Make Shampoo at Home

When you make shampoo at home rather than purchase, you can avoid damaging your hair with harsh, synthetic ingredients often found in many commercially available shampoos.

Two of these common chemical ingredients, sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate, are added to shampoo mixes because they are cheap foaming agents.

Thinking that soaps which do not produce lather and foam are ineffective cleansers, consumers would probably not purchase a shampoo that feels like plain water when rubbed into hair. This is why these two chemical foaming agents are part of the long ingredient list of many popular shampoos.

In addition, these two ingredients have been tested in clinical trials, with findings clearly indicating a direct association with hair follicle, skin and occasionally eye damage.

Cleaning substances containing sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate have been connected with instances of scalp irritation, allergic reactions such as swelling and extremely dry, fuzzy hair according to the FDA.

Sometimes the best skincare products are not bought on a store. People with sensitive skin often make shampoo specifically to avoid these two "foaming" agents.

Commercial Shampoo Harmful Ingredients

Other common shampoo ingredients to avoid are:

• Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate—another harsh "foaming" agent
• TEA Lauryl Sulfate
• Selenium Sulfide and sulfur (mainly used in dandruff shampoo)
• Alkyl Sodium Sulfate

Cheaper shampoo brands such as VO5 and Suave almost always use some of these ingredients. Even expensive brands like Pantene manage to sneak in some of this drying chemical soap just to reassure consumers that it is indeed cleaning your hair by generating a mountain of soap bubbles.

Side Effects of Commercial Shampoos

Most people continue to use commercial shampoos rather than make shampoo at home from natural ingredients, because it is not producing any noticeable irritating side effects. However, if you suffer from consistently dry and frizzy hair, flaky scalp or mysterious rashes, it may be due to the ingredients in your shampoo.

Natural Ingredients in Homemade Shampoo

As a rule, you use these basic ingredients to make shampoo at home:

• Distilled water: contains no impurities, unlike tap water
• Herbs: for darker hair use rosemary; for lighter hair use chamomile; for oily hair, use sage
• Castile soap: what we call soap based on olive oil that originated in Castile, Spain

• Essential Oils: such as peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender or citrus - makes hair smell wonderful and also makes it more manageable

After you make shampoo from these and other ingredients, pour the shampoo into old, rinsed out bottles marked "oily hair" and "dry hair" so you know which one to use according to what your hair needs.

Shampoo Recipes for Dry Hair

A good homemade shampoo to use in the winter when cold, dry air is impacting both hair and skin, will include:

• 1 cup of distilled water
• 1/3 cup of Castile soap
• 2 Tbsp of avocado oil
• 1/2 Tbsp of rosemary, sage, or ginger

Steep the herbs in boiling water for about 30 minutes before pouring avocado oil and Castile soap into the herbal tea.

Oatmeal Shampoo for Dry Hair

• 2 cups of boiled distilled water
• 1/2 cup of oats
• 10 drops of lavender essential oil
• 10 drops of rosemary essential oil

To make shampoo for flyaway hair, pour boiling water into the oatmeal and let sit for about 15 minutes. Using a coffee filter, strain excess water from the oatmeal mixture, adding the essential oils to the oatmeal water.

After the mixture has cooled, carefully pour the liquid onto your scalp and massage it into the rest of your hair. Leave it on for about 20 minutes, then pat dry. If your scalp was itchy before this treatment, it won't be after your scalp absorbs the soothing ability of the essential oils.

Shampoo for Oily Hair

• 1 cup of distilled water
• 1/3 cup of liquid Castile soap or flakes
• 2 Tbsp of Vitamin E oil
• 1/2 Tbsp of sage
• 1/2 Tbsp of rosemary

Steep the sage in boiling water for 30 minutes, then blend with Castile soap and tea tree oil. Add the essential oils last.

Other DIY Shampoo Ingredients

For homemade shampoo intended for oily hair, these herbs work well, also:

• lemon balm
• lemongrass
• thyme
• peppermint
• parsley
• spearmint
• lavender

When you make shampoo at home, remember that since you won't be using any preservatives in these mixtures, you should use them within ten days of mixing them. In addition, keeping natural shampoos in containers other than old shampoo bottles may help prevent your homemade shampoos from losing their effectiveness for up to several weeks.

Also, remember that these shampoos are not going to create a mass of bubbles on your head, because they do not contain any of those harsh, soaping agents. Don't worry, your hair is receiving a much better cleansing treatment than the one you used to give it.