So I've been making vague noises about how nice it would be to make my own soaps and so on for a year or two now, partly motivated by having got used to using all Lush products when we were a bit more, er, financially solvent, and the ensuing unpleasantness of going back to boring old cheapo brands when said financial solvency went kaput. (In normal person speak: We were less poor, so we used nicer stuff. Now we're more poor, so we use cheaper stuff, which is less nice. I am therefore sadface.)
Last Christmas, I received a lovely book on the subject of making one's own beauty products from my mother-in-living-in-sin (see, we aren't married, right? So she isn't my mother-in-law, but just as calling the boything-with-whom-I-live-in-sin my "boyfriend" feels somehow insufficient (It's been five years. We're grown ups. Not quite middle-aged, though, no no. Not yet. Notyetnotyetnotyet.), calling her "my boyfriend's mother" seems equally inappropriate.
But I digress (this will cease to be surprising if you, imaginary readers, stick around for any length of time). This book she got me, it's by a lady called Star Khechara, and while it's a bit too raw vegan/'knit your own muesli' (as boything is fond of saying) for my liking (and somewhat sanctimonious with it, as that sort can often be), it has definitely fueled the burgeoning fire, so to speak.
So the obsession grows. Having pored over that book (which isn't so much about soap, but more about creams and lotions, masks and conditioners, and the like) throughout the holidays, I started looking into where I could buy the ingredients I would need.
I started making a sort of chart, for price comparisons of different products on different websites. This has since turned into a massive spreadsheet. Seriously. I am not a spreadsheet making kind of being. I don't 'do' organised.
But, a spreadsheet I have made. I've clearly lost my mind.
Here is a screenshot:
It's not finished, of course. I'm still, erm, collating data. Yes. And I keep discovering new websites to add.
Other ways I've been feeding my obsession:
I've watched hundreds of youtube soaping (etc) videos. I've read tons of blogs (hi guys! I'm following you! It's creepy! But if you follow me back it might be less creepy, and I may even eventually do something interesting!), though I've yet to actually comment on any of them, as I went back to the beginning and had to keep restraining myself from commenting on posts that were like two years old. Now I'm all caught up I am totally going to become an active commenting sort of person).
So I'm just brimming over with inspiration and plans but I need the STUFF. And I can't buy it yet! The horror!
I've been accumulating little bits of things here and there in anticipation of being able to start. I bought this giant 3lt bottle of olive pomace oil because it was £6. That's cheap.
The afore-mentioned mother-in-living-in-sin got me some stuff for my birthday (I've got 50ml bottles of avocado, sweet almond and grapeseed oil as well as EOs of sweet orange, petitgrain, lavender and clove bud).
I keep yoinking things from the edge of waste in the kitchen if they seem like they might come in handy.
I have, to date, frozen the following in cube form:
loads of leftover beer
a banana on its last legs pureed to within an inch of its life with some milk
Greek yogurt leftover from making homemade kebabs (they were delicious)
There are some leftover herbs in the fridge that are going to be meeting some of that olive pomace oil soon.
And I keep eying the carrots. I sense pureeing in their future.
I've been talking the boything's ear off about soap and making him watch videos with me. Every time I take a shower I make a sad face at the boring little bar of Dove.
I have, as I say, completely lost my mind.
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