I love eco-friendly living - it is better for our planet, better for the creatures we share the earth with, better for our health & longevity and better for my budget! I'm sure we've all heard similar things in the past few years as green living has created a nook for itself in mainstream media and culture, so I won't lecture. But I thought it might be interesting to share the team smelkins attempts at a more DIY, earth-friendly kind of life.
The areas in our home where we have made the biggest changes (aside from the fact that we have barely enough belongings to fill a 700 sq. ft. apartment) is in our bathroom and kitchen. We're pretty simple folk in the respect that if it's not easy or decidedly worthwhile, we just won't do it. In light of this fact, most of the recipes and ideas listed below are pretty basic.
Bathroom:
Shampoo
I've been without shampoo since November 2010. To wash my hair, I use about 1 tbsp of baking soda diluted in ~1/2 cup of water. I usually only wash my hair every 2 or 3 days. I love getting to spend money that was previously allocated for shampoo on adventurous food products such as raw cacao nibs and chia seeds. More info on being shampoo free here at Babs LJ.
Conditioner
Using baking soda as a shampoo can be rough on your hair, especially if you are using too much or washing too often (mistakes I've made in my no 'poo venture). To keep my hair soft and dandruff free, I rinse my hair with a mixture of ~1 tbsp of vinegar in ~3/4 cup of water every time I shampoo my hair, making sure I give my scalp a really invigorating scrub when I do so. When I first started, I used apple cider vinegar but now I usually use white vinegar (for no reason other than it's what I have on hand).
FYI, Matt uses a 3-in-1 body wash/shampoo/conditioner. The smell of vinegar weirds him out.
Dry Shampoo
In between washing days, my fine textured hair can start to look a little oily so I brush it out with a bit of cornstarch (~1/4 tsp?) mixed with a few drops of essential oils. Too much cornstarch can make my hair look dull, so I am careful to use as little as I need to de-grease my locks.
Lotion
I started making my own oil based lotion so that I can keep the chemicals I put onto my skin and into my body at a minimum. The recipe I use can be found here at Sonoma Garden. I really like a scent mix of lavender, rosemary and mint but you can scent with anything you like.
I've also made a salve using a similar recipe with smaller portions and cocoa butter instead of beeswax that is really moisturizing and good for cracked/dry hands. The cold weather and frequent hand washing at my job make this a twice daily beautifying step for me.
Deodorant
I don't deal with sweat all that often, especially since we live in such a cold climate now, but I am still in the habit of daily deodorant. In the past I have used a homemade deodorant recipe (which you can also find at Sonoma Garden) that I really liked. Now, I just rub on a little bit of my homemade lotion with a thin layer of my dry shampoo on top and that gets me through the day.
I still have a store bought anti-perspirant in my cupboard for those days when I need a little extra help like when I go to interviews or am in stressful social situations, but that's not what I use everyday.
Make-up Remover
I don't often wear heavy makeup (watching the Story of Cosmetics was a major deterrent), so water or a little olive oil usually does the trick. I keep a travel size squeeze bottle of olive oil in my bathroom just for this.
Mouthwash
There are a bunch of homemade mouthwash recipes out there. I stuck with a super simple recipe because I had everything on hand. In a jar, I put two cups of water and added 9 drops of both tea tree oil (for it's antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic qualities) and peppermint (for it's minty flavor). Just be sure not to swallow it, similar to as if it were a commercial mouthwash.
Kitchen:
All purpose cleaners
Water, baking soda, and vinegar clean just about everything in our home during day to day life. Water for cleansing, baking soda for scrubbing power, and vinegar for disinfecting & de-stick-ify-ing.
I don't want to waste time re-writing what someone else has written better so let me link you to the internet for more info: Gorgeously Green - Natural Cleaners and Earth Easy Non-Toxic Cleaning.
"Tough on Grime" scrub
This scrub has saved my life more times than I can remember! I use it in the kitchen and the bathroom to scrub anything that is too hard to get off with plain baking soda. It's not too complicated - all I do is mix in a jar ~1/2 cup of baking soda with ~1 tbsp of dishwashing soap, add a few drops of essential oil for good smelling-ness and shake! I use this mixture to scrub away anything from tub grime to food burnt onto the bottom of my pans.
Okay, so now that you know what a hippie I am, I hope we can still be friends. Being unconventional can be hard, often inconvenient, occasionally time consuming and regularly requires lengthy explanations to those around me, but I like a challenge. As many changes as I've made and as much research as we've done, I'm not perfect. My net impact on the environment isn't zero (like No Impact Man) or even close to it, yet every day (or as often as I remember) I recommit myself to doing my best for our world.
If you have any questions or concerns, you know where to find me!
