Posts Tagged ‘soap recipes’

Fasting Day 3 – Feel great, not hungry. When you fast, you take a break from all forms of toxins physical and non-physical, that your body usually has to deal with on some level. I am recalling memories of earlier fasts/feasts – how things change in and around you. You really do move inward. I don’t just fast from food – I’m finding that I begin to “fast” from things in my life that I know will give me stress. I don’t watch the news for example. I meditate deeper and longer. I listen to more soothing music. (I just bought ‘Edgar Cayce’s Sounds for Meditation’ CD from A.R.E. Very interesting, nice.)
Overall, I feel my body has a lot less toxins than it did a few years ago. I eat mostly raw and make the effort to reduce the toxic load to my body daily. It had become habit for me and I forget how different my lifestyle has become until my dad comes to visit.
He complains about me not having “real” soap, or “real” toothpaste. I don’t have “real” deodorant either. He has to live without a microwave while he is here too. I have glass food containers, having little by little purchased glass and donated the plasticware. I stick to natural fabrics (cotton, hemp etc).
It has been difficult at times to find clothing that is cotton and still “business” like. Most of it is too casual and sloppy for “work” clothes. Mostly I’ve been successful at finding natural fabrics from Ralph Lauren – finding suit jackets and tank tops that serve for business attire.

I’ll start posting some of my natural recipes (lotions, facial scrubs, soap, toothpaste, household cleansers…) but for now, here is a book recommendation for soap making. This was my first soap making book – I’ve purchased more complicated ones after this, but always came back to this because its so simple and I have never ruined a batch of soap using their base recipes. I purchase pure essential oils in bulk online (mostly from Snowdriftfarm.com - nice site, lots to learn).

The Soap Book: Simple Herbal Recipes by Sandy Maine. I was amazed at the bad reviews of the book on Amazon. The bad ones all sounded like they critiqued the book without making any of the recipes. They complained that it didn’t go into lye calculations and superfatting and that the amounts of essential oil was too high and too expensive and that there was only one recipe.

I think they want soap making to be complicated and it doesn’t have to be! I have read lots of info about what to do with ruined soap batches (shave it and use it in your laundry) – With this book, I have never ruined a batch of soap. I make lovely bars and have sold them at gift shops and made a profit – yes using only pure essential oils, extra virgin olive oils, coconut oil etc. The good stuff – that costs a bit more. That’s the point of making your own products so you don’t have to buy the processed stuff that has cheap ingredients. I age the bars, they are hard and they last a long time in the shower – the coconut oil makes them lather very nicely!

So keep it simple, try the recipes in the book – make them for your friends and family and coworkers. They make great gifts.

Pay attention to what you put on your body – it adds up. Your body has to continuously clean up those toxins – give it a break.