Hey there!

It's a pretty schnazzy title, no? But spa "stuff" is the only way I could think of to describe this little trio of goodies. All of these are really, really simple, but let's move in order of descending difficulty, starting with the shaving cream.

DIY Shaving Cream

It's just fantastic, and I've wanted to share it for a while. I'd been scoping out DIY recipes online, and when, a few months ago, I ran out of my shaving cream, I figured it was time to take the plunge. When I went to buy new stuff, I just wasn't excited to add yet another plastic bottle to our repertoire. (I used Kiss My Face, which I totally loved, but the plastic bottles are a big downer).

I looked all over the Internet for a homemade shaving cream recipe, and there are a bunch - but lots of them involve lots of steps. Which is maybe fine for the first adrenaline-feuled batch, but refills? No chance. Many involve your kitchen mixer and keeping the resulting concoction refrigerated. Which I would never, ever remember to actually take to the shower, so that wasn't going to work. A lot were also heavily oil-based, which I wasn't into in the shower. #safetyfirst. Finally, I came across Modern Hippie Housewife's recipe, which she calls the BEST. She's right - it's the best. It's actually her face wash, which she discovered would work well as a shaving cream too. It lathers well, doesn't clog the razor and is generally awesome. I rinsed out an empty conditioner bottle and added the following, well-mixed, to it:

½ Cup Oil (olive, grape seed, almond etc.)
¼ Cup Honey
¼ Cup Liquid, Castile Soap
10 Drops of Essential Oils (optional)

I'm super into the orange Dr. Bronner's right now, plus lemon essential oil to make it nice and citrusy. I used olive oil for both iterations But you do you. I am a crazy fan of it, have used it for months, and made a successful refill, so I say it's worth a shot. I buy honey and olive oil in bulk, so it also works out to be inexpensive.

DIY Sugar Scrub

If you can handle the shaving cream, you can handle the DIY sugar (or salt!) scrub.

I use this stuff for my spa nights, cause sometimes, mama needs a spa night. Mine usually involve a mani-pedi, some trashy TV and a glass of wine. My pedi is pretty intense. I start with an epsom salt soak, into which I tossed some lime wedges and a few tablespoons of honey, and then use this homemade scrub before painting the toesies.

I almost hesitate to call this a recipe, but here goes: Fill a container of any size (I use a tiny ball jar and it lasts several months) with salt or sugar (I use sugar) and cover with oil of your choice. If you want to, add some essential oils to make things smell nice. I'm into lavender for spa night. And, that's it. You can use this as a whole-body scrub as well, and it feels great. It's also nice to be able to customize your scent (including by avoiding it entirely). But seriously, folks: All those fancy scrubs out there are essentially just this, but more expensive, so consider making it!

"DIY" Leave-In Conditioner

Okay, and the last one, really, I mean, I'm a little embarrassed to even call it DIY. But still. After four years of a hair routine for Louisa that included shampooing and...that's it, we decided her hair might relish a bit more TLC. And I mean, the girl does have some hair.

We decided to go with leave-in conditioner to help smooth things about, and hopefully obviate the need for combing for a while longer (combing a little girl's hair, as far as I can tell, is a recipe for tears and drama, and we've got enough of that. So though I put her hair halfway or all the way up in the morning before school, we don't do a comb out or anything). But again, with the bottles. I didn't want more plastic, and I already have conditioner. So I took my own nearly empty conditioner bottle, added its contents to a spray bottle and filled up with water. Done! We've been using this for months, and we are very happy with it. I use an argan oil, no-phthalates or sulfates conditioner, and it seems to be great as leave-in.

And that, my friend, is how you eliminate one or two product purchases from your product line up. If you've got something you love to make and use, share! Next up, obviously, is shampoo and conditioner, but we'll get to that when we run out of our current stores. Thanks for reading!