jadiebugs1 said:
Is this recipe a trade secret or would you be willing to share?
It's just a recipe I found online...
http://www.discover-neem-oil.com/neem-o ... cipes.html
It's the Neem Oil Soap Recipe #2.
It doesn't say it here (there) but throughout my (frantic and itchy) research I learned:
* Do not heat neem over 85 degrees F or it destroys the important components (so no HP or CPOP/CPOM or insulating). I have no idea if this gets above 85 deg. in it's normal saponification - if so, kind of seems like a worthless ingredient... :?
* Neem becomes unstable in water (hence the solid bar recipe).
* This recipe *should* repel not only lice but other biting crawlies as well including fleas, mosquitoes, some ticks (not all) and chiggers.
* The neem doesn't *kill* the lice, it screws up their neurological system causing them to "forget" to breed, lay eggs and/or eat. So though it's not a quick fix, it's a long-term one.
* The tea tree (and rosemary?) in the recipe is the quick fix!
* You'll still have to comb nits to keep your kids in school. Joyous. But a soak with white vinegar should help loosen the "glue".
* Neem stinks. Really, really stinks. Not so bad out of the bottle but horrible in the soap at the 24 hour unmold and cut mark. But after curing it's much, much better - I even kind of like the smell.
* Tea tree is toxic to cats! So no using this on your animals to rid them of fleas.
Bugger.
* I believe the suggestion was to use this once a week to prevent interest from the crawlies.
This batch *just* hit the 3 week mark and I've used the soap all over 3 times. I have to admit I was skeptical at using a bar cleanser on my hair, I've had lots of experience with bar soaps in kids' hair and it's never been a happy time. But this actually leaves my hair very nice and clean feeling with no perfumes. Leaves a clean feeling on the skin without "squeaking" or feeling slick.
I didn't run the numbers thru soapcalc and the recipe came out fine, but if you want to the percentages I came up with are:
coconut 25%
olive 25%
palm 18% (I used red which probably contributed to the ugly brown color)
almond 7%
neem 7%
castor 18%
At trace:
castor 9% of the base oils
rosemary, lavender, tea tree & lemon EOs each 1% of total base oils
I intend to take this camping this summer so I'll have to remember to let everyone know how well it works against mosquitoes (they loooooooove me!).
~Lori
Talk about UG-LY, but it seems to function well enough.
