Make your own versions of name-brand stuff?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

That’s an awkward title, heh?

I just happened upon a product called Jellybath. Type the obvious URL and you’ll get the idea. Sounds like a little slice of heaven for those of us who do enjoy the tubby. I was curious about the ingredients, and discovered the base is rice starch. Figured, Why pay 28 smackers for this stuff when I can probably whip up my own? (It’s times like these when I’m forever grateful my Dad did kooky stuff at Bell Labs, and managed to teach us kids the glories of Kitchen As Lab.)

Anyway. The only rice starch I can find is from an artists supply house. Apparently it makes a damn fine adhesive. But I’m determined.

And this leads me to … Are you in the habit of making your own versions of stuff? You know, Twinkies, laundry detergent, junk like that?

2

I wonder if it is the same crystals that used to be used as soil for plants. When dry, it was powdery, but when wet, it became these soft lumpy soaking wet blobs.

It seems you have to use the “dissolver” to get it out of your tub, from another site, it seems the dissolver is just salt. I’m not sure if you have that info or not, or if it would help you with your experiments.

Keep us updated. I think my 1 year old would love it. :slight_smile:

3

Where food is concerned, Top Secret Recipes is a good site run by folks determined to reproduce brand-name foods and restaurant/fast food dishes.

I have to say that I’ve tried to do it myself with food. After trying The Keg’s stuffed mushroom caps for the first time I decided that I had to try and make it myself. And I did, or a reasonable approximation of it anyway. I was pretty proud of myself for that one, considering my cooking repetoire isn’t very large.

4

Not exactly name-brand, but I’ve been trying to reproduce the garlic stewed mushrooms from the Renaissance Faire for years. With the help of ample cleavage, I even got the guy to rattle off the ingredients for me this year, but I think he’s holding back some vital secret ingredient. :stuck_out_tongue:

But yeah, I make a lot of my own bath salts, scrubs, lotions, massage oils, facials, etc. I copycatted a wonderous peppermint salt scrub, and then started playing around from there.

BTW, rice starch is used in Japan like corn starch, so look for it in an Asian grocery. Or, you can buy it for $5.98 a pound from these guys (yeah, it’s a fireworks company, but rice starch is rice starch.)

5

You know we’ll be needing those recipes now.

6

[hijack on request]
Well, salt scrubs (and their close cousin, sugar scrubs) are easy. Take a bunch of coarse salt or sugar, put it in a jar or empty yogurt container. Add oil, leaving about an inch of room to spare. Add essential oils of your choice. Shake. Lightly scrub onto your skin and rinse off. (Be careful! Your tub will be slippery due to the oils!)

What oils? Grapeseed is good. Unrefined coconut oil and canola are good. Jojoba, but I never use all jojoba, it’s just too expensive. Ditto almond, carrotseed and rose oils - I’ll put a little bit in, but the bulk is usually a cheaper grapeseed. Even olive oil is pretty good, but usually too expensive to be my first choice.

Essential oils? The list is nearly endless. Peppermint gives a great pick-me-up and is very invigorating for tired feet. Chamomile, and lavender are soothing, and also good at clearing many reddened skin conditions. Rosemary is fantastic for sore muscles and fatigue from overexertion. Ylang ylang, sandalwood, vetiver and rose are just indulgent yumminess.

Massage oils are the same, minus the salt or sugar. For massage oils, I use a 50/50 combo of grapeseed and canola oils for the base. It gives the ideal blend of lubrication without stickiness, and staying power without greasiness.

Bath salts, the same minus the lubricating oils. Epsom salts and sea salts mixed are my favorite, with essential oils. Use a big yogurt container and give yourself lots of shaking room. Dissolve a Tablespoon or so into the bath as it’s filling.

My favorite facial is plain yogurt mixed with honey. It’s a little drippy, but the drips are yummy, so who cares? :stuck_out_tongue: Some people like egg whites, or whole eggs, but I find they make my skin too tight. YMMV.

Did you know watermelon whirred in a blender (rind, seeds and all) makes a great toner? Add about 30% witch hazel and it’ll last in a sealed bottle on your shelf for a couple of months.

Lotions are harder to get right, because you need to emulsify your basic oil mix with water. Purchased products use any of a number of additives to keep their lotions lotiony. Beeswax is a pretty good one, as are eggs (but obviously using eggs shortens the life of your product dramatically!).

I highly recommend The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook: A Home Manual for anyone interested in making home toiletries. While there are toiletry specific books out there, this one is the best at explaining theory and technique, not just listing recipes. Ignore the medicinal parts if you want, but you’ll learn to make the best lotion ever regardless of how you feel about herbal medicine. It’s also unexpectedly funny, as the author has a great sense of humor. What could be a boring textbook is in fact a very enjoyable beach read.