*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use.

This type of formula dates back to the 15th century. Reportedly, thieves covered themselves in something similar so they could steal from plague victims and dead bodies without catching the disease. Independent lab tests of this oil blend shows a %90 kill rate on micrococcus luteus within 12 minute diffusion and a %99.3 reduction after 20 minutes. Pseudomonas aeruginosa – a major agent of nosocomial infection, showed %99.96 kill rate after 12 minutes of diffusion.

With this formula, you’ll need to shake the bottle each and every time you use it because essential oils and water don’t naturally mix. Cinnamon Essential Oil can be irritating to skin. If any irritation occurs, double the water (use 6 Tablespoons) to decrease irritation. If irritation continues, you can try switching  out the Cinnamon Leaf EO with Tea Tree Essential Oil, or try using a carrier oil instead of a water blend.

I generally make this formula using a light oil carrier, such as sunflower or evening primrose, instead of water/alcohol.  It blends better, but is a much heavier recipe and cannot be easily used in a spray bottle.

*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use. Since Alcohol is a natural emulsifier, this recipe will turn white and not require shaking each and every time before use. Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil can be irritating to skin. If any irritation occurs, double the liquid (use 6 Tablespoons) to decrease irritation. If irritation continues, switch out the Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil with Tea Tree Essential Oil. This blend is based on the research in the Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery (2009) available online at www.sciencedirect.com

*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use. Can also be used on places like doorknobs, telephones and other common germ vector locations.

*Directions: Combine the lecithin and the essential oils together in a small container. Slowly pour the essential oil mixture into the aloe vera while stick blending the mixture. This will naturally help emulsify the mixture (think salad dressing). Lecithin is typically found in health food stores and is a natural emulsifier. This blend will be thick like lotion. Spray bottles won’t work with this formula.

Here are some great research links:  Fungus Killed by Essential Oils, Antimicrobial Essential Oils {PDF}, Antibacterial Soaps, Tea Tree oil antimicrobial, Tea Tree Oil & Fungus, Tea Tree Oil.

Also, I’ve started doing tech writing related blogging over at The Art of Documentation.  I’m still adding content to the “services” section of the site, but I think the rest is pretty much ready to roll.  Feel free to bang on it and tell me what you think!

This is an easy, non-emulsified sanitizer:

Blend together:

• 2 cups aloe vera gel (100% pure, none of that weird blue stuff, or stuff with lidocaine in, or any other chemicals…just pure aloe.)

• 2 tablespoons 90% SD40 alcohol. Ask the pharmacist if she has perfumer’s alcohol. You can use isopropyl, but it has a distinctive smell, and is not as effective.

• 1 tsp peppermint or eucalyptus oil

• 1-2 tsp tea tree oil (more is better, but some people have issues with the mediciney smell.)

(I also add a little basil or rosemary oil because I think it makes the other oils blend better from a “nose” standpoint. It gives the fragrance a top, middle and bottom note. Rose, lavender, lemon, or Geranium oils also work well with this blend.)

If you’re not sure where to get any of those things, let me know. I can recommend some suppliers.

However, repairing the damage is pretty simple.  Here’s the formula for the goo I’ve got sitting on my hair currently.

How to make bath bombs:

Everybody loves bath bombs. It is like taking a bath in champagne, only without the show tunes and chorus boys. They are fairly simple to make, keeping in mind that the strangest things can make a batch go weird; humidity, room temperature, oil viscosity, the moon rising in the seventh house of Aquarius . . . they are a mysterious wonder.

For this recipe, I am using ingredients that are pretty common, or easy to find in most areas. Essential oils can be found in small amounts at places like health food stores and craft stores often carry essentials and fragrances. Just make sure, if you buy fragrance oil, that you are buying “body safe” oils and not stuff for candles or oil warmers. Citric Acid can be found at health food stores, brewer’s stores, and online at various retailers.

So, let’s start with a basic recipe in two parts.

Dry ingredients: (By Weight, as measured on a scale.)

• Baking Soda – 8 ounces
• Citric Acid – 4 ounces
• Corn Starch – 4 ounces
• Salts – 4 ounces ( in these pictures, I used Dead Sea Salts, but mineral salts work too, and are easier to find and significantly less expensive.)

Wet Ingredients:

• Water – .75 tbsp
• Essential or Fragrance Oil – 2 tsp (for these I used a Ginger Peach.)
• Oil – 2.5 tbsp (I used cherry kernel, but any light vegetable oil will work.)
• Food coloring – 1 or 2 drops. (Your color will look very dark in the emulsion, but will be light in the fizzies, so as to not leave rings around the tub. For this batch I used one drop red and two drops yellow. The final result will be very light peach.)

step 1 – Blend the Dry Ingredients
Begin by putting all of your dry ingredients into a big bowl. Glass is best because it is non-reactive. Whisk or pestle those pesky clumps out. You want a fairly smooth consistency throughout the entire mix.

step 2 – Mix liquid and blend dry and liquids together
Blend your wet ingredients together. I usually use a small jar and shake it up. Don’t worry about separation too much, you are not going to get a full emulsion. Then, while whisking, slowly add small amounts of the liquid to your dry ingredients. Here we see my faithful Igor prepare to pour.

step 3 – Try to avoid creating volcanoes
If the mixture starts to foam, you are adding the liquid too fast. Quickly whisk the reacting ingredients into the nonreactive part and you should be able to stop the reaction. I add about a teaspoon at a time. When all of the wet ingredients have been added, you should have a mixture with the consistency of slightly damp sand. It should clump together when you squish it.

step 4 – Mold quickly
Once your mixture is together, you have a pretty limited amount of time in which to get it into molds. To create the giant Soapy Hollow ball of bath doom, I use round christmas tree ornaments that were designed to be filled with goodies. To do a three-dimensional bomb like these, you pack each side, then overfill a tad at the center and press the two sides together.

It takes a little practice to get a feel for how much filling you need, so don’t get discouraged if your first couple fall apart. Here we see Igor holding a filled ball and wondering about child labor laws.

step 5 – Unmold and let dry
You don’t need to leave them in the mold for very long, and in fact can tap them out as soon as you fill them. These are four bombs we made with this batch.

You can use all sorts of things to make your bombs; muffin tins, ice cube trays, candy molds, Aunt Magnolia’s denture case . . . whatever makes you happy.

This batch didn’t make quite enough for five bombs, and the humidity levels made the batch start to puff up, so I quickly stuffed what was left of the batch into my “bath cookies” mold. Note: When using things like silicon trays that surround the seltzer mix, or any mold with a lot of details, the mix must stay in the mold until dry, or it will crumble when you try to take it out.

Once they are completely dry, store bath bombs in an airtight container or bag. High humidity will make them activate. Because we used oil and water and no preservatives, you want to use them within about 6 months. Assuming you can keep them for that long. Igor demands payment in immediate fizzy baths, but you may have better luck actually getting to *use* yours.

When you’re ready to use one, just drop it into a warm bath, and relax.

Especially since you can make your own for pennies.

Phase One:
1 part Baking Soda
2 parts Hot Water

Phase Two:
1 part Vinegar
Essential oils to scent preference. I recommend 1/2 tsp per gallon or less. Lavender is great, grapefruit, lime, lemon, and lemongrass are my faves currently.

Procedure:

Use a container that is double the size of the ingredients. Put it in the sink or tub in case of spillover.
Mix the baking soda and water, stir till the powder is dissolved (mostly dissolved, you’ll likely have some grains left).

Add the vinegar. Remember that baking soda and vinegar react by fizzing, (remember all those volcanoes in elementary school?), hence the recommendation of a large container.

Once it’s stopped fizzing, pour into clean jars and close. Shake jar before use. Use by adding 1/4 – 1/2 cup in the rinse cycle.

There’s been a lot of buzz about in the industry about Argania Spinosa Kernel Extract and Cecropia Obtusa Bark Extract. Argania is derived from the kernel of the fruit of the Argan tree, Argania spinosa, and native to southern Morocco. It tightens skin immediately and obviously. Cecropia has been shown in studies to reduce cellulite and tighten skin.

The supplies of these materials are limited, as they come from protected species, and all harvesting must be done sustainably and under strict control. The ingredients I’m using in the formula test come from Laboratoires Serobiologiques, via Cognis

I decided to make a mango eye butter.

Ingredients Phase One – %

Water – qs

Lecithin (emulsifier) – 1.5

Ingredients Phase Two

Mango butter – 5

Shea butter – 4

Hemp oil – 4

Palm oil – .5  (1/2)

Ingredients Phase Three

50% blend of water and Argania Spinosa Kernel Extract – 5

Cecropia Obtusa Bark Extract – 3

Procedure:

1. Disperse Lecithin into the water at 50°C with stirring. Mix homogenously.
2. Melt P2 to liquidity. Add into phase I while mixing until a uniform emulsion is formed.
3. Continue mixing until temp drops below 30°C.
4. Add phase III while stirring when temperature drop below 30°C.

The blend turned out nice and fluffy. It holds air well, keeping it from feeling as dense as butters tend to feel. Melts almostly instantly at skin temp, becoming an easy to apply oil/serum. The botanicals blend well, adding a slight coffee tint, and almost imperceptible aroma. I took some of the batch, added it back to the mixer and incorporated a small amount of lavender and ylang ylang essential oils, which rendered the aroma of the active botanicals invisible.

So, the botanicals work in formulations like I would expect something with their density and weight to behave. Now, only time will tell if they work as advertised. I’ll keep you posted.

For this recipe, I’m using ingredients that are pretty common, or easy to find in most areas. Essential oils can be found in small amounts at places like health food stores and craft stores often carry essentials and fragrances. Just make sure, if you buy fragrance oil, that you’re buying “body safe” oils and not stuff for candles.

So, let’s start with a basic recipe in two parts.

Dry ingredients:

• Baking Soda – 8 ounces
• Citric Acid – 4 ounces
• Corn Starch – 4 ounces
• Salts – 4 ounces ( in these pictures, I used Dead Sea Salts, but mineral salts work too, and are easier to find and significantly less expensive.)

Wet Ingredients:

• Water – .75 tbsp
• Essential or Fragrance Oil – 2 tsp (for these I used a Ginger Peach.)
• Oil – 2.5 tbsp (I used cherry kernel, but any light vegetable oil will work.)
• Food coloring – 1 or 2 drops. (Your color will look very dark in the emulsion, but will be light in the fizzies, so as to not leave rings around the tub. For this batch I used one drop red and two drops yellow. The final result will be very light peach.)

Step One:

Begin by putting all of your dry ingredients into a big bowl. Glass is best because it’s non-reactive. Whisk or pestle those pesky clumps out. You want a fairly smooth consistency throughout the entire mix.

Step Two: 

 Blend your wet ingredients together. I usually use a small jar and shake it up. Don’t worry about separation too much, you’re not going to get a full emulsion. Then, while whisking, slowly add small amounts of the liquid to your dry ingredients. Here we see my faithful Igor prepare to pour.

If the mixture starts to foam, you’re going too fast. Quickly whisk the reacting ingredients into the nonreactive part and you should be able to stop the reaction. I add about a teaspoon at a time. When all of the wet ingredients have been added, you should have a mixture with the consistency of slightly damp sand. It should clump together.

Step Three:

Once your mixture is together, you have a pretty limited amount of time in which to get it into molds. To create the giant Soapy Hollow ball of bath doom, I use round christmas tree ornaments that were designed to be filled with goodies. To do a three-dimensional bomb like these, you pack each side, then overfill a tad and the center and press the two sides together. It takes a little practice to get a feel for how much “filling” you need, so don’t get discouraged if your first couple fall apart. Here we see Igor holding a filled ball.

Step Four: 

You don’t need to leave them in the mold for very long, and in fact can tap them out as soon as you fill them. These are four bombs we made with this batch.

You can use all sorts of things to make your fizzies; muffin tins, ice cube trays, candy molds, Aunt Magnolia’s denture case…whatever makes you happy. This batch didn’t make quite enough for five bombs, and it started reacting, so I quickly stuffed what was left of the batch into my “bath cookies” mold. When using objects that surround the seltzer mix, the mix must stay in the object until dry, or it will crumble when you try to take it out. This is what the bath cookies look like after spending the night in the mold.

Step Five: 

Once they are completely dry, store bath bombs in an airtight container or bag. High humidity will make them activate. Because we used oil and water and no preservatives, you want to use them within about 6 months. Assuming you can keep them for that long. Igor demands payment in immediate fizzy baths, but you may have better luck actually getting to *use* yours.

When you’re ready to use one, just drop it into a warm bath, and relax.

Fortunately, PMS is not a stranger ’round these parts, so I’m prepared. I’ve got four PMS blends that I keep in the studio for just such an occasion. (I have four because I tend to pick the one that smells best to me on a given day.) These blends work well as massage oils, they can be made into spritzers by switching the carrier oil with witch hazel, they can be put in a room diffuser or worn as perfumes.

PMS Blend One: (This is my fave, and the blend I use in Lunar Garden soap)

• Grapefruit – 4 drops
• Clary Sage – 4 drops
• Ylang Ylang – 4 drops
• Geranium – 5 drops
• Carrier oil – 5 ml (1 tsp)

PMS Blend Two: (Note that bois de rose should only be sourced from sustainable growers, and Lemon can be substituted for Melissa.)

• Bergamot – 4 drops
• Fennel – 3 drops
• Bois de Rose – 4 drops
• Melissa – 3 drops
• Carrier Oil – 5 ml (1 tsp)

PMS Blend Three:

• Bergamot – 6 drops
• Geranium – 6 drops
• Palmarosa – 7 drops
• Carrier Oil – 5 ml (1 tsp)

PMS Blend Four: (I think this one works best in a diffuser or a tart melt, as some people have skin allergies to spicy oils.)

• Lemon – 5 drops
• Chamomile – 3 drops
• Geranium – 6 drops
• Allspice – 3 drops
• Clove – 3 drops
• Carrier oil – 5 ml

The Discussion Draft of the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2008, introduced by US Representatives John Dingell (D-MI), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ 6th) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) is poised to radically change and possibly destroy the boutique bath and cosmetics industry.

It is important that consumers be protected, however the current proposals don’t do anything to solve problems like the ones I talked about here. They don’t address the thousands of known carcinogens that are in cosmetics produced by large conglomerate corporations . They don’t propose a budget to enforce the regulations that are already on the books.  They, in fact, do almost nothing to protect the consumer.

What they *do* is require is that anyone who wants to make soap or cosmetics pay a “registration fee” between $2,000 and $12,000 dollars annually. Additional registration fees are applied for those that import anything used in manufacturing, such as oils, fragrances or essential oils and hydrosols. The fees are subject to go up, as they’re a discretionary budget item, rather than a fixed cost item.  There is no difference in the fee structure between Palmolive and a hobbyist who sells her products at the church bazaar.

This legislation will require that every manufacturer have access to legal council that specializes in regulation compliance. As those attorneys generally come with $500 an hour price tags, the cost of translating the legislation will be enough to push most small companies out of business.

The legislation will require manufacturing facilities that are out of the reach of any company under a $10 million market cap. Laboratory and archival requirements add significant cost barriers to entry level or small businesses.

For those who practice aromatherapy using essential oils, the barrier is significantly higher because of those products will be classified as  “drugs”, which requires manufacturing facilities like those of the companies that produce insulin or other pharmaceuticals.  Micron level filtration is completely out of the reach of most soapmakers. And frankly, it’s an absurd requirement.  Nobody has ever died from dusty soap.

The legislation is well intended. Consumers do deserve to be protected. But *this* legislation is fails to consider small businesses, is completely unfunded, generates an extraordinary amount of required paperwork, and will dramatically decrease consumer options, as they’ll be left with virtually nothing but the petrochemical options offered by major cosmetic companies.

Fortunately, this bill is still in committee, and can be modified before it’s presented on the floor of Congress.  If you agree that the bill should have some provision to scale fees and requirements to meet business size, please take a few minutes to contact The House Committee on Energy and Commerce.