Homemade Hair Products & Recycled Fence

I save bits of soap and when I ran out of dish detergent, I dissolved the soap scraps into the detergent bottle, added water, and shook up to use for my dishes.

Then I was getting low on shampoo and conditioner so I made my own.  I had not wanted to keep this glycerin that is made by articial stuff (I don't think it's animals but another by-product and isn't vegetable) but I got stuck with it because I couldn't get back to return it.

I do see it's used in hair products, like Giovvanni and many other brands as well, and though it's not what I would choose for ingredients, I decided to incorporate it. 

I have very few ingredients to choose from right now, so I made my shampoo and conditioner based on what was on hand.

Flax Shampoo:  For shampoo, I used soap scrabs for suds.  The smell of plain soap isn't great though, so after I dissolved soap suds in hot water, I added soy lethicin.  After the soy lecithin dissolved, I steeped whole cloves in water.  I was going to use vanilla but decided I would try to make a clove scent since lilies smell like cloves.  So I added some of the scented clove water and then powdered golden flax seed to make it thicker for pouring into  hand.  It still smelled soapy so I got the idea to use a little dusting of powdered pau d'arco and this really helped with the scent.  I think the combination of pau d'arco and cloves, if blended correctly, could lend to ylang-ylang (a scent I like).  For a lily-like scent, the cloves give the spice but you still need sweet.  So the pau d'arco smells sweet and fragrant but not like a bakery.    That was my shampoo.

Flax Conditioner:  For my conditioner, I used a little primrose oil and the scented water, and then glycerin.  It was runny and watery so I added powdered golden flax seed until it was a thicker quality.  I had considered fruit pectin but I was out of fruit (citrus) pectin at the moment (I had the box but then looked inside and didn't have pectin left), so I used flax this time.  I had steeped whole cloves and pau d'arco and had remaining pieces of bark (I have both ground and bark pau d'arco, because I ground some of it up) so then I wanted a little netting to tie a bundle of spices and then insert into a bottle and pour the conditioner over it so it could continue to steep.  However, I had no netting so I used a small plastic bag and cut little slits in it and then sealed the top and pushed it into the bottle.  I poured the conditioner over it.  The reason I did this was because the amount of flax I used made it smell sort of dough-like and I wanted more of the spice and sweetness to come through. 

I have shampoo and conditioner now! and dish detergent too! by recycling materials and using what is available.

I also made a fence to keep deer out of my garden that is working. It doesn't look great, but until I have more lavendar in, it will keep the deer out.  I tied recycled plastic shopping bags into a daisy chain and then strung them between stakes and the noise of the rustling keeps the deer from even wanting to try jumping in.  It's also safe, because they can see it and won't get stuck in a fence that looks invisible.  It's okay for right now.

The weeds in the garden are out of control because the area wasn't burned off first and all the grass and weed seedlings come right back because I didn't spray the area with pesticides or burn it.  This year it might be a mixture but probably I can till it and break it up until the weeds die off.

Also, I didn't have a spicy mixture to go with my seaweed wraps or chili sauce so I found a blend of hot chinese yellow mustard powder with cayenne powder (chili) and then mixed up and then added to dollops of Veganaise is a decent dip. The Veganaise has brown rice syrup in it so it adds sweetness.   It's good for a spicy vegetable dip.  Sometimes I just like the seaweed wraps plain though.  This morning I had one with brown rice, scallions (green onion), and sauteed mushrooms for breakfast.  I definitely have to keep buying the seaweed sheets--you can make very fast meals with them and the minerals are very good for you.

At any rate, this is all I've done while being tortured day and night.

Last night was the first time I woke up and realized I woke up this morning and it wasn't to being tortured.  It is the first time in almost a month.  This morning in front of the laptop though, they are burning me by some kind of technology that affects my heart and causing a slight vibration.  If I move to the side of the laptop, it stops.