Homemade Baby Soap

Before Ian was born, we got a LOT of baby products - soap, lotion, shampoo, diaper cream, etc. Also during this time, I had been looking on Pinterest and noticing a lot of "DIY beauty products". My sister Steph is studying to become a holistic nutritionist and uses a lot of natural products besides eating whole, natural foods. I asked her about where to begin in my quest to use better products and she encouraged me to start with my baby, get him set on a less chemically influenced path of life, if you will. I took a look around and found TONS of recipes for all things baby product.

I want to make a note here. At this point, I didn't feel super strongly about using natural products, I didn't "have a testimony" of it, if you know what I mean. Some people go "crunchy" because it's a money saving technique (and yes, it is much cheaper!), while others, like my sister, are more concerned about what kinds of things we're exposing our bodies to by using run-of-the-mill products. I did some research and talked a lot about it with my husband. Ultimately, my attitude was this: maybe it won't make a huge difference either to our bodies or to our budget. But if we can get one step closer to living the holistic lifestyle that we want to live (one day when we can afford the type of food we want!), then let's do it! And let me tell you, I probably would have been just as fine if we had used Johnson and Johnson baby products. I don't look down on anyone for using them, I don't know enough about the big debate to really care. At the end of the day, I had the time to make the products, and I feel good about using more natural products.

Also, I know that every family has their priorities. You know how it is - some families are all about music or sports or playing games or tv or being outdoors or travelling...you catch my drift? To some moms, the most important thing is reading to their kids, to others it's having a clean house. I haven't quite found my main focus (I think there will be more than one too), but after trying this out, I have enjoyed the experience enough that making these natural products, and hopefully more in the near future, will be a priority for me and my family.

Now, where were we?

After spending a lot of time deciding which ones I wanted to try, I settled with this recipe for Homemade Baby Soap:

1/4c Dr Bronners Unscented Baby Mild Soap
1/4c Coconut Oil (or vitamin E oil, avocado oil, etc)
1/4c Water, warm/hot
Essential Oils (preferably lavender)

Taken from a greener mama

All of these things are super easy to find. With Coconut oil, you can buy it at a grocery store - don't be fooled into thinking you need to buy the expensive kind at the natural food store that is meant specifically for making beauty products - it's the same stuff as the kind at Wal-Mart. Also, Amazon is great for finding lower prices on these kinds of products.

This is how it came out:

It is VERY foamy, and the recipe doesn't make a ton because the shelf life isn't super duper long. The next day (after taking the picture), the solution was reduced enough that I combined the two containers into one.

We have loved using this at bath time with Ian. I love love love the smell of lavender and I like to think it helps calm him down before going to bed. You do have to shake up the solution when you're about to use it, and you don't need very much so it will last a while. I love knowing that all these ingredients are gentle and even nourishing to Ian's skin. And I like knowing that I can do this! Homemade soap for the win!