Document 6508654

Epoch Times
Home & decor
JULY 25 – AUGust 7, 2014 29
How to Make Your Own Simple Yet
Effective Natural Shampoo
I
so wanted to be on the washyour-hair-with-baking-soda
train. I really, really did.
I gave it my honest-togoodness best effort. The results
were wonderful at first but after
a few weeks, my scalp was itchier
than it had ever been, partnered
with a light dusting of snow
that sprinkled from my head
whenever I scratched. ‘Twas not
pleasant.
That being said, I was much too
proud to turn around and go back
to shampoo, so I set out to find a
better solution. My goal was to
find something that acted like
real shampoo, with the benefits
of baking soda scalp-scrubbing
(minus the desert-do), but was
also moisturising and yummysmelling… and natural. Also,
as with anything else I make
at home, I hate when recipes
have all kinds of hard-to-find
or expensive ingredients (and
they get bonus points if I don’t
even have to go buy anything).
My research did not disappoint.
Thanks, once again, to the always
helpful Crunchy Betty and a few
other recipes, I came up with
something that I’m newly in love
with.
This hair-wash suds like a
shampoo, is free of toxins, smells
delicious, moisturises AND it
brought my curls back to their
old bouncy, shiny selves. Yeehaw!
The one problem with this
recipe is that it is perishable.
It lasts about a week at room
temperature or longer in the
fridge. But don’t fret! There are a
couple solutions to this problem.
The first is to make it “to serve”
each time you wash your hair
(which only needs to be about
1-3 times a week). The other,
the method I chose, is to make
a larger batch and freeze it in
individual portions (think ice
cube trays or mini muffin pans).
You can take out one portion and
let it thaw in the fridge overnight
the day before you plan to wash
your hair. It sounds annoying
but it only takes a beensy bit of
planning ahead to accomplish.
Why it works:
Castile soap has a PH level of
about 8.9 (neutral is 7) but that’s
OK. It won’t harm your skin,
and it needs to be slightly more
alkaline to have a cleansing effect.
You can wash your hair with
plain castile if you like, but this
can be a little drying and doesn’t
give you many suds. Mixing the
castile soap with coconut milk
adds moisturisers and helps
create a lather (and, therefore,
a better wash) because coconut
contains a natural surfactant.
Surfactant molecules pull the
oils off a surface, suspend them
within bubbles of water, and
remove them with the water. How
neat is that?! Chemically derived
surfactants
in
commercial
cleansers strip your skin of
natural oils, and being exposed
to them in cleaning products can
cause eye and lung irritation, as
fotolia
By Tracy and Joc
Little Boozy Homemakers
they are mildly toxic. They may
have otherhealth impacts. If that
isn’t enough of a reason to make
your own shampoo (and other
cleaning products), I don’t know
what is!
Alright. Chemistry lesson
done.
Now because I don’t like recipes
to be too complicated, I’ll give you
tracy
the bones of this one and you can
customise to your heart’s content.
Are you ready to finally be let in
on the magic that is chemical-free
homemade shampoo? Fantastic!
Here it is…
What You Need
To Make Your
Homemade
Shampoo:
• 3 tbsp liquid castile soap (Dr.
Bronner’s is a great brand).
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (Canned
is fine but homemade would
be amazing).
That’s it!
See the rest of Tracy’s
directions on how to prepare
your homemade shampoo at
Little Boozy Homemakers.
Tracy and Joc are sisters, wives,
and mothers, and they love to
make things with their own two
hands. Read more of their great
homemaking tips on their blog
Little Boozy Homemakers.