Homemade shampoo recipes?

[Perplexa]

I've been looking for a while for homemade shampoo/conditioner recipes. So far I've tried apple cider vinegar (with and without baking soda), and shampoo made from Dr. Bronner's and olive oil (with some vitamin E oil and other stuff in it). To date, everything I've tried has made my hair feel dry and brittle, so I've gone back to store bought shampoo. Has anyone found a recipe they've had luck with?

[razz]

Nope and I have tried some of the same recipes as you have so will watch this thread to see what comes up.

[mira]

I've found that saponified products like Dr Bronner's and things like baking soda will generally make my hair dry and tangly as well. They need something after them like apple cider vinegar to balance the ph. I used the baking soda + ACV combo exclusively for a few months and ended up with hair so greasy that I could comb it while dry and it would stay straight (I have very curly hair). Disgusting!

The best non-shampoo cleanser that I've found is shikakai powder. It's a ground up plant that is used in India. It's mixed with water to form a paste and then massaged into the scalp. Sometimes I'll mix a little into conditioner too for light cleansing. I tend to oil my hair before using it (with jojoba or coconut oil) so that my curls don't frizz up too much.

[Perplexa]

Hmm...maybe I'll try shikakai. Is it expensive?

I found a recipe that uses soap (soap flakes, not Dr. Bronner's, but I don't think it would matter), but also has glycerin in it, which I think would help counteract the soap. I may try that too.

[mira]

^ It's not expensive at all - I pay £1.15 ($1.85ish?) for a box that lasts me a good 6 months to a year or more, depending on how frequently I feel like using it :)
http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Hesh-Shikakai-Powder.html#aHBE024

[reader99]

My hair has one very well washing with bakig soda, about 2 TBls to a cup or water, more or less. Rinse well, then condition with diluted apple cider vinegar. Rinse it out thoroughly. The vinegar makes the little microscopic spiky things on hair lie smooth so it doesn't tangle. I have long wavy hair, and even the heaviest commercial conditioners didn't prevent tangling. Vinegar does.

[jsmadge]

For the past 2 years I have had great luck with washing my hair with a bar of Kirk's Hardwater Castile Soap ( about $1.29 at a local drug store), rinsing well, then finishing with a rinse of cider vinegar (big old gallon about $1.99 at save-a-lot). I use about 3/4 inch of cider vinegar in an 8 oz squeeze bottle filled with water (on top of the little vinegar).

My hair is very fine and wavy/curly, and this treatment makes it soft and easy to comb.
Wouldn't go back to shampoo for the world.

I had bad luck with Dr. Bronners, baking soda/vinegar, too; just discovered this by luck. it also works with Pear's soap, but I have a hard time finding it so I switched to Kirk's.

[Perplexa]

I think I found something that will work. There's a local handmade soap company that makes a shampoo bar. It's not the cheapest thing in the world ($6.99), but the bars are big and I suspect will last much longer than bottled shampoo, plus I don't need to buy conditioner. I used the shampoo bar followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse and my hair seems quite happy.

The nice thing is that now I know that it's possible to make a decent shampoo bar from home soap making ingredients. When I teach myself to make soap and get set up with a space where I can safely work with lye (probably in the fall when I'm not moving around all the time and have an income again), I'll work on making my own.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[wallydraigle]

How exactly have you used the baking soda? How you use it makes a HUGE difference.

I dilute about a tablespoon in a cup of SUPER hot water (we have very hard water, so it's necessary to get it hot for it to mix right; when we had soft water, this wasn't necessary). Then I pour it over my head little by little, working it into the roots. It should feel slimy in texture. I rinse, then mix about 1/5 cup apple cider vinegar in the same cup and pour it over my head again. Again, with hard water, you'd have to rinse a lot. My super fine hair is soft, shiny, and far less *oily/dry than it used to be. I mix a little honey in the ACV mixture about once a week. It's a humectant, and it can also lighten your hair--not a lot; on my it just brings out some of my blonder highlights.

*My scalp and face are weird. They can be both dry and scaly and have oiliness at the same time, like an oil slick over the top of the alligator skin. Yech. Anyway, with my hair texture, it's very easy to dry my hair out, and I've never had any problems.

[HKPassey]

Tipnut.com has a large number of recipes for home made soaps, cleaners, and skin care products.

[debi]

A friend of mine uses 1/4 cup Sunlight Dishwashing Detergent (or can use one without bleach), 1 cup vinegar and 2 cups water. Pour into a container and use. She swears by it.