Making shampoo

[Sheryl]

After wrestling with paying the price of organic, no sulfate shampoo and going shampoo-less for a year, neither of which has made me happy, I have decided to attempt to make my own shampoo. I make my own soap anyway, so why not?

I have spent months researching the ingredients and have come up with this recipe:

Shampoo
Rooibos tea
160 ml Water (steeped with the Rooibos tea above)
408g olive oil
25g cocoa butter
42g shea butter
90 jojoba oil
63g castor oil
300g coconut oil
15 g panthenol (Vitamin B5)
180g coconut milk
241g potassium hydroxide lye

When the ground thaws I will add burdock root extract to it and probably a few other herbs from my stash.

Also, I am using potassium hydroxide lye instead of the standard sodium hydroxide crystals because it makes a soft, liquid soap that is gentle on your hair. It's what you get when you leach hard wood ashes. Potassium hydroxide is what our ancestors used to make "soft soap" years ago and it reportedly left very soft hair behind, so I am using it to make my shampoo.

Since the potassium hydroxide will make a soft soap anyway, I am using only oils, not hard fats, to make a liquid shampoo, or so the theory goes. I would be happy with anything and don't mind shampooing with a thick butter consistency, if that is what I get.

This will be my first attempt at making shampoo from scratch and I'm a little nervous about it due to the cost of the ingredients, but I have to buy shampoo of some kind anyway. I might as well bite the bullet and make it myself. I'm sure it'll make a lot and last me a long time.

I have planned to order the things in this recipe that I don't already have for soap making from a company called "Voyageur Soap & Candle Company Ltd". They are a Canadian company and I can order these ingredients in small and less expensive amounts. I will order from them provided their shipping is reasonable and I can pay with Paypal. No PayPal, no order from me. I don't know how much the shipping will be. I have a real problem with companies who make a profit on the shipping. If you want more money for your stuff, just charge more so people know what the real cost is!!! (Sorry for the rant, pet peeve...)

So, anyway, does anyone else make their own shampoo like this? I'd love some tips or ingredient tweeking before I order the supplies.

[serin blackwood]

I've thought about it and have read up on it, but decided I would rather just mix up natural ingredients for each shampoo as I go ... ie. I have had great success with eggs, applesauce, baking soda mixes, and it's easier to experiment with adding new things, different oils, other fresh ingredients etc. Plus I am not stuck with a batch of something I might not care for.

Anyway, in looking at your list I would be concerned with a lack of perservatives if you include the tea and the coconut milk. There are natural ones like vit. E oil and grapeseed oil, but with those fresh ingredients, I'd be careful.

And here is another Canadian company to look up if you want to compare prices:

http://www.soapandmore.com/cart/pages.php?pageid=37

Good luck!

[Sheryl]

You are quite right about preservative. I have some vit E oil for preserving sugar scrub. I might add that to it or skip the coconut milk.

Thanks for the link!



I've thought about it and have read up on it, but decided I would rather just mix up natural ingredients for each shampoo as I go ... ie. I have had great success with eggs, applesauce, baking soda mixes, and it's easier to experiment with adding new things, different oils, other fresh ingredients etc. Plus I am not stuck with a batch of something I might not care for.

Anyway, in looking at your list I would be concerned with a lack of perservatives if you include the tea and the coconut milk. There are natural ones like vit. E oil and grapeseed oil, but with those fresh ingredients, I'd be careful.

And here is another Canadian company to look up if you want to compare prices:

http://www.soapandmore.com/cart/pages.php?pageid=37

Good luck!

[Aliped]

wow, that sounds fantastic! I have been thinking about this for a while, but just don't have a place I can do it where I live. As an alternative, I recently tried soapnuts - which did not work for me at all! :(

Good luck, I'll be following this thread, and hope it works really well!