In the past two years, I have become more and more conscious of how chemical most of our beauty and cleaning products are. While in the past I have been very interested in what effect food has on the health of my body (so an outwards effect as it were), my shift has focused the past years to what effect the things I use on my body and my environments has for the health of my body (an inwards effect as it were). Read on to find a DIY for natural witch hazel makeup remover and the all purpose spray cleaner that I made.
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Switching to natural alternatives
I very much love learning about self-care, health, and nature and I have enjoyed researching and trying out new things! It caused me to try and make my own natural room sprays and I still very much enjoy using them these days. (Are you curious about the room sprays I have developed? Find them on the WEBSHOP or in our Etsy shop).
With this whole learning process my main belief is: the more natural, the better. I truly believe that God created nature and us in such a way that it often does not need all those chemicals! During the past years I have mainly researched things for a looong time before I switched to a more natural alternative. Bit by bit things have changed in my self care routine.
A couple of switches that I have made are: instead of hygienic pads and tampons, I mainly use my *Organicup. My Batiste dry shampoo has been switched with arrowroot powder (mine is from Jacob Hooy, but I am sure any brand of powder would do!). Do you want to know about my experiences with that? Let me know in the comments!
Instead of regular shampoo and conditioner (I was not very loyal to any specific brands) I do now use a shampoo and a conditioner bar from Folksoap and it is absolutely a-ma-zing. I have just received my second shampoo bar after finishing the first one!
I am going to write a blog post about my experiences with their shampoo and conditioner bar in about three months (I know… that takes very long! But I want to pass the six month period in which my hair fully gets used to this new product before I review it. So stay tuned for that!)
UPDATE 28/4/’20: The shampoo and conditioner bar review has gone up! Read it here.
In this blog post, however, I want to focus on my new eye makeup remover and all-purpose spray cleaner. I had my eyes on these two DIY products for a little while in my two all-time favorite self-care books from Hello Glow and two weeks ago I finally decided to make them. And boy… they have not disappointed me! Find the Hello Glow self-care books that I use here:
These are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure policy here.
I was very lucky and found the first two books in a book bargain shop for something like five pounds each (say what?!), but ever since then I have not come across them so significantly discounted. The third book I actually do not have. I found out that Hello Glow has published a new book and I thought it was worth sharing for those interested!
Natural witch hazel makeup remover
Before I had a go at the witch hazel makeup remover, I used the Simple dual effect eye make up remover and when I ran out of my stash I used some argan oil that I had lying around for a little while. But guys… argan oil is well… oily… So when the new financial month started I knew it was time to make the switch! I made sure to buy everything I needed and I went for it!
I bought a cute amber glass bottle for it on the G Baldwin & Co website and it has been great. The eye make up remover does what it should do and I just love the idea that it is natural.
It lasts for three months and in February I will just do it all again since I still have plenty of the ingredients left! I feared that the jojoba oil would make the area around my eyes very oily after use, but actually, it doesn’t! It is a bit oily right away after using the eye make up remover, but after a couple of minutes my skin already starts to absorb the jojoba oil. It is great! Nothing like the argan oil.
The only thing that I will say about this DIY eye makeup remover, is that the witch hazel in it does tend to make the skin around my eyes feel a bit stingy sometimes. But I have super sensitive skin, so it may not do anything for you feeling wise!
Natural all purpose spray cleaner
The next thing I had a go at was the all-purpose spray cleaner. This DIY product was originally not a priority for me. It was on the ‘I want to make this’ list all right, but it just wasn’t a priority for me. That was until I started cleaning out a cupboard in our lounge in order to organize a board game cupboard (read all about that here!).. during that process I used a disinfectant spray from Dettol and after cleaning a little while I noticed that I was getting light-headed. I realized that the heavy chemicals in the Dettol spray caused that and I didn’t like the idea of something so chemical in our house at all!
And so only a week later, the all-purpose spray cleaner was made. For this spray, I ordered a spray bottle again from G Baldwin & Co and I was amazed by the quality of the spray bottle! An amber glass bottle (or jar, depends on what I am making) makes it all so much more fun for me š
The spray cleaner was so easy peasy to make and our aloe vera plant finally was of good use. And… the SMELL… the smell is amazing. It is so nice and fresh (I will be honest, I have a little obsession with nice smells) and I kid you not, I clean the kitchen more often now! Talking about cleaning the kitchen… I am planning to post a blog post about my three favorite natural ways to make sure that our kitchen is clean and smells lovely.
UPDATE 28/4/’20: Three easy non-toxic ways to keep your kitchen clean and fresh has been published. Read it here.
I also just want to take a little moment to highlight the company that I mentioned earlier >> G Baldwin & Co AND I wish to add C Wynne Jones to that. For about a year now, I have been scouring the internet, mainly Amazon, in order to try and find nice amber glass bottles and jars. And they are there, but boy, they are so expensive! It actually held me back from buying certain glassware that I wanted, just because of the price. I am just an amateur really enjoying the whole process of making products myself, but when I found G Baldwin & Co it felt like hitting the jackpot.
Finally, I have found a company that will supply all those glass goodies that I usually need for my DIY projects at a reasonable price. I must say, I was suspicious of course. I wondered: if it is that cheap, is the quality really that nice then? And I am glad to tell you that the quality is lovely. Exactly what I hoped for. They don’t sponsor me at all, but I just had to share them in case anyone else is having that same struggle as I had.
The glassware
When I shared G Baldwin & Co on Instagram, A Clovelly Soap Company, a lovely company from which I have bought a gift set before (for myself HA!), actually gave me the name of another company > C Wynne Jones. Isn’t that lovely? One of my favorite soap companies (and I am very picky about my soaps) messaging me with a brilliant tip like that?!
I checked the website of C Wynne Jones and they seem great. They are, contrary to G Baldwin & Co which offers a whole range of health products etcetera as well, only focused on glassware (and accessories). They are cheap and well I don’t know what the quality of their glassware is like, but I fully trust A Clovelly Soap Company’s recommendation there š
Well, folks, that was all for today. I am very curious… have you recently switched any beauty or cleaning products to more natural options? And if so, are you happy with your choice to do so? Let me know! I love chatting about it.
Much love,
Jenna
