Beachbunny

redfish44, on 2010-11-09 10:17:12, said:

You need to be wary of lemon and/or lime juice.  You will not know you are photosensitive until you try it and then it's too late.
I had lime on my hands, just from cooking (not on my sensitive face even) I was outside less than ten minutes on
a cloudy day and I had burns on my hands.  Even after the blistering disappeared I had red marks on my hands for at least six months.

Beachbunny

While looking for info on another topic I ran across this topic.  What started my dilemma with greying whites was a front loading washer in a house
we were staying in in BKK.  It would spin a couple a times in either direction and then just let the clothes sit in the "water saving" minimal amount of dirty water.  yuck!  On top of that the shortest wash cycle was 60 minutes.

Anyway, after moving in our new house I had my own washing machine but still those pesky grey whites. (deep well water) By accident, when soaking a white plastic bucket, I found that bleach was actually turning the water yellow. Many whites now say do not use chlorine bleach, I quit using it as it seemed that chlorine bleach actually made those clothes REALLY grey.  

After trying almost every brand of washing machine detergent, I found that Attack in HOT water with Attack oxygen additive works very well at keeping hubby's t-shirts very white.  I just run on the pre-soak cycle before the main wash and even his filthy socks come out white.   IMO the oxygen additives work way better than bleach....also, Haiter bleach has a foaming agent which I wasn't especially fond of....when I did use bleach for household etc.  (Just a side note,if you build a house and have a new well and disinfect the water lines etc, use Clorox brand bleach as there is no foaming agent.)

Beachbunny

I made and sold soap in the states and wanted to continue making soap for myself over here, but for the small soap maker it is easier to buy what I need in the U.S. than here.  For one thing small soap makers in it for the business are not sharers of information like they are in the U.S.  They are afraid of competition.

That being said you can buy coconut oil in bottles at Lemon Green Farms in BKK...1 litre recently went up to 175 baht...so although it is
not the hydrogenized coconut oil (white hard melting points of 72 degrees F or 90 degrees F) and is not virgin coconut oil, it is supposedly
organic with a slight coconut smell.  If you buy it I recommend putting in the frig as the heat here WILL make it go off.

Sunflower oil you can buy anywhere...Tesco, Makro, Big C.  They also have safflower oil, but the price is prohibitive of using much in your recipe.
Olive oil is my preferred largest percentage base oil, but it is quite expensive over here too.  I am now going to try a recipe with mostly Palm oil
and coconut oil with a couple ounces each of good expensive oils or butters...ex: olive, grape seed, coco butter.  You can get fragrance oils in china town in BKK, but be careful they do not contain alcohol.  You can also get some essential oils.  They used to have a thai essential oil store online, but they are no more as their prices were very high.  I don't know where you are from but if from the states and have someone coming over for a visit there are two main suppliers I use in the U.S. for fo and eos that are very resonable.  send me an PM if interested.

Lye you can get at any hardware store even small village hardware....soda fai.....I have yet to see potassium hydroxide for making liquid soaps.
or Palm Kernel Oil, or Palm stearic which both make a hard bar of soap.

Hope this helps a bit.

Beachbunny
Nong Jub Tao

the thing is the treatment and the special shampoo you have to use are so dirt cheap on amazon.....if you have someone
to bring it to you it's worth a shot.  Even if it lasts only a month or so IMO, compared to the cost of the salon treatments.

Also, the shampoo is sulfate free, which is what curly heads should be using to begin with.......or so I've read/heard.

Oh well, each to their own....I think it's worth a try, just don't know when someone will be coming my way from the states.

Beachbunny

sbk, on 2010-03-22 21:55:51, said:

I've been checking out what is called the Brazilian blowout on http://www.naturally...azilian-blowout   They say this one doesn't smell bad at all but actually has a pleasant smell.  What I like about it is that if you want you can have straight hair, or as in my case I just want to relax the curl a bit.  It's also supposed to make it softer and smoother....Now all I need is someone that actually knows how to cut curly hair and has this product. It cost between $250-450 in the states.....I'm hoping if it's available it's way cheaper than that.  

Beachbunny