Thursday 16 April 2009

How to - make homemade shampoo

Have you ever read the ingredients list on the back of your shampoo bottle? Laying in the bath I often scan the bottle and am amazed how I can't even pronounce half of the stuff in the bottle!!!
Over the Easter holiday I have been trying out a few homemade shampoo recipes, this seems to be the one with the best results so far......
Step one - make a liquid soap!

  • Take 1 4oz bar of natural soap and grate it


  • Pour 4 cups of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then pour in grated soap and stir until melted.
  • Leave to cool.

Step Two - make a herbal infusion

Select herbs for fragrance or beneficial properties. For my soap I have used 2oz of lavander. *Herbs can also be substituted for a suitable herbal teabag.

Mix the herbs in a lidded jar. Boil 2 cups of water. Add 3 heaped tablespoons of the mixed herbs into the boiling water. Remove from heat and let infuse for 30 mins. When cool strain the herbal mixture into a bowl.

Make the shampoo

  • Pour 2oz of the herbal mixture and 4oz of the liquid soap into a bottle together.
  • Shake the bottle to mix
  • Shampoo is now ready to use.

After shampooing rinse hair with 1 capful of cider vinegar diluted in a glass of warm water.

Do you have any favourite recipes for shampoo?

What other products do you enjoy making at home?

6 comments:

  1. There is a small Asian tree called Sapindus mukorossi that produces "soapnuts". You can use them instead of synthetic soap. They say a few of the nuts in your washing machine can wash a load of clothes! How's that for enviro-friendliness!

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  2. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. I love your blog, and it's great to meet like minded bloggers :)

    May I post a link to this post and see if I can get any of my visitors to try the recipe and compare shampoos? It's a good thing to give up on buying chemical heavy products.

    Kim x

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  3. Prospero - yes I love Soapnuts, I use them for my laundry! I tried a tea tree shampoo last week using them but I didn't like the results (maybe the liquid soap I made wasn't strong enough) maybe someone else will have experience / tips.
    Kim - Of course you can post a link, that would be great - I'd love to hear what your readers think and compare recipes.

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  4. I enjoy reading your article about hair care for it is my passion as well.You might be interested to join my Hair Spa | Styling Party. I'll be pleased to share techniques in massage, masking and moisturizing to get your hair to where you want it to be. I bet you'll gonna enjoy it.

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  5. One of my favourite shampoo recipes is simply raw egg. Make sure you rinse with water that is not to hot or you will have cooked the egg in your hair!

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  6. Really its very interesting to have the post on the preparation of homemade herbal shampoo which is very natural in terms of keeping the hair healthy, Thanks a lot.

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