Homemade Cleanser Recipes

Something Different

I met a nice lady at the LDS Preparedness Fair last weekend.  She runs the blog, Blanco's Bows where she puts up recipes, sales, thrifty living suggestions and craft ideas.  At the fair, she was showing a bunch of home made cleaners and disinfectants.  She had directions for making them printed out for fair goers, and also put them out on her blog this week here.  She was kind enough to let me share a couple of them with you, but for the other 22 of them, you'll need to visit her blog.  When you do, please leave her a comment telling her that you came from If It Hits The Fan.


Homemade insect repellent

If you are making large amounts of insect repellent, a good rule of thumb is to mix the repellent so it's 5-10% essential oil, so mix 1 part essential oil with 10-20 parts carrier oil or alcohol. For a smaller batch use:

• 10-25 drops (total) of essential oils
• 2 tablespoons of a carrier oil or alcohol

The essential oils that work well against biting insects (mosquitoes, flies, ticks, fleas) are:

• cinnamon oil (mosquitoes)
• lemon eucalyptus or regular eucalyptus oil (mosquitoes, ticks, and lice)
• citronella oil (mosquitoes and biting flies)
• castor oil (mosquitoes)
• orange oil (fleas)
• rose geranium (ticks and lice)

Safe carrier oils and alcohols include:

• olive oil
• sunflower oil
• coconut oil
• shea butter
• witch hazel
• vodka

I used the Witch Hazel & eucalyptus oil mixture and my son liked it.


Natural Shampoo

• 2 cups liquid Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap (I used the citrus orange)
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix together in container. It comes out pretty runny so I put it in a foaming hand soap container and it works perfect! Even hubby who is skeptical of the whole “make your own natural products” liked it.


Give Blanco's Bows a visit and see if you pick up a couple of tips you can use.