Sometimes there are things or events that trigger us to become more aware of ourselves-socially, physically, ethically, spiritually, or environmentally. A watershed moment.
For me, it was senior year in college. I used to chemically relax my afro textured hair every 6-8 weeks. For those of you who have never experienced a relaxer, basically it's sodium hydroxide cream that is applied to new growth, as close as the scalp as possible. The lye breaks the bonds of the hair, allowing the cuticles of the rough and kinky curls to be smoothed flat and straight. Then a neutralizing shampoo stops the reaction and the result- hopefully- is silky straight hair. In the documentary Good Hair it's referred to as the "creamy crack." Once you start, it's hard to stop.
Repeated relaxers left my hair stripped of color; my answer was to dye it blue black. Eventually I developed a reaction to the dye, and subsequently, many dyes and fragrances in health and beauty products and even food dyes. FD &C. Red dye #40 is the worst offender, and aluminum in deodorant.
I had a hard time finding things that didn't make me itch, or cause my nose to burn. Many years of not wearing fragrances, rotating soaps, lotions and commercial made "natural" products fueled my desire to make my own. You already know my predilection for start to finish, doing it the old way, and as natural as possible. Making my own soap, lotion, lip gloss and deodorant allows me to control what does into my products and onto my skin. When possible I live by the motto- if I can't eat it I can't wear it. I use as few ingredients as possible, of the highest quality.
I started with good old melt and pour, and moved on to hot process, because I like to speed up the cure time. I have my favorite fragrances that are tolerable, like Lavender and Peppermint; my newest thing is unscented soap for people like me who find themselves irritated by so many things.
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| old fashion coconut based |
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| heart's afire cinnamon |
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| Neem and Bentonite Clay |
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