Amazing Homemade All Natural Detangler Spray!! It actually works!!

Last night I decided to make some homemade detangler spray for my daughter's crazy, curly hair.

Here is the instructions for you to make your own all natural detangler spray to use.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Glycerine 

1 teaspoon Vitamin Oil E

Distilled Water

6-12 drops of Essential Oil (I used orange)

Directions:

Using a funnel, carefully pour 2 tablespoons of vegetable glycerin into the bottle you will be using (I used an 8 ounce BPA-free bottle with sprayer lid that I purchased at http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/  for $.79 You could also reuse another bottle that you already have that has a fine-mist sprayer on it). 

Carefully pour in 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil. Add 6-12 drops of your preferred Essential Oil. Then fill the remaining space of the bottle (about 7 ounces) with distilled water. 

Put on lid and gently swish together to blend. 

Now it was time to try it out!

The "before" picture of my daughter's hair. The comb is stuck in it by itself! Normally combing her hair is a horrible ordeal that makes me stressed out and leaves her in tears from all the "tanglies". 

I sprayed about 4-5 squirts around her head and then tried again with the same fine-toothed comb. 

The comb went through like a hot knife though butter. No tears, no stress, it was amazing!!

All in all it cost me $1.12 ($2 exactly including the bottle) and about 1 minute to make this 8 ounce bottle of all natural detangler spray. 

*Note: I purchased my vegetable glycerin, pure vitamin E oil and essential oil from vitacost's website (can you tell how much I love them?). HERE is a link for $10 off your first $30 purchase. 

To get a great and simple recipe for homemade, all natural and organic 2-ingredient shampoo and conditioner, check my links here: Shampoo  and  conditioner.  I use these recipes for everyone in our family! 

All Natural 2 Ingredient Organic Conditioner!

I've been looking for some all natural shampoo and conditioner for quite awhile. I'd bought some sulfate and silicone free stuff (ewwww, I was grossed out to find out that was actually in conditioners!) but have you priced those out recently? Yowza!

Anyways, I stumbled upon this recipe online and thought I would give it a try. Worst case scenario I could just rewash with some store bought stuff.

Ingredients:

1 cup Water (tap, distilled, etc. It really doesn't matter)

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (I used Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar Organic Raw )

Pour 1 cup of water into an 8 ounce bottle. Add 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar. Put lid on bottle and swish gently to blend. 

That's it! Done!

After shampooing your hair, apply to wet hair, being sure to use your fingers to work it down into the roots. You don't need a ton, just enough to get all of your hair wet with it. Wait a minute or two and then rinse out with warm or hot water. 

Sounds gross, right? Who wants vinegar smelling hair?

I have been using this for 3 weeks and not once has my hair smelled like vinegar after I rinsed it out. I have pretty short, straight hair. I used it on my daughter's longer, curly hair and it still worked amazingly!

If you need a great and just as easy shampoo recipe, check my blog post here to get it. 

Now that we have a great recipe for completely natural (and amazingly easy to make) conditioner, let's see how it compares financially to commercially produced conditioners. 

A bottle of Jason brand conditioner sells for $6.99 online for a 16 ounce bottle. That breaks down to 44 cents per ounce. 

Here is how much the homemade version will cost you:

1 cup of water ~ FREE

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar ~ Bragg usually runs for around $5-$7 per bottle depending on where you buy it. If you use it for other things (as I do), then it basically is free. Let's say you don't have it at home and you have to go buy it at the store. So you spend $7 on a 16 ounce bottle of it, that makes each tablespoon cost 22 cents. 

You can think of it as costing either 22 cents for a bottle of conditioner, or like spending the same amount of money on the whole bottle as you would for one bottle of store bought conditioner and getting 32 bottles of conditioner for the price of one!!

*Note: I bought some BPA-free bottles online from http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/. They were 43 cents each for the bottles and 15 cents for the caps. You can also just use an old bottle you had from something else you emptied. When I was "testing:" the recipe to make sure that I liked it, I just used a coffee mug to make it in and poured and little in my hand from that each time. 

Easy All Natural Homemade Two Ingredient Organic Shampoo!

I've been looking for a better shampoo alternative and got interested in castile soap. It is so pure and amazing! There are endless uses for it.

Here is a super easy way to make homemade shampoo using just 2 ingredients! Yes, two!

Ingredients Needed:

3/4 cup water (tap, distilled, well, etc)

1/4 cup pure liquid castile soap (I usedDr. Bronner's Organic Eucalyptus Castile Soap)

Pour 3/4 cup of water into the bottle you are using. Then carefully and slowly (using a funnel is a good idea) pour the 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap into bottle. Put cap on and gently tip up and down to blend. 

Done!

Apply to wet hair and rub around as you would ordinary shampoo. Pour little bits at a time into your hand until you get the correct amount that you need for your hair length. Then rinse out completely. 

Seems like it would make your hair really dried out or slimy or gross, right? Not at all! I have been using this shampoo for a month and absolutely love it! It doesn't lather up as huge as store bought conditioners do, but it sure cleans great. Also, since I started using this I have noticed two things: 1) I have a significantly less amount of dandruff than I did before and 2) I haven't had a single acne breakout since switching to it! I use this shampoo on both of my toddlers' hair as well. 

If you need a natural conditioner alternative, check my blog post here. 

Let's break down the cost. 

3/4 cup of water is Free. 

1/4 cup of pure liquid castile soap~ You can get a 32 ounce bottle of Dr. Woods Organic Liquid Castile Soap for $10.99 at vitacost's website (click here to get a coupon code for $10 off your first $30 purchase). I LOVE vitacost and get most of my natural product supplies there, plus tons of other organic and gluten-free items that we use regularly. 

     That makes the soap 69 cents per 1/4 cup. 

So you end up paying $.69 for an 8 ounce bottle of organic, all natural shampoo!! 

Easy Sweet Potato, Bacon, Chard, and Tomato Quiche ~ Dairy and Gluten Free

Last night I decided to try out my new-to-me springform pan and make a quiche in it.

Usually I bake quiche in a 9x13 baking pan, and I think I will continue to do so after this. While the quiche looked impressive outside of the springform pan, it took me so long to clean the springform afterwards that I think I will opt for easy clean over impressive look.

Ingredients:
2 medium Organic Sweet Potatoes
1, 4 ounce package of bacon (I use Applegate Farms Naturals Sunday Uncured Bacon)
1 Handful diced swiss chard (spinach or broccoli are great substitutes)
1 Organic tomato
12 Organic Eggs
1 1/2 cups Organic Rice Milk (can use regular milk)
Sea Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder

Instructions:

Peel, shred and rinse sweet potatoes. Toss them into a frying pan set to medium heat. 

Add the swiss chard and heat until they are warmed through. Remove from heat. Chop bacon and fry it up until it is crunchy. Drain from grease. 

Whisk 12 eggs, 1 1/2 cups rice milk, 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 2 tsp garlic powder together in a bowl. 

Layer into 10 inch Springform pan (or 9x13 pan) in this order: sweet potatoes and chard mixture, cooked bacon, and diced tomato.

Then gently pour the egg mixture over the top. 

*My daughter does not like sweet potatoes so I made her a little dish on the side that was sweet potato-free

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45-1 hour. Check for internal temperature to reach 160 degrees F and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. 

How it looks after the springform mold has been removed. 

Slice and enjoy while warm! 

Window Markers

Gramma and Grampa sent up a package for the kiddos yesterday for the kids. In it were Crayola Washable Window Markers.

Today I got them out and the kids had a blast using them.

Who I am

I have had a lot of personal attacks in the last couple of years. Attacks that were aimed at my heart, with hurtful and biting words that were full of hatred and anger. I spent days in the house, refusing to leave because I didn't want to run into someone in the store who had verbally attacked me. I spent hours in tears with God, searching my soul and my heart. Then I found myself, got up and begin to move in peace.

Right now, I love the person I am and I look forward to the person I am going to become. But this is who I am now....

I am NOT a judgmental person. If you think that I am, then you don't really know me.

I am a dreamer, a schemer and a believer.

I love laughter. I love hugging and I love physical contact. Yes, we have nights where both our kids and the dog are sleeping in bed with us.

I am a homemaker (something I never dreamed I would be). I am a homeschooling mommy. I breastfed my second kiddo until he was 22 months.

I am a warrior and a defender. I view myself as Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Rings when he is holding back the Balrog.

I will ALWAYS stand up for what I believe in. I will ALWAYS defend someone I see being attacked. And I will ALWAYS stand up for what is right. 

I am a researcher, a planner, an experimenter. I never make a decision without weighing both sides.

I don't feel the need to justify myself or my choices, to anyone. When Jesus stood, knowing He was facing crucifixion, He did not say a word in His defense. 

I am not a name caller. I don't assume things about people and I don't think poorly of others for making different decisions than me. 

I am a lover. I am confident in who I am and I am strong enough to say "no" to relationships that are disrespectful towards me. 

I am a national champion in collegiate rowing. I am a world traveler. I am an "infertile" mother. 

I am supportive, dependable and loyal to the end. 

I am a daughter. I know who my dad and who my Father are. I know that I am loved, encouraged, prayed for, supported and cared for. I also have a peace that cannot be taken from me. 

You don't have to love me or like me. But if you want to be around me, then you do have to respect me. 

Homemade All Natural Liquid Hand Soap

I decided to try my hand at making homemade liquid hand soap. It was fun and super easy!

Ingredients you will need:

10 cups of distilled (or well) water

5 oz bar of castile soap (I used Dr. Bronner's Peppermint )

1 1/4 Tablespoons Vegetable Glycerine 

 15 drops Essential Oil (optional), I used Eucalyptus  

Step 1:

Grate the bar of soap

Step 2:

Pour distilled water into a large pot. Gently add grated soap, glycerin and essential oil (if using). 

Step 3:

Stir gently over medium heat until all of the soap has melted. 

Step 4:

Pour carefully into a large glass bowl and let sit for 12 hours (I did mine overnight)

How it looked when I left it to go to bed.

12 hours later! It is soap! Mine was solidish and smelled wonderful!

Step 5:

Blend gently with a hand mixer til smooth. At this point you can add a little bit more water to it til it is the texture/consistency that you prefer. 

Mine was perfect!

Step 6:

Pour carefully into containers for storage. I prefer to use glass for storage so that there is no chance of chemicals leaching out through plastic. If you aren't worried about that, then using the jug of water you got the distilled water from would work perfectly too. 

My batch yielded just a smidge under 3 quarts. 

Now, lets see how this compares to store bought hand soap...

 Walmart sells a 5.5 ounce pumper of hand soap for 98 cents. That makes it 18 cents per ounce. 

My cost:

$4.09 for the bar of soap

$.75 for the distilled water

$.53 for the glycerin

and the essential oil I already had so it was free 

(If you buy the essential oil then it would be around $5 for the bottle and then you used probably $.10 worth of oil in the batch of soap)

$5.37 total for 89 ounces of soap (two quarts = 64 ounces and then 25 ounces for the last quart jar which isn't completely filled)

Which ends up being..... drum roll please......

$0.06 per ounce! 

Six cents per ounce for all natural, safe liquid hand soap! 

*Note: I found the vegetable glycerin and the castile soap online at vitacost. I also found very affordable essential oils on their site. If you are wanting to start making your own cleaning and household supplies I would highly recommend purchasing from their site. Here is my referral link which will get you $10 off your first $30 purchase!

https://www.vitacostrewards.com/JTFPQEc