Old sheets redux

Laundry bag for the back of the bathroom or bedroom door (both our baskets are pitifully small for the amount of dirty clothes that can accumulate during a week in the life of a Crafter, Miniaturist and Very Small Boy). Conveniently the right colour scheme to go with either our towels OR our bedclothes!

Old Sheets

I love old sheets. Old sheets are a lot like old friends.

Old sheets are comfortable, familiar. They're worn in and softened in just the right places. They even smell right. Not always good, but never strange.
They have a history - especially when they're yours. Sometimes they have marks and scars as a testament to that history. Sometimes they'll be worn so thin that you could break them like that with a twist of your pinky finger. Sometimes they're still going strong, years and years later.

So I suppose it's not surprising that I love to work with old sheets, refashioning them for new uses. They make wonderful house or pyjama pants - soft and light, and often 100% cotton. They're great for cushion and pillow covers - especially when they're worn thin in the middle, you can piece the edges of different sheets together. Being a simple woven fabric they're usually wonderfully easy to work with, already stretched as much as they will, not overly prone to creasing. And, when there's nothing else for it, they make marvellous cleaning cloths, soft and light, easy to wash and re-use again.

Home-made Deodorant

Earlier this year I'd tried sealing bi-carb soda in a jar with a few drops of lavender essential oil and leaving it a few months before using as an underarm deodorant. I solved the "powder on my clothes" problem by dusting myself straight after my morning shower, but when spring hit and I actually started getting warm, the "de" part stopped working so well.

So far as I know the "links to breast cancer" thing was linked to antiperspirant rather than deodorant (and thus I switched to deo roll-ons years ago) and unproven one way or the other, so it's not that which set me looking for alternatives to my Mum.
Rather, it's the fact that the cheap chemical scents some products use can set off my asthma and allergies (not to mention smelling rather nasty to my sensitive nose). The fact I really like my clothes. I don't like so much the crusty, whitish stains I get on them, under my arms, when I've sweated whilst wearing commercial deodorants, though. Plus, I love the idea of making my own stuff (what craftster doesn't?). Finally, to quote my friend Katie "And, commercialism".

So the comments raving about this new deodorant recipe at Smashed Peas and Carrots intrigued me. The ingredients were easy to find, at my local health food store and supermarket (only one I had trouble with was the coconut oil - I had to wait for the next store shipment to come in). I've been trying my new deodorant for the past week now - as luck would have it, including a miniature, 3-day heatwave, and you can add my voice to those singing its praises! Mommabear kindly gave me permission to repost this amazing recipe, so I can share it with you, and talk about how awesome and unstinky I feel whilst wearing it.


Natural Deodorant

2-3 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/8 Cup Baking Soda
1/8 Cup Arrowroot Powder (can be replaced by Cornstarch)

Things go a bit easier if you combine the dry ingredients, then add the coconut oil. You can throw a few drops of essential oil in there for the smell, too - I added lemon, since it's antibacterial anyway. So my deodorant smells like lemon cream tea biscuits. (Whoops!) Luckily, the smell is quite subtle and dissipates fairly quickly, unlike commercial deodorants.
Since it's summer I also took Mommabear's suggestion and keep mine in the fridge, which keeps it nice and hard in bar form (the heat from my skin is enough to soften it and melt it in, without it smearing all over my hands).

I really don't think I'll ever buy another commercial deodorant, I'm so blown away by how awesome this recipe is! I would recommend you rush out and try it right now.