Making your own toothpaste is something I've tried in the past. As a general rule Baking Soda (or Bi-Carb Soda to those of us in Australia) is a basic ingredient for quite a number of home made cosmetics and this is also true for homemade toothpaste. The downside however is that bi-carb soda is quite salty and I abandoned the notion some time ago, not liking the flavour at all.
However all is not lost... this new recipe included two extra ingredients. Coconut oil, of which the incredible number of uses are still being discovered, and peppermint oil. These two extra ingredients make using homemade toothpaste far more pleasant and whilst the bi-carb soda is still quite salty but the coconut oil makes it much easier to put on your toothbrush and it also gives it more structure, allowing you to add the peppermint oil (or another oil if you are so inclined). I tried this new combination just last night and found the results to be far more enjoyable and it made my teeth feel just as clean as regular toothpaste.
To make: 1 tablespoon of bi-carb (baking) soda, 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (consumable grade), and 10-20 drops of peppermint oil or another oil you like the taste of. Mix well.
There are two important things to note when using this recipe:
- Use 100% ESSENTIAL oils! Whilst you can buy cheap oils for candle burners this is going in your mouth so ensure you get oils labelled as '100% essential' from a reputable source. A rose oil in this form will not be pure and is a good way to test. Rose oil is incredibly expensive and essential oil companies put it in a base such as jojoba. If the brand doesn't do this check with the seller that it's safe to use in this way. Cheap oils can be incredibly toxic.
- Coconut oil can be a pain to work with. Too cold and it goes as hard as a rock and it's difficult to mix the ingredients. I got around this by putting one bowl on top of another with some hot water in between. Within 10 minutes the oil was soft enough to work with and mix properly. If you live in a hot climate put the mixture in the fridge a few minutes before using it to retain some structure.
Original Link to recipe: http://www.trashisfortossers.com/2015/04/why-i-make-my-own-toothpaste.html?spref=fb
_______________________________
Now on to Shampoo and Conditioner. Both can be just as expensive as toothpaste (and I'll give a little about cost at the end of this post) but once more trust bi-carb soda comes to the rescue. I used to use this regularly and found that the combination of the two (shampoo and the homemade conditioner) was very good at treating the dandruff I was plagued with at the time. I went through around 8 different expensive treatments before I tried this and within a week it was gone. My theory is that because I had moved to an area where the water's PH level was different that the balance on my scalp was all messed up. These recipes fixed it very quickly and even when I stopped using it the issue did not return nearly as badly.
Shampoo: 1 tablespoon of bi-carb soda to a cup of water. Pour over the head and rub around. This does feel odd and does take some practice. It feels very weird to not have any lather and getting all the water in the right places at first is quite difficult so I made a bottle of it (using the same ratio) and poured it over. This way if I missed it didn't matter. Use cool to luke warm water so the bi-carb soda doesn't get clumpy.
Conditioner: 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar to 1 cup of water. This is used the same way as the shampoo and whilst it smells strong in the shower there is almost no scent left over (and I have quite a strong sense of smell). Again this is pure liquid and takes practice. I also chose to leave this for a minute before washing it out.
And there you have it. Three recipes involving simple ingredients which are far cheaper than what we buy, contain less chemicals, and are very easy to make. There are variations on all of these (I've read versions for conditioner which also include coconut oil) but these are the basics. Have a look around. It's far simpler to make your own cosmetics than you'd think and the amount of money saved is extraordinary.
As a final breakdown here is a cost approximate (using Australian dollars from the Coles Online website):
Bicarb Soda - 2.64/500g
Coconut Oil - 7.14/300g (unrefined)
Peppermint Oil - 15.99/25mL
If you buy all these ingredients you could probably make a minimum of about 40 lots of the recipe (with variations). This breaks down to about 64c/lot and I would guess you could probably get about 20 lots of teeth brushing out of a lot (depending of course on how much you want to use). Twenty would make it 3c each time you brush your teeth.
Regular toothpaste on the other hand costs a minimum of $1.43/100g and you may get 20 brushes out of a tube that small making it about 7c per time.
Now these costs are a pure estimation. However look at the bi-carb soda. Even if you only get 20 tablespoons in a box (and I'd guess there are probably about double that in a box) then each wash of your hair is going to cost you 13c. Shampoo is FAR more expensive than this with the average bottle costing more like $5-10 depending on the brand. Not to mention the chemicals included. Personally I like being able to pronounce the ingredients I put in my mouth or on my skin on a regular basis. Colgate was recently advertising bleach in their toothpaste! It's just my opinion but the 10 minutes it took me to make that toothpaste is priceless in comparison to putting bleach in my mouth. I think I'll stick with this.
