Zero Waste DIYs | Body Butter and Deodorant

Hello guys,

I hope you are all good and enjoy the sun. Summer means spending time outside in the sun which is great for our vitamin D production but the sun also dries out our skin and we sweat a lot in the heat.

This is why I would like to share with you my Zero Waste Body Butter and a Deodorant. Before getting into the DIY, I would like to point out that this is not an advice from a professional, I am just sharing my personal experience. I found similar recipes on google, I can also really recommend the blog Trash is for Tossers by Lauren Singer in case you are interested, her recipes and ideas inspired me a lot.

For these Zero Waste products, you might have to find „your own mixture“ that perfectly works for you, you can change the proportions and also use different oils. This is kind of the basic version that works for me and I hope it works for you as well!

Zero Waste Body Butter

For one small jar you’ll need:

• 1/3 Shea Butter
• 1/3 Coconut Oil
• 1/3 Cocoa Butter (Unfortunately, mine is packed in plastic, I’m still looking for another packaging)
• 1 Tbsp Almond Oil or Jojoba Oil (check my Zero Waste Toiletries Post if you want to know more)

Start to boil some water, put another pot into the boiling water and heat up all the ingredients in order to mix it properly. Afterwards, you put it in a bowl (Caution- it’s very hot!) and cool it down in the freezer until it is all solid. When your body butter is all solid, you can whip it with a mixer until you have whipped body butter. This will need some time, it took me ten minutes until I had the perfect texture.

You can also change the scent and add some essential oils, I used tea-tree essential oil since it is good for your skin but it does not smell good at all so don’t really recommend it.

Store your whipped body butter in a cool space, if you put it in the freezer, it will turn solid again. All in all, this recipe is really good for your skin, since we’re using good and natural ingredients without added chemicals!

Zero Waste Deodorant

You’ll need:

• 1 Tsp of Shea Butter
• 1 Tsp of Coconut Oil
• 1 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp of Arrowroot Powder
• 1 Tsp of Jojoba Oil
• (Optional: essential oils)

Same procedure as with the body butter, heat it up over boiling water and fill it in a small jar. No need to whip it, you are ready to use it when it’s solid again, just apply it under your armpits and you’re ready to go!

I was extremely suspicious at first, I mean nobody wants to be smelly but it really works! However, it does not really work as an antiperspirant.

Additionally, I tried to find out WHY it works. Well I didn’t find a lot of scientific proof why it should work but Baking Soda has a pH of 9, sweat has a pH of 4.5-7 and our skin is pH 4.1-5.8.

So this is my hypothesis:
Baking Soda can reduce perspiration because when the pH of our sweat is too low, it starts to smell bad and the Baking soda might neutralize it and the pH starts to rise again and we are less stinky 😅

Our deodorants often contain lots of different, and sometimes dangerous, chemicals -so why not trying this natural alternative? Also, shea butter and jojoba oil are great for dry skin, as already said! 😊
However, if you need a Zero Waste option but you don’t want to make your own deodorant, many companies sell deodorants with natural ingredients in jars as well!

If hope you found this helpful, let me know if you have ever made your own experience with DIY toiletries.

Have a great week!

xx, Sophie

Zero Waste Hair Care – A critical review

Alrighty, we’ve already talked about Zero Waste Dental Care, but what about our hair? This post is all about hair care but the difference between this post and the other is that this one is a rather critical article, showing that living Zero Waste is not as simple as we (I) want it to be.

As you know, I am currently in the US so I can’t work properly on my plastic free life at the moment, but this was my first try with Zero Waste Hair Care and today I’ll be sharing my experiences with you.

I am sure many of you have heard of solid shampoo or hair soap. The soap I bought is by Zhenobya and I got it at the Body Shop. My first thought was, hundred years ago people also washed their hair with usual soap so why not giving it a try?

I was so motivated to try this, actually not zero but less waste alternative, and I got a bit disappointed to be honest. Usually, my hair feels light, smooth and healthy after using the products I normally use. But after having used the shampoo bar, my hair felt thick, heavy, not smooth at all and not clean and healthy. Plus, it smelt like curd soap.

Nevertheless, I was still very keen to rock this environmentally friendly heir care and applied my DIY Conditioner which made everything even worse. At first I thought it helped but I went to my ballet class in the afternoon and realised that my hair at the back of my had was still not completely dry. This happens quite often to me because I have really thick hair BUT it was not wet, it was greasy due to all the oils and butters in it – so embarrassing 😂 I had to laugh so hard about myself. I mean, what did I expect? You can’t just add tons of fat to your hair and expect it to be fluffy and smooth…

However, I found another purpose for my DIY conditioner – I just turned it into a mask. I now use it every week as a mask before washing my hair to nurture my it and keep it healthy. Since these stories should also be part of this journey, I decided to share with you this „NO Conditioner-but oily hair mask“ recipe with you anyways.

NO Conditioner-but oily hair mask

• 1 Tsp Coconut Oil
• 1,5 Tbsp Cocoa Butter
• 1,5 Tbsp Shea Butter
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Jojoba Oil
• 10 drops Essential Oil (optional)

I decided to share this with you, because I really try to be authentic. To my mind, bloggers should share real experiences, because social media and the internet in general is not always as authentic and transparent as it could be. It is not my goal to always be super successful and perfectly organised or environmentally friendly, I want to be real.
So this was my first experience with Zero Waste Hair Care, I will definitely try other shampoo and conditioner bars, for example the ones from LUSH, but I don’t think that I will use the other one ever again…unfortunately.
Conditioner seems to be not as easy to make as body lotion for example, so I will stick to my „No Conditioner- but oily hair mask“ idea and keep looking for other package-free conditioners.

What do you think about this article, do you agree that we should also share our unsuccessful experiences and what do you think about authenticity when it comes to blogs?

Thanks for reading!
xx, Sophie

Zero Waste Dental Care

Have you ever thought about brushing your teeth with a mixture of Xylit, Baking Soda, Coconut Oil and Peppermint Essential Oil? No?
Then this article will hopefully be a game changer for you.

As you know, I recently started my Zero Waste program which also includes making my own toiletries. Today, I would like to share with you my recipe for Zero Waste toothpaste.

For one portion of toothpaste (lasts 1.5 to 2 weeks) you need:

1 Tbsp Raw, organic Coconut Oil
1 Tsp Pure Baking Soda
0.5-1 Tsp Xylit
10-20 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

Just double-boil it and stir it all together, fill it in a small jar, store it in a cool place and you’re done!

Here’s some information about the ingredients:

Peppermint Essential Oil: Essential oils are antibacterial, my dentist also recommends rinsing your mouth every now and then with essential oils.

Xylitol: Xylitol or Xylit is a type of sugar that has an antibacterial effect as well.
Sugar- good for your teeth? Yes, because the bacteria in our mouth thinks it can use the sugar but it actually can’t metabolise Xylit and it dies.

Baking Soda: Baking Soda increases alkalinity in your mouth since it neutralises acids because of its pH. Additionally, it has a small whitening effect on your teeth.

Coconut Oil: Coconut Oil is a good base for your toothpaste and it might help reduce bacteria that causes caries.

I’ve been using this toothpaste for two weeks before I went to the dentist and surprise, before I even told her about my toothpaste project, she said that my gums looked really good and healthy.
I asked her about the ingredients in my toothpaste and she was very supportive and said that she can really recommend making homemade toothpaste and especially using essential oil and xylitol.
Additionally, many toothpastes contain artificial colorings, glycerine and even small particles to „peel“ the teeth. This DIY toothpaste is perfect if you are looking for a natural and organic alternative. I also started buying bamboo toothbrushes that are bio-degradable. You can buy them at a package-free store for around 3€ and I am really content so far.

Have you ever tried making your own toothpaste?
Have a great week!

xx, Sophie

 

Disclaimer: I am neither a dentist, nor a professional. All the information in this post is from a dentist and the internet.

Zero Waste Toiletries

Take a look at your bathroom cabinet, what is your body lotion packaged in?
Your toothpaste or your body wash? I know we already had this but I am always shocked every time I look at my bathroom.

What can I do about it? Make some products myself. 

The past few weeks I tried some recipes and prepared some articles about different products. This will also be a „critical“ Zero Waste series, since it is not that easy to find the right recipes that actually work, but you will see!
I just want to underline that I am not one of those „proselytizing“ (okay maybe a bit exaggerated) vegans or hardcore environmentalists, telling everyone what to do.
I mean, I won’t spend my summer at home (stay tuned, I will be sharing my plans next Sunday) and I will definitely not be able to make my own products during my travels, since you need a cool space to store them and I am NOT (yet) 100% plastic free.
Additionally, as you will see in the following weeks, it is not so easy to get used to these eco-friendly DIY products.

Alrighty, today I wanted to briefly share with you what kind of products I bought for my experiment and tell you a bit about it and why I chose them.

Almond and Jojoba oil:

Jojoba oil is extracted from the jojoba bush which grows in southwestern American states like Arizona. The woman at the pharmacy told me that the lipides are not ligated through glycerine, but through long-chained esters, which are similar to the ones our sebum (Hauttalg für meine deutschen Leser) consists of. Consequently, jojoba oil perfectly connects with our skin and is moisturising but not greasing.

Almond oil is a cold-pressed plant oil, made of bitter almonds. This oil contains important Vitamins like Vitamin A, D and E, but also different kinds of B Vitamins. It protects the „acid content“ of your skin and is also known to protect your skin a bit from the sun.

Essential oils:

Essential oils are usually produced in the plant’s leafs and stored in the plant tissue. They can be extracted through steam distillation.
However, essential oils do not contain lipides and are liposoluble (fettlöslich).
They are used for aroma therapy, perfumes, but also for different medical conditions.
I bought tea tree essential oil because it is good for your skin (but smells so bad) and peppermint oil for my toothpaste because it has an antibacterial effect.
You can also buy different essential oils in order to change the scent of your products of course.

Arrowroot powder:

This product is often used for cooking and to replace gelatin. You can buy it in any wholefood shop

Xylit:

Xylit (in Germany known as Birkenzucker) is a type of sugar and is almost as sweet as usual saccharose. Good thing about it is, that it does not damage your teeth and you are actually doing something good for your choppers 😄
I will get more into detail in my upcoming posts.

Baking Soda

Baking Soda is supposed to have a natural whitening effect for your teeth, but you can also use it to make deodorant. I will talk a bit more about it in my DIY-Deodorant post.

Coconut oil:

I guess coconut oil is everyone’s all time favourite these days. It is good for your skin, you can cook with it, it has a low dripping point and you can use it as a solid oil as well.
You will need natural coconut oil for every recipe I will share with you!

Shea butter:

Pure shea butter has loads of Vitamin E in it, as well as Omega 3 fatty acids.
Using this amazing product, your skin will be more elastic and it protects your skin from UV radiation.  It is also good for people with very dry skin and neurodermatitis and eczema. It has no significant scent which tells me that it is actually a natural product without any added chemicals.

Cocoa butter:

Cocoa butter is of course vegan and you can use it for cooking and doing something good for your hair and skin as well.

Unfortunately, the only cocoa and shea butter I found in the stores were both packaged in plastic. But I thought it is my first try and next time I might order something in a jar online, but ordering online is not to great as well… Additionally, I like to support our local stores.
The problem with Zero Waste is that our (food-)industry is not designed to provide plastic free products and I try to avoid ordering on amazon.

However, what I love about this DIY project is that all the products are simple, mostly natural products without tons of added chemicals and perfume. The less ingredients, the better 😊

Hope you found this helpful!
Stay tuned,

Sophie

Zero Waste Grocery Shopping

Hello everybody and welcome back to my Zero Waste series!

A few weeks ago I posted my first Zero Waste Article, explaining the main points and my goals. Today I would like to share with you my first project – Zero Waste Grocery Shopping -!

Many people started to buy unpackaged food the past few years and many package-free food stores started their business. In my city, we also have such a store and I recently started to shop most of my groceries there, especially dry foods like Rice, Cous Cous, Seeds etc.
Now our local Zero Waste store is going to move to the city center which is quite exciting, since I hope that they will have a larger impact on the people in our city and encourage  them to reduce waste.

Vegan chocolate at its best.

The idea of those package-free stores is pretty simple and I am sure most of you have heard of it.
Basically you bring your own jars and bags and spill your dry foods into your own sustainable package.
Cool thing is – it’s not only sustainable, it’s also so much fun and I recently started to really enjoy grocery shopping.

Of course you can’t buy everything unpackaged but there are some simple hacks you can try in order to reduce waste.
At this point I have to underline that I only follow this lifestyle to a certain extent at the moment, but I really hope that I will improve within the years.
I strongly believe that we can have an impact together and reduce waste step by step.
Going „Zero Waste“ shouldn’t be another burden for you and you shouldn’t feel bad about yourself if you aren’t able to follow this lifestyle 24/7.
Personally, I feel that the main goal should be enjoying and appreciating this journey, showing respect to our beloved earth and feel good about making a difference.

So here are some „rules“ I try to follow when shopping groceries:

1. I buy dry foods at the package-free store and try recipes that include loads of good seeds, nuts, good carbs etc. Here are some of my favourites I always have in my kitchen cabinet:
   _
   – Brown Rice
   – Quinoa
   – Cous Cous
   – Bulgur
   – Wholegrain pasta
   – Chick peas
   – Red and brown lentils
   – Unripe spelt grain
   – dry soy bolognese
   – different kinds of seeds and nuts for salads
   –
2. I buy unpackaged fruits and veggies. Although people at a normal grocery store might be annoyed that they have to weight 8 apples without a plastic bag…however you could bring a reusable paper bag 🙂
   If they only have broccoli wrapped in plastic, I probably won’t buy it and look for an alternative.
3. You can buy vegan chocolate and other kinds of sweets at the package- free store 😍
   I usually bring a chocolate jar, unfortunately most of the chocolate will be gone before I get home 😅

   

4. I avoid take away foods and prepare and cook as many meals as possible at home
5. Buying at the local market supports local farmers and it’s environmentally more friendly to shop seasonal and local foods. (Unfortunately we don’t have home-grown bananas in Germany 😄)
6. Due to sanitary and health protection, shops in Germany are usually not allowed to put meat, cheese etc. into your own plastic boxes, however some of the smaller/local companies sometimes make exceptions.
7. One of the biggest problems for me is that I haven’t found any place yet that sells soy yoghurt in jars. I know you can buy cow milk products in bottles in jars but at the moment I am often trying to make my own oat milk. But unfortunately I am not able to make my own yoghurt. 😄

As I already said, this lifestyle shouldn’t be a burden and I don’t fail just because I bought foods in plastic. Making a difference is very important and we all have to work together in order to reduce plastic and fight against marine pollution. It is so sad that there are several plastic „islands“ in the pacific ocean and that most beaches are polluted and full of trash. A few weeks ago National Geographic started a new campaign called Planet or Plastic? and I can highly recommend you to read it. We must not keep our eyes closed, we need a change.

I love using an old smoothie bottle as a reusable water bottle!

What do you think about going Zero Waste and is this a project you will take into consideration?

I wish you all the best!
xx