Simple Homemade Shampoo, All-Natural Recipe

This homemade shampoo recipe uses all-natural ingredients and is a great choice for anyone looking to reduce chemicals in your home and in your body.

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Homemade Shampoo

Looking to ditch the harsh chemicals in your shampoo and go all-natural? This simple homemade shampoo recipe is just what you need!

This recipe is simple enough for anyone to make, and it only requires a few basic, hair-healthy ingredients. So why not give it a try? Your hair will thank you!

This DIY shampoo isn’t suitable for babies because it’s not tear free. Learn more about the best non-toxic baby shampoo so you can make the best decision for your baby.

Why You Should Make Your Own Shampoo

There are so many reasons to make your own shampoo. First of all, it’s a great way to cut down on toxins in the home and in your body. This is the main reason I started making homemade products in the first place.

Store bought shampoos usually contain parabens which many scientists are concerned with because parabens are hormone disrupters which is a cause of breast cancer. Parabens are found in so many store bought beauty products and the more you use, the higher chance of parabens being found in your body.

Second of all, you can save money by making your own shampoo instead of buying expensive store-bought versions that contain harmful chemicals and fragrances. Once your hair gets used to a homemade shampoo you’ll see much healthier hair.

Most people find they need to wash their hair much less when using homemade shampoo. Shampooing less saves your hair and your wallet.

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How Can I Make Shampoo at Home?

Making shampoo at home is easy! All you need are two ingredients: castile soap and water.

Mix the ingredients together in a bottle or jar, and shake well to combine. You can also use a blender if you want to create a more creamy texture.

Then just apply it to your scalp and hair, and massage in. Let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly.

You can stick with this super simple recipe or bump things up with a couple others ingredients like essential oils, aloe vera, glycerin, or hair healthy oils. We’ll talk more about those further down.

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Is Homemade Shampoo Better For Your Hair?

Yes! Homemade shampoo is better for your hair because it lacks harsh chemicals and artificial fragrances that can damage hair over time. The sulfates found in store bought shampoos strip away too much oil that your hair needs to maintain a healthy balance.

This shampoo recipe is gentle on the hair and scalp. It cleans your hair without stripping it. As you continue to use homemade shampoo you’ll notice your hair becoming more shiny and bouncy and less dull and oily.

This simple recipe contains only natural ingredients. You won’t find any sulfates or parabens in these shampoos!

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What Are the Best Ingredients For Homemade Shampoo?

Castile Soap is the best ingredient for homemade shampoo because it’s a natural and gentle soap that can be used on all hair types. It’s also vegan and biodegradable, making it a great choice for those who care about the environment.

Another great ingredient for homemade shampoo are essential oils. Essential oils offer a variety of benefits for the hair, such as promoting hair growth, preventing hair loss, and fighting scalp infections.

Some of my favorite essential oils to use in shampoo are lavender oil and orange oil. They both smell great and offer a host of benefits for the hair! But, there are plenty of other essential oils to choose from. I’ll give you some ideas in the next section.

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Best Essential Oils For Your Hair?

There are so many essential oils that are great for your hair. A lot of them have similar properties but you can find some that will help a specific hair need that you might have.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is an antibacterial and antifungal essential oil that can be used to treat scalp infections. It’s also a great ingredient for homemade shampoo because of its ability to fight dandruff, itchy scalp, head lice and other problems associated with hair hygiene.

Lavender Oil

While Lavender oil has a calming scent which is great for a relaxing shower, it has many hair benefits as well. Lavender oil has antimicrobial properties that help promote a healthy scalp.

It also increases circulation which boosts hair growth. A healthy scalp is the first step to healthy, shiny hair.

Rosemary Oil

Rosemary oil is a rock star in homemade hair products. Like Lavender oil it’s antimicrobial & promotes circulation, but this oil also prevents hair loss, reduces breakage and split ends, slow down graying hair, knocks out dandruff.

Chamomile Oil

Chamomile is a natural moisturizer. It makes hair soft and shiny. If you hair naturally frizzy hair then you definitely want some chamomile oil in your homemade shampoo.

Cedarwood Oil

Cedarwood oil is a great cleanser and is great for balancing the natural oils on your scalp and in hair.

Lemon Oil

Lemon essential oil is another great one for balancing natural oils on the scalp and it’s great for cleaning the scalp. Both help tame oily hair. If you don’t like lemon oil which can lighten the hair, you can try another citrus oil like lemongrass, mandarin, orange, or grapefruit.

Eucalyptus Oil

Eucalyptus oil is another one that relieves scalp irritation so it’s great for anyone that’s fighting eczema, dandruff, or itchy scalp. It also promotes scalp circulation which can encourage hair growth.

Rose Oil

Rose oil soothes the scalp so try it if you have a dry or itchy scalp. Dry hair is no match for rose oil. Skip the rose oil if you have naturally oily hair.

DIY Natural Shampoo

Making your own shampoo is a great way to reduce the amount of toxins in your home, save money, and use natural ingredients that are better for your hair.

Again, this simple recipe only requires two basic ingredients: castile soap and water, but you can customize it with other ingredients like glycerine or aloe vera gel to suit your specific needs. Plus, you can choose from a variety of essential oils that offer a range of benefits for the hair.

So why not give this easy DIY shampoo recipe a try? Your hair will thank you!

Ingredients

• Castile Soap
• Water
• Essential Oils

Castile Soap

I prefer to use Dr. Bronners Castile soap. I find it to be the best quality. They have many different types of castile soap.

Baby Unscented is great for homemade shampoo because it’s has no added fragrance so you can easily add your own essential oils. It does have twice as much olive oil though so it might not be the best for oily hair.

If you don’t have essential oils at home then one of the scented versions might be better. They have tons to choose from and all use hair healthy ingredients.

Water

Distilled water is always the best to use when making your own products. It helps cut down on the bacteria that can get introduced to homemade products which will make it last longer. You can boil water if you don’t have distilled on hand.

Essential Oils

Technically, you don’t need essential oils to make your own shampoo. You can stick with the water and castile soap and be done.

But there are so many benefits to adding essential oils to your shampoo that I recommend it. You can choose from the above list based on your hair problems or you can use your favorite essential oil blend simply for the aroma.

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How to Make DIY Shampoo

You want a one to one ratio of water to castile soap. How much you make depends on your personal circumstances and the size of your shampoo bottle.

At the most I’d go with a 1/2 cup of castile soap to 1/2 cup of water. You don’t want homemade shampoo sitting around for too long. Without those preservatives, the shampoo won’t last as long.

I’m going to give you a 1/2 cup recipe but you can cut it in half if you need to. Then it would be a 1/4 cup of water and castile soap and 10-15 drops essential oils.

• 1/2 cup castile soap

• 1/2 cup distilled water

• 20-30 drops of essential oils

Mix all the ingredients in a bottle and shake it up. You can use any bottle you like. Recycle an old shampoo bottle or buy a new one.

DIY shampoo has a runnier consistency compared to store bought shampoo. This means you might use too much when first using it. Plus, it pours out faster.

For this reason I like to use a foam pump when using homemade shampoo. This helps me get a controlled amount out of the bottle and get that shampoo working into my roots quickly.

Normally, I use a glass bottle when using essential oils because the oils can break down the plastics. However, I go with plastic for this shampoo recipe because I don’t want to deal with broken glass in the shower if when it gets knocked down.

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How to Use Homemade Shampoo

Pour a small amount of DIY shampoo into the palm of your hand and rub your hands together to create a lather. If you are using a foaming soap dispenser then you don’t need to do this.

Apply the shampoo to the roots of your hair and continue to work up a lather. Then start to bring the shampoo down into the rest of your hair. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then rinse your hair and repeat if necessary.

My family loves to use scalp scrubber when using any shampoo but especially homemade shampoo. It feels awesome, controls dandruff, and promotes a healthy scalp.

Tips for using Homemade Shampoo

Homemade shampoo is different from the store bought stuff so there are some things you need to know about using it.

• Your hair will most likely need to get used to homemade shampoo. Try shampooing your hair once a week with the homemade shampoo and the rest with your store bought stuff at first. Do this for a couple of weeks and then try shampooing it twice a week and so forth until your only using the homemade stuff.

• Wash your hair more often when starting out with homemade shampoo. I usually shampoo my hair twice a week but when I first switched to DIY shampoo I washed every other day until my hair got used to the homemade kind. Basically you don’t want your hair to be crazy oily when using the DIY shampoo at first. Once your hair is used to it then you can start to wash less often. You can also use homemade dry shampoo to help you when it’s too oily.

• Since I use the baby castile soap with twice as much olive oil in it, I don’t put any oil in my homemade shampoo. If your hair is on the dry side you can add 1 teaspoon of oil to the shampoo. Pick a hair friendly oil like castor, jajoba, or almond oil.

• If you tend to have frizzy hair you can try adding a bit of glycerin or aloe vera into your shampoo. Start with a tablespoon and see how that works with your hair before upping the amount.

• This shampoo recipe is not good on dyed hair. The castile soap is too harsh for color-treated hair so for now you’ll have to stick with a color-safe shampoo. I currently have color-treated hair and am working on a homemade shampoo for that. If I figure one out I’ll let you all know.

• Follow homemade shampoo up with a natural conditioner like an apple cider vinegar rinse. Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed into two cups of water and poured over hair. Let it sit in your hair for a couple of minutes and then rinse out.

• Hard water can effect how your hair responds to homemade shampoo. You may need to use a clarifying shampoo once a week.

I hope you give this homemade shampoo a try because it really is great for your hair and wallet. Make sure to stick it out as your hair gets used to it. It will be worth it in the end.

All the chemicals used in store bought shampoos and over washing can cause oil production overload on your scalp which isn’t great for your hair. Homemade shampoo will help calm all that and soon you’ll only be washing your hair once or twice a week.

Have you tried homemade shampoo before? How has it worked for you? Do you have a favorite essential oil combination? Let us know in the comments!

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