Q. I have Jo’s book The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book and experiment with making my own moisturising oils. I wondered if you have any tips on cleaning glass bottles in between fillings? I wash and then soak in hot/boiling water but this doesn’t remove all oil residues which hold on to droplets of water and do not budge! Is there a way to clean them more effectively or is this even necessary.
A. We have just two words for you:  bottle brushes.  You can get them in hardware stores, in different sizes (and www.lakeland.co.uk also have some bottle brushes and ‘home spout brushes, if you click here), and they’re invaluable for this task.  Put a generous squirt of washing-up liquid on the brush, having first chosen the right size for your task.  Wiggle around.  Rinse, rinse, rinse with hot water.  The bottles should then be crystal clear and squeaky-clean, and can be dried on a very low heat in the oven or left on a radiator to dry with a gentle heat from beneath.  PS It works for flower vases too, which can be demons to clean…

• Lakeland Home Spout Brushes, £2.99 at www.lakeland.co.uk – buy here