The Green Room

Mary Ellen from Kamloops, BC writes:

I have been enjoying Lindsay’s green recipes for cleaning. Last week I made some more laundry soap but used liquid castile soap instead of grating a soap bar. I used 1/2 cup of castile and it has "worked out." I’ve tried to find a recipe to make sure I am using enough soap, but have had no luck on the web. Can you recommend the appropriate amount of castile soap for your laundry soap recipe?

Lindsay responds:

The laundry soap rule that I’ve come across again and again is this ratio 50:25:25 for soap flakes: washing soda: Borax.

Of course this is something worth experimenting with, as it depends on your water hardness (soft water = less washing soda) and washing machine. Castile soap is amazing and can be used for many things, including the laundry soap recipe we provided. Instead though, I use soap flakes because they are significantly cheaper. Don’t be afraid to make your own signature recipe!

Lisa-Dawn from Kitchener, ON writes:

I love Lindsay Coulter’s Recipes, and I was just wondering if she had any for moisturizers: hand lotion, body lotion, facial moisturizer, etc.

Lindsay responds:

You’ll find my suggestions for lotions and moisturizers in recipe list #4 . My personal favorites are Beauty Balm (for the face) and the cocoa butter lotion for the body.

Another tip is to make your own body scrub (with good oils) and make the body wash (with mild castile soap) - you’ll find then that you don’t need to moisturize at all!

Another thing that you’ll learn is that lotion is lotion is lotion. You don’t necessarily need hand, body and face lotion specifically, we’ve just been marketed to shop that way.