Homemade Shampoos

Homemade Shampoos

You don't necessarily need fancy, modern shampoos in their funky packaging to get your hair clean and healthy. You can make it yourself and still get a thorough cleaning. How else did they do it 100 years ago? Here are a couple simple recipes and tehniques to get your hair looking great the old fashioned way.

Economical Shampoo

Supplies:

mild bar soap

distilled water

grater

weigh scale

* Boil 8 ounces of distilled water

* Grate 1 ounce of mild bar soap (use weigh scale to measure)

* Add it to the boiling water

* Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally

If you want your shampoo to smell, you can add a few drops of essential oils such as lemon, wintergreen, or cloves.

Should you have fine hair or damaged hair, you may need to lower the pH to make the shampoo softer and milder. You can do this by adding acidic joice from either a lemon or a lime. If you're really particular about the pH level, you can buy Nitrazine paper from a drug store to test your shampoo to see if it falls in the 4.5 - 6.0 pH level.

Egg Shampoo

Supplies:

1 egg

bowl

beater

* Thoroughly wash the egg (especially if it's farm fresh) and crack it into a bowl

* Beat it until frothy and bring the bowl to where you will wash your hair

* Thoroughly wet your hair and scalp with warm water

* Pour 1/2 the egg into your hand and apply it to your hair as if it were shampoo

* Rinse the egg out of your hair with lukewarm water. If you use hot water, the egg could start to "cook" and get clumpy just like scrambled eggs.

* Repeat the process with the seond half of the egg, washing and rinsing very thoroughly

Baking Soda Shampoo

1 Tbsp baking soda

2 cups warm water

* Pour 2 cups of very warm water into a large bowl.

* Add 1 Tbsp of baking soda.

* Gently mix it until the warm water dissolves the baking soda and the water looks murky throughout.

* Pour the baking soda mixture over your hair. Let the large bowl catch the excess and then use the extra to repeat.

* Gently work the baking soda shampoo through your hair to thoroughly clean it.

* Let the mixture sit in your hair for about a minute for good cleaning action.

* Rinse out the mixture well.

This shampoo is great for getting rid of buildup because the baking soda cleans it up very nicely. If you have very thick or long hair and 2 cups of this mixture is not enough, just double the recipe.

It's a good idea to follow this type of shampoo treatment with a special hair rinse or a conditioner. Your hair will thank you for it.