Homemade Toothpaste, Deodorant, and Bicycles

This past weekend while we are at our house I made this much needed homemade deodorant. We were both getting ripe without the deodorant, and now the weather is starting to warm up, so it was pretty much necessary.

Homemade Deodorant Recipe:
coconut oil 2-3 tablespoons (enough to make moist),
tea tree oil 1 tablespoon,
corn starch or arrowroot 1/2 cup,
baking soda 1/2 cup

I mixed the corn starch and baking soda, added the tea tree oil, then added the coconut oil to moisten it. Mixed it to make a smooth concoction, and placed in fridge to harden. I store it in a mason jar and we use a piece of old sock rim to apply. If our bathroom gets hot then it becomes more liquid, if our bathroom is cool it becomes more solid. Either way using the cloth to apply works, and if the cloth gets dirty or stinky I can throw it away and get another one. My husband prefers to use patchouli oil, so the next batch I may put some of that in there instead of tea tree oil and see how it comes out. 

And then we made homemade toothpaste, this was trialed on the kids because they like sweets. They always want to eat the fluoride toothpaste, which we have mixed feeling about. We take them to dentist and they get fluoride treatments, prescriptions for fluoride drops/pills, and then fluoride toothpaste. In some cities the water is fluoridated. Instead of figuring out whether fluoride is bad or good, I will just simplify life and eliminate all chemicals and use a cheaper method.

Homemade Toothpaste Recipe:
baking soda 4 tablespoons
hydrogen peroxide 1-2 tablespoons
coconut oil 2 tablespoons
xylitol 1-22 tablespoons
peppermint oil 1 teaspoon or 30 drops

I started by mixing the baking soda and coconut oil, make it pasty. I used to mix the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide first, now I make the paste instead and I reduced the peroxide amount because it kept interacting with the soda and messing up the paste. Then add peroxide, xylitol, peppermint, mix all into paste. Taste and if it is sweet enough for you, if not then add more xylitol. I read about adding calcium and magnesium powder to help re-mineralize the teeth, we do not have this so I did not add it, maybe next batch. I purchased this small bottle at Joann's fabric, it is meant for cake decorating, but works great for toothpaste (I cut the whole large at end so paste is easier to squeeze out), or you can use a jar. I now mostly use a small old jelly jar, making fresh batches every month or two. Also, note by a week or so the paste will get sort of dry, I usually mix in a cap-full of peroxide after this happens so we don't loose those good qualities peroxide provides for our teeth. After 9 months of using this paste our teeth are doing great and staying white and our son had no cavities at his 4 year old visit to dentist. Happy brushing!

The kids (our son and granddaughters) are growing and bicycles are no longer fitting them, so I recently bought a new bike for our son and a new bike for our granddaughter. Husband is not sure why I am buying these bikes and we are moving onto a boat. These are the hard parts of this move.

I bought them anyway and they love them. They have been riding them up and down the street for hours. They are all using training wheels, but going much faster than on a tricycle, and having fun.

When we get outta here, we will be able to park and lock our bikes at the marina bike stands. If later, we can't use or take them, then I will get rid of them, for now we are moving with them.