Commercial shampoos are readily available, but they often contain
questionable ingredients which may not be good for you — not to mention
that they aren't environmentally friendly. Thankfully we have options,
one being herbs that we can incorporate into a great and very useful
shampoo solution for our hygiene needs. All you'll need is distilled
spring water, liquid soap, assorted herbs, and a container to mix it
all.
If dryness is a concern, you can add a bit of oil
as well. Before we begin with the actual recipe, you should keep in
mind that different herbs have different effects on different hair
types. You won’t need essential oils for this recipe, but you will need
to match the herbs to your individual needs and what comes with it.
Start by choosing two to three herbs
that fit your hair type. You don’t need to powder them, simply have
them cut as all herbs used in the following recipe will need to be
dried. If you do have viable herbs in mind for gardening however, you
will want to use fresh herbs from your well-maintained garden
as much as possible, even doubling the amount if possible to have a
more powerful aroma and effect. If you have blonde hair and you want to
keep your color from darkening, then you would do well to stay with the
lighter shaded herbs, since they could change the color of your hair in
strong solutions. The shampoo you will create with this recipe may not
have a typical commercial bright color, but it will be far healthier and
eco-friendly than its usual counterparts.
The ingredients you need are as follows:
- 7 ounces worth of distilled spring water
- 4 tablespoons worth of liquid castile soap
- 5 tablespoons of herbs that fit your hair type
If you plan on making use of lots of flowers such as red clover, marigolds, and others, it would be advisable to crush them before adding to the shampoo.
This will help them to release more of their
aroma and therapeutic properties into the mix, especially with flowers
like lavender. Boil the water and place your herbs in a strainer. Add
the liquid castile soap to the bottle to move one step closer to your
finished product. Allowing the herbs to steep and soak in the mix for
about half an hour will be enough, but you may allow it to sit longer if
you prefer a stronger mixture. Be careful not to let any of the leaves
fall into the herbal water, or else you will need to fish them out once
you’re done working. Transfer the herbal mixture you made into your
liquid castile soap and blend together. That’s all you need to make the
shampoo!
Depending on whether you’re making this as a gift for
someone or for yourself, you will need to label the shampoo to ensure
you know exactly what herbs went into the mix. You may also want to make
a list of ingredients and place it on the bottle as well, since this
will let everyone using it know what’s inside.
If you enjoy
gardening and you have plenty of herbs on hand, then this will be a
really easy project, but if you don’t have herbs around, you can likely
find fresh options at your local grocery — or you may consider growing your favorites!
Planting and growing them takes little time and is well worth the
effort, especially if you keep garden maintenance as a serious focus of
your domestic needs.
By Ella Andrews
