DIY Customizable Shampoo

[Luminaria]

Hi All,
I'm curious about making my own shampoo using diluted dish detergent. I noticed that dish detergent has the same or similar surfactants as shampoo. I was thinking of using a "natural," fragrance-free dish detergent with very few ingredients. I would dilute the dish detergent with distilled water to make it less harsh. Then I would add ingredients that benefit my hair. Here is an example:


Sample Shampoo Recipe:
-Diluted dish detergent
-Herbs (ex: rosemary)
-Oil(s)(ex: coconut oil)
-Aloe vera juice
-Protein (ex: n/a)
-Spice (ex: cinnamon)
-Humectants (ex: honey, glycerin)
-Fragrance (ex: lavender essential oil)*
*Optional


As you can see, there are many possible combinations of ingredients. You can tailor it to fit your current hair needs. You can also avoid ingredients that you dislike.
Has anyone used dish detergent as shampoo before? What dilution ratio did you use? How were your results? If you have used it for awhile, how did it affect your hair and scalp over time?

[meteor]

You can buy shampoo base and conditioner base online and add specific ingredients you want. That seems like a safer option, to be honest. I think it's a good approach for those people who have multiple allergies and have problems with commercially available hair products.

A little warning: mixology from scratch gets quite expensive, since there are multiple materials to acquire, and formulation is not that easy even for chemists, even in terms of achieving spreadable, pleasant, consistent texture, not to mention the exact functionality you want - there is quite a lot of experimentation involved... I think it's a lot cheaper to simply search and experiment with different commercially available products by ingredients lists instead. :flower:

I think SwiftCraftyMonkey is a nice blog for very simple, basic formulations: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2010/05/shampoo-instructions-for-making-shampoo.html

[Nadine <3]

never with dish soap, but I've used a basic, harsh shampoo dilutes with oils and whatnot added and that worked out well. I just got lazy about it, not I just use shampoo straight from the bottle and call it a day.

[meteor]

^ Oh yes, I've added stuff to my shampoo, too. :) That's easy: sometimes, a drop of tea tree oil or neem oil... or a bit of honey or aloe... or some herbal tea/rinse... It works OK.
If that's the route you choose to take, just remember to mix this in a separate bottle, just enough for one or 2 uses (since the shampoo's preservatives are being diluted) and add a bunch of water. Diluting shampoo with water makes it easier to apply on thick hair, for example.

[mz_butterfly]

I'd be cautious of dish detergent. It's much harsher than shampoo because it's meant to remove heavy duty grease. I'd just dilute shampoo and add in some extras. :) You don't want to end up with dried out hair, then you will be in a jam.

[Robi-Bird]

Dish detergent is harsh, no matter how diluted these are not the ideal surfactants for hair. If you want to make your own shampoo, it is not really difficult and the supplies aren't hard to buy. Check out http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca she has tons of excellent recipes, research and everything.