Passionate Homemaking

Living simply in order to give generously

Natural Hair Care: Shampoo Recipe

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In the past few months I have been weed­ing out all of our stan­dard hair and body prod­ucts in order to sim­plify and replace with more nat­ural and safe alter­na­tives. I just love having one prod­uct for most of our basic needs! This has been the main purpose…to sim­plify! I hon­estly got tired of pur­chas­ing five or more dif­fer­ent prod­ucts for our needs (shav­ing cream for me, hair gel for him, etc). Now I just buy two prod­ucts that together supply most of our needs.

Most body prod­ucts have an unend­ing list of ingre­di­ents which are impos­si­ble to pro­nounce. This alone makes me wonder what they really put in all of them. Skin Deep is a good resource to refer to in eval­u­at­ing the con­tents of your favorite products.

So we have finally nailed down what works for us in sim­pli­fy­ing our body care prod­ucts! I for­mally tried the no-​poo approach, and although that would be the ulti­mate frugal option (using baking soda & apple cider vine­gar alone), it didn’t fly too well with the hubby. I also didn’t enjoy the lack of soap­i­ness which I find nec­es­sary to really make my hair feel clean. I wanted to have a system that worked well for all of us, includ­ing the littles!

Here is our list:

- Sham­poo (recipe below) - A com­bi­na­tion of Dr. Bronner’s soap and other mainly edible ingre­di­ents this recipe not only works great as a sham­poo but also has apple cider vine­gar in it, which is a nat­ural detan­gler, thus serv­ing the pur­pose of a con­di­tioner. We use a spray bottle to apply it and it also can be used in replace­ment of a tra­di­tional bar of soap to clean the rest of your body as well as a shav­ing cream (My hus­band Aaron still uses a men’s cream as he has been a little ner­vous to shave with it him­self, but I know that other men have done so suc­cess­fully). One spray bottle serves all those needs!

Homemade Shampoo

1 c. Dr. Bronner’s organic castile liquid soap (we use Baby Mild for its ver­sa­til­ity -works for baby and us!)
2 Tbs. apple cider vine­gar
3/4 Tbs. tea tree & Vit. E oil (or just one oil only, etc.)
1/4 c. water
1 (16 oz) spray bottle or other con­tainer for application

Com­bine together and store in a spray bottle. You can also add var­i­ous fra­grances to your desire, such as laven­der, euy­calip­tus, etc. This sham­poo will be more liq­uidy than your stan­dard sham­poo, but sprays on really well. Rub­bing through your hair first works well to acti­vate the suds and than scrub­bing into scalp. Your hair will feel slightly more greasy than normal, but that is actu­ally more nat­ural anyway. Most modern sham­poos actu­ally dry out your hair, remov­ing the nat­ural oils. Plus it is two in one - sham­poo & conditioner!

- Conditioner/Hair Gel - Coconut oil works splen­didly as a nat­ural gel/defrizzer in small quan­ti­ties as well as a great leave in con­di­tioner. I use it to scrunch my curly hair to hold and manage the curls. Aaron uses it as basic hair gel as well.

We use coconut oil also as a body lotion, and in com­bi­na­tion with other ingre­di­ents for deodorant.

Read more tips for sim­pli­fy­ing in the bath­room & the won­der­ful health ben­e­fits of coconut oil!

That’s my frugal tip for the day - sim­plify and make it yourself!


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28 Responses to “Natural Hair Care: Shampoo Recipe”

  1. Andrea Says:

    Great tips - thank you!

    I have a ques­tion about using vine­gar with the Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap. I have tried to add a little bit of the soap to my all pur­pose cleaner, which con­tains vine­gar, and it always clumps up. After some trial and error, I deter­mined that it was the mix of soap and vine­gar. I don’t use much of either, and I have tried mixing the vine­gar and alter­na­tively the soap with hot water before adding the other ingre­di­ent, but it always clumps up for me. I use puri­fied water and we don’t have hard water. Have you ever come across this, and do you have any tips for it?

    Thanks so much!

    ~Andrea

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    dianna replied on August 30th, 2008:

    hey andrea - i have also tried mixing apple cider vine­gar with dr. bronner’s and had the same prob­lem - the clumps! i haven’t tried to mix it with oil yet - but maybe that helps the clumps dis­olve?
    dianna

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  2. p diddy clothing Says:

    Look­ing for­ward to try this out….

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  3. Gretchen Says:

    Thank you so much for these tips and the recipe.

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  4. Heather Says:

    This is great! Thanks for shar­ing your exper­i­ments. I always find them easily adapted to our needs as well. Please keep us posted on whether or not this works long term. I know that other sham­poos I try stop work­ing after awhile b/c it seems my hair needs a “break” from them. When I go back to the prod­uct a month or so later it is fine. Maybe the all nat­ural prod­ucts won’t cause this prob­lem though. Thank you for shar­ing all of your wisdom.

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  5. Susan Says:

    Lind­sey you are an amaz­ing girl. I would have NEVER thought about coconut oil for a leave-​in con­di­tion or gel. In my cli­mate, the mid­south it it so VERY humid most of the year and my tired, and get­ting grayer hair seems to be more frizzy and dam­aged than ever. I am going to try this. Thanks for all the good info. I am rejoic­ing with you about your baby on the way. God Bless!
    Susan

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  6. Michele @ Frugal Granola Says:

    Thanks, so much, Lind­say! :) This sounds great. That’s so funny how we posted these on the same day. This will go great with my hair conditioner/rinse recipe. You’re right- coconut oil is per­fect for thick curly hair. That’s what I use on Gen’s hair. It’s too “oily” for my straight blonde hair, though. :)

    In reply to Heather, the reason your hair needs a break, is because com­mer­cial sham­poos con­tain “wax” sub­stances that build up in your hair. Using vine­gar rinses would help with that issue. :)

    Bless­ings,
    Michele

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  7. Kate Says:

    Do you ever straighten your hair? Is so, do you ever use any­thing to ensure it doesn’t go back to curly before its time?

    [Reply]

    Lindsay replied on August 22nd, 2008:

    No, I have tried to straighten my hair once with­out suc­cess (it is so full!) I really would be ner­vous about dam­ag­ing it, and thus have really had no desire to do so again.

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  8. Abbi Says:

    Thanks for the recipe, I just might have to try it. I too tried the no-​poo approach with baking soda and vinager and it went fairly well for about 2 1/2 months but then I took a trip from MN to Iowa where it was very humid and my hair got very strange. It felt really, really thick (my hair is nat­u­rally thick but this felt like a bad build-​up!) and it looked really bad. After I got home I hoped it would get better but after a couple of days I couldn’t stand it any more and I went back to normal sham­poo. I am not sure what exactly hap­pened and I would like to go more nat­ural again.

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  9. Kate Says:

    I’ve never had a com­mer­cial sham­poo dry my hair out. Altho it would be NICE!! I have oily hair, and have to wash it every­day. If I don’t, 1. I feel gross w/o a shower, that’s a must in our home, no loving if no shower lol, nor­mally 2 show­ers a day in our home, espe­cially in the summer, w/swimming etc. 2. My hair is EXTREMELY oily. I could prob­a­bly grease a frying pan oily lol.

    I’ve never used or bought cheap sham­poo, noth­ing less than the salon stuff. I buy most of our sham­poos and stuff off Ebay. I’ve read recently (within the last 6 months or so) about people just using con­di­tioner to wash their hair. And sur­pris­ingly enough it works!

    Anyone else tried that?

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  10. Stacy Says:

    Lind­say,
    This looks great. I can’t wait to try it. Find­ing a way to take care of my hair nat­u­rally has been a great frus­tra­tion. I really appre­ci­ate you post­ing this.

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  11. Gen Rogers Says:

    Dr. Bronner’s can be diluted alot more than your recipe shows–espe­cially for men or people with thin hair! I keep 2 bot­tles (squirt-​not spray)–one with more soap for my hair; one with less soap for the boys hair and the body. The amount of oil you put in would make my hair very greasy! I only use a squirt of almond oil in mine. I don’t include ACV, but use that strictly as a rinse. I do straighten my hair occa­sion­ally and have never had a prob­lem.

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  12. Sarah Says:

    I have been look­ing for a recipe for shampoo…I wasn’t too sure about the no-​shampoo for us….but I may give this a try. You’ve got a lot of great info about nat­ural living! THanks

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  13. lil wayne clothing Says:

    I am always look­ing for nat­ural prod­ucts. Really thank­ful to your handy tips.

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  14. amey Says:

    I like your for­mula for hair because it is herbal made. Because the no side effects of the herbal sub­stance This would also has no side effects.

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  15. Jeana Says:

    We deal with aller­gies in our home, and I was excited to see this recipe! I love your site! Thanks for shar­ing your ideas!
    Jeana in Illi­nois

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  16. joolz Says:

    Does the apple cider vine­gar leave a smell in your hair at all?

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  17. hopealso (hippie dippie bébé) Says:

    So glad to dis­cover your site and your sham­poo sto­ries! I’m hungry for more simple living resources. (I’ll check out Frugal Gra­nola too).

    I’ve been mad about making my own skin care prod­ucts ever since I suc­cess­fully made my own diaper rash cream and started my series on preser­v­a­tives in skin care.

    Prob­lem is, I can’t seem to get a good sham­poo solu­tion going! We have hard water, and I just learned that Dr. Bronner’s + vine­gar is what’s caus­ing the scummy buildup that I have right now. It’s kind of ter­ri­fy­ing in fact! I have long hair, so what’s bring­ing noth­ing but soft locks to my short haired hubby and two sons is giving me a gummed up mess.

    If you or anyone post­ing here knows of a hard water alter­na­tive please let me know! Mean­while I heard that baking soda will remove the buildup so I’m going to try that. Mam­a­boo­gie in this forum post had a method that seems less harsh and inten­sive than other “no-poo” meth­ods I’ve seen online.

    Thanks for your knowl­edge!

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  18. Katie Says:

    I am so glad to have found this post! I have been trying to get away from the SLS and parabens in my sham­poo and have tried bar soap and a vine­gar rinse, but the soap I was using was still too harsh for my skin. I have been hoping to find a good way to get tea tree oil in my hair as well. I look for­ward to trying this recipe. :)

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  19. Y.W. Says:

    This sham­poo recipe is really amaz­ing! I added more dis­tilled water, since I have extremely oily hair, but this is the first castille soap-​based recipe that has worked for me (and I have tried many!). I also use baking soda once or twice a week.

    How­ever, I have been having a MAJOR prob­lem with static elec­tric­ity since I have gone off sham­poos (for the past six weeks). My hair doesn’t have the same move­ment it used to because the static keeps it kinda stuck to my head. The only rememdies I have found are using hair­spray (which I won’t do, since I’m “going natural”), or wiping the hair down with dryer sheets - which would also require me to put more chem­i­cals back into my nat­ural hair.

    I use a wide toothed comb for brush­ing, but both that and finger brush­ing only make the prob­lem worse. And my hair always looks messy because of the static. It is very frus­trat­ing! It is softer and more shiny than it has ever been, but I am not enjoy­ing the “bed head” look!

    Any sug­ges­tions, anyone? (And yes, I have tried coconut oil - great con­di­tioner, but it isn’t help­ing the static.)

    (Thanks for shar­ing your knowl­edge, Lind­say! This is a fun blog.)

    [Reply]

    Lindsay replied on September 8th, 2008:

    Have you tried coconut oil after get­ting out of the shower? I use this as described above as a nat­ural styling prod­uct. I hon­estly rarely brush my hair. I just use the sham­poo recipe and after get­ting out of the shower, I apply some coconut oil and style as desired. It works great for me!

    [Reply]

    Kendra replied on September 29th, 2008:

    I noticed the same prob­lem with static. I put a few drops of oil, like jojoba, with a drop or two of an essen­tial oil, such as gera­nium. I rubbed this on my hands and down my hair. This seems to help

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  20. Ashley Says:

    Hi Lind­say,
    I recently come across your blog and have found it so very help­ful since I’m trying to ‘go more nat­ural with body prod­ucts & foods etc. I just tried the sham­poo recipe this morn­ing and found that my hair seemed to be more dry than normal. Is it because we have hard water? Is there any­thing that you know of to add to the sham­poo to help with this? Thanks so much for all your hard work on putting every­thing together for the blog. It has encour­aged me alot.

    [Reply]

    Lindsay replied on September 26th, 2008:

    Your hair will go through some adjust­ments as you switch to this home­made vari­ety. It sounds like you may just need to try an addi­tional con­di­tioner rinse. You could add more apple cider vine­gar to the sham­poo, or you can use a sep­a­rate appli­ca­tion of apple cider vine­gar mixed with water. Another idea would be to just use a dry appli­ca­tion of coconut oil after show­er­ing.

    God bless,
    Lind­say

    [Reply]

    Sara M. replied on October 13th, 2008:

    I too expe­ri­enced this with the sham­poo after I first started trying it. I have fine, straight hair, and using an oil in my hair would prob­a­bly just make it look stringy. So I found that once I started using the apple cider vine­gar rinse after sham­poo­ing (2 tbsp ACV to just under 1 cup water), I no longer have that sticky feel­ing in my hair. I’ve also watered down the sham­poo a little bit, but may try it full strength the next time I make it. Another note is that I tried sham­poo­ing with baking soda once with the ACV rinse and after that, my hair started nor­mal­iz­ing again.

    Will your hair start feel­ing a little more oily with this sham­poo as well? I’ve noticed that it is a little more oily, and I also don’t use hair­spray any­more because it seems to weigh down my hair.

    [Reply]

    Sara M. replied on October 18th, 2008:

    I’m also dis­cov­er­ing why my hair is more oily after using this sham­poo … appar­ently we have very hard water here in the Mil­wau­kee area (and most of WI for that matter). I read some­thing yes­ter­day that real soap doesn’t rinse out as well as the the con­ven­tional sham­poos on the market these days. They are built to work with hard water, but real soaps are not. So, I’m going to try rins­ing my hair with the ACV mixed with dis­tilled water or rain­wa­ter (as this site sug­gested).

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  21. Joanna P. Says:

    I have very fine blonde hair, and have tried Dr. Bronner’s just as is for sham­poo with baking soda, and have had the static prob­lem as well. I am eager to try this recipe as I never thought of ACV for hair. I do how­ever use coconut oil as a deep con­di­toner overnight, just about a Tbsp rubbed into scalp and hair, then wash it in the morn­ing, and I use just a pea (even less at times) size amount in my hair right out of the shower. I blow dry if leav­ing it down(only about twice a week to min­i­mize damage and my elec­tric bill).

    As far a hard water is con­cerned, I use a shower filter made by Rain­shower. They also make bath balls. Great to filter out chol­rine and heavy metals. It really does make your water softer and your skin and hair much heath­lier.

    [Reply]

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