Homemade Body Wash

James and I have been wanting to get back to basics as much as possible.  (This computer was a BIG step in the opposite direction for us, but hey, it’s helped me find fun recipes and also to connect with ya’ll!)  I’m sure you’ve seen on FB that I’m going to make my own laundry detergent, but I’m waiting til I run out of what I have before I do.  I’m sure I’ll blog regarding that, too!

I’ve been going NUTS on Pinterest (LOVELOVELOVE that site – here’s a link to my boards:  http://pinterest.com/stevieballinger/ ).  I found a recipe on how to make your own body wash on there, and was struck by the creativity fairy. 

YouTube is FULL of awesome “how-to’s”.  Anything you think you may want to make, just type it in the search bar on that site and who knows, you may get a hit or two!  I typed in “How to make homemade body wash” or something like that (b/c I am a visual learner and the Pinterest recipe didn’t have video) and here’s the video I came up with:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbXYv3DgUC8

(And now I shall cut and paste from a FaceBook comment string with a friend!)

The lady's a little... over-explanatory, if you will, but the recipe and technique are good. I like it better for the hand soap.  The body wash wasn't as moisturizing as I like it to be, but it worked!

I also used Sweet Almond Oil instead of Vitamin E oil, b/c that's what I had. I'd probably still go with it instead, though, just b/c it's so silky.

The hand soap is nice -- I like it way better than the Dial we were using -- it doesn't seem to dry my hands out as bad.  And you could use Tea Tree Essential Oil if you wanted it to be anti-bacterial.

You can get all the ingredients at Earth Fare (or I bet Fresh Market for ya'll in Hendo).   

       Here are the ingredients and utensils I used.

Instead of making big batches of both (the body wash calls for 8 cups of water and the hand soap for 10), what I did was cut the body wash recipe in half (so 4 cups of water and the 1/2 amounts of the rest of ingredients), and then when I was done mixing it all up, split it again, and added 1/2 cup water to make the hand soap.

That way I could see if I even liked it before I went into making a humongous batch that'd take me four years to get thru!

So here is my half-recipe:

4 cups water
½ tsp. Sweet Almond Oil
½ bar of grated soap (I used the Sappo Hill Lavender from Earth Fare – on the bottom shelf)
1 ½ tsp. vegetable glycerin
¼ tsp. lavender essential oil mixture (called Chill Pill by Aura Cacia)
1/8 tsp. sweet orange essential oil

***Oh yeah!  It started to look a little "gray", so I added 2 drops of blue gel food coloring and one of pink!***

All of the ingredients in the pan prior to melting.

Mix all ingredients in a pan or pot on medium heat.  I whisked it a lot, but it probably wasn’t necessary.  Pour 2 cups of mixture into another bowl and set aside to cool.  This will be your body wash.  Then, add 1/2 cup water to the remaining mixture and stir.  Wait til it cools, then put in bottles!

After the melting process.

Here, it's had the chance to solidify!

I'll probably play with the recipe a little, probably add more water to both hand soap and body wash, as they are both a little thick, and I may try to add more oil to the body wash or maybe less soap.  I dunno.  I love experimenting!!  I hopefully won't blow the house up in the process....