How did I get here?

In my previous post in this series I talked about how I tossed all the soap in our house and switched to Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap. I was buying it by the gallon and wondered, "Can’t I just make this stuff myself?"

Where does my story lead to next?

See Part 1 here.    See Part 2 here.   See Part 3 HERE.

So here is Part 4 in my series. So my research into soap making began. I watched YouTube videos, read blogs, read books, and finally I felt ready to try it. I had a crockpot, I had safety equipment (goggles, gloves), I had a recipe I wanted to try, but I needed to find KOH (Potassium Hydroxide). I went to the local hardware store- who sent me to Michael's- who sent me to Hobby Lobby- who suggested my local hardware store. Alrighty then. I headed back to the good old internet and found a few companies that sold it. It's not easy to get I found because people also use it to make drugs. Great. Just what I need, to be on some watch list. I finally bit the bullet and bought it. I made my first batch while watching a YouTube video on repeat. It took forever, but when I was all done I had my very own batch of liquid soap. I was HOOKED. I made a five gallon bucket that seemed to last forever. It was awesome.

It was around this time that I started having issues with cloth diapering. I loved cloth diapering. It was so much cheaper, safer and environmentally responsible. I felt really good about being able to provide that for my daughter. But they started to smell funny when she urinated.

Then, she started to get a rash. Other cloth diapering mamas told me to switch detergent and strip my diapers. Yeah, that is not fun. I had to do this every month. I finally found a cloth diaper safe detergent that worked but it was expensive enough to make me not want to use it on all the laundry. I was so excited to not have to strip the diapers. It only lasted a few months before my poor baby had an awful rash/diaper burn that I just about threw the towel in on cloth diapering..... What do you think happened next?

Yup. In a last ditch effort, I decided to make my own. (to be continued)