The Groundwork Of All

Happiness Is Good Health

– Leigh Hunt

I’m ridiculously into DIYing everything; stuff for the home, clothing, and especially health and beauty stuff. I got into it in January of 2012 because of some research I was doing, my grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer and I was mostly just looking for a reason why? I didn’t find that answer, sadly, but I did find a lot about preventative options. Since my grandmother had it (BTW, she’s doing fine now) that means I’m at a higher risk for it as well, and during my research I noticed I have a couple of other risk factors too. One of the odder things I read was something rather luridly entitled “Is YOUR Deodorant Slowly KILLING You?”, or something like that anyway. Now I wouldn’t go so far as to say that my deodorant at the time was contemplating murder, and I won’t say that it can cause cancer either, but after reading about some of the ingredients in most store bought deodorants, I decided I’d rather try something else.

Originally I tried a homemade deodorant recipe that had baking soda, cornstarch, and coconut oil in it, it worked for scent but underarm wetness? Out of luck on that one, and anyway after a couple of months it started making my skin peel horribly, it got pretty bad and I’m just now getting my skin back to normal. Yeah… don’t recommend going that route.

There are other homemade deodorant recipes out there but I haven’t found one that works so I buy a rather expensive deodorant at my local health food store. I still feel better for that choice but I probably wouldn’t have dug into the whole chemical thing any farther except that, a couple of weeks after I started using the homemade deodorant, my mother showed me a recipe for homemade toothpaste. This one? I LOVE it, my teeth are so much whiter and cleaner feeling, my gums don’t bleed anymore, and it also doesn’t have much taste to it which means I don’t gag anymore when I’m brushing my teeth. Huge win! And that success has started me on a journey to find healthier options for most of my personal care items, and even gave me the courage to stop taking medicines that I’d been on nearly all my life (but more on that in another post).

I’ve spent a lot of time learning about what works and what doesn’t, something to remember though is that what works for one person doesn’t always work for others. That’s why I spend a lot of time doing research, my friends and family often ask for me to make them things and I want to make sure what I make them is the best for what they need. They love it when I make them personalized lip balms or lotions. I actually really enjoy making my own stuff, I turn up some music and dance around my kitchen while I experiment and enjoy the sights, textures and smells of the ingredients.

I’ve been thinking about sharing some of my favorite recipes and sharing some of my experiments (successes and failures) so I’m going to start out with my first success and share with you all my recipe for toothpaste, it’s ridiculously simple (as you’ll see in a second) 🙂

DIY Toothpaste

3 Tbs. liquid coconut oil *

3 Tbs. baking soda

peppermint oil (optional)

Mix all ingredients until smooth, you want a semi-thick paste so more baking soda may be needed. The peppermint oil is for added flavor but also as a breath freshener, but it’s totally optional.

Store in a small glass jar (honestly, I use a baby food jar).

* You can use solid coconut oil, just melt it before mixing with other ingredients, but please note that it will set up and be completely solid once it cools. Liquid oil is just so much easier!

This may taste salty the first few times you use it if you don’t use the peppermint oil, but eventually you probably won’t notice the taste anymore.