So do I.

I have tried, really I have!  But so far, no luck.  I hit rock bottom the other week when my boyfriend said “You know, your hair really doesn’t look very good.”  Which means it must have been really obviously greasy for him to even notice it!

The rest of my beauty detox is going pretty well.  I’m loving making bath treats (like bath bombs, body scrub and herbal bath bags), infused oils and lovely scented creams.  I’m even dealing with my homemade toothpaste and experimenting with face cleansers.  But my hair has been much less successful.

In internet land, there is a cult of “No ‘Poo” converts who preach wonderfully manageable hair by stopping shampoo completely.  I read a great summary of how to go shampoo free with lots of positive comments.  Unfortunately it hasn’t worked for me.  Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1) Baking Soda – Following these instructions, I washed my hair with baking soda dissolved in water, then rinsed well.  While rinsing, I could barely get my fingers through my hair it was so stuck together – not a pleasant feeling!  When dry, I liked a bit of the texture it gave my hair (lots of natural curls and no flyaways) but it definitely looked greasy, and not shiny.  I tried this for a couple of weeks, and it didn’t seem to improve!

2) Homemade herbal shampoo – I got this recipe from my Rosemary Gladstar book – it’s a combination of castille soap and a herbal infusion (rosemary and sage for my brunette hair).  Smells good.  Foams very little.  Slightly more clean feeling hair than with the baking soda, but still not very good!  Still left my roots looking greasy.

I read somewhere online that if you have very hard water (which we do in London), you should rinse with distilled (or boiled then cooled) water.  I will try this when I get up the courage to test the baking soda again!

I’m a bit frustrated at the moment.  I love the idea of having low-maintenance hair, and being able to travel without numerous hair products … so I really want this to work!  But so far it has just been a greasy disaster.

Have any of you successfully gone shampoo-free? How did you do it?  Please send any tips & tricks my way.

For the moment, I’m going to start testing organic/natural shampoos from the health food store… stay tuned!

Ok this is probably cheating a bit.  A quick search on Wikipedia told me that chutney is originally from India and Pakistan, contain spices and vegetables, never raisins, and is served alongside meat.  However, here in the UK chutney also contains vinegar or another acid as a preservative, and I swear I’ve seen raisins in there.  So please allow me some creative license with this recipe

I made this chutney with the remainder of a pack of dates that Zak brought me from Kuwait.  You might remember I used half of the package to make these amazing date bars that changed my opinion of dates completely!  For the other half of the package, I wanted a recipe that would let us enjoy the dates over time (not disappear in a weekend like the date bars!).  This chutney should keep in the fridge for months and I love eating it with some aged cheddar cheese.  The sharpness of the cheddar compliments the mellow-sweetness of the chutney perfectly.

Tip: If you are buying dates, find the pitted kind if you can … I had to pit all of these dates and it was a sticky mess.

Package of yummy dates:

After pitting all of these sticky, yummy dates:

Cranberry Date Chutney

Ingredients:

250g. dates (with pits removed), chopped

175ml. cider vinegar

1tsp. ginger root, finely chopped

45g. chopped onion

50g. dried cranberries

7Tb. honey (to taste)

1 small red chili, chopped.

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Method:

1) Put dried cranberries in a cup, pour over 1/4 c. water to rehydrate, let soak 10 minutes.

2) In a saucepan, add all ingredients, including cranberries.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer for 30-45 minutes until thick and opaque (you should no longer see individual dates in liquid, it should have the consistency of a thick fruit jam).

3) Cool.  Taste & adjust seasoning (more honey and/or vinegar – it should be slightly tart).

4) Pour into clean jars, and store in the refrigerator.  (I sterilized my jars first in boiling water, but am still storing them in the fridge.  Once I get over my fear of canning/bottling food, I will tell you more about the other options for storing this chutney!)

Delicious served with sharp cheddar cheese, or as an accompaniment to cold meats.

Just like stocking your kitchen pantry with staples, there are some basic beauty ingredients you can keep on hand to make most recipes.  And much like stocking your kitchen, there is a bigger up-front cost but then you can make lots of products throughout the year.  Most of these ingredients are really inexpensive though – the big investment is the essential oils, but those last for ages.

1. Rich body oil – A deeply moisturizing oil for body products, like olive or avocado oil.  Or if you want a slightly lighter oil, try sunflower.
2. Lighter face oil – A lighter oil for facial products, like grapeseed (the lightest, good for oily skin), apricot or almond.
3. Coconut Oil – semi-solid oil with amazing scent, often used in creams and lotions
4. Beeswax – used to thicken creams, balms and ointments
5. Cocoa Butter – also used as a solid oil to thicken products
6. Emulsifying Wax – important if you’ll make a lot of creams, this helps them blend more smoothly.
7. Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) – Useful for so many things, you probably have this on hand already
8. Essential Oils – your favorites.  I suggest starting with lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus if you only buy a few.
9. Vitamin E Capsules – the kind with liquid inside, used as a preservative in products.
10. Rosewater or Orange Flower Water – floral waters used in toners, astringents, creams, lotions and perfumes
11. Cider Vinegar – can be used to make toner, astringent, hair rinses etc.
12. Strong, cheap vodka – used to make perfumes or tinctures which can be added to your products

You can buy everything in your local grocery store or pharmacy, except maybe the beeswax, cocoa butter and emulsifying wax (and maybe essential oils, depending on your local store.)  These products you can order online, I recommend G Baldwin & Co in the UK and Mountain Rose Herbs in the US.

If you watched the Story of Cosmetics and want to clean up your act, here are 9 easy tips on how to green your beauty routine.

1. Inventory what you actually use – Spend a few minutes on a product inventory.  What do you have? What do you actually use?  Rather than throwing out the unused products, maybe you can do a product swap with a friend.  Figure out what your essentials are, and then…
2. Multitask – Lots of times one product can fill multiple needs.  Do you need separate moisturizer for body, feet and hands?  Or separate face, neck and eye creams?  How about using hair conditioner as shaving cream?  Or using some lipstick as a cheek color?
3. Buy less stuff – Buying fewer products helps the environment (less packaging, shipping, chemical production), lessens your chemical exposure, and saves money.
4. Go fragrance free – Fragrance in products is a labeling loophole that allows companies to include chemical compounds not listed in the ingredients!  If you want to lighten your chemical load, go fragrance-free in all of your products (except those made with natural essential oils, or ones you make yourself!)
5. Learn which ingredients to avoid – Check out the Environmental Working Group’s tips to learn which ingredients to avoid.
6. Swap your antiperspirant – You can read at length on the internet about whether antiperspirants are safe to use.  Since antiperspirants block the sweat glands, they might cause toxins to build up under the arms,  rather than sweating them out.  No one knows yet, but to be safe, swap your pore-blocking antiperspirant for a natural deodorant like The Crystal.
7. Replace with a greener alternative – No need to throw out all of your existing products … just use them up, and then replace them with a greener alternative.
8. Get crafty – Try making some products yourself.  Use honey as a face mask.  Make some toothpaste.  Or body lotion.  There are lots of recipes online.
9. Skip the daily shampoo – Shampoo less often – you’ll use less product, save money, and probably improve your hair’s condition.  No need for texturizing hair products when you have a bit of natural texture!

How are you greening your beauty routine? Let us know in the comments.

Bath bombs have become quite popular recently as an alternative to bubble bath.  Bath bombs are like a bath cube, but much bigger and fizzier.  They can be in lots of different shapes, and either contain just fragrance, or fragrance and add-ins like shea butter, cocoa butter, herbs or even glitter!

The fabulous store Lush sells tons of variations of bath bomb.  But they’re easy to make at home for yourself or as gifts.

This recipe was my first attempt at making a bath bomb, and I was really happy with the results.  I’ll definitely be making more of these (and inventing my own scent combos) in the future!

My only criticism was that the little bits of lavender got ALL over the tub afterwards.  I actually put a strainer in the bottom of the tub so they wouldn’t clog the drain.  Just something to be aware of.  The essential oils provided all of the scent, so I think the flower are mainly for appearance.  I will probably leave them out next time!

Lavender Bath Bomb

(makes 1)

Adapted from Grow Your Own Drugs by James Wong

1 tsp. dried lavender flowers

3 TB baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

1 TB. citric acid (you can buy this in a pharmacy)

1 tsp. olive oil

10 drops lavender essential oil

A mould of some kind (I used a silicon cupcake mould, but you could use a cookie cutter, muffin tin, anything!)

How to: First, make sure your bowl and spoon are completely dry. If you get any water in this mix, it will start fizzing. Mix everything in a bowl, until the mixture is damp and powdery.

Press the mixture firmly into your mould.

Let it sit for several hours to try out.  Overnight is even better.  Mine started to get little bubbles on the top as it dried.

Turn out of mould, wrap in foil or plastic, and store in a dry location until ready to use.

To use: Run a bath.  Once the bath is ready, drop in the bath bomb and enjoy the fizzy show!

Have you made a bath bomb?  What scents did you include? Let us know!

1. Face cleanser – I made a cleansing cream, recipe to come soon.
2. Face scrub – almond oatmeal cleansing grains from Rosemary Gladstar’s book
3. Face moisturizer – using a lightweight sage and yarrow moisturizer from the Natural Beauty Book
4. Acne spot treatment – using teatree or lavender oil
5. Facial mask – using honey as a face mask at the moment
6. shampoo – again a recipe from Rosemary Gladstar’s book, recipe coming soon.
7. conditioner – sage vinegar! This is great, I’ll write about it soon.
8. anti-frizz hair serum – don’t need it yet!
9. Sea salt texture hair spray – don’t need it, my hair definitely has more texture with these natural products
10. dry shampoo – have tried sprinkling arrow root powder on my roots a couple of times … has potential.
11. shaving cream – using baby oil
12. shower gel – using Dr. Bronners castille soap
13. body moisturizer – I’m making body cream like this one! More recipes to come soon.
14. ultra rich body cream – not yet
15. hand cream – not yet
16. body scrub – using coffee scrub like this, and a sugar scrub I made, recipe to come soon.
17. perfume – none yet
18. deodorant – using the natural crystal deodorant
19. toothpaste – using sage tooth powder
20. mouthwash – none yet
21. nail polish – just leaving the existing polish on my toes for the moment until I find an alternative
22. nail polish remover – none yet
23. makeup (foundation, concealer, powder, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss) – currently only using Bare Minerals foundation and ‘warmth’ powder.
24. astringent/toner – rosewater or Queen of Hungary water
25. self tanner – none yet
26. night time face treatment – made a light facial oil with grapeseed oil and essential oils, recipe to come soon
27. hair color/dye – none yet, will try henna soon!
28. hand sanitizer (does this count?!) – none yet, will find a recipe for this though!

Have better alternatives for what I’m using above? Have you tried any of them yourself? Let us know in the comments!

We’re going to move house next month, so the long process of decluttering and packing started this weekend.  I personally like the ‘decluttering the fridge/freezer’ portion, where I dig around in the freezer for lost packets of unlabeled food, and try to figure out how to use them creatively.  That’s how I came across these blackberries.

You might remember we made Apple Blackberry Muffins back in March.  In the spirit of summertime, this weekend I combined blackberries with peaches.  I think this combination of blackberry peach would make a fantastic syrup (cordial), crumble/crisp, sauce or jam too.  It’s delicious!   If you try anything with the blackberry/peach combo, let us know!

Tip: When making muffins, remember, less stirring is better!  Make these by hand, not in a mixer.  Once you add the liquids to the dry ingredients, stir just to combine into a batter – stirring muffing batter too much will just make tough, chewy muffins.  If you have some pent-up frustration and want to take it out on some food, try making bread instead.

Blackberry Peach Muffins

makes 12

1c. (200 g) peaches, chopped

1 c. (200 g) blackberries (mine were frozen, but please use fresh if you have them!)

2 c. (260g) flour

1/4c. (60g) white sugar

1/4c. (60g) brown sugar

2.5 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1c. milk

1/3c. (76g) melted butter

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.  Prepare your 12 muffin cups (either by greasing a muffin tin, using paper liners, or using silicon muffin cups)

Toss peaches in cinnamon, white and brown sugar until coated.

Add the flour, salt and baking powder.  Gently stir to combine.

In your measuring jug, whisk the egg and milk until blended.  Add the vanilla and melted butter.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined into a batter – do not go crazy here, less stirring is better!

Fill your muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. (How do you know if they’re cooked through?  Take a toothpick and stick it in the center of a muffin – it should come out clean, and maybe with a moist crumb, but no liquid batter!)

Wait until they’ve cooled a bit to eat them, the flavors develop much more once they’re cool … but I know it’s hard to resist! Bon appetit.

As a last touch, being the product junkie that I am, I now bring a homemade facial mist.  In my less-green days I used an evian facial spray, or even more expensively, one of the fancy face spray products made for plane travel.  But now I make my own.  It’s super simple, you can customize the scent, and packs a double-punch of being antibacterial AND relaxing.

Jet Setter Facial Mist

Rosewater (or distilled water) – Rosewater is moisturizing and soothing, so it’s perfect in this recipe.  But you could also use orange flower water or distilled water.

Essential oils (lavender, geranium, rosemary, or whatever you prefer)

Small pump spray bottle (under 100ml for airline regulations!)

How to: Add 50ml or slightly less than 1/4 c. of rosewater to your spray bottle.

Add 10 drops of essential oil (I used 5 drops lavender, 3 drops rosemary, 2 drops geranium).

Shake.  Spray on your face or in the air in front of you on the plane (avoiding your seat-mates!!)

Note: The ratio is 20 drops essential oil per 100 ml of water.  Use any combination of essential oils that you want.  I would include something purifying like eucalyptus, rosemary, tea tree, lemon etc.  plus something relaxing like lavender, geranium, clary sage etc.

How do you stay relaxed & healthy while travelling? Share your tips below.

First, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database.  You can look up any of your existing products to see their rank on the toxicity scale (0-10, 10 being most toxic).  While they don’t state which products to avoid, you can us the information to set your own threshold.   During this beauty detox I won’t use anything higher than a 5 (and hopefully won’t have to use many purchased products at all, if I can help it!).   My biggest surprise was that my favorite NARS blush scored a 7, and contains BHA which is a known immune system toxin, possible carcinogen and has been banned in Europe.  And I used it daily for about 7 years.  Awesome!

Also check out their What Not to Buy list of the top 10 ingredients to avoid in your beauty products.  Did you know that some products still contain mercury and lead??  I thought those were removed years ago.  It’s interesting reading.

Want to learn more about what’s in our cosmetics?  Watch the Story of Cosmetics video.  If you only do one thing, watch this video!

One of the most eye-opening points for me is that while chemicals in beauty products are regulated, we are getting exposure from the chemicals in multiple products at the same time.  So while your shampoo might have safe levels of a chemical, what happens when you also use conditioner, perfume, moisturizer and toothpaste with the same chemical in it??  Your exposure to that chemical just increased.  But the effects?  We just don’t know.

Although this project started as a way to save some money and make homemade beauty products, I’m starting to realize it’s a much more important issue that affects everyone.

If you look up any of your products in the Skin Deep database and have any surprises, let us know in the comments!

My new plan will be to pick a couple of homemade products, and try them for several weeks at a time.  After all, I do have a whole year to experiment.

So, my first ‘stick to it product’ is going to be a homemade toner or astringent.  We’re having warm summer weather here in England, and I really need a decongesting product to keep away the greasies.

This recipe for Queen of Hungary water has intrigued me for awhile.  I found this version in my favorite recipe book by Rosemary Gladstar.  Queen of Hungary water is an old gypsy remedy supposedly invented by the Queen of Hungary (and no, that is not her in the picture, that’s the Queen of Greece, but it was a good image!)  There are many variations including different herbs in a base of either strong alcohol or vinegar.  The recipe I used makes an herbal vinegar, and then dilutes it with a combination of rose water and witch hazel.

The finished product can be used as a facial toner or astringent, but was traditionally used as a cure-all.  According to Nicholas Culpepper, a famous English herbalist:

“The water (containing an infusion of spirits) is admirable cure-all remedy of all kinds of cold and humidity-induced head ailments, apoplexies, epilepsies, dizziness, lethargy, crippleness, nerves diseases, rheumatism, flaws, spasms, loss of memory, coma, drowsiness, deafness, ear buzzing, derangement of vision, blood coagulation, mood-induced headaches. Relieves toothache, useful for stomach cramps, pleuritis, lack of appetite, indigestion, obstruction of the liver, obstruction of the spleen, intestinal obstruction and contraction of the uterus… There are not many remedies producing that many good effects.”

Brilliant! Sounds like it will fix all of my ills.  Ok, maybe not, but it should be a refreshing, soothing skin daily skin toner that just might clear up my skin too.

Queen of Hungary Water

Adapted from Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health

Herb Mix: (use whatever you have on hand, I used these below.  I used dried herbs for everything except the sage and rosemary, since I have lots of that in my garden).

6TB. Lemon Balm

4 TB Chamomile

4 TB Roses

3 TB Calendula/Marigold

1 TB Lemon zest

1 TB dried rosemary (or 2 TB fresh)

1 TB dried sage (or 2 TB fresh)

Liquid

Organic cider vinegar

Rose Water and/or Witch Hazel

Essential oil of lavender or rose (optional

Method:

Place herbs in jar.  Cover with vinegar until completely submerged.  Leave in a sunny spot for 2-3 weeks.

Strain out the herbs (you want to get all the bits out – this helps the product keep longer).  To each cup of herbal vinegar, add 1c. total extra liquid (I used 1/2 c. rose water and 1/2c. witch hazel).  Add several drops of essential oil, if using.  Put into clean, pretty bottle.   Rosemary Gladstar says this will keep indefinitely and does not need to be refrigerated.

How does it smell? Really nice and herby…but slightly vinegary.  I can see how it would make a nice body splash if you made it with vodka instead of vinegar.  I’ve used it as a toner for a couple of days and it feels refreshing and cleansing on my skin.  Will report back after a few weeks of use!

Have you tried any homemade beauty products yourself? Let us know how it went in the comments.