Natural Shampoo

How to Make Your Own Natural Shampoo

The time has come to gather your ingredients and craft your own nutrient-rich all-natural shampoo right in your own home. This is a simple recipe that only requires a few important ingredients, which are listed below:

Ingredients you will need include:

Phase A:  xanthan gum (5g),  glycerin (10g), distilled water or hydrosol (80g), Geogard (2g), dl-panthenol (5g), 

Phase B: coco glucoside (50g), coco betaine (40g), grapeseed oil (2g), 

Phase C: patchouli essential oil (2g), Rosemary Essential oil (1g),

Citric Acid solution ( Make up a solution with ¼ teaspoon citric acid in ⅕ c distilled water. Stir it until fully dissolved and then use as necessary)

and pH strips

Phase A: Start by mixing your xanthan gum and glycerin together in a glass bowl.

In another bowl add water/hydrosol, panthenol, and Geogard preservative and blend. Add the xanthan mix to the water solution and blend to a smooth gel consistency. (Optional: add 4g hydrolyzed wheat protein and/or 4g Botanical hair complex for extra hair-loving properties)

Phase B: Slowly mix all of the other ingredients together separately in another bowl

– Slowly incorporate the second mixture into the first. Remember to mix slowly and methodically until the mixture looks completely homogenous.

Phase C: You can add essential oils into the final mixture, and adjust accordingly depending on the specific aroma you are trying to create.

-Test the pH and adjust to around 5 with the citric acid solution. I find about 10-15ml usually works well.

– Pour into an amber glass bottle with a pump. A little goes a long way with this shampoo. Wet hair first then add 1-2 pumps of shampoo, massage well, and rinse thoroughly.

As you experiment with making your own shampoo you might want to play around with the ratios a bit to get a consistency that is most desirable for you. The wonderful thing about making your own shampoos and other personal care products is how easy it is to change them and adapt them to your specific needs. This includes adding additional ingredients that can lend other properties to the formula, or increasing one specific ingredient slightly to help amplify its effects.

In the case of this specific recipe, you can easily substitute out these essential oils for others that are more to your liking. Patchouli gives off a rich earthy fragrance that goes well with this kind of shampoo. These ingredients go well together and would provide a great starting point in case you don’t want to get too experimental with your formulas right off the bat.

What’s great about a shampoo like this is that it is simple to make and is far better for your hair than the vast majority of products you will find on the shelves in your average supermarket. Free of harmful sulfates or abrasive chemicals, and full of nourishing ingredients like plant oils, a simple moisturizing shampoo like this will not only help keep your hair full and vibrant, but your scalp will also benefit from it as well.

It’s more important than ever to switch over to products that are not only good for your body but good for the environment as well. This is so much easier to do when you can source each of the ingredients individually so you know that they are high-quality and that they are actually good for your body and are biodegradable too. Your personal care products should actually positively impact your skin and hair and not contain harmful chemicals. When you craft your own shampoo and other products at home, you don’t have to think twice about the quality, because you know exactly what went into it and how potentially helpful it will be. That’s why I love It Handmade