Drain Cleaner

Pour in about ½ cup of baking soda, 1 cup of white spirit vinegar & leave it to sit for about half an hour.
Pour in boiling water to unblock the drain.

Chemical free laundry detergent

Thanks Tracy for this recipe. It is quick and easy (once you have the vinegar+lemon mix), environmentally friendly, prevents buildup inside your washing machine, as well as your drains, and is easy on the pocket too!

TIP I often use this mix to scour pots and frying pans to release caked-on foodstuff.

Left Bottle = Just mixed
Right Bottle ready to use 10 days later

You can either use your homemade household cleaner or soak some lemon peels in vinegar for ten days for the one half of the base mixture. (If you prefer your washing essential oil free then just keep some of the base mixture aside for laundry before making your cleaner)





Ingredients:
mix equal amounts of baking soda (soda bicarb) and your vinegar+lemon base / cleaner
For an regular sized load - put a tablespoon of the mix directly into the machine and wash. (Is safe to put directly on clothes). For larger loads use slightly more. For dirtier loads you can treat them in advance with this mixture directly onto the clothes where the worst dirt is, but try mix this detergent just before use and stick it into the tub as it fizzes for best results.

"Softener":
You can add a cup of white spirit vinegar to the rinse cycle as well as it softens your clothes and doesn't smell at all. Feel free to add a drop of your favourite essential oil to the rinse cycle if you'd like them to have a base smell.

Dry as normal. Wear as normal.

ADDITIONALLY: Add 25 drops of lavender/rosemary essential oils (or a mix of both) to your linen load to get rid of dust mites.

Dry Scalp Treatment / Leave-In Conditioner

For years I have had dry scalp and have tried all types of shampoos and treatments to fix it. As I have moved to chemical free living I have been playing around with things to figure out what would work. I thought I'd share this as it helps and can also be used as a leave in conditioner if you are going down the 'no-poo' route.

TIP: Try find yourself a plastic container that can easily be refilled and has a pointed nozzle. I re-use a bottle I got in America years ago, but you could always buy a saline nasal spray squeeze bottle and empty the saline out.

Ingredients:
100ml Coconut Oil (naturally anti-bacterial & non greasy)
1 drop Rosemary essential oil
1 drop Lemongrass essential oil
1 drop Rose Geranium essential oil
1 drop Peppermint essential oil
1 drop Naouli essential oil (dry scalp treatment)
1 drop Neem essential oil (this can be left out as it smells awful, but works wonderfully on dry scalp and the Naouli oil smell balances it out nicely)
 * You can use Lavender instead of one of the other oils
 * You can also add raw, organic honey as it is very healing for skin, but it separates and needs shaking each time.

Shake it up and pour a bit on to the scalp directly as necessary and massage in or pour a bit into your hands and rub into your hair as a light leave in conditioner.
*If the coconut oil sets use your hands/warm water to warm the bottle as opposed to the microwave.
FYI - be careful not to put too much essential oil in or put too much on your scalp as essential oils are very strong and this can give you a headache if you use too much. These things need to be experimented with as we all work differently :)

No-poo Hair Wash

A few years ago I switched to products without petroleum, parabens and chemicals in them. I tried the baking soda method before, but found it a lot of prep work. When the price of shampoo jumped from R30 to nearly R50 I thought it was worth giving it a bash again.

This method is pretty simple actually. There is an adjustment period that you need to know about, but it is a small price to pay and totally worth it. I've never had to wash my hair more than twice a week before, so lately I've been stretching it out 4-5-6 days between washes so that my body can acclimatise back to producing its own oil. (You can get away with that when you have long curly hair that can just be tied back)

TIP: Try finding 2 bottles (or even using an old shampoo bottle) that can be filled easily and then squeezed through a nozzle for easier application instead of using plastic cups and pouring. A spray bottle for the vinegar 'conditioner' makes for very easy application.

"Shampoo"
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp baking soda (approximately. This amount can be experimented with)

"Conditioner"
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
* (you can either mix the ACV with water before use or you can just put undiluted ACV into a spray bottle and spray it directly onto your wet hair - this applies WAY more easily and quickly!)

Mixing Instructions (if using 2 cups of water in total)
Mix the two cups of warm water together. (I put in a drop of rosemary essential oil for my dry scalp and a drop of peppermint essential oil to make it smell nice). Feel free to use lavender if you prefer the smell.
Put the baking soda into the 'shampoo' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the powder in.
Pour the apple cider vinegar into the 'conditioner' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the vinegar in.

Mixing Instructions (if using one cup of water for the shampoo and spraying ACV directly on as conditioner)
You can use 1tsp of the baking soda mixture that you've put together for your carpet/mattress cleaner if you'd like to get some essential oil smell into your shampoo.
Put the baking soda into the 'shampoo' bottle through a funnel and pour the water in afterwards to wash the powder in.

Washing Instructions 

Pour the "shampoo" mixture onto your head, starting at the scalp. It may or may not make a lather as you massage it in to clean your scalp and stimulate the blood flow. Leave it on for two minutes, rinse, repeat.

Your hair will feel squeaky clean. Don't worry the vinegar will remove any residue and soften your hair.

Pour the "conditioner" mixture onto your hair, starting from the scalp again. Massage your scalp again, leave on for two minutes and rinse out. The vinegar smell will disappear when it dries, but the essential oils should help with that as well.

Curly hair tends to be more dry, so I use a little bit of coconut oil that I've mixed into a bottle with some essential oils as a dry scalp treatment/leave-in-conditioner for now, as I've only just started using this method again.

I'll let you know how it goes...
(5 months later so far so good!!! I'm very happy with this method and my hair looks and feels geat!)

Travelling with curly hair used to mean packing lots of little bottles

Mattress and/or carpet cleaner

I would recommend cleaning your mattress regularly.
 
Firstly remove all the linen and put it in the wash.

Take a large container with a lid. Add 1 cup of Baking Soda (Soda Bicarb) and add in 6 drops of essential oil. I'm allergic to lavender so I use 4 drops of Rosemary essential oil. I also add a drop of Eucalyptus oil as well as a drop of Neem oil to repel any mites that may be around.

Stir/shake the mixture up well. You can put it into a shaker or pour through a sieve onto the mattress. I find a shaker more convenient.

Leave this to draw out odours etc for an hour to an hour and a half. Give the matress a thorough vacuum and enjoy sleeping on your fresh bed. If it's been a while since your last clean perhaps turn the mattress and do the other side too.

You can sprinkle some of this mix between washes to keep your mattress fresh and vacuum again the next time you change your linen.

I've also put a recipe I found online for  washing → your linen to get rid of dust mites and to wipe your mattress down. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds like it would work.

The baking soda & oil sprinkle will also work wonderfully on carpets and gives your home a lovely fresh smell.