You needn’t be scared of getting your hands dirty. Truthfully, our hands don’t have to be hospital clean all the time. I recall when Purell came out in the mid-nineties claiming to “kill ‘99.99%’ of most common germs that may cause illness in as little as 15 seconds.” Mostly, it gave us shortcut. No longer did we have to take that painful 6 yard stroll to the sink. We could … [Read more...]
Adventures in Soap Making - the Process
“Dad, are you going crazy?” That was the major question on my older son’s mind as he walked in on me, sitting at the table, mad scientist style, preparing my luscious and intoxicating peppermint vanilla soap. As the great Tupac Shakur said in Juice, “I am crazy. And you know what else? I don't give a fuck.” Many of you already know that I devoted my Saturday to making my … [Read more...]
Adventures in Soap Making - Lye
A few days ago, I told you about my first foray into soap making. It seemed simple enough – I could make my own soap, leave out all the chemical ingredients, and boom, I’d be Tom’s of Maine. I whipped up a bar of coconut oil soap with a bit of lemon juice. It lasted all of one day in the shower and then melted. For that 24 hour period though, damn, my skin was supple. Okay, … [Read more...]
Showering Without Soap
There isn't much I won’t do for my readers. I’ll be putting my body (and reputation!) on the line to experiment with showering without traditional soap. It turns out that that Johnson and Johnson, among other soap producing companies, have been selling us a form of perfume masquerading as detergent for our skin. As a general side note, I’m becoming my father. I admit that my … [Read more...]