We're going chemical free!

So, something that has been bothering me, along with the crap in our food, is the crap in my house. Crap along the lines of clutter, which is selling nicely on eBay, and crap along the lines of chemicals. In the cleaning supplies, the personal care items, everything. Nearly every product we have in this house is packed full of nasty chemicals, post of which are shown to be carcinogens, irritants, etc. I've had enough.

As I can, I'll be finding and/or developing recipes to eliminate pretty much every product we have. That is everything from cleaners to toothpaste, to deodorant, even so far as the shampoo, all hair products, and so on. There is one single exception to this. Sol-U-Mel. It's a cleaner made by Melaleuca. It's ingredients are alcohol, green soap, and tea tree oil. And I love it. I use it for everything. A capful in every laundry load, the only all purpose cleaner here, air freshener, stain remover. This stuff took black Sharpie off untreated wood. It can be put in bath water to treat all kinds of skin issues, and I've gone so far as to treat a pimple with it. There's several web pages dedicated to it's uses. I'm not including a link or plugging the product, because at some point, I'll be making a homemade version. Some people swear by adding tea tree oil to Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap. I plan to try that.

I already make my own toothpaste. Why? Well, it's simple. The ingredients in most commercial toothpastes are scary. And even in the 'natural' versions, most include glycerin. Glycerin is no good for the teeth. It leaves a film on your teeth that not only takes a full month of glycerin-free brushing to remove, it also inhibits the ability for the teeth to remineralize, which they CAN do. One of the best tools out there for that is xylitol. Xylitol is derived from the bark of birch trees. Additionally, it is something found naturally occurring in the human body, as well as several plants. A great resource is the book Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye. I believe it's available on Amazon.

Anyway, in several European countries, Xylitol has been widely used for dental health for decades. Like many things, the US is slow in adopting it. Here, it is my sweetener of choice.

My cell phone photos are awesome.

The little jar up front is my toothpaste. And here's how I make it.

2 parts xylitol to 1 part coconut oil, plus a few drops of olive oil. And that's it. Warm the coconut oil, add the xylitol land olive oil. Stir.

I buy my xylitol granulated. You can whiz it in a food processor, but I don't. The olive oil is because coconut oil is hard at room temp. Adding a little olive oil prevents that.

You can also add flavoring, but I don't bother. I'll be making Seth a cinnamon version when his tube of toothpaste runs out.

I store mine in a little jar, but you can put it in anything. A travel toiletry bottle. An old toothpaste tube: cut the end up, fill with the toothpaste and tape shut.

Xylitol can also be used on its own as a rinse. Just put 1/8 teaspoon in your mouth, let it mix with your saliva and swish it around for 20 minutes. I swish while I'm in the shower.

So, anytime I update a product, I'll post the recipe.