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I was wondering if anyone has tried recipes for homemade deodorant (one that really works!) toothpaste, mouthwash, shaving foam/cream and shampoo?.

I will be looking and trying some but recommendations are always the best.
Years ago I remember my gran using the ashes from the fire for all sorts of things,.. she would collect it and sieve it untill she was left with the very fine powder,.. this was used as a talc, great for athletes foot, for toothpaste and although she didnt use it for this, I know it was also used for babies bums,...and even the less fine stuff she used as Vim for cleaning the range
(13 January 2013, 16:57)uks Wrote: [ -> ]I was wondering if anyone has tried recipes for homemade deodorant (one that really works!) toothpaste, mouthwash, shaving foam/cream and shampoo?.

I will be looking and trying some but recommendations are always the best.

Recomendations for a historian, history professor and historic reenactor....

You are worried about problems that have been invented by marketing agencies!

Deoderant is a very new concept and can be done without in any real emergency. Through history purfumes were developed to mask the unpleasantist of body oders but in general, each person had his or her own oder that was part of their identity. I have read several old texts that talked about identifying people in the dark by their individual smell.

Toothpase is also a new concept and until late in the 20th century tooth powder did the same job. It is a 50/50 mix of bicarbonate and salt. Simple to make and soes a good job.

Mouthwash was first developed as the subvstance we call Listerine. It was invented as a antiseptic and was the subject of one of the first and most successful marketing campaigns when the mfg promoted it as a cure for bad breath, which no one had worried about until the adds came out. A product was invented and then a market was invented for that product.

I am sure that vinegar would work or better yet, a good swish of vodka woudl kill about any germ present.

Shaving foam, shampoo, body soap and detergent can al be obtained fom rendering lard and lye into soap. It is a simple operation and has been done for about 200 years. The Romans lifted the invention of soap from the Galls so it has probably been known in Britian for several millinea.

Home made soap is often finished off as "soft soap" which is great for dish washup or shampoo.

A very nuice rendering of soap can be obtained from using olive oil in place of the lard. The resulting soap is called Castile soap (due to being made from Spanish olive oil) and it will suds well even in hard water or in salt water. For that reason it was standard stores in the British Navy during the days of the tall ship.

Castile soap will suds abundantly and is very nice for use as shaving soap. At one time every man in the western world owned a shaving mug and brush, along with a safety razor or straight razor.

Castile soap also rinses from the hair leaving no soap residue. A quick rinse with vinegar and you will have the cleanist hair you have every experienced.