Tag: green beauty

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Tips for Hot Process Soap Making Beginners

Once. I admit it. I bought all the stuff, designated a hand mixer and a stainless steel pot, and made soap from scratch with my sister, just once. Now the soap-making equipment sits in my basement. But, after reading this post on hot process soap making, I’m starting to feel inspired to get another batch going. It’s really a fun bonding experience, as long as you have patience. Homemade soap takes about a month to cure before you can use it. We did not use a crockpot, but I really like the idea. A professional soap maker on Twitter assures me she uses a crockpot. It’s not cheating.

Check out this pressed article from Natural Beauty Workshop for more about hot process soap. Source: Tips for Hot Process Soap Making Beginners

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DIY dry shampoo for red hair

One of my coworkers confessed to me that she tried a store-bought dry shampoo and just didn’t feel like she used it right. It either left white residue in her hair or wore off midway through her day. Meanwhile, she had to breathe in a dust cloud of aerosol spray just to use it. There has to be a better way. As a lover of all things natural, including hair care, I felt inspired to find an easy recipe for DIY dry shampoo for red hair that worked.

Looking for a different color?

for brown or auburn hair click here
for blonde hair click here
for black hair click here
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

My personal test of homemade dry shampoo

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early to finish making a blueberry pie. This is a true story. The rolling, mixing and baking took longer than I thought it would. By the time I finished the pie and looked at the clock, I only had 20 minutes left before we had to leave.

Now we’re all in a rush, and my second-day hair was in need of some attention. All day, I would be hugging relatives and taking family photos. My hair should at least look and smell fresh.

In the past, I’ve used trial-sized, store-bought dry shampoos, but we didn’t have any in the house. What I did have was some spices and cornstarch I bought for the pie filling. How skeptical are you right now? Probably about as skeptical as I was. But, with limited options, I took a risk and tried a DIY dry shampoo recipe that worked great! Read on for the full recipe and my review.

It turns out, homemade dry shampoo is fantastic! You can make dry shampoo with just a couple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen pantry. For a lot of reasons, homemade dry shampoo is better than store-bought dry shampoo. Another great discovery…by just tweaking one or two ingredients, you can change the color of the dry shampoo. No more white dusty roots!

It is really shampoo?

Not really. It’s not foamy. It’s not liquid. It’s not washing your hair. You don’t rinse it out, but it’s not a leave-in conditioner.

Dry shampoo is a powder that you use to absorb oil, make your hair look fresh and add a pleasant fragrance to your hair.

Five reasons to use DIY dry shampoo

  1. Works great, absorbing oils and leaving hair looking fresh
  2. No chemicals harming your scalp or bloodstream
  3. No aerosol deteriorating the ozone layer
  4. Inexpensive, whip up one batch and store it (pretty much) forever
  5. Easy to make with stuff you probably already have

When to use dry shampoo

It might be that your hair is clean, but you used an oily sunscreen and just want to get rid of the greasy look that’s built up around your hairline. Maybe you didn’t have time to wash your hair or just don’t wash your hair that often, rub a little dry shampoo through it so it doesn’t look greasy or flat.

You can use dry shampoo whenever your hair feels a little oily or not quite fresh enough. As a bonus, the dry blend helps lift your hair at the roots and adds volume.

I tend to use dry shampoo before I style it, but it doesn’t matter if you wait until after you’ve styled your hair. You just want to make sure you can still rub the powder into the hair a little bit, which might depend on the style.

If your hair is in an updo or a tight bun, you will probably have a hard time rubbing the dry shampoo through and getting the powder to blend evenly.  In this case, you can try using a make-up brush to dust the dry shampoo onto your hair. On the other hand, if you just straightened or curled your hair, you shouldn’t have much trouble using dry shampoo after styling it, especially my recipe.

Will tomorrow be second-day hair? Try my DIY dry shampoo recipe for homemade hair care right from your kitchen. Only three simple ingredients blend right into your red or auburn hair!

DIY dry shampoo recipe for red hair

for brown or auburn hair click here
for blonde hair click here
working on a recipe for black hair
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
(optional) arrowroot (can be used instead of or to complement the cornstarch)

Need to restock your spice cabinet? I partnered with spicesforless.com to make it easy. Their site is so pretty to click through. It’s like an art gallery for spice lovers. They will have any color or flavor spice you might need.

Directions:
Mix together the cornstarch, cinnamon and ginger together.
Since we all have different hair colors, you might have to play with the color a little bit by adding a little more cinnamon for darker shades or a little more ginger for strawberry blonde or lighter hair tones. If your hair is more auburn than red, click here for a dry shampoo recipe for brown/auburn hair. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to match your hair exactly.

Store in almost any convenient container or baggie.

To use:
Dip your fingers into the DIY dry shampoo.
Dust off any excess powder.
Your fingers should now be lightly coated in dry shampoo.
Rub shampoo dust through your hair at or within 2-3 inches of the roots.
Use the same motion you would if you just took your hair out of a ponytail and are trying to loosen up the roots.
Repeat all over your head. Pay special attention along the hairline, above and behind your ears.
Do not get the powder in your eyes. It might burn.
The shampoo should absorb oil and blend into your hair in seconds.
Your hair will have a light fragrance of cinnamon and ginger.
The cornstarch will help add lift and volume.
It should last all day and night.
Be careful if you are wearing a white shirt. Like any hair product with color in it, you might get a dusting of reddish specks on you if you are wearing a bright white shirt. As an alternative, just put a towel over your shoulders.

What happens when I rinse it out?

When you do go to wash or rinse your hair again, there is the faint scent of cinnamon and ginger root in the shower. Nothing else really happens. It rinses right out of your hair.

Please leave a comment and let us know if you’ve tried DIY dry shampoo. What do you think?

Looking for more DIY skin and hair care? You’ll find more of it here. I love this stuff.

DIY coffee scrub
3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs
Top 5 handmade soaps – inexpensive!
Skincare advice from 80 years of glowing skin

Done with DIY for the time being? Then, I will share with you a convenient place to buy other people’s DIY’s. It only takes a few clicks to search verified handcrafted sellers on the Handmade Marketplace. Click the banner below. See what you think.

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DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for blonde hair

One of my coworkers confessed to me that she tried a store-bought dry shampoo and just didn’t feel like she used it right. It either left white residue in her hair or wore off midway through her day. Meanwhile, she had to breathe in a dust cloud of aerosol spray just to use it. There has to be a better way. As a lover of all things natural, including hair care, I felt inspired to find an easy recipe for DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair that worked.

My personal test of homemade dry shampoo

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early to finish making a blueberry pie. This is a true story. The rolling, mixing and baking took longer than I thought it would. By the time I finished the pie and looked at the clock, I only had 20 minutes left before we had to leave.

Now we’re all in a rush, and my second-day hair was in need of some attention. All day, I would be hugging relatives and taking family photos. My hair should at least look and smell fresh.

In the past, I’ve used trial-sized, store-bought dry shampoos, but we didn’t have any in the house. What I did have was some spices and cornstarch I bought for the pie filling. How skeptical are you right now? Probably about as skeptical as I was. But, with limited options, I took a risk and tried a DIY dry shampoo recipe that worked great! Read on for the full recipe and my review.

It turns out, homemade dry shampoo is fantastic! You can make dry shampoo with just a couple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen pantry. For a lot of reasons, homemade dry shampoo is better than store-bought dry shampoo. Another great discovery…by just tweaking one or two ingredients, you can change the color of the dry shampoo. No more white dusty roots!

It is really shampoo?

Not really. It’s not foamy. It’s not liquid. It’s not washing your hair. You don’t rinse it out, but it’s not a leave-in conditioner.

Dry shampoo is a powder that you use to absorb oil, make your hair look fresh and add a pleasant fragrance to your hair.

Five reasons to use DIY dry shampoo

  1. Works great, absorbing oils and leaving hair looking fresh
  2. No chemicals harming your scalp or bloodstream
  3. No aerosol deteriorating the ozone layer
  4. Inexpensive, whip up one batch and store it (pretty much) forever
  5. Easy to make with stuff you probably already have

When to use dry shampoo

It might be that your hair is clean, but you used an oily sunscreen and just want to get rid of the greasy look that’s built up around your hairline. Maybe you didn’t have time to wash your hair or just don’t wash your hair that often, rub a little dry shampoo through it so it doesn’t look greasy or flat.

You can use dry shampoo whenever your hair feels a little oily or not quite fresh enough. As a bonus, the dry blend helps lift your hair at the roots and adds volume.

I tend to use dry shampoo before I style it, but it doesn’t matter if you wait until after you’ve styled your hair. You just want to make sure you can still rub the powder into the hair a little bit, which might depend on the style.

If your hair is in an updo or a tight bun, you will probably have a hard time rubbing the dry shampoo through and getting the powder to blend evenly.  In this case, you can try using a make-up brush to dust the dry shampoo onto your hair. On the other hand, if you just straightened or curled your hair, you shouldn’t have much trouble using dry shampoo after styling it, especially my recipe.

DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for blonde hair

for brown or auburn hair click here
for red hair click here
for black hair click here
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 to 1 tablespoon ground ginger root
(optional) a little bit of cocoa powder for a slightly different dark blonde tone
(optional) arrowroot (can be used instead of or to complement the cornstarch)

Need to replenish your spice cabinet? I’ve partnered with spicesforless.com to make it easy for you to find ginger and arrowroot and all kinds of other spices in a convenient click:


Directions:
Mix together the cornstarch, ground ginger root and optional cocoa powder.
Since we all have different hair colors, you might have to play with the color a little bit by adding a little more ginger root for darker or a little less for lighter hair tones. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to match your hair exactly.
Store in almost any convenient container or baggie.

To use:
Dip your fingers into the DIY dry shampoo.
Dust off any excess powder.
Your fingers should now be lightly coated in dry shampoo.
Rub shampoo dust through your hair at or within 2-3 inches of the roots.
Use the same motion you would if you just took your hair out of a ponytail and are trying to loosen up the roots.
Repeat all over your head. Pay special attention along the hairline, above and behind your ears.
Do not get ginger root powder in your eyes. It might burn.
The shampoo should absorb oil and blend into your hair in seconds.
Your hair will have a faint scent of ginger.
The cornstarch will help add lift and volume.
It should last all day and night.

What happens when I rinse it out?

When you do go to wash or rinse your hair again, there is the faint scent of ginger root in the shower. Nothing else really happens. It rinses right out of your hair.

Please leave a comment and let us know if you’ve tried DIY dry shampoo. What do you think?

Looking for more DIY skin and hair care? You’ll find more of it here. I love this stuff.

DIY coffee scrub
3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs
Top 5 handmade soaps – inexpensive!
Skincare advice from 80 years of glowing skin

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

 

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DIY dry shampoo for brown or auburn hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for brown hair

One of my coworkers confessed to me that she tried a store-bought dry shampoo and just didn’t feel like she used it right. It either left white residue in her dark hair or wore off midway through her day. Meanwhile, she had to breathe in a dust cloud of aerosol spray just to use it. There has to be a better way. As a lover of all things natural, including hair care, I felt inspired to find an easy DIY dry shampoo recipe that worked.

Testing out homemade dry shampoo

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early to finish making a blueberry pie. This is a true story. The rolling, mixing and baking took longer than I thought it would. By the time I finished the pie and looked at the clock, I only had 20 minutes left before we had to leave.

Now we’re all in a rush, and my second-day hair was in need of some attention. All day, I’ll be hugging relatives and taking family photos. My hair should at least look and smell fresh.

In the past, I’ve used trial-sized, store-bought dry shampoos, but we didn’t have any in the house. What I did have was some cinnamon and cornstarch I bought for the pie filling. How skeptical are you right now? Probably about as skeptical as I was. But, with limited options, I took a risk and tried a DIY dry shampoo recipe for my brown hair. Read on for the full recipe and my review.

DIY dry shampoo recipe for brown hair

It turns out, homemade dry shampoo is fantastic! You can make dry shampoo with just a couple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen pantry. For a lot of reasons, homemade dry shampoo is better than store-bought dry shampoo. Another great discovery…by just tweaking one or two ingredients, you can change the color of the dry shampoo. No more white dusty roots!

It is really shampoo?

Not really. It’s not foamy. It’s not liquid. It’s not washing your hair. You don’t rinse it out, but it’s not a leave-in conditioner.

Dry shampoo is a powder that you use to absorb oil, make your hair look fresh and add a pleasant fragrance to your hair.

Five reasons to use DIY dry shampoo

  1. Works great, absorbing oils and leaving hair looking fresh
  2. No chemicals harming your scalp
  3. No aerosol deteriorating the ozone layer
  4. Inexpensive, whip up one batch and store it (pretty much) forever
  5. Easy to make with stuff you probably already have

When to use dry shampoo

It might be that your hair is clean, but you used an oily sunscreen and just want to get rid of the greasy look that’s built up around your hairline. Maybe you didn’t have time to wash your hair or just don’t wash your hair that often, rub a little dry shampoo through it so it doesn’t look greasy or flat.

You can use dry shampoo whenever your hair feels a little oily or not quite fresh enough. As a bonus, the dry blend helps lift your hair at the roots and adds volume.

I tend to use dry shampoo before I style it, but it doesn’t matter if you wait until after you’ve styled your hair. You just want to make sure you can still rub the powder into the hair a little bit, which might depend on the style.

If your hair is in an updo or a tight bun, you will probably have a hard time rubbing the dry shampoo through and getting the powder to blend evenly.  In this case, you can try using a make-up brush to dust the dry shampoo onto your hair. On the other hand, if you just straightened or curled your hair, you shouldn’t have much trouble using dry shampoo after styling it, especially my recipe.

DIY dry shampoo for brown or auburn hair

for blonde hair click here
for red hair click here
for black hair click here
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 to 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
(optional) cocoa powder for a slightly different brown tone
(optional) arrowroot (can be used instead of or to complement the cornstarch)

Need to replenish your spice cabinet? I’ve partnered with spicesforless.com so you can find any spice you want – including arrowroot – and order online for less than you’d pay at most grocery stores! Click here to check out their beautiful gallery of spices.

Directions:
Mix together the cornstarch, cinnamon and optional cocoa powder.
Since we all have different hair colors, you might have to play with the color a little bit by adding a little more cinnamon for darker brown or a little less for lighter brown. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to match your hair exactly.
Store in almost any convenient container or baggie.

To use:
Dip your fingers into the DIY dry shampoo.
Dust off any excess powder.
Your fingers should be coated in dry shampoo.
Rub shampoo dust through your hair at or within 2-3 inches of the roots.
Use the same motion you would if you just took your hair out of a ponytail and are trying to loosen up the roots.
Repeat all over your head. Pay special attention along the hairline, above and behind your ears.
The shampoo should absorb oil and blend into your hair in seconds.
Your hair will have a faint scent of cinnamon.
Do not get ground cinnamon in your eyes. It might burn.
The cornstarch will help add lift and volume.
It should last all day and night.

What happens when I rinse it out?

When you do go to wash or rinse your hair again, there is the faint scent of cinnamon in the shower. Nothing else really happens. It rinses out of your hair.

Please leave a comment and let us know if you’ve tried DIY dry shampoo. What do you think?

Looking for more DIY skin and hair care? You’ll find more of it here. I love this stuff.

DIY coffee scrub
3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs
Top 5 handmade soaps – inexpensive!
Skincare advice from 80 years of glowing skin

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Posted on by — 10 Comments

3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs

Coffee and coconut body scrub for the shower

Maybe you’ve heard of sugar scrubs and salt scrubs (a.k.a. sea salt scrubs or dead sea salt scrubs). I love them. Sugar scrubs are my favorite only because salt will burn if it gets into your scrapes or eyes. I pretty much use a sugar scrub every time I shower, and I make them for my friends (half of the people who ask me for one are guy friends). There’s another option that’s popular for natural body buffing and polishing: coffee scrubs.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Feel free to leave a comment and disagree with or confirm any of the points I’m making in this article. Your ideas and opinions are welcome. You may even end up doing an experiment yourself. I would encourage you to try a coffee scrub DIY or buy one and make up your own mind about them.

Typically, these coffee scrubs are made from a blend of coffee grounds, brown sugar and coconut oil. Lovely ingredients as long as you don’t have a coconut allergy, and I don’t have any allergies. No, allergies are not one of the reasons I can’t get into coffee scrubs.

I love handmade soaps. Some handmade soaps have coffee grounds blended into them to produce a more exfoliating experience. I do like those soaps. Bars of handmade soaps are very different from oil and coffee-based shower scrubs.

You will see these beautiful photos of coffee scrubs online and on social media. For the record, I don’t have anything against coffee scrubs. In fact, I will likely continue to use them on occasion. Coffee scrubs exfoliate your skin and hold skin-softening oils well.

Once I ran into an old friend on a flight to Chicago. We sat together (Southwest open seating). It was wonderful. She mentioned she loves coffee scrubs. She strongly preferred them to sugar scrubs. It sparked my interest so I went home and made a coffee scrub that weekend. It was just ok.

Why I just can’t get into coffee scrubs

Three reasons why I just can’t get into coffee-based body scrubs:

  1. If you use them on your face, you may end up with rough coffee grounds in your eye.
  2. They leave brown coffee muck under my fingernails.
  3. The coffee grounds get all over my shower.

Coffee in your eye

How did I find out that you might get coffee grounds in your eye? The hard way. Twice.

You can avoid this one if you don’t use the coffee scrub to wash your face or scalp and are careful not to rub your eye before you’ve washed off every single ground from your hands. But, I am looking for the easiest approach to natural skincare. If there are too many restrictions on a product, it’s just not easy enough for me. Plus, pretty much the only time I wash my face is when I’m in the shower. Using a sugar scrub after washing my face adds instant moisture and polishes my skin. I want something I can use from my head to my toes.

Coffee muck

When you rub your body with a coffee scrub, it leaves coffee residue on your skin. It’s a lot like the sludge you may see at the bottom of a coffee cup or carafe. Now, that’s not such a big deal, especially if you only use the scrub in the shower. It only takes an extra 20 seconds in the shower to wash the coffee sludge off your skin.

The thing I don’t like is that after I use a coffee scrub, it leaves bits of muck and coffee grounds under my fingernails. Dirty fingernails might not be such a big deal. Gardeners don’t generally mind dirt under their fingernails all that much. I don’t use gardening gloves, and during gardening season, there’s always a little dirt under mine.

It’s more the discomfort of having coffee grounds under my nails that I dislike. Ok, I’m sure I could use unused grounds instead of brewed coffee grounds, put them through the grinder and make them much finer.  But, now we’ve exceeding the amount of effort I want to put into making a body scrub, especially since I use them every day. I want to be able to blend up a scrub quickly in the middle of checking other stuff off my hectic working parent To-Do list.

Grounds up the wall

I have used body scrubs in the shower for years and plan to use them for the rest of my life. Usually, the only thing I am worried about is leaving a bit of a slippery sheen on the tiles. I do not want to worry about leaving coffee grounds or sludge splattered all around my shower tiles.

Coffee grounds on white marble shower tile

If you’re a bit of a clean freak or you don’t have children, you probably clean your shower more often than I do. In between major cleanings, I don’t want to do much more work than a few sprays of mildew remover.

When I use coffee scrubs in my shower, I end up having to fill a cup with water and splash it on the walls over and over again to clean every speck of coffee off the tiles. Ideal effort level exceeded again.

Three reasons I prefer sugar scrubs to coffee scrubs in my shower

One more thing

Even if you use yummy coconut oil and vanilla (I recommend Mexican vanilla) and elegant essential oils in your coffee scrub, it still leaves the faint scent of cigarette ash on your skin for the first 15 minutes or so after your shower. It may stay on your skin a little longer than that, but I don’t seem to notice it after 15 minutes.

Why would coffee ground residue smell like cigarette ash? I’m not sure. I am not a smoker, but my Gram was. She smelled of Nivea face cream, Maxwell House and Pall Mall cigarettes. She also died of cancer so please don’t take this as an endorsement. But, after I use a coffee scrub in the shower, it reminds me of the smell of my Gram. If I used Nivea after my coffee scrub, I’d be having serious childhood flashbacks. She would be so mad at me for telling you she smelled like cigarettes.

What do you think?

Ok, before I annoy my late Gram any more, I’ll turn this over to you.

Have you experimented with coffee scrubs? Can you connect with any of the points I’ve made? Maybe you wrote a totally contrary post about how much you love coffee scrubs. I respect that. Please scroll down to share your comments or questions.