Make Your Own Shampoo

You may have noticed, there are a few common herbal products you will not find for sale at Woodland Herbal. Our family is devoted to making wholesome and natural wellness products. As much as we would love to offer shampoo, conditioner, rinses, lotions, and hand cream, there is no shelf stable recipe that doesn't contain harmful chemicals. We are quite capable of creating an array of these recipes and would love to share them. Water is the first ingredient in each option mentioned. It does not matter how sterile the water, how clean the utensils and bottles, how many antibacterial herbs are added; if water is added, it will mold within weeks without a chemical preservative added. Chemical preservatives are added to every product that lists water in the ingredients, even foods. As I can be long winded on this subject, I will simply refer you to a previous blog on the icky subject and move on. Read: Poisoning Ourselves Willingly: The Day I Flipped Out

Our family had to choose between offering shampoo and lotions made with chemicals or simply omitting them from our products. Of course we chose omission. Slipping parabens into an herbal recipe feels like the worst kind of betrayal. I cannot send you a bottle of my favorite healing lotion or infused herbal body wash knowing it will go green and fuzzy within weeks. Instead, I will share my simple recipes and know-how so you can create them fresh for your own family.

It is easy and convenient to buy a bottle of shampoo at the store. Many of the bottles say herbal, natural, healthy, botanical, and paraben-free on the label. Please turn the bottle and search the ingredients listed and their effects on the body. Appalled? Great, let's make some shampoo!

A few weeks ago, I gathered ingredients for a shampoo day at the Woodland Herbal shop with my mama and daughter. We taught all who visited, even the little ones, how to make their own natural shampoo. What a wonderful day! Since I know not everyone is able to come play with us in person, I thought I might share some ideas, recipes, and instructions with you here.

Thanks to my mama, I was raised with all natural soaps and body care. When it came to making my own, I leaned on the fairy godmother of herbalists, Rosemary Gladstar and the lovely and wild Jeanne Rose. Both women have written extensively about natural beauty and body care, and I encourage everyone to grab their books to add to your herbal library. They share the best kind of recipes, simple and easily adjusted to your own tastes and needs. This gave me permission to try new things, make some messes, and create my own beloved recipes in the process. I learned shampooing every single day hurts our hair. As does chemical dyeing, curling and straightening using heat, blow dryers, and constant product use. Modern culture has normalized the act of manipulating our hair to mimic the popular new style, color, and cut. Every chemical painted, sprayed, and scrunched into our hair and scalp absorbs directly into our body. Our poor hair has been tortured into submission for too long. This is the perfect opportunity to show your hair some gentle love and kindness.

Step 1- Find a local natural bar soap maker. The art of making soap is a popular hobby, and many people are creating bars that are bright rainbow colored, strongly scented and even sparkly. Those are not the bars of soap you are looking for. Find the soap maker using essential oils instead of synthetic fragrance oil and natural pigments like pink clay, green spirulina, and orange turmeric instead of chemical dyes. They may not look like a glittery unicorn, but are beautiful in their own natural way. I have the greatest respect for the people who make the pretty soap, and mean no offense here. Only, if you are making your own shampoo to avoid chemicals you may as well go all natural with your ingredients! Small batch soaps can be found at farmer's markets, herb shops, and some mom-and-pop business. If that fails, social media is excellent for being matched with a local soap artist.

I create cold processed soap for my family and the shop. I pour each batch of soap batter in rectangular loaf molds after careful weighing and measuring, and I never fail to make a little too much. The extra batter is poured in whatever makeshift mold I manage to scavenge before the soap hardens like an empty oatmeal tube, juice carton, or small lined cardboard box. Waste not want not! The loaf mold is sliced into perfect square bars, while the other molds are cut into whatever odd shape suits. Our family calls the extra misshapen soaps the little weirdos. I'm sure it is the same story for every soap maker and maybe offering to purchase their version of little weirdo bars might allow a nice discount! My favorite is an unscented tallow soap as it allows the subtle scent of my herb infusions to shine later in the recipe. Grate 1 oz bar soap with a box grater, just like you would grate cheese.

Step 2- Bring 10 oz water to a boil in a small saucepan. More on this step later.

Step 3- Add grated soap to the hot liquid, pull from the heat, and stir until melted. The mixture will be very thin. Set the pan aside overnight.

Step 4- Stir mixture until well combined. If still thin, leave it another 12 hours. It will thicken. Once it has thickened to a texture that will excite every kid in the neighborhood, it is ready!

Step 5- Optional, add 5-10 drops of essential oils.

We often recommend storing herbal preparations in glass, shampoo is the exception to the rule. Wet and soapy hands make handling glass jars dangerous, so a plastic squeeze bottle works perfectly. This recipe makes enough shampoo for 6-10 washes and will last 1-2 weeks. The mixture will darken and separate, but a good shake will set it right.

Now you have the basic recipe, it is time for the fun part...the herbs! Back to step #3. You can absolutely use fresh and clean water to make a lovely shampoo. You can also use a freshly brewed infusion of healing herbs instead!  

On warm summer days when I was young, mama would french braid our hair and apply lemon juice. After a day spent in the sunny garden, we would unwind our braids to find highlights steaking our golden hair. It was the natural alternative to the expensive chemical highlights so popular at the time. I still incorporate lemon in my hair care routine today. I make a strong tea of lemon peel, chamomile, and calendula flowers to mix with my grated unscented soap. The herbs keep the brassy tones from my honey-colored locks, and is gentle and healing for my hair and scalp. The clean scent of the flowers and lemon remind me of summer sunshine, and I do not add extra essential oils to my own mixture. I use the same herbs to create a conditioning rinse, to use after shampooing or on days a lather isn't necessary. An herbal rinse is simply a strong infusion of herbal tea. When making my shampoo, I make 20 oz of infusion, half for the shampoo recipe and half for the rinse.

My husband, Ken, has very long silver hair, so his shampoo and rinse contains butterfly pea flowers, violets, and silver king sage. This combination of plants creates a deep royal blue infusion. The first time I made this for Ken instead of the brunette mixture he used in the past (quite the milestone), was during a wonderful summer storm. Our electricity flickered out, but I had made the shampoo and rinse already and was determined. I placed all my pots and mixing bowls around the backyard to collect water from the pouring rain. By sunset I had enough rain water collected to fill several pitchers. Eyeballing the blue jar in my hand dubiously, Ken followed me to the porch where I grinned excitedly with a fluffy towel. Was I worried the shampoo might dye his hair a bright blue? Maybe. Did it stop me? Absolutely not.  

Situating Ken on the bottom porch step, I first massaged a small amount of coconut oil into his hair and scalp. While not always my first choice for other applications, coconut oil is my go-to for hair, as it is one of the only oils to penetrate the shaft of each strand. With Ken's head down and hair flipped forward I used the blue shampoo before rinsing. Luckily it was a hot summer night as the rain water rinse was very cold! Once the suds were rinsed away, I added more shampoo and carefully scrubbed away any excess oil. I was also a little more concerned that if I was truly dying my poor husband's hair blue, I didn't want to miss a spot. All of this was done by lantern light, like Walton's Mountain meets David Bowie. After the final rainwater rinse, I squeezed the excess water from his strands and carefully poured the conditioning rinse of herbal tea over all of his hair. At last, I handed him the towel. At this point you may be thinking to yourself, Ken must be a great husband and a good sport to be my partner on this wild green path I walk. If so, you are right. He really is.

I admit I was mildly disappointed to not find even a stripe of royal blue in his hair after the treatment. Instead, his mane was a brighter silver. It looked thick and full, and felt very soft. If you are interested in herbal hair dye, there are plenty of plants like henna to play with. Rosemary Gladstar gives in depth instructions for their use in the beauty book.

The result of the blue shampoo made me think of grandmothers who used to add bluing to their white and silver hair to add depth and fullness to light or thinning locks. This herbal mix gives the same characteristics without the accidental "too much bluing" hair look!

The options and list of herbs for hair care are endless. If I was a brunette I would try an infusion of sage, nettle and peppermint. If a ginger I would pick hibiscus flowers, cinnamon, or rose petals. If my hair was black, I would try clove, violets, and black tea. There are so many possibilities! Dry hair loves marshmallow root, elder flower and calendula, while oily locks love witch hazel bark, spearmint, and rosemary. For more complete lists, pick up Rosemary Gladstar's Herbs for Natural Beauty, or Herbal Body Book by Jeanne Rose. Stop by your local herb shop and gather an ounce of a few new herbs to test. Experiment on your husband or wife. I promise, it is lots of fun! As they say, you may not always give them butterflies, but you can give them high blood pressure and that's close enough!

Creating your own herbal hair care treatments is a mighty step toward a healthier life for you and your family. Homemade bottles of shampoo and conditioning herbal rinses cost a fraction of the price of store bought. It is a kind and loving change, and can be tailored perfectly to your needs and wants.

Please share your own recipes and experiences in the comments below! Happy shampooing!