Minimalist living, hygiene items

Tim and I have in the past few years embraced a mantra of minimalism. We still have a long way to go until we achieve the lifestyle we are striving for, but we are working on it thanks to our favorite blogs like Zen Habits and Life Edited. This summer, we have reduced our need for hygiene items, using some products for multiple uses and eliminating some altogether. I have discovered that with a little castile soap, coconut oil, vinegar and baking soda, you are completely set.

Not like we used a lot of beauty products before, but now we have no need for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. Our friends, the Lees, introduced us to Dr. Bronner's castile soap, and we fell in absolute love. We have only bought the peppermint and eucalyptus, but they are both delicious. Tim uses used Dr. Bronner's on his hair, and I do occasionally as well. It dries mine out a bit too much. We also use Dr. Bronner's soap for washing dishes (not in a dishwasher, never tried that), washing clothes (a tiny amount goes a long way in the washing machine), cleaning bathrooms (makes everything smell so fresh), hand-washing (you can put a little soap with some water and put it in a foaming handwash container). I can't say anything bad about this soap. It seems pricey at first, but it lasts FOR.EV.ER. We bought a gallon of the peppermint when Atticus was born, and he's almost three and we used about 3/4 of the container, and we use it on everything, as I said before.

For washing my hair, I started using baking soda and vinegar. It sounds weird, but it has made my hair really nice and quite soft. If you can get over smelling like salad dressing, that is. I like it, Tim not so much but he doesn't complain. I've read you can use white vinegar instead, so I think I will try that next time.  The way I do it is put a little baking soda in a small Dr. Bronner's bottle, then add water to the top. I squirt it in my hair, starting at the scalp, and massage it in well. I rinse, then spray on some apple cider vinegar, let it sit for a bit, then rinse it out. My hair is not greasy, shiny, and curls nicely. I don't think I will ever go back to shampoo... I used a little at the beach because I didn't bring my supplies, and my head got so itchy and dandruffy. Now that I'm off shampoo, my head NEVER itches. It used itch all the time! I read somewhere else that our scalp problems are kind of a new phenomenon since Vidal Sassoon convinced women they needed to wash their hair every day with chemicals that strip it of its natural oils, thus leaving it unseemingly greasy when you don't use it for a few days. My hair never gets "greasy" anymore (well, it might, I haven't gone longer than 9-10 days yet...) It has been such a happy discovery for me.

Minimalism with kids does get slightly more complicated. We do not currently wash our kids hair with baking soda and vinegar and the Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap is a little too tingly for baby skin... for now, I have a bottle of baby wash that I received as a baby shower gift. It is made with essential oils, and smells delicious. We also have some bath oil, diaper cream, lotion and massage oil from the same brand. It is all wonderful, but when we run out, we probably will switch over to something like Dr. Bronner's baby soap, as it's a lot cheaper. So, that's all the baby stuff we use.

I haven't made my own deodorant, but plan to when my current one runs out. I'm using a brand called Jason, and it is the tea tree oil variety and it works quite well, better than the Tom's I used in the past. We also use store-bought toothpaste, but I'd like to try making our own of that sometime too.

So, there you have it! Any other suggestions, tips, etc. for natural and minimalist hygiene products?