Homegrown Collective October 2015 GREENBOX Review

Homegrown Collective is one of the most fun and unique subscriptions that I know of. Each month you’ll receive a GREENBOX with everything you need to make your life a little more sustainable. It’s definitely a DIY kit and you’ll love the themes they have.

Here’s their mission statement (I love it!):

The HOMEGROWN COLLECTIVE is dedicated to providing its members with products that foster self-sufficiency and promote environmental stewardship and sustainability. Utilizing a “group buying” strategy, we pass along those savings to you. We also hope to make the act of living a little bit greener, a lot more accessible and a lot more FUN!
The Cost: $39/month plus shipping
What You Get: Receive a seasonally appropriate, professionally curated  box of products that deliver the satisfaction of living a more self-sufficient & sustainable lifestyle to your doorstep each month.

This month it’s all about making your own skincare. Everything Homegrown Collective sends will be as organic and natural as possible. I love it because it’s fun, useful and not too difficult. You don’t need a ton of time either!
I found this whole process SO interesting. I started with the DIY Antibacterial Hand Soap. It was sort of a disaster. Well, kind of. Let me just say that you should be careful when adding vegetable glycerin by making sure you actually measure it instead of guessing. I think it made my soap super gloopy. So gloopy that it won’t come out of the dispenser.

Darn it. There might be a way to salvage it, though. I’ll have to look around.

Next I made the DIY Face Wash and that turned out much better (although I probably should have waited till the mixture cooled down before shaking it.
Here’s everything I needed to make the Face Wash. I wonder if I can just slather that vitamin e all over my face just the way it is! Research is needed!

I grated the castile soap then added the shea butter and coconut oil. After that I added boiling water and stirred til everything melted.
Once it was melted, I put it in the mason jar they provided and added vitamin E oil and the correctly measured amount of glycerin. Put on the lid and shake, shake, shake!
I probably should have waited til it was cool because it got very foamy. You have an option to add essential oils but I didn’t put any in because none of the ones I have seemed good for a face.

I used a funnel to pour it into the provided pump jar but the foam really didn’t want to go in.

When I used it, it makes great foam and rinses off easily. It does have a pH that’s way too high so I didn’t use it on my face but I’m thinking if I added some citric acid (from another Homegrown Collective box!), it might help lower it.

VERDICT: This box is fantastic!! I got to make my own liquid soap (I need to practice) and I made my own homemade face wash! I still need to make the sauce for my own facial cleansing wipes, too! This is so much fun and it’s not even that hard. There is so much included that it’s not like you can’t finish a project because you’re missing something. Nope, it’s all there. Even stir sticks!

I’ve made so many fun things with Homegrown Collective. Beeswax lip balm, soap, room spray, wood butter, my own flavored balsamic vinegars… and there are a million things I haven’t made because I wasn’t getting the boxes. Seriously, for truly usable DIY, Homegrown Collective is the best.

If you would like to sign up for Homegrown Collective, you can do that here.