Hair Spray

Hair Spray

I don't have a recipe that holds your hair as well as the bottle
of chemicals you can buy at the store. Remarkably a little lemon
juice (not from a bottle) has some holding power and no odor!
Buy a 1 cup spray bottle. Squeeze part of a lemon, letting only the
clear juice run into the bottle. Fill with water. Keep it in the
refrigerator. Make it fresh every week. Spraying with just plain
water is nearly as good! For shinier hair, drop a bit of lemon
peel into the bottle.
Homemade Soap
A small plastic dishpan, about 10” x 12”
A glass or enamel 2-quart sauce pan
1 can of lye (sodium hydroxide), 12 ounces
3 pounds of lard (BHT and BHA are OK here)
Plastic gloves
Water
1. Pour 3 cups of very cold water (refrigerate water overnight
first) into the 2-quart saucepan.
2. Slowly and carefully add the lye, a little bit at a time, stirring
it with a wooden or plastic utensil. (Use plastic gloves
for this; test them for holes first.) Do not breathe the vapor
or lean over the container or have children nearby. Above
all use no metal. The mixture will get very hot. In olden
days, a sassafras branch was used to stir, imparting a fragrance
and insect deterrent for mosquitoes, lice, fleas,
ticks.

3. Let cool at least one hour in a safe place. Meanwhile, the
unwrapped lard should be warming up to room temperature
in the plastic dishpan.
4. Slowly and carefully, pour the lye solution into the dishpan
with the lard. The lard will melt. Mix thoroughly, at least
15 minutes, until it looks like thick pudding.
5. Let it set until the next morning; then cut it into bars. It will
get harder after a few days. Then package.
If you wish to make soap based on olive oil, use about 48
ounces. It may need to harden for a week.
Liquid Soap
Make chips from your homemade soap cake. Add enough hot
water to dissolve. Add citric acid to balance the pH (7 to 8). If
you do not, this soap may be too harsh for your skin.