Radiance Herbs and Homemade Shampoo

It sometimes forget that I wrote a guidebook to Olympia, Washington. But I did. It isn’t a large capitol city, but a marvelous one to visit. The capitol building is captivating, and there’s a free botanic greenhouse across the street, plus the nearby Evergreen teaching garden and an impressive Japanese garden. There’s wonderful coffee to be found, and bobbing boats along the waterfront. Fresh oysters and a salmon ladder right in town. Great music – Olympia’s home to Slater -Kinney, and other stellar bands like The Gossip and Mirah. The farmer’s market is like a weekly community day, held right on the Puget Sound, and full of delighful treats like homemade jerky, fresh cheeses, homespun crafts, and a glorious array of produce. What a town!

It was in Olympia that I got serious about what I put on my body. On one of my many visits to Radiance Herbs, located in the heart of the small down town area, I got into a conversation about skin being the largest organ in your body. Whatever we put on our skin goes into our bodies, into our blood streams. So why put waxy, silicon-y chemicals on it? Hmmm…

I was introduced to black soap, made with fair trade shea butter and various barks at an Olympia company called Alaffia. Radiance also sells raw herbs (over 400 of them!), tinctures, and natural body products. They offer the best massages in Olympia. I thank Radiance for inspiring me to take better care of myself, and in turn, the world around me.

All of the things I make are free from carcinogens, long and mysterious ingredients, and are completely biodegradable, to the point that if I wanted to I could water my garden with the grey water without purifying it further.

Since my summer in Olympia I have been making almost all my own bath products. Even my hubby won’t go back to the “other” stuff, although it initially took some convincing to switch from paste to powder for dental care and a much less viscous shampoo. I took it upon myself to research things I could grow for these purposes, including soap wort and comfrey and wild sage – to name a few. I read books and talked to people learning methods of natural beauty care from Bhutan and India and Japan, old Roman bathing techniques, old school traditions. I put these ideas into practice, trying things out and honing my techniques. I’ve written a number of articles about my findings.

Now I’m teaching a class with Oakland’s Urban Institute of Sustainability. Come join us this Sunday, Oct. 23, and learn how to make two liquid soap bases – castille and soapwort, and also my recipe for homemade toothpaste. We’ll learn how to grow the necessary plants, how and when to harvest them, how to process them and blend them for optimal results. (Because of a date change there are still a couple spots left!) More about the class and others I teach here.

Hope to see you there!