DIY Hair oil

Probably the concoction I'm most proud of making. It kind of developed over time.
I started using Coconut oil as my sealer after reading all of the hype about it. Understandable hype as it turns out.

I, being the impatient person I was / am didn't wait the whole 10 seconds for the oil to melt in my hands before applying it to my hair, which meant I nearly always put too much or too little in, or rubbed the oil into my hair forcefully like a grizzly bear scratching it's back against a tree.

So I made a mixture with jojoba oil, then with jojoba and vitamin e, then with avocado, the list goes on. Eventually, when I started experimenting with body cream, I got my hands on some mango butter which is weirdly dry. When I mixed that into the sealer I knew I got it right. One of my biggest aims was that my hair still feel touchable, I have never been a fan of the greasy head feeling, especially as I have fine hair so too much just weighs me down. The mango butter took the worry out of it.

As time went by I found the right balance, I still experiment with the liquid oils and essential oil amounts and choices. But the core elements of Mango Butter, Coconut oil and Vitamin E have stayed the same.

Ingredients

• 15g Mango Butter
• 45g Coconut oil
• 5g Vitamin E
• 12g Olive oil
• 7g Jojoba oil
• 1g Cocoa butter - first time using this in the sealer, was Lanolin
• 3 x Rosemary EO
• 2 x Calendula
• 3 x Lavender
• 2 x Vetiver
• Whisk, tissue, baby wipes, pyrex

Put everything except the jojoba and essential oils in the pyrex and double boiler, heat and stir until the mango butter is completely melted. Wait for it to cool until it is murky like Vaseline.

Whisk and use the spatula to get any oil from the bottom. Add the essential oils until you get a nice smooth mix. It lasts me about 6 weeks or so.

Natural (mostly) body lotion

La body lotion. I have had words with and against this process. I started off with a strange aloe vera oil mix which was weirdly moisturising, but it was in the days when I had no idea about preservatives and emulsifiers.

Recently I got annoyed when I saw my lotion was running low (first world problems). I then thought well I'll just go online and buy myself an emergency bottle for these such times. I was somewhat dismayed when I realised just how expensive natural lotion was - around £20 for roughly 200ml.

I make about 400ml worth and it lasts me for 2 months and costs around £2.50 exc time, so even if I price myself at £20 per hour I'm still in the green not to mention the obvious perks of being able to adjust the recipe accordingly. Thinking about it now I probably should have added some cocoa butter to thicken it a bit but it the texture isn't my primary goal at the moment.

This particular recipe is actually designed for a pump bottle but I didn't finish my hand wash in time - a like to reuse the bottle - go recycling! So I've put them in tubs, it's lotion rather than cream, but I'm hoping I adjusted the recipe enough so that the lotion still stays on the skin happily for a good 15 hours or so.

I try to think of it like baking, sorting out your dry mix and wet mix separately, so in this case, sort your water mix (water, rose water, glycerin) and then your oil butter wax mix.

Ingredients (interchangeable with mls)

• 15g Beeswax - Binds the oil to the water
• 40g Coconut oil - moisturising
• 11g Lanolin - sealing
• 18g Mango Butter - anti greasy feeling
• 27g Aloe Butter - moisturising and anti greasy feeling
• 90g Sunflower oil - moisturising

Put these ingredients into the pyrex and double boiler (pan on stove with water). Melt and stir until you can't see any wax. While this is melting, boil and measure your water, don't add the rose water and glycerin to the water mixture until the oil is ready for it to be blended in.

Cool down the oil until it starts to look murky, then add these ingredients

• 20g Cyclomethicone - sheen and anti greasy feeling
• 3/4 tsp Neem oil - antibacterial/preservative
• 5ml Vitamin E - antioxidant / stops oils from smelling funny

Give it a quick whisk. Use the spatula to grab any leftover oils at the bottom

• 120ml filtered and boiled water - moisturising
• 20ml Rose water - moisturising
• 5ml Glycerin - humectant, moisturising

Add the rose water and glycerin to your water mix. SLOWLY add mixed water to the mixed oil whilst whisking on low. Should take minimum 10 minutes or you're going to fast. Every now and then stop the whisk and run the spatula along the sides and the bottom. When you have about 20 ml of water left, add the essential oils. Whisk until the water is fully incorporated and then whisk for a further 1 or 2 minutes.

• 7 drops Geranium essential oil - preservative and nice to skin
• 4 drop Patchouli - this and all others have great properties but were added for fragrance
• 4 drop Jasmine
• 1 x Tea tree
• 3 x Rosewood
• 3 x Bergamot
• 2 x Calendula - moisturising
• Electric whisk
• Mixing utensils, tissue and baby wipes

Clean up with tissues and then baby wipes and then wash as normal, put the tubs you're not using right now in the fridge and write the date on top. Use within 3 months. Put any extra fresh on your skin though waste not want not.😁

Second Diy relaxer

Not going to lie to you, I was not paying my hair the proper attention I should have been. Don't worry nothing went wrong but I did experience more breakage than acceptable. Simply because in my efforts to not touch my hair 24 hours before a relaxer due to it's fragility and general curliness, I didn't give it the moisture and oil it needed. So my hair was dry going in, and needed a lot of water love to get back to normal. I basically got scared to touch my hair rather than redouble my efforts to make heal it.

It feels fine and looks quite stunning actually, I have a lot of natural shine and I didn't use any Cyclomethicone either.

I left on for a little longer this time to ensure I relaxed to at least 90%, that's good enough for me.
Also made use of an Apple cider vinegar rinse and will be doing so again at my next wash (co wash) which will either be tomorrow or Wednesday. It depends how dry my hair and scalp feels but at this point, I imagine it will be left to Wednesday though as everything feels pretty ok today.

I am however getting frustrated at protective styles. I feel like single twists would be easier for my hair with a quick touch up in the morning, but I read that flat twists or big canerows are better because all the ends are hidden. I think rather than being religious about it I'll just have to listen to my hair at the time. I can't even see the evidence of new growth yet but that will show itself in time.

My next relaxer will be about a week before I go on holiday in July. Hopefully I will have learned even more about my hair. I'm still getting through the science of black hair book and am relearning a lot of things, have changed my hair oil (sealer mix) slightly as a result.

Need to remember though, my hair does not like being untouched, it sounds counter intuitive but it behaves like a child that needs to be picked up all the time. When I haven't run my hands through it twice a day it doesn't behave well, it's only marginally better at the beginning of the relaxer stretch. One of the primary reasons why consistent smaller canerows or weaves won't be in harmony with my hair.

5 lessons I learned from a 1000 piece puzzle

About 7 years ago I bought a puzzle for £10 just to buy something. I was feeling crappy and thought the exchange of £10 for some kind of activity would make me feel better.

I didn't open the puzzle until March this year, 6 weeks ago to be exact. As part of my Realignment/Happy Empire, I cancelled my Sky subscription in October last year and pretty much only watched shows online occasionally, I then decided that my living room which is entirely steered towards the television should probably be moved around, so the TV now faces the back of my sofa leaving me with so much more living room space than I thought possible.

The question I then had was, how do I entertain my nieces when they came over for Apple Pie day? (that's a thing, we've been doing it for years - one supplies a new found apple pie and we compare it against the last one to the last bite - it's a worthwhile endeavour).
Roll up the 1000 piece puzzle that's been holding place in my suitcase for years.

I don't think it looked immediately enticing to 'play' but after a while we really got into it; when they left that night we had small handful's of sections but the pieces were high level sorted. As I now had so much living room space - still enough to leave my yoga mat out - I decided to continue the puzzle, 30 minutes here or there just to see if I could do it.

These are the 5 lessons I learned from the 1000 piece puzzle

1. Doing something to cheer me up is never as enjoyable is being happy and then doing something. I learned this quickly. I don't mean happy ecstatic, just that steady open feeling. When I tried finding pieces when I was in a bad mood, I was lucky to get 3 or 4 pieces in the space of 30 minutes, compared to a good 20 pieces in 10 minutes - I was on a role when I was in a good mood.
2. Frustration blinds you. All the way through from the beginning until maybe the day before the end, I nearly always said at some point "that piece has to be missing, I've tried everything, there aren't enough pieces left to fill that gap" I was always wrong.
3. Perspective is everything. At the beginning when I had a lot of pieces, I laid them out on the floor rather than in the box, and when I really just couldn't see anything, I shuffled the pieces around like domino's. It always helped, but not even necessarily for the piece I was looking for right then, more often that not I'd find a bunch of pieces in one go for an entirely different section.
4. The mind will go on regardless. From my knowledge of the mind, I know it doesn't like gaps, it likes to figure things out and create patterns so that it can be more efficient. I really understood this when - I would have just looked up from my book, or breakfast or dinner, or walked past to get to the tumble dryer - I'd glance down and would immediately see a piece and knew exactly where it went, I wasn't thinking about it at all, on some occasions I hadn't touched it in days. This happened with such frequency I laughed each and every time.
5. You can only do so much in a space of time and be useful. It couldn't be rushed, on some sections when it got really hard, I started to think I was just obviously dumb, that I couldn't find a piece, after all the more you do, the less pieces there are to choose from. But I wasn't dumb, I'd just been looking at it too long or was just in the wrong head space, I needed time away so that my mind could figure it out without my brain getting in the way.

It has to be said, I intellectually knew all of these things before, but the slow and steady reminder was definitely appreciated. I'll remember this time.

Not quite in the zone - but getting there

I had a great day yesterday all in all, the best part of course was a uber lovely dinner with my Rocket Booster friend. Which was just what I needed as I did not pass my driving test yesterday. And that's ok.

It wasn't ok for a little while, I almost didn't want to feel better about it because the actual circumstances felt so unfair. But I had to feel better, because I can't live like that - moany and miserable - I tried a long time ago (that'll be in the book) and believe me it didn't work. I just can't stay in that place, I don't have the energy to be miserable all the time, it's exhausting.

The new test has been booked in June, and I will spend precious little time thinking about it. During dinner I was reminded (how could I forget) that going for my Chartership is a big important deal. I'm looking forward to it, I feel proud in advance of receiving it. But what the remembering of that did for me was to remind me that all the things I want seem big and important and life changing when you compare it to other things. And in reality I have already done at least 2 ridiculously big things in my young life that I would hope no one would have to ever be in a position to do.

You know what, none of it is a big deal. I have learnt over and over again that the more you not necessarily minimise things but level things out, circumstances, achievements etc; the less stress / negative energy that you put in that direction. Because we never purposefully sabotage ourselves, but it does seem to happen so much more readily when it's something we really really really (Jesus take the wheel) want it.

I'm not saying I won't want things anymore, that's not possible. But I am going to remind myself more quickly of this feeling - the acknowledgement that this as with all things good or bad shall pass. I am happy if I choose to be, I am excited and focused and successful when I start from a place of relaxation and pliability - like that feeling straight after a massage. Open, clear, in flow.

So open journal reader/me in the future - remind me if I start spinning out again, be like putty, mind and body.

Keeping cool vroom vroom

I've got my driving test tomorrow - the second one.

No one knows that it's actually tomorrow - except you lucky people who know I exist online.
All I've told people is that it's this month, maybe 1 or 2 people know it's this week.

Amazingly and somewhat predictably, my friend who broke her leg whilst on holiday skiing had to rearrange our dinner blitz (how I like to refer to it anyway, talk too much too fast, eat really good food, and usually experiment on a new bit of liquor). She said, it's going to have to be April I'm afraid, I said that's fine doll (and I think to myself - of all 30 days she's going to pick that random Tuesday). And of course she did.

And it turns out I was really rather grateful for it. Because she is one of my Rocket boosters as Lisa Nichols calls them - people who bring the good, shine a light, and you can feel safe and open around. And I thought, whatever happens, she will always be down for a giggle, will let me wallow but only for about 15 minutes, and then look onwards and upwards. On the other hand... if tomorrow goes as I expect it will - pass pass pass - she's going to have to skip her pain meds because there will be wine!

Leave in conditioner - Peppermint oil, I love you long time

Sometimes I forget how much things used to cost me before I started making them.

The other day I got lazy-annoyed about having to make more body lotion, so I thought I'll just buy a natural lotion. To which I then looked online and saw the prices and then my memory came back - but that's another conversation, I'll be making more lotion in a few weeks time so I'll talk about that then.

The same does apply for my leave in conditioner though, I have fine hair, I have never been a fan of the thick leave ins that you're supposed to put in your hair every day, they just made my hair look limp.

Through a lot of experimentation - and I'm sure it says something about it in the Science of Black Hair book. I then came across this lovely beauty which I have been using in good and bad ways for years but I believe I have now got it right.

My leave in conditioner uses these

• Water
• Rosemary, Lavender, Peppermint Essential oil
• Glycerin
• JASON Aloe Vera conditioner
• Spray bottle with adjustable nozzle

I typically use about a tsp of JASON, 250ml water, small dollop of Glycerin, 3 Rosemary, 2 Lavender, 3 Peppermint. I make a new one every 2 weeks and sometimes add an extra drop or 2 of EO after the first week. I can use this every day/ night followed by some protein when needed and sealer. The trick is to learning the amount you need to use. Some people like to co-wash every night, I don't have time for that - enough water, is enough.

In my *not paying attention* days I used to assume that the preservatives in the conditioner would keep the water from going bad for weeks - months - my full 9 week term. This was disgusting, I know that now, it was the reason why I had an itchy scalp, actively putting bacteria on my head and wondering why... Now 2 weeks is just enough, and I can always switch it up at anytime without it really costing me anything, the most expensive thing in it is the Conditioner and I can live with that, I'm a geek (and proud) I worked out that this costs me roughly 43p a month.

Once I corrected the above, I experimented again with different EO's, to be honest Sandalwood and my hair/scalp don't mix, I have no idea why because it's supposed to be moisturising but, it makes my hair feel dry. And even though every mix I did included Rosemary, my scalp really missed the Peppermint. I stopped using the peppermint because everyone everywhere says you should use that for greasy hair, and mine isn't greasy. But you know what, I think it helps to balance out the oils in my hair. Especially as my sealer is a mixture of oils and butters, that's the last ingredient that means I or anyone else can touch my hair and not need to wash their hands afterward (that and Mango butter). That's very important to me.

I do need to get a spray bottle that I can see through though, I don't know why I thought it was clever to get a pretty metal one. smh

Happy Easter Sunday :)

Micro win

The ever lovely Lisa Nichols told me to celebrate Micro Wins.

I don't know Lisa, I've never met her, but I do adore her and wish I spent more time listening to and reading her sooner.

I'm currently reading or trying to read Abundance Now by Lisa Nichols, amongst the many other books I'm juggling. I say trying to read because at the end of virtually every third paragraph she asks you these ridiculously thought provoking questions that send my head on a world wind trying to answer there and then.

I have accepted that I will have to read the book more than once to get the full benefit out of it. I haven't even gotten to the bit in the book where she discusses micro wins, I've only heard her speak about them in interviews. I like them. It's very easy to look at your big goal and feel like the tiny steps you made today didn't do much to shift the mountain, but it's never true. I try to think of it like a dial on a clock, the angle of the hand movement that adjusts for 5 minutes is much wider and obvious at the top of the clock then it is at the centre, and the centre is where I am at any given time. It's all I can see right there and then but doesn't mean that the hand didn't just move 5 minutes, because it did. All because it's not obvious to me yet from the centre, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I had 2 Micro Wins today. The first one was a really good lunch with my Line Manager. I work at a fantastic company - I say that without being under a single feather of duress (no sarcasm). It's great and he's great, so we're chatting away and he asks me how I'm going to use my week off, I tell him I'm taking my second (and final) drivers test again and working on my personal business stuff like my writing and setting up the online business. There was no shock, no feeling threatened, no trying to talk me out of it, he just went on to talk about his nieces side businesses. And I'm sitting there thinking, I hadn't intended on bringing that up today, I was going to tell him that I had a business when I actually felt I had one. But there it is, out in the open and the ground didn't fall through, it didn't even murmur. And as I said in my well timed post yesterday - how many people said "are you allowed to do that and work for your company at the same time?" "don't you think they'll treat you differently, and not think you're invested?". Valid questions but A. I don't work for constantly paranoid people anymore, B. I rock my day job - I'm a Project Manager. I get things done morning, noon, and now night. If I ever felt that my personal business - the creating and functioning of it - ever interfered with my day job, I'd just move things around to make them integrate with my life better.

And I'm not in a rush for any of this, one of the biggest deals I made with myself when I decided to start doing all of these things (including this blog) was that I'd do it if it made me feel good, if it excited me, if I felt eager about it.

The second Win was I just bought my first stock for my first online business, I'll be setting up the prettiness (website, you tube, facebook page) once I actually receive said goods. All in good time.

And another

I keep getting ideas, I've learned in most cases I should follow them if they make me feel good.
This is the most recent idea.

I have a few personal business ideas that I'm getting underway. I have read, learned, ignored, proven and now accepted that I shouldn't talk about these things to people that aren't ready to hear them - which is most people it seems. Friends / family aren't purposefully raining on my parade, I've learned that you look at things from your own perspective, you assess the new using your own learned history and respond accordingly. So if something feels scary to you, regardless if it has nothing to do with you, you'll exhibit your fear for the other person by trying to steer them away from the possible danger.

Unfortunately, if you the person with the idea hasn't firmed it up in your mind enough or your gut even, then you'll feel downhearted and scared after hearing other peoples perspectives, whereas before you were excited and hopeful. Sometimes you really did need to hear the stop hold on a minute speech, but in my opinion, you have your life and it's your own - as long as you're not purposefully hurting yourself or anyone else, and have made your decisions from a sound mind (not a knee jerk reaction to something) go live it. Obviously you don't want to throw yourself off of figurative or literal bridges without a bungee cord but how many of us really want to do that? Often our ideas are really clear and not risk heavy to us, but they are to so many people, and that's what holds us back.

My latest idea was to write my thoughts up using my pre existing open journal. Because, whilst I know all of the above, I really really really really really like talking and I'm struggling being silent. I used to have many diaries as a child but, I struggle to write pen to paper now (unless it's the gratuity journal at the end of the week). This way feels better to me as I'm effectively talking, and don't need to worry about if it's interesting or not. I get things off of my chest, and if it helps anyone then so be it. If not, that's fine too.

NB. I have, much to my chagrin been told by a very wise woman (Delia) that I should be more vulnerable (I dislike that word passionately due to my interpretation of it), but I understand what she means. It's being fully comfortable being my full me out loud all the time. I'm more me out loud than I have ever been, and when I'm with my closest friends all of me is present and happy, but even as I write this I've had thoughts about removing my picture from the other posts so that I can still stay a little bit hidden. Mad isn't it.

So off I go, another blog page, about me, all of me, and as scary as it is, I'm writing a book about me and if I can't do this, then I can't do that.

6 weeks post - baby hair

It feels like I have baby hair. I'm going to take that as a good sign.

On the other side I have found another grey (white) hair today. I don't feel stressed so I imagine it's genetics from the Mr's side. All the men in that side had a triangle of white hair front from a young age and then didn't go fully grey until about 70.

I'd rather not go grey at all to be honest. I do have a good face though so maybe it will be flattering to me like a Rogue look. The white hairs feel good though, they don't feel any weaker or thinner and that's the most important thing.

Rosemary EO is supposed to be the best for grey hair, I'm not exactly sure how, really need to prioritise reading more of the science of black hair book. This is my second read and I'm already understanding more than I did the first time. I think that's what helped me to understand how baggying works.

Deep conditioner wash day today, will add more Rosemary into the hot oil mix, and then add a touch of that mix to the conditioner as well, should make it easier to detangle; although I did pick up my avocado oil that I use on my ends - how did I forget how good that stuff was?  I might just add a touch of Rosewood oil again, just to give my hair a little more strengthI'm only doing an 8 week stretch this time so this will be the last shampoo and conditioner. I only use conditioner in the 10 days or so leading up to it.

Baggying for moisture

Baggying is something that I have seen on many a blog for years now, and yet for some reason I just never paid any attention to it. Maybe it was because I wasn't sure when it would be appropriate to do it. As with most new fantastic products, they're probably great but if you use it at the wrong time, when your hair isn't ready, then you're not going to get the right results.

Baggying is when you put a shower cap or sealed plastic bag over your freshly moisturised but unsealed hair in order to keep the moisture in. I think it goes a little deeper than that actually, or at least for me any way.

I used to use mane n tail detangler religiously. At first I used to put way too much on because I was impatient, I eventually realised by accident (distracting phone call) that when you put it on and leave it to work - not immediately trying to comb or finger comb your hair - then the hair is actually much more agreeable, I didn't have to fight with it nearly as much and didn't have to use as much detangler.

The same applies to my standard leave in (water and conditioner mix in spray bottle with essential oils). My night process was to spray some the hair and scalp - I don't oil my scalp - and then finger comb, apply hair oil sealer and style for bed. This works fine at the beginning of my stretch, I don't need as much leave in or sealer. But at the end of the stretch, it just doesn't work, leaving me frustrated and running my hands through my hair too quickly, pulling out hair's from the fragile demarcation line. So I end up using more and more leave in, leaving me with wet hair, and then it's so wet you feel like it needs to dry a little before putting the oil on. As a night time routine, this gets really annoying as my hair is at this stage for about a month.

With baggying however I've found that giving my roots, scalp, and ends a nice light spray when I come home in the evening, putting the shower cap on while I cook, read, meditate; by the time it's time for my night time routine, you can feel the moisture is on the inside of the hair rather than just sitting on the outside. My tight and rough roots are flexible without feeling weak like that over moisturised feeling.

I don't have a lot of time in the evenings as I work pretty far away from home so the shower cap is only on for just under 2 hours. Even when I had a couple of evenings out this week, I still got the benefit from only keeping it on for 30 minutes while I showered and got ready for bed.
I am also using a small amount of protein every other night though - during the sealing process, I believe that keeps the balance.

Some people manage to baggy overnight, I have no idea how, after the 90 minute mark my scalp screams give me air! But if it works then it works, it's probably a little different if you have a lot of natural hair. I've also seen some worries that it would cause the hair to smell, I haven't had experience of that personally, smell as far as I know is caused by bacteria, the essential oils in my leave in and sealer put a stop to that pretty darn quick.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the growth in a couple of weeks when I relax again. I haven't worn my hair down once since February, but my friend had commented that it looked like it had grown. It probably just looked healthier / thicker as result of all the new growth and moisture that's in side the hair, but I do believe/hope that I have retained more hair this stretch. I won't be trimming again until the early Autumn. I went from 1 trim a year to 2 trims for the past 2 years and I really think that's part of the reason why I haven't seen much improvement, about an inch left me each time. I hardly ever have split ends but my hair does grow at different speeds all over my head so that would be the reason why it was levelled out quite so severely.

Pretty big breakthrough for me, it might have seemed obvious but sometimes you have to learn for yourself.

5 weeks post

I'm 5 week post relaxer now. I do believe I have sped up the growth process with Rosemary oil. It's the reason why this week has been so hard.

My hair was drinking water like as if it's life depended on it. I think I just got caught out with the warmer weather and strength of the curl.

I did remember that I had a rescue conditioner - Conceived by Nature. Who don't seem to make much but the one bottle I have tried I am always so very thankful for. I use this roughly this time every stretch, I don't know why I completely forgot it was their until I was about to put my normal conditioner in.

Before I remembered I had it I was just going to add some oil and Calendula EO to my Green people Conditioner, I think I'll do that next time. I'm really trying to treat the 2 different versions of my hair differently, (fresh relaxed vs curly at the roots, straight in the middle frizzy at the ends petulant hair). It's the frizzy at the ends part that annoys me the most, because it's not split ends, they're just dry. I just let my hair get much too dry for whatever reason.

I'm going to give baggying a try, I'm currently doing a bit of the reverse by putting a loose satin du-rag on with a shower cap on top. I'm drying my hair but not too much. In a little while I'll take the shower cap off and leave the slightly thick satin du-rag on before I start my nightly routine. Then I'll think I'll just baggy it in the evenings while I'm reading/eating etc. Especially during this end of stretch part. I probably won't need to do it often at the beginning of my stretch.

I do think I'll have to re purchase some Avocado oil and try using that as a detangler as it's quite a dry oil but very penetrating. I put the oil that I used as my pre poo on the ends before air drying, I'm hoping that together with the baggying and that amazing conditioner will get it back to normal. Plus maybe a quick spray or 2 of protein before sealing as well.

Mouthwash - dentist approved

I briefly had a stint at making my own toothpaste, used different mixes for about 3 month's and then got randomly paranoid about yellow teeth. I didn't have yellow teeth. But I was spiralling out so I decided to stop making it and go back to my colgate total toothpaste.

I did however miss the exceptionally clean filling I got from using my bicarb based toothpaste. Especially my tongue, without getting too delicate, I want it looking healthy and pink, not like I just finished drinking milk.

I always felt normal mouthwash was overkill and unnecessarily expensive. So after a few versions, I finally got my diy moutwash perfect. It lasts for about a week, but it's so easy to make I could do it everyday. Takes less than 5 minutes.

Equipment

• Sealable bottle roughly 200ml
• Distilled / filtered water
• Bicarbonate soda
• Measuring spoon
• Cinnamon Essential oil
• Clove Essential oil
• Peppermint Essential oil
• Spearmint Essential oil

Method

1. Half fill the bottle with water
2. Take a measured teaspoon and fill it with Bicarb to 4/5'ths (or the whole hog)
3. Put 1 drop of Cinnamon, 2 drop of Clove, 2 drops of Peppermint, 2 drops of Spearmint Essential oil in
4. Close the cap and shake until the Bicarb has dissolved.
5. Shake before use

This is great for me. I learnt the hard way not to put too much Cinnamon in, that stuff is wicked strong. It's also great for sensitive teeth and any inside mouth issues because of the Clove oil primarily.

This is definitely a staple for me. At my last check up at the dentist I told her what I was using and she said that sounds fine because the Bicarb is an alkaline and Clove is so good for so many things like throat infections. She said a lot of people who start out making their own mouthwash use fruit juice for some reason and she has to tell them to stop immediately. Why would you start with juice I don't know.