Okay, I spent quite a bit of time urging you to avoid manufactured products that contain SLS, SLES and parabens in my previous post. Need a reminder? I could go on all day.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a skin irritant that penetrates into your body's tissues and causes harm in a long term, but it amazingly ended up being used in just about everything we use in a daily sense, including soaps, shampoos, body wash, laundry detergent, shave cream, facial cleanser, toothpaste...

This evil chemical also helps other harmful chemicals to easily enter into your body. So, if you consider the amounts of soap, shampoo, body wash, mouth wash, toothpaste and what else you might be applying to your head, face, body and mouth in a day, you can't say a bit of SLS won't do any harm, especially if you keep building it up e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y.

Still not convinced about what the big deal is? I'll give you a starting point for your research here.

A typical toothpaste label will read like this:

Yes, even the ones that indicate "Natural", "Propolis", "Baking Soda" as their main ingredients, read the labels, they all have SLS.

The bad news is that, it's not just SLS that's the potential problem. It's also FLUORIDE.
Yes, fluoride is now being debated as a toxin chemical if used in a long term, and especially for children who tend to swallow larger amounts than adults. It is worth researching the topic.

Read about the toxic chemicals in your toothpaste here.

So I went to buy a toothpaste last night and could not find a single one without SLS on the supermarket shelf.
​Okay, if I got to making my own soaps, I should be able to make my own toothpaste, so off I went, and was surprised at how super EASY it was.

After searching through a few articles and blog posts, I found this to be the easiest option. And boy, it was too easy and it made me feel so stupid that I loaded my body up with those chemicals for all these years.

So please do try this at home. It honestly takes less than 5 minutes.

You need: 2/3 cup full of baking soda, water, sea salt (optional) and peppermint essential oil. That's all!

​So I've measured 2/3 cup of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt and 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil in a bowl like this:

Then mix it up by pouring little amounts of water until you get the consistency you like:

Done! How long did it take? Less than 5 minutes. 
And it smells so nice with peppermint oil. It's a shame that I can't upload the scent to add to the photo!

Make sure you store it in a glass jar with a lid, not plastic, so you can preserve the essential oil.

This is how I'll be keeping mine, with a little plastic spoon so I don't have to dip the toothbrush in the jar. They say it doesn't matter, so I'm just being a clean freak.

So I've tried using it and yes, the texture and taste is not like your normal toothpaste. I think I've put too much salt in mine (giving too much credit to the salt minerals) but you can choose not to have it at all or have very little if that salty taste is not your thing.

It's also less foaming than your supermarket toothpaste - but I LOVED the aftertaste. I feel that it beats onion and garlic breath better.

I haven't tried this myself but if you're concerned at all about swallowing essential oil (which I'd rather do because it is a natural product than putting chemicals in my mouth: which do you think will be worse?), I guess you could try putting these instead as they are used in baking. 

It's been a busy month but finally got around to making some ice cream soaps that I've been meaning to make for some time.
So glad the way they turned out, I've been putting them in the gift set orders received this month and had lots of happy customers!

Will be trying a variety of colours and mixtures, because there are how many ice cream flavours? Endless! 

Also tried some pastry looking soaps... T'da!

With little plastic wafer biscuits dipped in the middle, they look seriously c-u-t-e. 

They make a fun addition to our Novelty range and also to the gift sets, of course.

We've also added some new gift sets to our Shop, so please pop in and have a look!

Another addition to the Shop is a new product, Shaver's Handmade Soap. 

This soap is heavier with glycerin content and will produce more lathering foam than your normal soap, which makes it a great alternative to supermarket shaving foam products that may be high in artificial skin irritants. 

The rich foaming makes it an ideal product for everyday use, such as shaving and in the shower. This soap also contains coconut oil, which is great for protecting and keeping your skin moisturized.

Pleasantly and naturally scented with peppermint oil to give you a refreshing start or finish to the day :)

​Enjoy!