Tuesday 20 January 2015

Experiments with shampoo

Every so often I read the list of ingredients on the back of my bottle of shop-bought shampoo and heave a big sigh! Further reading on a lot of these ingredients has made me firmly resolved to make my own. I have no intention of making this commercially but I shall be happy when I can create a natural product that cleans my hair, keeps it shiny, smells good and doesn't leave me with a mass of tangles.

Last year I started to experiment. Initially I came up with a product that left my hair really clean and felt great on the scalp. The one big drawback was that it didn't condition the hair and that made it hard to deal with.

However, not to be defeated I have tried again and this time with much greater success. In fact I feel that I have made a product that is really pretty good and may save me having to buy commercial shampoo ever again.

Recently I read about a group of people with the unfortunate name of 'No Poo-ers'! These brave people have completely abandoned the use of shampoo and claim that their hair is now so much better as the hair's natural balance of oils has been restored leaving lustrous, shiny locks.

Now, whilst I'm not prepared to give up shampoo completely I'm hopeful that this move to hair cleaner with no potentially dangerous or controversial ingredients is a big step in the right direction

This is a recipe that is very simple to make and all the ingredients are easily obtainable. I'm sharing this with you.



Recipe for Homemade Shampoo

85g liquid castile soap (a natural liquid soap with no surfectants)
2g avocado oil
3g d-panthenol (pro vitamin B5)
8 drops essential oil of choice*

* I used 4 drops rosemary and 4 drops lemon myrtle essential oil. Lemon Myrtle is perhaps more difficult and more expensive to get hold of so lemon essential oil will work just as well. Mix well and pour into suitable bottle. Remember to shake well before use.

Liquid castile soap is readily available on many websites. d-panthenol similarly, although you may need to find a specialist skin care ingredient supplier.

In my next batch I plan to substitute wonderful Argan oil for the avocado oil so I'll add a note to this blog to report results.