Homemade Shampoo

After doing some research online on this subject I decided to make a tutorial for my friends and family on making shampoo at home.  This is actually my first real tutorial since they are pretty difficult to write and can be quite lengthy.  Hope you can enjoy this and maybe even use it some day.

About a year ago I started researching how to make my own shampoo.  I even bought some Castille soap that has been sitting in my house doing nothing for about a year.  Today, I finally decided to do something about it.  And now I'm going to blog about it to your benefit. 

Step 1 in making homemade shampoo involves doing all sorts of online research to find the easiest and most appropriate recipe to get what you want.  You may be able to skip this step if you like my post.  I found a very simple recipe:

1/4 cup liquid Castille soap
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp olive oil

Pour them all together and shake vigorously. 

Step 2: Buy ingredients.  This recipe is not the cheapest method to make homemade shampoo.  The cheapest method is to use baking soda and water.  About 2 years ago I tried this out and I liked it.  It seemed to make my hair fuller I didn't need to use conditioner at all.  Another cheaper method is to buy Castille soap in bar form, but then you have to shave/grate it and boil it with water until the flakes dissolve.  That was too much work for me.  Remember to also buy a container to put your concoction into.  I know (because of the Internet) that 1/4 cup is equal to 2 ounces.  So my final shampoo using this recipe would be 4 ounces, but I wanted something a little bigger because I wanted to be able to shake it up a little.  As you know, water and oil don't mix, so shaking is necessary, apparently every time you use it.  I took a chance with my bottle because if it topples over there is no lid, so there goes all my shampoo. 

Step 3: Combine ingredients.  After extensive research I decided not to use olive oil in my shampoo.  Some recipes said I could use essential oils instead.  Some said that I could use the olive oil and still add essential oils (the essential oil gives your shampoo flavor).  My research also indicated that in hard water (which we have) using too much oil can leave a filmy residue on your hair after washing.  I thought I would eliminate that right away. 

Step 4: Use the shampoo for about three weeks so that your hair can get used to the natural ingredients instead of the chemical products contained in store-bought shampoo.  You only have to use about a teaspoon.  I have not done this but I'll probably write an update about it later.  There is also apparently some trial and error involved in this depending on what type of hair you have and what kind of results you want.

Now, some of you may be asking why I would use homemade shampoo when shampoo comes pretty cheap and easy in the store.  My main reason is because I feel like doing it.  Someone gave me some homemade shampoo when I was in Norway and I loved it.  My secondary reason is to stop using so many chemicals when it comes to my body.  It is hard to avoid chemicals, but this seems like a good way to do so.  Here is a comparison of ingredients:

water, sodium laurel sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betain, pearl extract, zea mays (corn) silk extract, passiflora luarifolia flower extract, passiflora incarnata flower extract, passiflora quadrangularis flower extract fragrance, sodium citrate, sodium xylenesulfonate, sodium chloride, citric acid, hydroxyproopyl methylcellulose, dosium benzoate tetrasodium edta, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, yellow 10, yellow 5

water, organic coconut oil, potassium hydroxide, organic olive oil, organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid, tocopherol, essential oil (I used citrus lemon).

I like the ingredient list that I can understand.  Who even knows what all that other stuff is?  Who even came up with names for those ingredients anyway?  We'll see which one is the keeper.  I'll keep you posted.