Nature Always Wins

I've struggled for so many years, more than I can count, with severe psoriasis on the back of my scalp. It's gone in waves from painful to the touch to a calmer variety that is simply very dry. It changes with the seasons and sometimes with the food I've eaten. I've gone to my family doctor for several very difficult flare ups and used nearly every medication on the market. It's stayed "in check" but as of late has been so horrible and the meds are no longer working. Essentially, I'm immune to them. I've used them so long, my body no longer responds. Pretty cool, huh? *sigh*

Our family has been on a journey to be more naturally minded. We try to eat very little sugar, no processed foods, and are in the process of going chemical free. As we run out of things, we simply replace them with a non-chemical version of what we ran out of. This way I don't feel like I've wasted money on products and there's a lapse period between learning to make a new homemade, chemical free version of our previously chemical filled product.

I recently ran out of chemical shampoo and scoured the interwebz lookin' for something that seemed valid. I'm not the creative type. Show me a recipe and I'll tell you right there if it's going to taste good, if it will do it's job, or if it needs tweaked in order to be successful. I can make additions, subtractions, or overhaul a recipe, but ask me to do it from scratch? PFFFT. No way, batman! Oh right, shampoo -- so I ran out of shampoo and was scouring for recipes. I found a few but wasn't overly pleased with any in particular. I'm typically a DIYer so I started as far back from scratch as I could. I was NOT going to make my own castille soap, but I wasn't going to buy they crazy expensive liquid junk either. So, I bought a bar of unscented castille soap and I made it into liquid soap. Do you know how hard that is? Read on...

One bar soap -- 5oz
1 part soap to 4 parts water -- 5 x 4 = 20 (See my math there?) 20 oz of water
One ziploc bag
One empty tupperware container

Stick bar in bag. Stick water in bag. Slosh around. Stick bag with water and soap in container (leaks aren't fun, I promise!). Slosh it around and rub the bar of soap when you get bored. Over 5 days, the soap will become liquid and you have liquid castille soap. IT'S MAGIC! Sweet Pea (3 years old) also loved to slosh it around. Free entertainment is good entertainment. The best, in my humble opinion.

So I took my fancy pants liquid soap and put it in pretty mason jars. I looked more for a recipe for shampoo that I would really like and that would help my "dry skin". Eh. I wasn't impressed. I did, however, learn that tea tree oil is pretty splendiferous. Tea tree oil has been used traditionally as a topical antiseptic and antifungal treatment. It's wonderful for cleaning and for health.

I went on an Amazon Subscribe and Save buying spree and bought a bunch of oils that I don't typically use as well as jajoba oil and vegetable glycerine. Talk about kid in a candy "shop". Heaven. My order comes with a gentle tap on the back door from the nice fed ex dude. He always walks away so fast! I ran to the back of the house and tore into my box! Guess what it didn't have. The tea tree oil. You guessed it. Patience isn't my thang. So an excruciating two days later, I have my oil FINALLY ;) I take about 5 different recipes, combine them, and determine that I like this (note: I have no idea what I'm doing at this point):

12oz of liquid castille soap
1 tsp jajoba oil 
1/4 tsp tea tree oil 

Hard, right? I stick it in a bottle. Happy and pleased with myself, I take it upstairs and think to myself "one step closer to chemical free!" My psoriasis at this point is excruciating for taking showers. The water burns like the dickens. Let's just say it wasn't my favorite thing. So the next morning I use my fancy pants, super awesome, homemade, natural shampoo (fair trade, might I add) and notice that my psoriasis didn't hurt anymore. Okay. That's a fluke. It's cool. Next day, I take a shower. My psoriasis isn't bumpy and disgusting anymore. Third day, it's virtually gone. WHUT?! True story. Something that over 7 different types (SEVEN!) of medications couldn't touch was gone in three days by something in nature!? Yep. Aaaaand I'm now more convinced than ever that non-GMO, chemical free, organic living is the way to be. The amount of health issues that have turned around for me since we started this journey are amazing. Plus one zing for nature, minus seven for science.

BOOM nature. You rock.