homemade natural mouthwash

To go with my toothpaste, I decided to make natural mouthwash. We used to use Listerine all of the time, but the use of mouthwash containing that much alcohol can have a drying effect. Not to mention, I don't like not really knowing what that effect of synthetic ingredients can have on our bodies. I just used an old listerine bottle to dispense it from.

• 2 cups of filtered water
• 3 Tbsp xylitol (or to desired taste/sweetness) (or stevia) 
• 1 Tbs of aloe vera gel
• 3 tsp of baking soda
• 2 tsp of peppermint extract
• 8 drops of pure peppermint essential oil
• 6 drops of tea tree essential oil
• 4 drops of bergamot essential oil (optional)
• 1/2 tsp of myrrh tincture (optional)

First I blended the water and xylitol in my vita-mix. Sans the vita-mix, I would have warmed the water first to dissolve the xylitol. Then I added the rest of the ingredients to a jar and shook really well to mix.

Update: I cleaned out a used brown, glass bottle that my Omega 3-6-9's came in and it's perfect. And it stays fresher longer because I'm using glass and because it's brown, so less light gets in.

homemade lip balm

One of the easiest things I've ever made, although, I followed a recipe first time around and it was way too soft, so I had to redo them all.

• 4 Tbsp olive oil (or jojoba or almond) 
• 1 Tbsp grated beeswax (or beeswax pearls)
• 1 Tbsp cocoa butter
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp vitamin E oil (or 3 punctured, squeezed out liquid vitamin E capsules) 
• I used coconut oil instead, which has vitamin E as one of its properties.
• 7 drops lavender essential oil (or other essential oil)
• 3 drops rosemary oil (for preserving properties) 
• when I remade this, I added a bunch more beeswax and cocoa butter 

I don't have a double boiler right now, so I boiled a pot of water, placed my glass pyrex measuring cup in the hot water and melted all of my ingredients in there. Next, I used a pipette to fill each container... it took a long time, so I'll have to find a more efficient way to pour. I didn't want to pour straight from the pyrex because they tend to drip and be messy. I kept it on the burner at the lowest setting so it wouldn't start to solidify.

I'm really happy with the result! Super soft lips :)  

I found these little pots on amazon at a great price, but have since found chapstick tubes on ebay and will be trying that once these are gone. I love these little containers, but I have little fingers, so they're easy for me to use.