I'd add it if she started getting rashes, but that hasn't happened yet.

Stir it up and pour it over the paper towel roll. Pop the lid on. The liquid will slowly be absorbed throughout the whole roll. Here my photographer noted how wonderful it smelled.

My new discovery is that the extra paper towel sheets that I removed from the roll fit beautifully into standard plastic wipe containers. If they're folded accordion style, they continue to dispense through the hole like tissues. This works so well; a little jerk, and the sheets rip off each other. Now I have my homemade wipes in two places.

Save money...get a better product...what more convincing do you need? As soon as we started using these wipes, Mikayla's diaper rash healed and hasn't come back. Besides, you can safely use them for more things, without worrying about the cost per wipe, or yucky chemicals in them. Sometimes I wipe Kayla's face with them (carefully avoiding her eyes) when she has a little rash on her chin from drool. Anyone can use them as a personal wet wipe. Lavender has so many healing properties, you're bound to be doing something good for yourself however you use them!

canned tomatoes

Had you heard?  Canned tomatoes (in aluminum cans) have BPA.  This evidently rocked the Internet world in 2009, but I missed it: 7 Foods Experts Won't Eat.

Apparently the lining of cans (which is necessary so that the aluminum doesn't seep into our foods) has BPA.  This does not pose a significant problem with all canned foods, but acidic foods, such as tomatoes, increase the rate at which BPA seeps into the food.  My research (*cough* *cough*...browsing of the Internet) has led me to suspect that a small amount of this for adults is probably not a big deal.  But for those under 6, experts are very wary of this.  This article (point #3) stated that kids' bodies have a harder time processing the toxins of BPA than adults.

Now, here's the thing.  I'm trying to live more health-fully while not being too bowled over by the "food-scare" that seems to be ravaging the Internet.  With a grain of salt if you catch my drift. But here's what happened.

About a week ago I used a bunch of canned tomatoes to make my own spaghetti sauce (yummy, cheap).  The tomatoes were in tomato juice, and I saved all the liquid in the cans, because there was plenty to make cream of tomato soup.  Last Saturday I made soup, following a recipe I regularly make which calls for tomato juice.  Julie enjoyed it as always.  She had it for lunch on Saturday and leftovers on Sunday. 

Both afternoons, a few hours after eating, Julie developed rashes.  On Saturday they were all over her legs.  She's never had rashes before.  She has no allergies, she had had nothing new to eat, and she wasn't hot.  At the time, I only hoped they'd go away and it would be no big deal.

But on Sunday evening I learned about about BPA in canned tomatoes, and started my research.  It just adds up.  That tomato soup has an awful lot of tomato in it (far more being eaten in one sitting than if I use canned tomatoes for chili, or salsa, or pasta sauce).  And Julie is just a little girl, and she'd be more affected by BPA.  It just makes sense to me that the rashes were a result of the soup, which had BPA.

I'm sorry it happened, but it is pretty wild to have mysterious toxins that I can't see or taste and don't even know if I really trust the 'experts' of their danger, then be confirmed as harmful before my eyes.

black *teapot* magic

My sister figured this out by accident.

It's got to be the easiest way to clean a teapot stained with black tea.  Here's my teapot, which serves us well making black tea for us every afternoon.

Make a pot of fruit tea.  I used some old loose fruit tea that is so old I don't feel like drinking it anymore.  But it would work just as well to make a pot you want to enjoy too.  After the tea has sat in the pot for a while, empty it.  Then when you clean it, the stains will come off with almost no scrubbing. I used warm water, soap and a sponge, and just rubbing gently gave that distinct line you see in the right photo.

 

Rinse it out, and it's good as new! 

natural laundry soap

I started this about 8 months ago, excited for a cheaper solution that also meant I didn't have to lug heavy things from the grocery store on a regular basis.  The added benefit of reducing the amount of detergents we use, saving plastic, ... all good too!!

I just did the math today to figure out how cheap it is.

I bought a natural, pure, olive oil soap.  I spent 222kč (120kč + shipping; I actually spent less b/c I split shipping with my sister, but I'm rounding up) on 600g.  I grate the soap and dissolve 12T of it into water to make a batch of soap.  This is 35g, so I can make 17 jugs of laundry from one block.

The dissolved soap gets poured into a 1.5L container, and filled with water.  I use 150mL of liquid (slightly more than a 1/2 cup) per load, so I get 10 loads of laundry from a jug.

This boils down to the price of 1.3kč per load.  (This is a touch less than 7 US Cents a load, in my front loading washer.)

And Now, The Comparison
If you buy the cheapest Tesco laundry powder, it comes to 2kč a load, so this is pretty comparable   But if you do what we did, and bought the expensive, pretty-smelling nice liquid detergent, it costs between 7-10kč per load.

If you do about 4 loads a week like us, this is 208 loads per year, costing 270kč ($14) using our homemade laundry soap.  If you go for the nice stuff at, let's just say 8kč/load, the year's laundry will cost you 1664kč.  What shall we do with our extra 1394kč?  Hmmm....=)

By the way, this even beats the method linked here: a years worth of laundry detergent for $30, but of course I'm not sure exactly how many loads they are counting.

It seems like this third method with borax, washing soda, and dawn might even be cheaper than mine, at about $0.17 a gallon, which makes 32 loads. That's US prices so I am not sure how it would compare here, though I did just learn you can buy borax here in Prague.  But I really like how mine is only 1 ingredient.  Easy.

go no 'poo

It's rather amusing to say this.  Also amusing to tell someone I haven't shampooed my hair since May.  But it's true (with the exception of a hair dresser when I was getting a hair cut ... my Czech just isn't up to explaining that one yet.;) 

I use a baking soda routine on my hair, and I love it.  First, Why? 

• It's a "created need" of our consumerist society.  That alone makes me want to 'stick it to the man' and quit using shampoo.  TV ads started to convince us that if we shampooed with their products daily, we would look beautiful.  Women went from washing their hair once a month to daily over the course of the 20th Century.  See this NPR article.
• Buying shampoo means you are using more plastic, and contributing generally to production and distribution of something that you don't need. (Since shampoo is full of chemicals, I can't imagine that its production is particularly healthy.)  
• Shampoo costs money.  I haven't actually done the math yet for how much I spend on my baking soda treatment though. I oughta verify this.  
• Shampoo is full of chemicals...perhaps chemicals we don't want seeping into our bodies.  
• Shampoo strips your hair of healthy oils that are meant to keep it soft and strong.  So then you have to add other products to your hair to make it shiny, strong, voluminous...all a ploy to get you to spend your money.  Blech.  
• There's several articles about how shampooing less is good for you.  It's wearing on your hair.  I just personally decided to go all the way and quit entirely. 

I am much happier with my hair since going 'poo free, because I feel like it has more natural volume now.  Before when I shampooed, one day it was greasy because it needed to be shampooed and the other day it was flat and bland because I had just shampooed it.  When it was flat, I wanted to add mousse or some sticky-goo to help give it volume... Now I rarely add any other product because it has its own natural volume.   

And now, How? 
I followed the routine on  this blog post and this follow-up blog post, which is even more convincing since she shares that she's been 'poo free for months, and still likes it. She also answers a bunch of FAQs. Read that if you're interest, but here are a few more pointers I think you oughta have to help you be successful: 

• My hair is short, very straight, fine, and tending toward oily.  Perhaps these details will help others like me.  But I think we're all so different, so our methods will be a different as the number of shampoo products out there. 
• I use the recipe of 1T baking soda in 1 cup water.  Same ratio for the apple cider vinegar conditioner.  I use an old shampoo bottle, and I when it's time for a new batch I put the baking soda in it, and then add the water when I'm in the shower. That way I have 1 day with warm water on my head ;) The other days it's kinda cold pouring water over your head, but I got used to it.  
• You have to use a lot of the solution -- much more than you would if you were applying shampoo.  Go more liberal than you think you need.  You might have to do that whole "rinse, repeat" business.  
• I get my hair wet, and then pour the b.soda solution over my head until I feel it running down my scalp. Then I massage with the tips of my fingers, scrubbing it into the scalp.  This part is key - getting it into the scalp, because this is where the nasty "hair" smell comes from, and where the oil is hanging out.  Then I let it sit while I wash my face.  Then I rub again, and if it doesn't feel like my hair is getting "unknotty" I had more solution and let it sit while I wash the rest of me.  Then I rub again and finally rinse it out.  Just make sure you feel like you can use a lot at the beginning, because you'll need a lot to cut through the oil that your head is vigorously producing at the beginning.  Lots of solution, lots of waiting, lots of scrubbing.  
• The key for me at the beginning was LOTS.  After about 1 week of this, my hair was getting so greasy, just worse and worse, and I thought I was going to have to quit, and then I determined I wouldn't and one day I just kept pouring the stuff on, waiting, and scrubbing it until it felt better.  That was the turning point for me.  
• Usually, but not always, I do the vinegar routine.  I pour the solution over my head and flatten it out with my fingers.  (I have short hair, so this is the only way to get it to the ends of my hair; if your hair is longer, you only need it on the ends of your hair.)  I often comb my hair then to help get the vinegar all over.  Vinegar helps your hair shine and it detangles. It smells when it's wet, but by the time your hair is dry you definitely can't smell it anymore. 
• It takes time for your hair to get used to this. Your scalp is used to producing all these oils that shampoo used to strip away. After a while, it will realize that it doesn't need so much oil.   Mine took 2 weeks at least before I left like I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.   But push through: it feels like a long time in the midst of it, but it is worth it.  
• While I was getting use to this, I had to do it every day.  This lasted at least a month, maybe 2. Finally my hair calmed down, and by the summer time I could even go 3 days between washing.   

homemade deoderant

I remember my mom telling me a long time ago that antiperspirant isn't so good for you.  Sweating is natural: don't stop it.  Deodorant is good: it's nice not to smell bad.

But somehow I learned only very recently that antiperspirant which contains aluminum is bad for us.  According to this website (which is old - 2008) the results aren't conclusive, but the ingredient aluminum, which blocks your sweat glands is probably bad for us.  It is not proven, but linked to cancer.

I learned this one night a few weeks ago from my little sister.  I had antiperspirant in the bathroom (I normally wouldn't buy it, but I had a free sample, or someone gave it to me.) and I promptly threw it out (against her good judgement - her words: "good idea. except it's good to have something to replace it with.").   So I needed an immediate solution, and found one online I've been using happily for the last month or so.  I used this blog, which I love, to look for a recipe (but we learned that no, it doesn't eliminate the yellow armpit stains).

The recipe is equal parts (I use 1 Tbs each) of coconut oil (warm in microwave) + baking soda + corn starch.  The coconut oil is just a conduit for the active ingredient: baking soda, which eliminates odors. The corn starch probably helps absorb moisture.  You can add an essential oil if you like.

I made it in a little baby food jar, and I scoop it out.  Not my favorite activity, but I'm still happy with my homemade deodorant.  So, I'm buying a case of 10 empty deodorant sticks here.  It's nearly $1/each this way. If you want one, let me know!

My daughter is one today. 

kill the jet dry

Today's tip is going to be quick, coz it's bedtime.

I stopped using jet-dry several months ago.  I learned that white vinegar works just as well!

Just pour the vinegar in the rinse aid spot.  Vinegar helps the dishes to shine just as well, for a fraction of the cost with no weird chemicals.

in which I begin to reveal my cleaning and beauty secrets

This year I've been inspired to make my own natural recipes for cleaning and personal care, and I'd love to share what's working for me.  (along with everyone else in the blogging world.)

There are so many ideas out on blogs right now - diy, natural, at home, etc.  It can be a little overwhelming.  I've made changes slowly, as I've found key ingredients and studied different recipes.  In order for me to make a change, the new solution has to be some combination of: greener, cheaper, healthier, safer, and at least moderately easy.  And also, do-able in the CZ.

so far I've made changes in...

• fabric softener
• hair wash
• hair conditioner
• bathroom cleaner 
• general cleaning 
• laundry soap
• shining agent in dishwasher 
• face lotion
• face wash
• deoderant 
• basically using vinegar, baking soda and oils in a whole heap of places 

I think the first change I made was in making my own fabric softener.  This started over a year ago I think, and I used vinegar, water, and conditioner.  It worked fine, but when I started washing Julie's baby clothes in just vinegar, because I didn't want any scent or chemicals in her load, I realized that the vinegar worked great as a fabric softener and the rest was just a hastle.

Now I just dump about a quarter cup of vinegar into the rinse-bin for every load.  At 7kc for 1.5L, this is a way cheaper solution.  There is no vinegar smell on the clean laundry.  Besides softening, vinegar deoderizes and sanitizes.  Wahoo.