Homemade Shampoo

Your ultimate guide to homemade shampoo! Here are ten easy recipes you can use to find the perfect formula for your hair.

The benefits are that you can use all natural ingredients, avoid all of the fillers and irritants commercial makers use, scent it any way you want, and customize it to suit your hair's needs.
What more do I need to say?

I love my homemade shampoo. It smells great and leaves my hair feeling light and soft.

_{for those of you who are following my "made by me" thread, this is my first gift to give!}

Step 1 BASIC

For normal hair, or as a base to add your own scents, use

• ¹/₄ cup distilled water
• ¹/₄ cup liquid Castile Soap - I use unscented, but you can choose your favorite
• ¹/₂ teaspoon jojoba, grapeseed, or other light vegetable oil

Mix together all the ingredients. Store in a bottle. Shake before use.
This mixture isn't as thick as commercial shampoos - you'll need to just tilt the bottle over your head.
I am really impressed with how much lather I get from it though!

Comments

[rocketboyroger]

Firstly, thanks for this instructable scoochmaroo, it's been very eye-opening for me :) Secondly, I have a question about the water...do you know if it's OK to use deionised water instead of distilled? I bought a big container of deionised after a shop assistant assured me they were the same, only to get home and google it to find that actually, they are slightly different. Do you have any idea if it will do the job? Cheers R

[scoochmaroo]

De-ionized water is great. Go for it!

[rocketboyroger]

Excellent! Thanks for letting me know :D

[rocketboyroger]

...also, do you think this is suitable for using as hand wash...after all, it's got the tea tree oil's antiseptic qualities :)

[scoochmaroo]

I use this as my everything wash. Tea tree oil is great for my acne-prone skin!

[rocketboyroger]

That's brilliant! I am planning to use it the same way (I've just refilled all my hand wash dispensers and shower gel bottle with a batch) It just smells so damn nice :D Thanks again

[thekinkyrivet]

I do not know if someone else has made this comment but if you would like to thicken up the shampoo so it is not quite so runny you can add 1/4 tsp. of xanthum gum powder that you can get from a local health food store to every cup of the shampoo. It will thicken up quite nicely the direction on the package normally say 1/2 tsp per cup but that makes it really thick start out at 1/4 and go up from there if you feel the need. I've been using it for years to double bottles of commercial body soaps and it does not leave a film or residue. Hope it helps

[espohranderson]

I've tried homemade shampoos before (worked alright but smelled awful --I am excited about these ones!) and what I found effective was to store it in a spray bottle rather than a jar. I would mist it over my head and then massage it into a lather. Pouring it on always ended up with using too much!

[scoochmaroo]

That is a brilliant suggestion!

[SaraNasir]

my hair really dry... please tell me a shampoo that cleanses n makes my hair silk n shiny too ...:/

[enticement]

Oh, I forgot a part. In cooking, baking soda is used with something acidic like yogurt or milk, and releases carbon dioxide. Do you know what that does to the hair? I can't find anything about that on the internet.

[Micasaloca]

Here is the website that actually was where I originally found how to make shampoo:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/how-to-make-your-own-shampoo/

[LindsayOctober]

I see that xanthum gum powder can be used to thicken this up a bit.... Where can I buy this? Or, is there anything else that can be used to thicken this mixture?

[Micasaloca]

www.nuts.com has xanthum gum powder. I just bought some a few minutes ago. You can use it to thicken edible items as well, like dressings.

[ybedull]

Whole foods store =)

[lekuhn]

I love the idea of being able to make my own shampoo and conditioner, Thank You!!!
I made the basic shampoo and my daughter used it and it left her hair greasy. What went wrong? I used Dr. Bronner's unscented castile soap, which already has oil in it. (then followed the rest of the directions) Is there another kind of castile oil I should be using?

PLEASE HELP!!
Thank You
Lori

[maurisue]

Has anyone tried this in an area with very hard water? I have super hard water and have found castile soap as a shampoo isn't the best here. Maybe the distilled water and the oil will make a difference?

p.s. great ideas, I'm always looking for new things to try. http://goincrunchy.blogspot.com/

[Ikadeo]

Will I need to use conditioner with this shampoo?

[Aamir143]

hi friends .. please can any one tell me the real shampoo all ingredients can any one help me here better thanks mail me ...

[angeladesouza]

I am currently experimenting with all sorts of natural alternatives - I would love to hear your ideas here http://kingsdaughters21.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/natures-way.html.

[The Rambler]

This is awesome. I really like the breakdown of types of shampoo for desired results. My wife has made deodorant using coconut oil and various other ingredients and we've talked about doing toothpaste but we haven't tried shampoo yet. I'm definitely going to have to try some of these.

[ybedull]

I would definitely try toothpaste ;) And tell her to get on Pinterest. I have found recipes for homemade laundry detergent, homemade bar soap, homemade dish detergent, homemade conditioner, homemade shampoo, Homemade Oil Cleansing method (you will never use another face cleanser ever ;) and homemade toothpaste ALL of which I love! Here is my blog, "if" she would like she can go on there and click on my "follow me on pinterest" button and I have all of these fab recipes under my "going green" board. If she doesn't have a Pinterest you are welcome to send me a message with her email address and I can email her an invite. I love all of this great stuff I have found on there ;) http://autismspuzzle.blogspot.com/

[The Rambler]

She uses Pinterest, but I think she uses it for a lot of home decor type stuff. I'll definitely have to pass this on to her. Thanks.

[Alanna08]

Hello :) I have made this shampoo and I really like it except that I find that it still leaves my hair a bit oily, especially near the roots. I was wondering if you knew of anything to add to it to remove this excess oil? Thank you!!!

[ybedull]

Hi Alanna, you can actually add about a tsp of baking soda to the mix and shake. That should do it ;)

[janewils]

Does anyone know the Australian equivalent of liquid castile soap please?

[Chenea]

I'm In Brisbane and I bought liquid castile soap from the health food shop.

[enticement]

I've seen people using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) as a shampoo. As a hairstylist, this worries me because we were taught that hair is made of keratin, which is made from amino acids. Hair should be around 4.5 on the acid scale. Water is 7, so when hair is wet, it is, on average 5.5 on the acid scale. Sodium bicarbonate can be anywhere from 6.3 to 8, given my research, so that would make the hair more alkaline instead of acidic. Over time, could this alkaline change damage disulfide bonds in the hair?

Also, I have seen people using sodium hydroxide in shampoos. Not only is it poisonous, but it is also the same chemical used in permanent straightening, usually on African American hair.

What do you think about this? Are these diluted enough that they wouldn't provide a problem over time or is it better to go with a store-bought shampoo which has a lower ph to prevent hair breakage?

[oldermommy]

could you add glycerine to "thicken" it up?

[scoochmaroo]

You can use glycerin. However, unless the humidity of air is over 65%, glycerin draws moisture from the lower layers of the skin and holds it on the surface, drying the skin from the inside out. Obviously, over time, this could cause some negative results. Another user has suggested xantham gum as a natural thickener.

[DeliciousMystic]

arrowroot might work as well

[moni01960]

Isnt that a sugar?

[thalden]

No, it is a lipid like wax

[dllozo]

Wondering if I'm being overly-nervous about using tea tree oil? I already use it daily in my face wash and I've added some to witch hazel as a daily toner/astringent. However I worry about using it was a body wash/shampoo since I've read that it's toxic to cats. Do you think I need to worry at such a low concentration? Thank you so much for this post - really helping me in my quest to reduce waste!

[DeliciousMystic]

most essential oils are toxic to pets.. and some to humans.. peppermint can kill you if you ingest as little as a teaspoon. It is just very concentrated. I don't think you will cause any problems in such a low concentration, but i'm not sure.. What I would be more concerned about as far as your own health is concerned, is that tea tree is a very strong anti-bacterial, and the main reason you never use tea tree for internal uses is that it will destroy your intestinal flora, and other "good bacteria". Typically, for this reason, sustained, regular use of tree is is avoided, because even our externals need symbiotic bacteria to keep us healthy, and that as I understand it, the oils and it's anti-bacterial properties can either penetrate your skin, if subjected to it enough, or otherwise upset the balance of your symbiotic micro-organisms. So, they say to limit the use of tea tree oil, so as not to cause your systems to become unbalanced.. oh!, and i think the main concern with the cats would be them drinking the water in the bottom of the tub, which would have the tea tree residue in it, or rubbing on you while you were still wet with it, and then cleaning themselves.. So, at least the cat concerns could be minimized by keeping them away from it. All of that said, I sue tea tree oil for various things when needed, and I have cats and neither of them has shown any symptoms over the last few years that I would attribute to contact with tea tree.. hope that helps

[madeleine914]

Thanks for the instructions! Quick q: can I use olive oil versus jojoba oil? How much of a difference will that make?

[DeliciousMystic]

a better substitution for the jojoba oil would be grapeseed oil. It is really light and won't clog pores or cause your skin to break-out. It is suitable for any skin or scalp type, is easy to find, and useful in many homemade conditioners and lotions..

[n5vwy]

extra light olive oil works great! Give it a try. There is no odor to deal with.

[Guzzii]

When you are using your natural shampoos, are you also using a conditioner, or is the shampoo fine on it's own? Thanks!

[DeliciousMystic]

I make a hair rinse from apple cider vinegar diluted with a tea i make with sage and rosemary, good for dark and greying hair. about 3x more tea than AVC. It works as an excellent conditioner, helps to balance the ph of the scalp, and has completely eradicated folliculitus that I had fought with for over ten years.. I don't have a link handy, but there are many webpages with variations of the rinse, with lists of which herbs work best with which hair, red, blonde, black, oily, dry, thick, thin, etc.