Okay, that title is maybe a little misleading since I’ve been making my own toothpaste since the summer.  I’ve had problems with the taste and consistency of commercial toothpaste for years now.  Even when I switched to a more ‘natural’ toothpaste, I never really liked it.  I’ve been reading a lot about how the cosmetics/personal care industry isn’t properly regulated and it scares me.  So, when I saw a simple recipe for a toothpaste, I thought I’d try it out.  After all, not only would I be able to control the taste but the ingredients too which really appealed to me.  This is the recipe:

3 Tbsp Baking Soda

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

10 drops (roughly) of whatever essential oil you want for flavouring

* Sometimes, I’ll also add some crushed charcoal which has been traditionally used as a tooth cleaner in the past.

I been having way too much trouble with my dental health and this has been going on for most of my life.  Unfortunately, I have yet to meet a dentist who is willing to treat me as a medical patient; instead, my mouth is just a chance to make a bit of money.  In recent years, due to a lack of money, things have gotten really bad.  However, within a month of using this recipe, I no longer have the kind of cold sensitivity I used to have and after ditching the commercial mouthwash too, I have no pain, no redness in my gums, and my cavities don’t seem to be growing as quickly.  Maybe it’s all in my head but (and the heads of everyone else who say that their dental health has gotten better using this toothpaste) for the time being, I’m happy with the results.  And the taste.  And, most importantly, the cost!

But, of course, toothpaste isn’t the only questionable personal care product that we use.  Most moisturizers have toxic chemicals in them (formaldehyde, talc, propylene glycol, etc) and their effects on humans aren’t really that well known.  In fact, there’s a list of chemicals considered safe that haven’t been properly tested for effects to the human body but have been used for so long that they’re assumed to be okay.  Now, I have no problems with using chemicals for anything – even the most natural ingredients are, in one way or another, chemicals – but, I have a certain expectation that there’s some care in selecting these chemicals for using in food and other products AFTER they have been seriously (and that is the key word) studied for safety in a human system.  Can we expect this in the modern, industry regulated, capitalist world?  Meh, I’m not too comfortable believing that that will ever happen anytime soon.  And again, I’m sick of the scents and tastes that are out there too.  I want something that’s MINE!

First up, lip balm.  Lip balm is one of those products that has been exposed as being full of chemicals that actually do more harm than good, causing you to use (and therefore, buy) more of the product.  Being a musician in a cold climate though, it’s sort of an essential product.  So, after checking out several recipes, this is the one I settled on (and the volumes I used although, the recipe is actually for quite a bit more product):

1/4 cup Beeswax

2 tsp Coconut Oil

2 tsp Olive oil

Cinnamon Extract (I would have preferred a natural oil but I’m trying to get rid of the artificial junk I bought awhile ago)

All I did was melt it all in a double boiler and poured it into containers.  Unfortunately, it came out a little too hard.  I don’t know enough about oils to know why right now but, the advantage of this is that I really don’t have to reapply as often.  Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to test it out snowshoeing this week but for a first batch, it’s pretty cool.

Next, I tried the body butter.  I love body butter and I really need it in this weather but again, even my favourite brands have questionable ingredients not to mention the fact that I’m getting a little sick of the same old scents too.  I also figured that the advantage of using more ‘natural’ ingredients is that the resulting body butter would be a bit more…shall we say, edible.  I’ll leave you to make your own assumptions as to why that might be important!  Anyway, this is the scaled down recipe that I used:

1/2 cup Shea Butter

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Almond Oil

Cinnamon Extract

Again, I melted the shea butter and coconut oil in a double boiler then added the almond oil and extract.  I let everything cool until it partially solidified then I whipped it with a mixer.  I took awhile but after a couple of minutes, the colour changed to white and became a bit more solid.  This is definitely a greasy butter which means that you don’t have to use very much but it definitely does absorb into the skin after a bit so it’s all good.  I’ve seen other recipes using cocoa butter that I might try next time but I’m fairly happy with my day of making cosmetics.