Kamis, 30 Desember 2010

0 How to find the cheapest hair products

A lot of small business hair companies use a base to make their products. This means that a lot of companies are essentially selling the same exact product at different price points. So, if you do a little digging you can find a product you love for a lower price.


Here's how:
Go to a wholesale base price such as: Africa Imports or Essential Wholesale

Select a base such as: Unscented Conditioner Base 1 lb. 20 oz. $8.95 or

                                        Citrus Conditioner Base 16 oz.      16oz. $9.00 
Copy the ingredients:
African Import Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Lavendula angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Anthemis nobilis, (Organic Roman Chamomile) Distillate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ricinus Communis (Castor Seed) oil, stearalkonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Hydrolized Wheat, d-Calcium Pantothenate, (Panthenol Vitamin B5), Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip), Seed oil, salix nigra (Organic Black Willow Bark) extract

or

Essential Wholesale Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Lavendula angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Anthemis nobilis (Organic Roman Chamomile) Distillate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ricinus communis (Castor Seed) Oil, Stearalkonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Essential Oils, Hydrolized Wheat Protein, d-Calcium Pantothenate (Panthenol Vitamin B5), Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Salix nigra (Black Willow Bark) Extract

Place ingredient list directly in a search engine, I used Google. A list of companies websites will come up that use this same exact mix of ingredients or base or similar bases. Use this as a guide to find different bases.

Here are some of the results I got and the bases that match:

Luvamouri- Her Highness Conditioner 8 oz. $12
Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Lavendula angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Anthemis nobilis (Organic Roman Chamomile) Distillate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ricinus communis (Castor Seed) Oil, Stearalkonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Hydrolized Wheat Protein, d-Calcium Pantothenate (Panthenol Vitamin B5), Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Salix nigra (Organic Black Willow Bark) Extract, Mentha piperita (Peppermint) Essential Oil, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Essential Oil 
You can get 16 oz. for $10 from Essential Wholesale 

BeeMine-Avocado Cream Balanced Conditioner 8oz. $12.97
Ingedients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Lavendula angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Anthemis nobilis (Organic Roman Chamomile) Distillate, Cetearyl Alcohol(vegetable-based emulsifier), Ricinus communis (Castor Seed) Oil, Avocado Butter, Avocado Oil, Stearalkonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, d-Calcium Pantothenate (Panthenol Vitamin B5), Panthenol (Vitamin B Complex), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Salix nigra (Organic Black Willow Bark) Extract, Fragrance
*the bolded are the only additional ingredients besides the fragrance

Bath and Body By Tracy- Natural Herbal Wheat and Oat 8oz. $6.75 
Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Lavendula angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Anthemis nobilis (Organic Roman Chamomile) Distillate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ricinus communis (Castor Seed) Oil, Stearalkonium Chloride, Camellia sinensis (Organic Green Tea) Extract, Urtica dioica (Organic Nettle Leaf) Extract, Stellaria media (Organic Chickweed) Extract, Ulmus fulva (Organic Slippery Elm) Extract, Silybum marianum (Organic Milk Thistle) Extract, Althea officinalis (Organic Marshmallow Root) Extract, Avena sativa (Organic Oatstraw) Extract, Aphanizomenon flos-aqua (Blue Green Algae), Phenoxyethanol, Hydrolized Wheat Protein, d-Calcium Pantothenate (Panthenol Vitamin B5), Kosher Vegetable Glycerin, Rosa mosqueta (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Salix nigra (Organic Black Willow Bark) Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E)
*Get this from Essential wholesale 16 oz. $8.25



Here some more companies using with the same ingredients:
Beauty and Glory  Cordells Curing Conditioner 12 oz. $14.99
Zipporah Beauty   Citrus Delight Conditioner 8 oz. $12.50
Le FP Green Body Care "Lush" 8oz. $54!!!
Dagny and Lane Clarifying Conditioner 8oz $18

Crazy right? I'm going to be doing more of these searches to help save us all money! Remember when using a base companies are only allowed to add 5% to the products. So, 95% of all of these products are the exact same and as you can see some companies don't add anything extra.

Let's do a little math:
20 oz of conditioner base = $8.95 (about .45 cents per oz.)
8 oz of the same conditioner base = $3.60

So some of these prices are more than triple, quadruple...okay I'm going to stop right here. Ya'll do the rest.



Rabu, 29 Desember 2010

0 Excuse the mess!!

I'm trying to make my blog more user friendly and make it easier to access the information.

I am also trying to work on my writing skills.

The hard part is getting what I see in my mind on this blog the way I want it!!

So, if you see a bunch of jibberish all over the place, just check back later!

Hopefully everything will be all cleaned up and together by January 1st.

Thanks for understanding!

Kamis, 23 Desember 2010

0 Long Yellow hair style for Girl

Classical pin-up image of naked redhead girl

Classical pin-up image of naked redhead girl Stock Photo - 593610
Classical pin-up image of naked redhead girl

0 Modern Hair Style for Girl

Closeup portrait of a beautiful nude lady in surprise

Closeup portrait of a beautiful nude lady in surprise Stock Photo - 7511539
Closeup portrait of a beautiful nude lady in surprise

0 Hair Style for Young Girl

Portrait of the young brunette on a grey background in an elegant linen

Portrait of the young brunette on a grey background in an elegant linen Stock Photo - 7607286
Portrait of the young brunette on a grey background in an elegant linen

0 Medium Layered Hairstyle for Men

Trendy short hairstyles, long hairstyles, medium hairstyles, celebrity hairstyles pictures & haircut tips for men and women.

Medium Layered Brunette Hairstyle for Men

What a soft hair style!

0 Funky Hairstyles Photo Gallery


Funky hairstyles are usually for the young and rebellious, but you can modify these styles to suit any class or age group. These styles can also be created by forming spikes, cutting Mohawks, or with bluntly asymmetrical patches of hair.

Asymmetrical Bangs – The asymmetrical bangs add instant pop hair to the funky hairstyle.

Pixie Cut - The pixie hairstyle is one of the most popular funky hairstyles. You need to avoid the use of crunchy styling gels to keep your pixie looking its best.

2009 Funky Hairstyles Photo Gallery

Trendy short hairstyles, long hairstyles, medium hairstyles, celebrity hairstyles pictures & haircut tips for men and women.

0 Hot Hair Style

sexy beautiful blond girl wearing hot shorts and covering her breast with black material looking in camera with strong eyes. Sexy beautiful blond girl wearing hot shorts and covering her breast with black material looking in camera with strong eyes

sexy beautiful blond girl wearing hot shorts and covering her breast with black material looking in camera with strong eyes Stock Photo - 7597997

0 2009 -2010 Trendy Emo Hairstyle for Women

The guys and girls both want to carry this new hyped “cool look”. The emo hairstyle offers a wide variety of hair styles to both the sexes.

emo girl hair style

This hair style is particularly popular with boys where the hair is cut in straight and side swept bangs. The inter net is loaded with images of guys carrying the cool EMO hairstyle.
The EMO hair style for girls has an equally wide range of hair styles.

Trendy emo hairstyles pictures & haircut tips for men and women.

0 Professional Hair cut

Professional male hairdresser choose hair dye color at modern salon, female customer change hair color

Professional male hairdresser choose hair dye color at modern salon, female customer change hair color Stock Photo - 6478022
Professional male hairdresser choose hair dye color at modern salon, female customer change hair color

0 Modern Hair Care Tips

The purpose of this article is to present some of the latest hair care tips and how to apply them. If you’re looking for some new ways to care for your hair or style it, we hope this will help you.

Modern Latest Hair Care Tips

If style and grace si what your looking for and lets face it, who isn’t?! long hair seems like the best way to go. This is due to the fact that longer hair definetly presents more style options, from updos to straight hair or sexy curls.

JTM-036023

Another plus is that long hairstyle is a youthful look, making you feel and look younger. And lets not forget the fact that some body assets can be really advantaged by longer hair, without losing the sophisticated factor. Yes, we mean the chest area that is always enhanced by some beautiful locks around it. Modern Latest Hair Care Tips 2

But everyone knows that the beauty of long hairstyle comes at a cost. It is way harder to care for long hair than short hair. For starters, you have to maintain you hair texture. Long hairstyle is beautiful if it’s shiny and smooth, qualities that can be affected by hot rollers, curling irons or hair straighteners.

Modern Latest Hair Care Tips2

A style secret is to not wear to much jewelry. It will draw attention from your hair and your hard work will go unnoticed.

0 Privacy Police

Privacy Policy for http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at nurc23@gmail.com.

At http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense
Commission Junction
Widget Bucks
Adbrite
Clickbank
Azoogle
Chitika
Linkshare
Amazon
Kontera


These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/ has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. http://lifestylemodern.blogspot.com/'s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.

0 How to make laundry detergent

So as you all know I made a batch of soap (olive oil, castor oil, cocoa butter and lye mixture). I got about 12 bars of soap out of that batch so I decided to try my hand at making homemade laundry detergent.
Want to know how I made it? Okay here we go!

Ingredients:
2 bars of soap (you grate them), empty laundry detergent, pitcher,Borax 1 cup, baking soda 1 cup

This is a 9 gallon jug. I love this stuff! It has lasted me from March 2010 until now (December 2010) and I still have a lot left. (I poured it out into empty bottles)
Now here is where is gets un-homemade... I love Pine-Sol. It does a wonderful job in clothes. I love the smell and had to add 1 1/2 cups of it to my recipe. A lot of people add Oxi-Clean, vinegar, or Washing Soda to help "brighten" and get any extra stains out. Without any additives, this detergent is very gentle. It works great alone but, can use a little boost...




How to mix it all up:

*Take to 2 liters of boiling hot water (hot enough to melt the soap) and mix the soap in and stir until all of the soap is melted into liquid.

*Pour the "liquid soap" into a bucket. (I used a 5 gallon bucket)And mix in Borax and baking soda. This mixture may get very foamy. Mine foamed up quite a bit! I took me about 5 solid minutes to get everything dissolved.

*Add about 4 more liters of water and mix.

*Add Pine-Sol and mix.

To get it out of the bucket I used a pitcher (2 liter) and poured that into a measuring cup and pour that into the jug. Yeah... it took a while but, I got it all in there.

*Let the mixture sit over night before using. After a few days it will look like this:













A nice gelatinous mixture! Liquid laundry detergent! It took about 30 minutes to make this whole 6-7 liter batch of detergent! I use about 1/8 of a cup with each wash.

Now there are some cons to this detergent:

1. Very low sudsing- Now this may not matter you but, it does to me! I need suds and bubbles! So I add a small squirt of Purex washing detergent to each load just to get the bubbles (about a tablespoon).
2. Best if added to washer machine before you add clothes. I put in the detergent and let the washer fill up a little before I add the clothes. Seems to clean better that way because it gets evenly distributed.
3. Has no smell. If you don't add Pine-sol or some other scented additive, you will have no scent AT ALL. I need scent! I have to have scent!

But other than these 3 cons, this laundry detergent is fine for us. I only need to purchase each ingredient once a year (Pine-Sol and Borax) and I always have baking soda. I think this detergent will last me for about 4 months. I only do about 3 loads a week so yours may last more or less.

It cleaned my husbands ol stinky work clothes really well, better than any commercial laundry detergent we have tried. It really stripped the crud off of his pants! He was talking about how clean his uniform was all week!

I have never really had a problem with stains. I never pre-soak clothes and all stains usually come right out.

Now, even if you choose not to use this as your main detergent, it is a great addtive to your commercial laundry detergent. It will help your detergent stretch! If you had a jug of liquid detergent and added this homemade recipe to it, I bet it would last a whole year!

Enjoy! :)


Selasa, 21 Desember 2010

0 Kapsel trends 2011

Kapsel trends voor 2011 van Goldwell. Na de modeshows in Berlijn, Londen, Parijs en New York is het weer zover: Goldwell presenteert de nieuwe kapsel trend lijn voor 2011. Het team creëerde haarkleuren en haarstijlen voor de belangrijkste trends van 2011: Play strong. Alle haarkleuren en haarstijlen zijn inspiratiebronnen voor elke haarstylist.

Kapsel trend play staat garant voor individuele kapsels. Dat wil zeggen dat iedereen met deze kapseltrend een eigen persoonlijk kapsel kan creëren. Contrasten in zwart, wit en rood garanderen een onuitwisbare look! Deze kapsel trend zal voor 2011 de inspiratiebron zijn voor de hele kappersbranche.

Fotos via Goldwell

0 Small business rant

google images


I'm learning that it is better to take years and truly learn your craft then to dive in a only half know what you're doing.

I was reading a thread over on a haircare forum and the posters were really outing a lot of small business, WAHM companies for not being knowledgeable about their craft. I was embarrassed for the companies!

Since I have been researching a lot myself and looking up ingredients and beneficial oils and whatnot, I have learned a lot. I too have noticed how a lot of small businesses may not truly be educated about what they sell.

  • Soap making- I keep reading some companies say you need to preserve bar soap! This is soap making 101, you don't need to preserve bar soap, liquid soap maybe but not bar soap! How can I have confidence buying from you if you don't even know the basics?
  • Natural Hair- I instantly get turned off by people marketing shea butter, jojoba oil, and the like as moisturizers. This again is haircare 101 knowledge. Very few oils penetrate the hair shaft and, most other oils are sealants. A quick google search will lead you to this knowledge.

I hope small businesses step their game up and start putting their best foot forward because as customers get informed, we are going to start reading the fine print. When you are selling products and marketing them as "high end" you need to have "high end" knowledge to back that up.

We all like making money but, we have to be fair, honest and trustworthy. Know your stuff so you won't be embarrassed later on...


Senin, 20 Desember 2010

0 Are synthetic preservatives necesssary?


Lately, I have been into making my own skin care products (can't you tell?) and have now started looking into lotions and creams. When it comes to making natural products, you run into a whole slew of new obstacles, one of them is synthetic preservatives.

Currently, there are no natural preservatives on the market that can guarantee that your product will have a long shelf life without molding or refrigeration. Now, I love natural products just as much as the next person but, I am not about to store my lotion in the refrigerator.

Here is a great article written by Anne-Marie of Bramble Berry on the importance of preservatives:

"I get asked, a lot, about preservatives in lotions. The post about Organic & Natural standards prompted Shelly to ask about Bramble Berry's official stance on preservatives in the "Comments" section of the post. The question about preservative is probably the number one asked question here at Bramble Berry. My standard answer always goes something like:
"I really wish there was a failsafe way for you to use only natural preservatives in your lotions. If there was, I'm betting the really big guys would be using them more. The truth is that right now, there are a lot of great antioxidants like ROE or Vitamin E on the market but the natural-natural preservatives just coming into vogue aren't ideal for the home crafter.

Germaben II or Phenonip is used as less than 1% of the total ingredient in your lotion. I think that people probably do more damage to themselves by carrying around an extra few pounds or eating a Twinkie once a month than they do by having that 1% of preservative in their product.

Plus, if anything were to happen (shudder), you might end up growing a microbe in your lotion that actually harmed someone."

Bramble Berry's official position on preservatives is that for the home crafter, a full spectrum anti microbial such as Germaben II or Phenonip is the most safe and responsible way to preserve lotions.

Imagine my surprise and dismay when a chic-chic body cream I purchased at (throat clear) "A Big Name Salon in Seattle" started molding and growing hairs! Ewwww ... I checked the ingredients list. Sure enough, there are awesome antioxidants (Honeysuckle Extract & Vitamin E) but no effective preservatives.

I called the manufacturer to let them know, figuring they'd want to know how I stored the lotion (on my desk), how old it was (three months since date of purchase) and if there was a batch number on it (there wasn't). They graciously replaced the lotion.

Play it safe and use a preservative in your lotion products until natural preservatives become easy and efficient to use for home crafters."

Read the whole post here. Go to the post to see the nasty mold that grew in her lotion. It was gross!

What stuck out to me, was when she said that preservatives only take up about 1% of the actual product ingredients. 1%! Sorry but, I'm not too concerned with that....

Water + closed container = mold...simple as that.

So for me, I wouldn't and won't purchase homemade/handmade products that contain water but, no synthetic preservatives. I think the risk of getting sick from mold is greater than the risk of getting sick from a synthetic preservative. Could you imagine having mold in your hair or skin? What about putting it on your baby?


0 Doen: Persoonlijk jaaroverzicht 2010


In december maken veel nieuwszenders, kranten en weblogs een jaaroverzicht van bijzondere gebeurtenissen uit het voorbije jaar. Ongetwijfeld komen de WK-finale, het huwelijk van Wesley & Yolanthe en de politieke aardverschuivingen na de verkiezingen voorbij. Maar hopelijk heb jij in het afgelopen jaar leukere momenten meegemaakt.

Welke leuke, gekke of bijzondere dingen heb je in 2010 meegemaakt? Op de site http://www.hetnederlandvan2010.nl kun je eenvoudig een video met jouw persoonlijke jaaroverzicht 2010 maken. Leuk voor later!

Deel je jaaroverzicht met je vrienden en laat ze op je stemmen! De drie leukste, grappigste, ontroerendste, liefste of spannendste jaaroverzichten worden uitgezonden tijdens een spetterende Oudejaarsavondspecial op RTL 5, met onder andere Bridget Maasland en Rick Brandsteder.

Wat is de bedoeling:
Duik in de digitale foto's en selecteer die foto’s die voor jou 2010 persoonlijk in beeld brengen. Foto’s van jouw beklimming van de Kilimanjaro, die leuke surfdude in Australië of je collega’s in New York. Foto’s van de ondergaande zon op Ibiza, de moesson in Indonesië of de skottelbraai in Zuid-Afrika. Doe mee en laat Nederland zien wat jou bezighield dit jaar!

Bekijk het leuke promofilmpje of ga direct naar naar http://www.hetnederlandvan2010.nl en maak je persoonlijke jaaroverzicht!

Kamis, 16 Desember 2010

0 Ants in my pants... being a SAHM



Currently, I am a SAHM (stay at home mommy) and I just can't seem to rest until I change that to WAHM (work at home mommy). For the first few years of my marriage I was a SAHW-wife but, I was always trying to find some business to start. I have always been this way, I think. I hated school once I hit high school, I never wanted to go to college, I hate 9-5 schedules but, I love working.

I love creating and crafting. I love making things with my hands (maybe it's a left handed thing?) and right now, me sitting at home with no business is killing me softly. I love to draw, make jewelry, mix up stuff and do computer stuff.Yeah, I like to do....stuff.

If I could build a huge business I would be a haircare/skincare, soap, jewelry, accessory making business woman!

I find that I have the most joy when I am knee deep in some type of hobby. I have so much craft supplies, it's crazy! My friends are always shocked when I tell them I know about making this or that.
Google Image


I know this post is kind of all over the place. I'm trying to convince myself to get back into building a business and I'm also trying to tell myself to chill out. I'm giving myself 4 months to research and get my plan together before I jump into anything.

Ugh...I feel like I will either sink or swim and I am too nervous to even try to swim...

Selasa, 14 Desember 2010

0 Woman Hairstyle Tendency 2011

////
Year 2011 promises to bring changes on hairstyles and haircuts. The last several years we have found fewer changes for the length of hair and only the short hair has been fashionable for women. Now we see long hair tendency.

Short female hair is no longer a good alternative, long hair is the most popular this season. A long hair makes it possible to be creative, and there are plenty of hairstyles your can do with a long hair.

Long hairstyles are so easy to style 'cause they're free flowing and natural styles that are conducive to wearing everyday to school or office, and extremely simple to make; the lady doesn’t need a lot of gels, mousse, hair spray or other styling products to get a wonderful look.

Long Hairstyles Picture Gallery





Senin, 13 Desember 2010

0 Your child is not my child...when we as parents cross the line

Google Images


Sure, I may not feed my child Frosted Flakes for breakfast but, I don't have the right to tell another mother not too. That's not my child.

As mothers, we can get very passionate about the decisions we have made for our families. Knowing that we have chosen these things because we see them as beneficial, we feel like everyone should choose them too. The truth is, they don't have too. No one has to do what we do and we have to accept that.

I had to accept this fact as well. For example, I breastfed my daughter, I saw so many pros to breastfeeding and I never thought anyone would disagree with the decision. I figured all mothers should breastfeed their children. Breast is best and people who didn't were usually ill-informed or lazy. (I know right...) I learned things are not so black and white. Yes, I still believe breast is best and breast milk trumps formula but, I have also learned that every mother has a right to choose what she wants to feed her baby. I chose what was best for me and my child and I would hate for someone else to tell me otherwise or try and take that right away from me.

We live and we learn.

I have learned that when I focus on my own family and doing what is best for us, I am not concerned with sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Some things are just none of my business. I'm not the parent of anyone else child except my own and I will be held accountable for her and her only. Realizing this, felt so freeing. I felt a peace come over me, seriously. I'm no longer looking for a debate. I don't care. As long as they aren't breaking the law of the land, there isn't much I can do.

It's about respect. We, as parents have to respect what other people choose to do with their children. No, I may not like the choices they make but, I do need to respect them and act accordingly.  In doing this, I am teaching my daughter as well. I am teaching her that we may not like everything we see and hear but, that doesn't give us the right to put others down or belittle them. We have to be concerned with ourselves and what's going on in our own backyard.

I was kind of sad when I saw women (mothers) confessing to spending too much time on the computer debating and actually neglecting their children because of it. I had to look at myself, I didn't want that to be me. I only have one opportunity to raise my child right. I will never get this opportunity again, and neither will you.


Minggu, 12 Desember 2010

0 Tutorial: How to make liquid black soap

To make my liquid black soap, I purchased some black soap from Coastal Scents a few weeks ago and I love it! I was a little nervous about buying real black soap because I heard it was soggy, stinky, rough, and just a bit unpleasant. In the past I was using Nubian Heritage black soap, which has a black soap base but, is not black soap.

Black soap doesn't stink! It smells nice and fresh! The smell wouldn't offend anyone, as it just smells like pure clean soap. It is soft but, not mushy just soft enough to where you can cut it with a butter knife.

I will do a separate post on the benefits of black soap (because if I don't, this post will never end...)

Enjoy!!

Cast of characters: black soap, slither of Nubian Heritage black soap (last little piece left), measuring cup, squirt bottle and stainless steel 1 quart pan. It is advised that you don't mix food pans with soap pans, so I reserve this small pot exclusively for making soaps and melting oils.



Pour 2 cups of water into the pan to boil. You don't have to boil the water, just get it really hot. The hotter it is the faster the soap will melt.


Black soap! Black soap! The main attraction! Looks like fruitcake doesn't it?


Cut off a small section. I don't measure, I just eyeball it. My section wasn't more than an inch thick and 3 inches long.


See how small the section is? It's going to take me awhile to get through this whole block of soap...


Cut it up into little chunks.


Add it to the hot water. See how soapy it gets? Black soap has a nice lather!


It's melting...


All done! That took about 5 mins. to melt it all. Easy peasy.


Pour it into your squirt bottle or old body wash bottle.


Let it sit for a few hours...why? I don't know. It doesn't thicken up or anything so I have no idea why it has to sit. I just follow directions...ha!  All done!!

I think this method would work for any soap (natural soap), I think some may thicken up more than others but, otherwise I don't see why it wouldn't work.

You may be wondering Why not just use the soap in chunks? because black soap tends to get soggy in the shower and it's easier to dilute it and use it as a liquid.

This method makes 16oz. of liquid soap. I don't use a preservative and I haven't had any problems with mold. We use this up in about 2 weeks.

Black soap for me is not a moisturizing soap at all! It cleans and cleans well without being harsh. The first few days that I used this soap, my skin was very dry but, after a week my skin seemed to get used to it. I can't explain the scientific reason for this...obviously. Haha! (this is BEFORE putting on lotion, my skin seems to drink lotion after I use this soap)

Also, when using black soap it is important to follow up with REAL lotion and not some smelly store stuff! I tried using my beloved Juniper Breeze from B&BW and my skin was like "Kick rocks!". I have to use something thick like cocoa butter or shea butter.
 
Please try this out and let me know how it goes for you!

Thanks for reading!

 
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