Back to Nature Part 1 - Soft as a baby's bottom...

Hello everyone :) How are you on this rainy and miserable day?? We've been having a sleep over with little miss and her big cousin.. Lots of painting, colouring, dancing in our pyjama's, baking cakes, picnics and a soak in the tub!

Now I don't know about anyone else but these two little girlies have very sensitive skin and there are certain products aimed at children that cause a nasty rash and dry skin - bubble baths, sun cream and various other "sensitive" kids bath products. Until recently when I just happened to come across a recipe to make our own laundry detergent, I had no idea that you could make all your own cleaning and beauty products at home - no harsh chemicals and no hidden nasties! I don't know if you've looked at the back of a bottle of shampoo or body wash lately but can you even pronounce the names, never mind understand what the ingredients are?  Now I happen to know Sodium Laureth Sulfate is added as a foaming agent, you know that clean feeling you can sometimes only feel from lather? Well that's a chemical added, which is also a skin irritant.. so if you do want to switch to natural products I'm afraid you may have to sacrifice your lather.. but what you will gain is much better - skin as soft as a baby's bottom :)

                                                 The ingredients in my "sensitive" shower gel

 

Well it's safe to say over the last few weeks, I have become just a little obsessed with replacing all of my cleaning and beauty products, especially those that are coming into contact with my little girl's delicate skin.. I'm almost there and it hasn't been too difficult, in fact I'm having fun - I feel a bit like a scientist with all my bubbling creations.. Today I'm just going to share the first two things I've switched, the two things that come into contact with skin the most often - Laundry Detergent and Baby Wash (which can also be used make disposable and reusable wipes!!)..

At first I made the dry version of the detergent but I found it wasn't getting our clothes as fresh as we were used to - that wasn't something I was willing to sacrifice.. so I went on another Pinterest hunt and found a liquid which is perfect!! Here goes...

Liquid Laundry Detergent

(this recipe makes over 4 litres and you still have enough left for another 8!)

You will need:
1/3 bar of laundry soap, organic soap or any perfume free, sensitive soap (I used simple as I had it to hand)
1 tbsp Borax / Borax substitute (I got mine on ebay)
1 tbsp Washing Soda / Soda Crystals (Try the laundry aisle or I bought some Dri pak off ebay)
1 tbsp Oxy Clean (optional - laundry aisle)
20-30 drops of Essential Oil (optional - again try ebay but make sure you choose therapeutic grade - at least £3 a bottle - any less than this will not be the purest)
250ml of water in a saucepan
4l of hot tap water in a large bucket/dish washing tub
Empty containers with lids

Now of course this recipe isn't chemical free but it is a lot kinder, more economical and a huge amount cheaper than the £7-8 a bottle I was buying before! I skip the oxy clean and just use a scoop in particularly dirty loads.. and I also like different smells for different washing so I use different essential oils - lavender for pyjamas/bed linen to help encourage peace at bedtime, lemon for my tea towels, cleaning cloths etc and sweet orange on our clothes as it smells nice.. you can increase or decrease the amount according to how strong you like the smell but do be careful using essential oils for babies - I am obviously not a trained aromatherapist so be aware of the pros/cons of each oil.

Ok so what you need to do..

* Grate your 1/3 bar of soap
* Heat the 250ml of water in a saucepan until it simmers
* Add the grated soap and stir until it dissolves
* Add your borax and washing soda (also add oxy clean here if using)
* Once dissolved, remove from heat
* Fill your bucket with 4l of hot tap water
* Pour your saucepan solution into your bucket and give it a good stir
* Let sit for 24 hours uncovered, giving a good stir occasionally
* After 24 hours, it should be what I would describe as a snotty consistency (sorry!)
* Now add your essential oil.  If you're using different oils like I did then at this point I filled my three bottles then added the oil and gave them a good shake (after I'd put the lid on of course)

Now the liquid might separate so give the bottle a good shake before each use.  You need about 1 cap per wash (I use an old Ariel cap).  For extra clean and as a natural softener, you can about 100ml of white vinegar direct to your washer drawer during the rinse cycle (make sure you have white vinegar from the cleaning aisle, not white malt vinegar as I originally thought - wilko's sell it for £1 a bottle)

You can of course play around with quantities until you get a detergent you're 100% happy with, I did make my own little adjustments and this works great for us.

Baby Wash (for sensitive skin of all ages)

The beauty of this one is that it can be used as a bubble bath, body wash, shampoo, hand wash and in disposable and reusable wipes - for baby's bums and mammy's makeup too!

You will need:
1 bar of Organic Castille Soap (preferably Dr Bronner's Baby Mild - remember this is going a long way - again around 4l - so worth the £5 price tag.  Get this from ebay, amazon or some Holland and Barrett stores)
400ml of water in a saucepan
2 tbsp vegetable glycerine (available in some cake/specialist food shops or good old ebay!)
4l of hot tap water
20-30 drops of essential oil
Empty containers with lids

* Grate your bar of soap
* Heat 400ml of water in a saucepan until it simmers
* Add the grated soap and stir until is dissolves
* Add your glycerine
* Fill your bucket with 4l of hot tap water
* Pour your saucepan solution into your bucket and give it a good stir
* Let sit for 24 hours, giving a good stir occasionally
* Add your essential oils and pour into containers - again I use different scents so I add to each bottle and shake.. Lavender for night time baths, lemon/orange for morning showers and a few drops of tea tree is nice too - also stops the solution from getting any mould in it!

Now remember lather does not equal clean so if you're looking for suds you won't find them here.. if you really can't give up the suds I would advise adding a little more water to your bottle once finished and finding a foaming pump (although I'm not having much luck finding one of these so if you use a foaming face or hand wash then remember to keep the empty bottle) I should also say at this point this wash IS NOT tear free so keep those peepers closed.

Phew.. are you still with me??? Now I'm just going to quickly finish with those wipes and that's it for today..

Baby Wipes

So.. you will need your baby wash you've just made (or if you don't have the time any baby wash will do) along with:
A glass jar with airtight lid (I got mine from Poundland)
Large cotton pads OR microfiber cloths cut in half (for reusable)
200 ml Warm water
Coconut oil/Baby oil or any other oil for that matter - you could try sweet almond or even extra virgin olive oil but results may vary.  I use extra virgin coconut oil in everything and buy in bulk (1kg for £9.99 on ebay - I should be on commission by now)

* Fill a jug with 200ml of warm tap water
* Add 2 tbsp of baby wash
* Add 1/2 tsp of your oil and give it a good stir
* Either roll up your microfiber cloths and pour the solution over OR add small piles of cotton pads, soak then keep layering and adding more solution so it is equally distributed
* Pop the lid on and use when needed - for the reusable clothes just ring out excess water, use for mucky faces or waterproof makeup, rinse and put in the washing with your towels

Once you've used them all just start over again. I'm extra stingy with my reusable ones - I use one for little miss then on myself too, I mean how dirty can that little face be anyway? I've also stopped using bubble bath and started using the homemade baby wash in there too and a microfiber cloth to clean her down, that way I know I'm not stripping her skin of its natural oils.. Which leads to my next post which will be all about keeping yours and you little one's skins soft, plus some more recipes for soft hair..

Hope you've enjoyed reading this weeks post - I'd love to know if you try any of the recipes and if they work for you.. I'm still very much a beginner at this so if you find a better way of doing something I would love to hear about it..

See you all next week :) xxx