As much as I have resisted the idea, a lot of my assorted DIY-ing is scientific-ish. Drat. My high school science teacher was right (though I have never bothered to balance the equation of surplus electrons for anything I have ever made, and I can safely say I never will). Anyhow, it turns out there are several things I was told I should do that I didn’t do in the beginning, and I now wish I had. So; here are a few habits you should get into if you are making things. They may seem like a bit of a bother if you love to just dive headfirst into things as I do, but I promise you’ll see their merit quite quickly.
Measure Things
This one seems painfully obvious for a reason. And no, drops are not really units of measurement after about 30 or 40 (and definitely not for soap!).
Write down those measurements
You will not remember, I promise. Also, write down your procedures.
This is what my concoctions shelf in my fridge looks like. Figuring out what some of these things is an exercise in logic and memory at this point. Labels!
Label your final concoctions
Once there are more than 5 types of lip balm, your chances of being able to distinguish between them are shockingly slim. Especially if there are two dozen tubes of lip balm just sitting in your fridge.
Take notes
If something explodes, moulds, fails catastrophically, succeeds wonderfully, or doesn’t do much at all, write it down. (Better yet, see if you can figure out why.)
Track it over time
It may be terrible today, tomorrow, and the day after that, but what about next week? Some things need time to improve. Let them have it. (Or, allow them the time to turn rotten in a matter of days and know a preservative is in order next time.)
Get to Know Your Ingredients Individually
Just as with humans, it is best to know them inside and outside of their groups of friends. Learn how your ingredients act on their own before adding them to concoctions.
Take what the internet says with a grain of salt
Just because that guy writing for About.com says a 100% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada) soap is a bad idea doesn’t mean it is. Try it and see for yourself. Likewise, just because I got a shade of lipstick I love from this clay or that oxide, it doesn’t mean you will. Try, see, experiment, and try some more. It’s fun!
What are your favourite tips & tricks for DIY success?
Thank you so much for this! 🙂
i discovered your blog less than 2 weeks ago and i am firmly in love with it. I’m so inspired and just want to completely jump into everything but it’s good to get reminded that i will have to measure stuff!
Thanks so much, Shajila 🙂 I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying my blog. And I totally get wanting to jump straight into things! And then I regret it when I make something I totally love and can never quite replicate it, lol 🙁
Great advice! We always fool ourselves into thinking we’ll remember everything, don’t we? I keep a little spiral notebook that looks a lot like yours 🙂 , and fill it with my recipes and copious notes on each project. Sometimes the notes seem so self-evident and redundant when I’m writing them, especially when I’m sure I’ll remember everything clearly. When I go to make a recipe again x number of months down the line, I’ve usually forgotten what in the world I did, and I’m always so glad I have my ultra-thorough notes!
Love your blog!! (and glad to see you on Facebook!)
Thanks, Rebecca—it’s always good to reminds ourselves to do simple things… I think that’s half of the reason we go to the dentist lol—to be reminded to floss again. I’ll happily confess that this blog is the majority of my “notebook”, as it were—I just have to remember to write out the details ASAP!
Glad to have another fan on Facebook. I’ve been putting it off for ages, but it’s rather fun now that I’ve just bit the bullet and gone for it 😛
Great must dos! I am guilty of NOT doing these things. New Year, new habits!
Thanks, Deborah—I think I wrote it as much to remind myself as anybody else!
I have been looking and looking for some way to decrease the bags and dark circles under my eyes. I’ve tried the drug store stuff and none of that works. Tried tea bags, witch hazel…help…any suggestions?
Hey Cathy! Hmmm… what an irksome problem! Do you have any idea what causes the bags and dark circles under your eyes? I found a neat explanation from a doctor (supposedly, haha, this is the internet) on reddit.
writing everything down?1 measuring?! taking notes?! What are those things??! 🙂
Seriously, these are all wonderful ideas, I could certainly implement as I try my hand at this DIY life. Thanks for the tips Marie!
Yup, haha, what are these strange, foreign, and responsible sounding habits? Rubbish! I have a faultless memory… right? I forget 😛
I love your website, and want to make some of your soaps. I just wondered (and I haven’t dug deep into your blog) but when you give measurements to make soap such as 20% this oil and 40% another one, how do I figure out those measurements in grams? Thanks!!
Tammy-
I think when she means 40% this, 20% that, she means you can make it into whatever measurements you want- just that those are the ratios. For example, if it says 40% of ingredient A, 20% of ingredient B, and 40% of ingredient C, you can make a whole bunch of combinations such as:
40 grams ingredient A, 20 g ingredient B, 40 g ingredient C
20 grams ingredient A, 10 g ingredient B, 20 g ingredient C
10 g ingredient A, 5 g ingredient B, 10 g ingredient C
Hope this helps!
Thanks so much, Amanda! You are spot on, of course 😉
The percentage is the percent of each ingredient in the total finished weight of the batch you want to make. If you aren’t sure how to calculate that, try soapcalc.com or something similar which will figure it out for you, as it is critically important that you use the right amount of the right oil to work properly with the lye to give you safe soap.
Thanks so much, Dawn! I am definitely a big advocate of letting Soap Calc do all the work here, lol 😛
It looks like Amanda and Dawn have given you some great answers, but I thought I’d elaborate a wee bit as well 🙂
I publish my soap recipes in percents because it makes them very easy to scale, and it allows everybody to use their preferred units of measurement. I love the metric system, but many of my readers are American and want to use the Imperial system, so percents are an easy compromise there. Best of all, you can just enter in the percentages of the ingredients into your soap calculator, enter in the batch size you want to make (I usually do ~700g), and the calculator does all the work for you! It’s awesome 😀 I love SoapCalc for this.
I’m a new reader here, and I looked at your soap and shampoo bar recipes, which look fantastic, but I don’t think I’d be able to make them. Whole foods sells soaps that are a lot like your recipes, and I was wondering if it is possible add clay to them somehow (by melting them?) so they can have that added bonus that you’ve advocated for so much. Thanks a lot for being such a great resource for diy!
Hmm. Well, since I never buy soap I doubt I can be overly helpful here, lol. I generally recommend Etsy to people who are looking to buy soap as there are just SO many options there. Your top three things to check for are:
As for melting soaps down… I have not had a lot of luck with that, sadly. It has always ended up as a gross, boogery, slimy mess 🙁
Out of curiosity, why do you think you won’t be able to make soap? Can you make cookies or bake a cake? Because I SWEAR soap making is on par with that (even easier, depending on your tastes in cake!). I bet I can talk you into it 😉 After all, I talked myself into it and I am stubborn, lol!
Thanks for your super-helpful tips-I guess soap making is a lot easier than I thought!
I had gotten a book on soap making, but was scared of the lye, so I didn’t make it for a long time. After I made that first batch, I was hooked. Take care in all the steps, but don’t be scared! As long as you take precautions, you will not get hurt.
So true! I feel like a lot of more “official” soaping resources over-emphasize the dangers involved in working with lye. Perhaps its a liability thing?
No worries! Feel free to reach out if you’ve got any questions 🙂 In the meantime, check out my basic soap making article and my piece on why there is no such thing as making soap without lye. I think those should set you off on the right track!
Hi Marie! I love the things you do and the care you take in sharing with us! I am new to DIY so I appreciate all instructions. I was wondering…, is there a particular soap, lotion, cream and/or ointment you have made or know of for soothing/healing psoriasis? My 17 year old daughter was recently diagnosed. It’s mainly on her legs, it’s very itchy and bothersome, it burns when she shaves and she is embarassed by it. I would be so grateful for any help or suggestions.
Also, I wanted to ask your general opinion, out of curiousity; what are your thoughts on detoxifying baths/foot soaks?
Hi Monique! Thanks for getting in touch 🙂 I don’t have any experience with psoriasis, but I have read the clay masks are great (they help increase circulation and remove infection—they’re also amazing for healing zits, haha). I’d also recommend shea butter as I’ve had great success with it with eczema (which obviously isn’t the same thing, but it’s worth a shot). I generally start my research by using NDA’s advanced search function and seeing what pops up—in this case aloe, andiroba oil, hemp seed oil, and tamanu oil sound like great places to start. Good luck!
As for detox baths & foot soaks… the last time I did a detox bath I was quite sick & ended up having a very strange dream about a gigantic centipede made entirely from cartoon eyeballs. I can’t say it really helped with the illness, either. If you call a clay foot mask detoxifying, I’ve done a few of those, and the biggest thing I notice from them is that they do a fantastic job of softening up your skin so you can attack them with a scrub afterwards and finish with lovely, soft feet. As for detoxifying foot anythings sucking toxins out of the entire body… I can’t say I’m convinced (especially if it’s associated with some overpriced mystery product). You’re probably better off to drink lots of water. My two cents, at least.
WOW about the dream! Hahaha
Thanks so much for the input. Do you mean creating a soap, cream or ointment using all or trying them one at a time? I have also seen a lot on Neem oil being beneficial in treating psoriasis, eczema & dandruff: skin issues in general, including dry skin. Curious on how you feel about Neem oil, they sayit doesn’t smell too pleasant.
I love your posts, ideas, recipes and sense of humor! Please keep doin’ what you’re doin’ and being kind enough to share with us while entertaining us.
I would love to come shopping at your house. You seem to have everything under the sun! All i have done thus far is make my own wool dryer balls, laundry detergent, coconut oil body cream, sugar body scrub and use honey mixed with olive oil to lighten my hair. How do you build your supplies and keep them stocked?
Again, thank you so much! There’s so much I want to try…I want to try making your mascara for sure! So many things!!
Take care, until next time!
Monique
Well, if you’re interested in determining precisely which ingredient/approach is helping, it’s probably best to try them one at a time, giving each approach adequate time to work. If you’re simply interested in carpet-bombing the problem, well, why not? Ha. I’d personally start with shea butter because it’s so easy (maybe mix in some tamanu or one of the other recommended ingredients if you have it) and go from there. As for neem oil, it could very well help as I’ve read many wonderful things about it, but I’ve never tried it myself (due to the rather infamous smell as well).
Thank you so much for reading, supporting, and DIYing with me 🙂 I appreciate it so much! It’s so fun to hear that people are working with my recipes in their free time—what an honour.
As for keeping mu cupboards stocked, I should warn you that I have a problem! Like an addiction, but useful, I guess 😛 I tend to buy many different things, and then replenish the things I run out of… and the inevitably add new things to that order because hey, I’m paying for shipping anyways, right? Oh dear. The new ingredient ideas usually come from reader recommendations (recently hemp oil & kokum butter), new products from the companies I buy from, other recipes, and the reviews sections. I do find that I end up purchasing most things only once, and very few things make it onto my “replenish” list—and those are the things I recommend here 🙂
Responding to a request about psoriasis. I started having patches as a teen myself. Now 47. Much of my relief comes from avoiding dairy and wheat products (gluten). When I regularly eat dairy and gluten products I break out again. Personally, I think psoriasis is managed much better from the inside out than from the outside in.
Having said that, for relief during episodes, I believe there is a whipped body butter recipe here somewhere, which helps retain moisture in the skin and helps loosen the psoriasis scales. Anything that acts as a moisture barrier will be a great solution. I’ve also used saran wraps over oils at night for faster relief.
I hope this is helpful!
Thanks for these great insights, Jan 🙂 Is this the whipped body butter recipe you’re talking about?
Thanks for the info. re: lye. It really helped to calm my fears about working with it. It will save me money on MP Soaps. And your soaps are dazzling!
You’re very welcome, Stephanie! Have fun making your own soap from scratch 🙂
“Just because that guy writing for About.com says a 100% coconut oil soap is a bad idea doesn’t mean it is. Try it and see for yourself.”
It’s actually a great idea! 100% coconut oil with no superfat makes a fantastic laundry bar.
Adding a 20% superfat makes it luscious body bar. With the added benefit of not requiring lots of different ingredients! A word of warning: it sets in the mold fairly quickly so you’ll be able to slice it in about an hour instead of the 24 it usually takes. Silicone molds are your friend for this recipe. : )
Thanks, Esther! I’m going to actually have to give this a try one of these days 🙂
Marie I don’t know chemistary . I’m kinda depending on you
To know what can kill me
Thank you
Suzanne
Hey Suzanne! While I will always strive to specify any safety measures that should be taken (and will obviously not publish recipes that are outright harmful), I would really recommend arming yourself with the skills to asses the safety of any and all ingredients you work with 🙂 The MSDS sheets for any ingredient you work with are a great place to start (check with your supplier, NDA has them in a tab on the product page of everything they sell), and Skin Deep is a great place to do more research. Best of luck and happy making!
Thank you for this amazing website! I’m currently going through your body butters to make something for my man, who appears to have developed a work-related allergy and wants something to supplement his medical care, and me, who has very, very dry skin. One thing I’m concerned about is preparing my glass jars. I usually boil them till they’re dead for food prep, but I’m concerned about letting them dry, because kitchen != sterile. I don’t want to risk water residue either, because that requires preservatives which I’m trying to avoid till we pinpoint the allergen. I’ve searched your website but could only find lotion-specific advice. Do you have a link or advice for me? Thank you for your lovely recipes.
I’d rinse the glass jars with a 5% bleach solution, rinse with tap water, and then dry them in a 200°F oven 🙂
Thank you!<3
You’re welcome!