February Small Change

My small change for February was to make homemade bodycare products. It didn’t exactly work out how I’d planned. The first thing I tried to make was deodorant. It was fun mixing up the product, but I was less than pleased with the results. The first day I wore it, by the afternoon I could smell myself! and was embarrassed to go to work so smelly. So I ended up trying 2 different kinds of all natural store bought deodorant. I settled on Tom’s of Maine, it works okay although I do have to reapply it a couple of times a day. So my searching in that area is not done yet. I would like to find an antiperspirant that is all natural, but have had no luck yet. If anyone knows of one please tell me!

The second issue I had with making my own body products is that I had to buy most of my ingredients in plastic bottles. For the deodorant alone I brought home 5 new plastic bottles. Since one of the main reasons I was doing this was to reduce the amount of plastic in my home, it seemed counter-productive. Neither was it very cost effective.


Buying plastic to get rid of plastic?

The one thing I did make that I was happy with was shampoo. Even though, I still had to buy a big plastic bottle of castile soap, which to me defeated the purpose.

So, I’ve learned a lesson. I would still like to make my own lotion someday, but only if I can find the ingredients I need in non-plastic containers. Also, there are good natural bodycare products on the market that will satisfy my desire to live a natural life.

Moving on to March…I am really excited about this month’s change. I’ve recently bought a 50’s era bicycle that needs to be fixed up. Once summer hits I plan on riding it to work every day. So this month’s pledge is to ride my bike to work at least 3 times a week (This leaves some leeway in case of rain, snow, lateness, etc). This will be good for my health and great for the environment.