One of the greatest ways to keep track of the ingredients that come
into contact with your body is to make your own organic products at
home. Mix and match essential oils and other natural ingredients to
create your own shampoos and conditioners for the ultimate in organic
hair care.
Control What Goes Into Your Hair Care Products
The best way to have organic control over your hair care routine is by making your own shampoos and conditioners at home. You get to choose what essential and fragrance oils are used with the added bonus of being able to experiment with different formula combinations. By creating your own product, you can be secure in the knowledge that you are aware of every single ingredient and not have to worry about adding chemicals that you cannot even pronounce into contact with your body.
Making a Shampoo Using a Castille Soap Base
In creating an at home shampoo, many people use a base of castille soap. Now, castille soap is basically a vegetable based oil soap as opposed to most commercial soap bases which use a base of animal fat.
There are many varieties of castile soap that come from the natural oil base that they are made from. The most popular castile soap bases are: Olive oil, Hemp oil, Coconut Oil, Almond oil and Jojoba oil.
You have two options when it comes to building your shampoo from a castille soap base and that is to either to make it from scratch or buy a pre-made base from an organic soap maker.
If you plan on buying the castille base, some excellent organic soap makers are From Home Nature With Love's Organic Liquid Castile Base and Bath and Body Supplies Organic Castile Soap lines.
Adding Essential Oils & Fragrance to the Recipe
Once you have chosen your castile soap base, you can add your essential and/or fragrance oils to the mixture. Different oils will affect the hair in different ways depending on what you are looking for in a home made shampoo. For instance if you are looking to control dandruff and to sooth an itchy scalp, then you would add Tea Tree oil and Chamomile to your shampoo base. If you wanted to add extra shine to your hair with a great scent, then you would add Lemongrass and Rosemary.
Here are some oil and herb combinations that you can used based on creating a shampoo that begins with 4oz of castile soap for placement in an 8oz bottle.
- Dandruff Control: 1/2oz Tea Tree oil and 2 1/2oz strained Chamomile Tea.
- Extra Shine: 2 1/2 oz strained Lemongrass Tea and 1/2oz Rosemary oil.
- Control Oily Hair: 1/2oz Lavender oil and 2 1/2oz strained Sage tea.
- Thicken Hair: 1oz Rosemary oil and 1/2oz strained Nettles.
Once you have created your at home organic shampoo, you'll want to store the bottle in a cool and dark area. Because you are creating something using natural and organic ingredients, the product must be used and cannot have an indefinite shelf life like the chemical additive shampoos that are on the market today.
