Healthy Recipes - Natural Shampoo

There are plenty of good reasons to make your own shampoo that will benefit you and the environment. On the personal side, the chemicals in most manufactured shampoos can irritate and dry out your hair and scalp, or it can cause an overproduction of oil to compensate for the dryness which leads to greasy looking hair.  Also, shampoo is expensive and making it yourself will save you money.

On the environmental side, making your own shampoo will help eliminate all of the unnecessary packaging filling the landfills, it will save massive amounts of energy in the manufacturing and shipping processes, and it will reduce the amount of chemicals and toxins in the environment.
If you would like to make your own shampoo here are several different recipes to choose from:

Just Baking Soda and Water

• 1 tablespoon of baking soda mixed well with one cup of warm water

Pour over roots of hair, work through and rinse

Follow with

• 1 oz of lemon juice OR
• apple cider vinegar diluted in about 16 oz warm water

Pour onto hair especially ends, let sit for a minute and rinse.

Basic Shampoo For normal hair - use alone or as a base to add your own scents

• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
• 1/2 teaspoon jojoba, grapeseed, lavender or other light vegetable oil

Mix together all the ingredients. Store in a bottle. Shake before use, it will be thinner than commercial shampoos.

Chamomile Shampoo

• 4 bags of Chamomile tea
• 4 tablespoons pure soap flakes
• 1 1/2 tablespoons glycerine

Let the tea bags steep in 1 1/2 cups of boiled water for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags and add the soap flakes to the remaining liquid . Let stand until the soap softens. Stir in glycerin until mixture is well blended. Pour into a bottle. Keep in a dark, cool place.

Scalp Stimulating

• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
• 2 tsp jojoba oil
• 1/8 tsp peppermint essential oil
• 1/8 tsp tea tree essential oil

Mix all ingredients, then add 1/4 cup distilled water
Store in a bottle. Apply to hair, work through, rinse well.

Shiny Hair

• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
• 2 Tbsp dried rosemary
• 2 Tbps sweet almond oil
• 1/4 t lemon essential oil

Boil distilled water, add rosemary and steep until fragrant.
Strain leaves and let cool. Mix all ingredients and add to water and stir well.
Store in a bottle. Apply to hair, work through, rinse well.

Softest hair

• Avocado
• Baking soda

Mash them together with a little bit of water to make a paste. Rinse your hair with warm water first, then apply the paste and rinse it out with cold water.

Hair Too Dry?

• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
• 1/4 cup aloe vera gel
• 1 teaspoon glycerin
• 1/4 teaspoon avocado oil or jojoba oil

Mix together all the ingredients. Store in a bottle and always shake well before using.
Apply to hair and allow to sit for a few mintues. Rinse well with cool water.