I found this from www.welltellme.com:

40 drops Bergamot essential oil

20 drops Lavendar essential oil

20 drops Tea Tree essential oil

1/2 cup carrier oil (I used olive oil)

Mix together, drizzle over hair and work it in.  Wrap head in plastic and leave on a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.  Comb through with a lice comb, and then wash hair.   Do this twice a day for two or three days.

My sweet little niece has battled lice for over six months now.  My b-i-l has tried the regular over-the-counter treatment over and over, but they still come back.  We caught them from her a few months ago, and now Luke has caught them again.   My head has been itching, too, although I haven't found any on me.   Last time we found a wonderful herbal shampoo, Therapeutic Treatment Shampoo from Dessert Essence, that worked really well, but this time I thought I would try something else along with the shampoo.  I will not be able to do this twice a day, so we will just do it once a day for four days, which is what you are supposed to do with the shampoo.  It smells really great!  I'll let you know how it works.

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I did a quick search and found this on www.care2.com

Simple Solution
I dug deep in my herbal formula books for this recipe out of desperation, given that I live in the epicenter of the tick-generated Lyme disease epidemic. I tested the essential oil that is recommended for ticks, Rose Geranium, by putting a few drops—no more!— on our dogs’ collars, to see if it would repel ticks. Lo and behold, we went from 20 ticks a day on each dog, to none. The second best essential oil for repelling ticks is American Pennyroyal (also called tickweed).

• 2 tablespoons vegetable or nut oil (almond oil contains sulfur, a repellent in its own right)
• 10 to 25 drops Rose Geranium essential oil

Combine the ingredients in a glass jar; shake to blend.
Makes: 2 tablespoons
Shelf Life: 6 months

Dab a few drops on your skin or clothing, making sure to avoid eyes.

Caution
Skip the Pennyroyal if there is anyone pregnant (including pets) in the home, as it can induce miscarriage. And as always, use essential oils with caution as they can burn the skin and harm eyes. Don't use these essential oils around cats. 

Helpful Hints

• Palmerosa is a sister essential oil to Rose Geranium, and also repels ticks. It is cheaper, and sometimes easier to find than Rose Geranium.
• Another good repellent that also worked on our dogs, is to eat garlic pills (but don't give garlic to cats). A number of people have written me to say that they have had good luck with their dogs and themselves, by keeping to the garlic pill eating regimen every day.
• The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) reported in their winter of 1996 Journal of Pesticide Reform that nymphal ticks are reduced from 72.7 to 100 percent when dead leaves are removed from the forest areas surrounding residential areas.

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We actually finished school early this morning - of course, it helped that I got the girls up at 7:00 to start it!    I so enjoy school time so much more when we get up early to get it done and then have free time later in the afternoon.  I know I really need to work on a schedule but it just seems that every day something comes along to prevent any schedule from actually happening, so I get a little frustrated with even trying.    I do really enjoy reading everyone else's schedule - they are inspiring me!

Anyway, I made some shampoo today with one of the recipes I have been gathering from the internet.  I haven't bought any shampoo in a couple of months.  The past month or so I have been using baking soda exclusively, and really like it.  It's good for your hair - and cheap! 

But it doesn't seem to work well for my girls.  They are both going through that oily teenager stage.  I remember those days well.  I would get up early to shampoo my hair, and by 6:00 that evening my hair was so oily it looked like I hadn't shampooed in a week!  Thankfully, neither of my girls are quite that bad!  Here is the recipe I used:

1 cup liquid castile soap (I used Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby-Mild Pure Castile Soap)

1/2 cup water

1 - 2 tbsp. veg. oil (I used 1 tbsp. of olive oil)

10 drops of essential oil (optional - I used 4 drops of lavender; 4 drops of lemon; 3 drops of tea tree oil - 11 drops in all)

Add all the ingredients together and shake well to blend.   Shake well before each use.

Both the girls used it tonight, so we'll see how well it worked. 

Blessings,

Carol

P.S.  If you like shampoo bars, I HIGHLY recommend Crystal's (quiverfull)!  They are wonderful!  I am just enjoying playing around with different things right now, or I would reorder.

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Here are two dishwashing liquid recipes that I found on http://www.healthy-home-cleaning-tips.com/make-your-own.html.  I haven't tried them yet but plan to as soon as I use up what I have. 

Make Your Own Dishwashing liquids:

1/4 cup soap flakes
2 cups hot water
1/4 cup glycerin
1/2 teaspoon lemon essential oil

1) In bowl combine soap flakes and water and stir until the soap is dissolved. Cool to luke warm.
2) Stir in the glycerin and the essential oil, leave to cool. As it cools it will form a loose gel. Stir with a fork and break up the gel and then pour into a narrow-necked bottle. An old shampoo bottle makes an excellent container.
3) To use, squirt 3 teaspoonfuls into hot running water.

liquid castile soap
10 drops lavender essential oil
8 drops rosemary essential oil
4 drops eucalyptus essential oil

1) Fill a clean 22-ounce plastic squirt bottle with castile soap (diluted according to directions if using concentrate).
2) Add the essential oils.
3) To use, squirt 3 teaspoonfuls into hot running water.

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This is on my to try list:  (from www.pioneerthinking.com)

Rosemary-Sage Natural Hair Dye recipe

For Covering Gray

Use equal amounts of rosemary & sage to 1 cup of water, combine ingredients and steep for 10 minutes, strain and use liquid for the colorant.  Refrigerate in a spray bottle until needed.  Before washing hair, spray the base of the gray patches of hair, leave it for five - ten minutes (or leave until dry) and then wash as usual. Apply daily until desired color, then monthly to keep color.

Hair Dye recipes

Wash your hair with one of the following rinses.  Pour the rinse through your hair 15 times, re-rinsing with the same liquid.  On the final rinse, wring hair and leave on for 15 minutes before rinsing with clear water.

Brunette:  Rinse hair with a strong black tea or black coffee.

Blonde: Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice in 1 gallon warm water.

Red:  Make a strong tea of rosehips or cloves, or use strong black coffee.

Note:  This process must be repeated daily for a few weeks before you notice any changes.

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This is what I use instead of harmful store-bought cleaners:

Fill a spray bottle with half white vinegar and half water.  That's it - so simple!  It cleans wonderfully without any harmful chemicals or smells.  Sometimes I add a little essential oil to it - lavender and/or tea tree oil is nice.  Even without the essential oil, the vinegar smell dissipates so your house doesn't smell like pickles!

For anything that needs a little scrubbing, I just use baking soda.

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One thing that I am learning to do as a wanna-be homesteader is to make my own things rather than buying it.  One such thing is making my own mayonnaise.  It is SO much better for you than the store-bought partially hydrogenated oil stuff!  The recipe I use comes from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon.  It's very easy to make and my daughter loves to help me with it. 

Mayonnaise

Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 whole egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon whey, optional

3/4 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller-expressed sunflower oil or a     

           combination (I use the olive oil and a bit of flaxseed oil)

generous pinch sea salt

Note:  homemade mayonnaise will be slightly more liquid than store-bought versions.

In your food processor (I use my blender), place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt and lemon juice and optional whey.  Process until well blended, about 30 seconds.  Using the attachment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add oil with the motor running.  Taste and check seasoning.  You may want to add more salt and lemon juice.  If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating.  With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time.  Without whey, mayonnaise will keep for about 2 weeks.

Looking forward to reading others' posts!

Carol

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