Estrogen Dominance and Homemade Laundry Detergent

One of our current adventures has to do with my own health. For many years, I've been watching over the health of my husband, children and animals, as with most busy moms, and forgetting to really pay much attention to mine. When the signs of estrogen dominance (allopathically known as menopause) started to get beyond the point of annoyance, I had to do something. The first thing was to start avoiding estrogenic compounds both natural and synthetic. Estrogen dominant or not, the great money saving idea I found thanks to it, will help everyone.

My research led me to many good resources including Dr. Lee, author of such books as "What your Doctor May not Tell You About Menopause," "Dr. Lee's Hormone Balance Made Simple," and other relevant books. All of which can be found on this Books For Sale page. More good resources were from Dr. William Eckhart, and the USP Progesterone product "Progestelle" site. There are some other good sources out there, like Yahoo Groups message boards dedicated to the cause, Neways progesterone cream distributors, etc. But, those two are my favorites.

In Dr. Eckhart's reply to my medical form, he mentioned that there really is no good, safe, estrogenic compound free laundry detergent with the exception of one he has found that is just too expensive for my budget. So, I decided to research the option of making my own.

I found a recipe, actually several recipes, on the internet. I took the plunge, bought the three required ingredients and whipped up a batch of my own. (Recipe below along with my notes on preparation) I will say I was very happy with the results. After 4 weeks, I've used about 1/2 of my $3 - $4 laundry detergent. A big savings compared to the $12 laundry detergent I bought at the store. The clothes are clean and fresh smelling, and I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner. The first few loads of laundry the water was absolutely disgusting. I'm guessing the dirt was what my commercial laundry detergent didn't get out. ICK!!!! I rinsed all loads 2 times for probably the first 10 loads. My husband suspects that maybe the new laundry soap was cleaning the washing machine as well. That is possible, since I used to occasionally get grime at the bottom of the tub, and no longer do.

So, for your consideration, here is my first batch notes. I will make the next batch a bit thinner, and am trying to find a perfect container to store it in, so I don't have to use a pail. Didn't take pictures, but when I remake it in a month I will post pictures with an update.

Laundry Soap Recipe – 1^st Batch 1/31/09

2 full bars Kirk’s Castile Soap – shredded (what didn’t shred, I cut into small pieces)

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup A & H Super Washing Soda

8 Cups water

25 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract (a.k.a. GSE -preservative, antibacterial)

(Castile soap can be found in the Health and Beauty section of your local store. Most any pure, bar soap will do. FelsNaptha is the recommended so, but not available near me. Borax and Washing Soda are available in the laundry aisle of your store. They are in boxes, powdered. And the GSE is available at the health food store or at http://www.iherb.com The brand is Nutribiotic, you want the liquid. If you get it from iHerb it is much cheaper, and new customers can use the code KES097 at checkout for $5 of their first order)

First, put shredded soap into 6 cups of water and heated, stirring occasionally until most of the soap had dissolved.

Add soda and borax, stir until dissolved, add two cups water. Continue to heat and stir for another 30 minutes on very low heat.

Removed from heat, added GSE, and let cool, stirring occasionally to mix foam back in.

As soap started to cool, it actually started to solidify instead of just gel as online instructions indicated it should. I had not added as much water as recipe suggested, since I wondered if you could make it more concentrated to take up less space in laundry room. Well, you can’t. Therefore, I added another 8 cups of water and put back on the stove on low heat to reliquify.

Let it reliquify, then added another 8 cups of water after using some of the still warm mixture in cold water wash only to watch it turn into solids in the water. Need to keep it liquid, or dissolve in warm water before switching to cold water for cold water washes.

Still semi solid gel. Will wait until completely cooled to decide whether to add more water or not. It has now been about 6 hours since I started the process.

Finally packaged it up and called it good.

I don't have the perfect packaging system, just a couple of old, plastic ice cream containers. I'll be on the hunt for better packaging, hopefully not plastic!

UPDATE: 3/14/2009 made my second batch and took notes. The first batch lasted our family of 4 on the farm for a little over 1.5 months.

Second Batch notes:

2^nd Batch – 3/14/2009

Basically followed same steps. This time I added more water than before. As liquid would start to steam, I would add 4 more cups. Dissolved initial soap mixture in 8 cups of water, then as it heated, added 4 cups at a time until I got to 24 cups of water. (previous batch was 22 cups of water.) Then started the cooling process.

As it cooled, it started to solidify, so added 4 more cups of water and reheated to combine. Went to check again after 15 minutes and top had solidified, so stirred it up and added 4 more cups of water. Will combine and let cool again.

In the end, I had 32 cups of water. Top hardened, but I stirred it all up when cool and had a loose gel soap.

Online source for Supplements, Vitamins, with Coupon - iHerb

The chickens are wandering about in the yard, wishing it was spring and the bugs were out. I can tell by the way they are scratching up the lawn in various locations without any satisfied looks. None of the usual clucking, "I've got one," which leads to the inevitable chase around the yard by the other birds hoping to steal the bug from the silly bird who didn't know when to keep quiet.

Well, I was just musing today about not telling my friends and family about a great online site I've found for purchasing my supplements and even some of our organic food items. So, I think I've kept my quiet too long!!! I placed an order today and patted myself on the back for my great savings, then thought, "I should share this site so others can get some great deals too." The roosters are good at this. When they find a good source for bugs in the yard, they actually stand up tall and start a special cackling to call all the ladies to the treasure.

So, here goes my cackling and calling my friends to the treasure:

The site is http://www.iherb.com a.k.a iHerb. I've been ordering from them for over a year now and love their discounts and fast service. I've never had a problem with wrong orders, missing items, or anything. I actually messed up an order and was able to call and get it fixed before they shipped it too!

The way iHerb works, you get incremental discounts based on the size of your order. So, if the Vit E that you usually get downtown has an iHerb price 10% cheaper before you put it in the cart, it will be an even cheaper price when you put it in the cart. Right now, as a VIP customer, my first level discount is 10%. So, if my Vit E was 9.00 instead of the downtown price of 13.00, I know it will be another .90 cheaper when added to the cart. Many of my items are $2-$10 cheaper here. Plus, if you order over $60 BEFORE THE DISCOUNTS, the UPS shipping is FREE!!! Gotta love that. Even if you don't get to $60, the shipping is $4 (with other options available at a higher price). I can't drive to the health food store for $4. They also offer many options in sizes and brands. Almost everything I can get at the health food store, I can get at iHerb cheaper.

Another benefit of iHerb is the information. They have very detailed info about each item they sell, including the full list of ingredients and potency. They also give info about uses, benefits and warnings. I use the iHerb site to check different supplement uses even if not purchasing them. A nice, concise encyclopedia of supplements, which was very important when we were trying to find fluoride free toothpaste, as well as many other items. They recently added food items to their offerings. I now get my Periobrite toothpaste, Arrowhead Mills peanut butter through them, as well as Braggs organic vinegar and other food items I used to buy at the store. New items are being added all the time.

I order many things online, but this is a site that I've really come to rely on for our budget and health. So, it is time I shared it. There was also a nice nudge from the company to share when they provided me with a coupon code to give my friends and family a gift of $5 off their first order as part of a new referral program they have started. If you use this coupon code - KES097 - at the checkout, you will get $5 off your first order from iHerb (not valid if you are already a customer). The person who told me about iHerb just had free shipping to lure me to try the site. Of course, if you don't have a first order that is $60 or more, this coupon code will more than cover the shipping.

While at iHerb, check out the links at the top of the page for specials and even FREE sample items. These are full size samples. This month I have 2 types of cereal, a new Vit E to try and a Green Tea drink coming as samples. I'm excited to get them and try them.

Now, my conscience is clear. I am no longer hoarding or keeping the goods secret for myself, but sharing willingly with friends. And none of us have to play chase around the yard. :-) I hope you get the opportunity to try iHerb and enjoy it as much as I have. So, before someone sticks there head out the door and tells me to keep it down (like I do for the over zealous chickens), I'll put my head back down and go back to work.

Have a great, blessed day and stay warm!

PS - if you can't use the coupon code, feel free to pass it on to friends. I do get referral bonuses that decrease the price of my items even more. If you do order from iHerb, you will get your own coupon code to share with friends, and earn your own referral bonuses.

On Life, the Universe and Everything

Well, almost two years since my Adventures in Lifestyles began. What have I learned of Life, the Universe and Everything? The answer is much larger than 42! Oh, yeah. I thought maybe I'd do some blogging. You know? Get my thoughts out there, share, elaborate, debilitate. I've never been good at journaling in a book, by my bedside, at night before sleep. What makes me think a desk full of bills to be recorded, school work to be corrected, cats to be petted would be any less distracting than the promise of sweet sleep?

I'm going to make another decent attempt at this. For now, just a quick welcome back note, after searching the morning trying to find my log-in info and the location of my page. Hopefully, I will keep up with how our lifestyle has changed over the last two years. We've gone from a growing family, to a mostly grown family. Now, our little piece of heaven is for sale as we attempt to be available for the children and the parents. Health has been a major focus, and will probably be a major focus of posts to come.

Blessings to all, and I hope to hear from you and read about you too!