I had planned to make a post about the Aball and Ploopy Nano trackballs I built since last post, but then this morning the first of the three jars of DIY Shaving-soap of the last post ran out, so I thought I should mention that.
However, as impressive it may sound with a jar from a relatively small batch lasting seven months, I must confess that I on average only shave once a week - so it lastest about 30 shavings. On the other hand, as I still experiment on how to get the perfect, thick, lasting foam, I tend to work way too much soap into the brush, so I've been wasting some of it - especially when I've poured a table-spoon of water into the jar to loosen the surface up while showering, that really reduces the life of the jar. Between retained mosture and our recent warm spell, it was more mushy cream than hard soap in the jar this morning. That's really why it ran out this morning.
While on the topic of DIY hygiene products, I've actually gone against the principle of using as few ingredients as possible and increased the ones for my deodorant from one to three (an increase of 200% ;-) ). I was happy using pure Potassium Alum deo sticks but then came across an recipe in Martina Johansson's and Fanny Lindkvist's book "Giftfri" (Poison-free): equal parts coconut oil, bicarbonate, and starch. The recipe listed corn starch but I used potatoe starch instead since I figure that a lot more of the latter is produced locally in Sweden than the former.
Surprisingly, it really doesn't get sticky but seems to be quickly absorbed by my skin and works equally well as the Potassium Alum sticks - and if I ever would be trapped somewhere without food and starving, I could sustain my life a little longer by eating the oil-bicarbonate-starch deodorant, something that would work with the crystal Potassium Alum one! :-)
