DIY Baby Wipes
(or "Personal Cleansing Wipes", if you'd rather)
Storebought
baby wipes are expensive for what they are, and they're full of nasty
chemicals that can irritate a baby's booty. Also, to us, they
tend to smell pretty weird. Here's how to make lovely-smelling,
skin-loving wipes for yourself! They work nicely, feel luxurious
and they're roughly 6 times cheaper than the commercial version, even
when you factor in the tea tree oil. Since using them, James hasn't had even the slightest bit of diaper rash.
Ingredients:
2 old wipes containers
One roll of Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels (don't use any other brand. Just trust, OK?)
2 1/2 cups of water
2/3 cup witch hazel, a mild natural cleanser and skin toner
4 tsp vegetable glycerin, a natural humectant to help moisturize
3 tsp castile soap concentrate (we use Dr. Bronner's lavender version), for cleansing and scent
6 drops tea tree oil, a powerful natural antiseptic and antifungal agent (smells nice, too)
To Begin:
Start with your paper towels. If your old wipes containers are
the type that held a cylindrical roll of wipes, lay the roll down and
slice it in half with a serrated knife, electric carver, or if want to
be really efficient, a table saw. If your wipes containers are
the kind that held a pile of folded up wipes, tear off each individual
towel, fold it up in three folds, like a business letter, and divide
the folded towels into two equal piles.
Heat up the water so it's warmish-hot. This will help all the
other ingredients blend together better. Then add in all the
other ingredients and swish the mixture around with a spoon to blend it.
For the cylinder-style wipes containers, place your two half-rolls into
each container and pour the liquid mixture in equal parts over each
one. Give the wipes time to evenly absorb the liquid (it will
slowly seep in to soak the whole roll in an hour or two)
For the trunk-style containers, you'll find that your pile of folded
towels is too fluffy to fit in the containers at first. You can
either weight them down with a few books for a couple of hours to
squish them down, or pour 1 1/2 cups of the liquid mixture into each
container, place in the towels, squash it shut, and tape or weight it
shut for a while until the towels absorb the liquid and sink down.
To save yourself some trouble, you can prepare several rolls' worth of
paper towels at a time, and keep a corresponding amount of pre-mixed
solution on hand so you can slap together a quick batch or two when you
run out. This is better than storing the wipes already wet, since
the towels could degrade if allowed to sit wet for too long. That
said, we've had a batch sit for about 3 weeks before using, and it was
fine.
Now clean that poopy heiner!