Whether for environmental and health concerns, to save money or for pure pleasure, there are plenty of reasons for wanting to get rid of commercial products. With Stir-Household, the founders of Mauvaises Herbes encourage people to reconnect with traditional know-how in order to gain autonomy.
On this weekday morning, the doorbell does not ring in the green lair on Avenue Saint-Hubert. For fans of home cooking, the Les Mauvaises Herbes boutique is an Ali Baba cave. Clays, butters, oils, herbs and unique ingredients: here you will find everything you need to make your own body care or home care products.
In two hours, we will see a strictly female traffic. The brand, first revealed through its blog Les Trappeuses, also wishes to expand its audience with this new book intended for the making of household products, three years after the success of its first book, Flower pots, dedicated to home cosmetics.
“Cleaning is everyone’s business,” says Marie Beaupré, one of the three weeds behind this project which began on a voluntary basis in 2014, before its authors – a biologist and two archaeologists – choose to make a career out of it to meet the growing popularity of an alternative lifestyle and the demands of the community that has grafted onto their outlook. The brand now has an online store in addition to its storefront.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The former Trappers (Audrey Woods, Marie Beaupré and Mariane Gaudreau), co-founders of the Les Mauvaises Herbes boutique.
Go back to base
“Our approach is simple, non-guilty, and we’ve adopted a tone that doesn’t take itself seriously. I think that’s what pleases, ”Judge Audrey Woods. It is moreover with this proven formula that the authors approached their last work, without trying to bleach the tone which remains Quebecois in its expressions and its references, despite that it is also intended for abroad.
“This book is one of common sense,” describes Marie Beaupré. We didn’t want an endless list of ingredients, but we often forgot this simplicity under the weight of marketing, she said, adding that the issue is particularly delicate in times of COVID-19. If no one is sick at home and you don’t have to clean a surface on which you have cut meat, do you really need to disinfect all the surfaces in the house ”? Water and soap are used to do most of the basic cleaning, she recalls.
With soap, sanitizer, scouring agent, lime acid, and bleach oxidizer, you can get by with quite a bit of everything in the house.
Marie Beaupré, co-founder of Mauvaises Herbes
“We could have presented our essentials and the book would have ended there,” she adds. But we decided to offer a larger number of recipes based on household habits. If you like cleaning your furniture with Pledge, you will find something to satisfy you. ”
Popular commercial products indeed find their eco-friendly equivalents in this generous recipe book, sometimes so much that it is difficult to know which way to turn. However, several compositions are intended for occasional tasks, such as cleaning the oven or tiling joints, and will surely prove useful when the time is right.
“Not just a cookbook”
The reader might be tempted to skip the first few chapters to go straight to the recipes. However, it is in this section of the book that we learn to master the chemical principles that explain the action of the ingredients and the energies necessary to effectively overcome all types of dirt. Thus, we understand why, for example, the vinegar added to the soaped water ends up canceling the detergent power of the soap or how the baking soda and the vinegar interact to produce a salt water ultimately ineffective in cleaning the bowl or unclogging the pipes.
“A lot of recipes are circulating on the web, but many contain inconsistencies. If it works, it’s just that the person rubs ”, observes Mme Woods. Mechanical energy is certainly a significant factor in dislodging dirt. For maximum efficiency, add thermal energy – heat – and a chemical ingredient.
“The objective is that readers understand the usefulness of the ingredients and that they manage to substitute them for each other to possibly make their own compositions according to their needs and their tastes”, summarizes Mariane. Gaudreau. We thus develop autonomy according to our cleaning needs or our living environment.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Remue-Ménage, homemade household products, by Marie Beaupré, Mariane Gaudreau and Audrey Woods, Les éditions de l’Homme, 2021.
Our opinion
Most of the formulas offered in Stir-Household contain no more than five ingredients and are as easy to make as a beginner’s recipe. Olive oil and white vinegar alone make the stainless steel shine. Peroxide detaches white textiles more effectively than specialty commercial products, it is found.
The longest will probably be to obtain all the ingredients necessary for the preparation of certain formulas. A visit to a store specializing in natural products will be necessary to get your hands on sodium percarbonate, sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) or sodium coco sulfate (SCS), to name the most complex. Once equipped with the basic ingredients, however, you can make most of the recipes presented in the book.
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PHOTO HYACINTHE MORIN
Several formulas are as easy to make as a beginner’s recipe.
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PHOTO HYACINTHE MORIN
“Taking care of your home is also a way of taking care of yourself,” says Marie Beaupré.
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PHOTO HYACINTHE MORIN
To the recipes of household products are added mixtures contributing to the well-being at home, such as soothing mists or scented candles.
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We tested five of them, identified as essential. None has to envy commercial products in terms of efficiency. Window and Mirror Cleaner does the job as well as a certain blue agent. This is also the case with the All-Purpose Cleanser, which has been enhanced with essential oils of citrus and mint. The Three Soda Miracle Powder is highly efficient in the bowl and to loosen the bottoms of saucepans. As for the Dish Cake, it produces a generous foam and makes an otherwise daunting task pleasant. Only the Versatile Scouring Cream, presented as an alternative to a popular commercial formula, deserves a caveat, having produced a paste rather than a cream.
We already find ourselves wanting to make other mixtures, despite a desire to simplify our routine. There is a real satisfaction in doing things yourself and in gaining in autonomy, assure Les Mauvaises Herbes, who convince us without much difficulty.
6260, rue Saint-Hubert, Montreal
Visit the Mauvaises Herbes website
Glass and mirror cleaner recipe
PHOTO JACINTHE MORIN, PROVIDED BY EDITIONS DE L’HOMME
To clean mirrors and windows, a clever mixture of alcohol, vinegar and a magic ingredient: arrowroot starch.
The addition of alcohol and arrowroot starch to vinegar and water allows this cleaner to remove traces of grease on mirrors, screens, glass ceramic and stainless steel, and to shine them as efficiently as its off-the-shelf counterpart, at a fraction of the cost.
Makes about 500 ml
Ingredients
- 190 ml (¾ cup) or 150 g of 70% pure isopropyl alcohol
- 125 ml (½ cup) or 122 g of pure vinegar
- 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Or 9 g arrowroot starch
- 190 ml (¾ cup) or 190 g warm boiled water
- 500ml sterile spray bottle
Preperation
Pour all the ingredients into the spray bottle. Close and shake to disperse the starch well.
Shake vigorously before each use. If the surface to be cleaned is very dirty, run a rag soaked in hot water first to remove most of the dirt. Spray on the cleaner, rub and wipe dry with a clean cloth.