Certain soaps can be used to create your own hair care products. For the following recipes, the only ingredient that can’t be found in your grocery store is optional–tea tree oil. I order it here.
Shampoo/Head-to-Toe Body Wash:
You will need–1 bar of pure soap, warm water, 1/4 cup olive oil
1. Grate soap.
2. Put in blender with olive oil and just enough warm water to make it pudding-y on WHIP/LIQUIFY.
**However, after your hair gets used to pure soap shampoo, you may find that you no longer need the oil. I don’t. In fact, it now makes my hair greasy. If this concoction ever starts to MAKE your hair greasy, omit the oil.
3. Once it’s SMOOTH, add enough water to get the consistency you want. Use like regular shampoo.
Now, I will tell you that I only do this for the hubby. I have no problem with scrubbing my head with a bar of soap, but he like the body washes and the liquid shampoos. So, we use what makes him happy.
Conditioner: 1/4 c apple cider vinegar, 1 quart of water. I searched forever to find a conditioning rinse, so thank you to this gal, for putting me onto this recipe. Also, I like keeping it in an old mustard bottle. That way I can “draw” on my head with it, instead of DUMPING. Rinse out and style as usual.
Vinegar on your hair! INSANE, right? Kid you not, though, you can run your fingers right through your hair right after you use it. Pulls out any left over soap and medicates a sensitive scalp. I also use it for astringent, ear cleaner, and sunburn care.
Deodorant: For many, baking soda powdered in the pits works fine. For stinky control, I find that it does it’s job swimmingly, but I like a little more bulk to my deo and a little moisture control as well. 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 baking soda is the way for me. However, the cornstarch reduces the length of effectiveness for me so I use this recipe: 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup baking soda , 10 drops tea tree oil–apply lightly with folded cotton cloth or powder puff. Tea tree oil is anti-bacterial. No bacteria? No stinky!
I switched to this when the store-bought stuff got iffy. It hasn’t failed me yet. Skipped shower days, step classes…SWEAR. (and ODDLY, this also has a double use as a ‘dry’ shampoo for those days when your in a pinch or just greasy in the bangs. Sprinkle in, brush out.)
I’ll also say a little something about homemade tooth powder/paste. I inquired at the dentist office about the effectiveness of baking soda as toothpaste. The answer was that baking soda is just fine, as long as you have fluoridated water. Otherwise, you’d need a fluoride source to protect you from cavities. Secondly, they said that if baking soda had a disadvantage, it might be a little too abrasive. So DON’T add anything to it to make it more abrasive (salt, etc.) And some of those ‘natural’ toothpastes are no more than baking soda with an artificial sweetener for taste. Xylitol or Stevia. So if you wanted to make your own, experiment with baking soda and one of the afore mentioned sweetners.
Well, speaking of showers, I NEED ONE. So, I’ll get back to you later.
Bubble-bubble, Ivory
Homemade Hair and Body Care: I used a bar of Ivory soap with a quarter cup of olive oil in the blender some how mine came out as a gobbular mucusy mess is there a way to remedy what I have or do I need to start from scratch. I love the ideal of adding moisturizing oil to my dry skin. Any one else come across other recipes I’d like to try new ones. I love this site and will be using the laundry detergent next. Thanks for now.
Sandra
Send me a picture! Then I can tell you what happened.
Sandra,
I bet all you needed to do was add more water. I had the same issue as I thought it would not be all that much water added, but as I look at Ivory’s picture and how much it fills the blender I feel silly for not putting more in to begin with.
For what it is worth I am concocting this to rid myself and my child of lice so I also added Neem oil, Tea tree oil(not sure I added enough but…) kill the lice/nits, and to get the foul stench of the Neem oil to lessen, Eucalyptus oil, Rosemary oil, Lavender oil, Cedarwood oil, and Lemongrass oil. It still does not smell all that good but the consistency is good and it is not as bad as it was by any means. I will let you know how this works, I figure that I should be able to use this concoction daily and it will kill themand not destroy us with chemicals. Thanks Ivory!
Also I have been using Tom’s of Maine as I had it on hand and using your vinegar rinse, it is great. I have added Rosemary oil and Lemongrass Oils to a) cut the vinegar smell and b) to help keep bugs off the boy, they love to attack his hairline and have not been since I started this.
Hi Ivory!
I love your site and use many of your tips and products for myself and my family – so thanks!
Quick question : how much shampoo does one bar of soap make? What do you store it in? and finanlly: Does it tend to resolidify once you make it? I ask this because when I made this recipe, one bar of soap made from 3 – 5 quart mason jars of shampoo – yeah!!! But I had to add several blenderfuls of water to get it to a pourable consistency. When we went to use the shampoo they had resolidified making use difficult. Any suggestions? I love the idea – just not sure if I got it right when I made it or if I need to adjust my approach. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Libby
Love the idea of making my own shampoo. I tried it, but I think I added too much water too fast. In the pictures above you have a clear/white gel – I had white frothy batch.
I’m guessing it’s OK to use anyway and will settle. What do you think?
Kathey–Yes, it takes a long time for the froth to settle down for me. Certainly ok to use.
Hi! My 7 year old daughter and I made the shampoo/body wash today and the recipe worked great. It did, however, make my hair greasy so I will be making more without the oil. I just have one question…is it supposed to be ‘sudsy’ like normal soaps & shampoos because it didn’t ‘suds up’ in the least for me. I want to thank you, too, for the recipe for sensitive deodorant. I had a horrible outbreak with my first batch but after trying your sensitive recipe it went away and works like a charm! Love your website!
Vinegar rinse was awful on my hair. It stripped it of any oils left over from
the castile soap that I love. I havent been able to find a conditioner thats as good as the store bought brands 🙁 I have extremely curling hair that needs lots of moisture otherwise I look like I stuck my finger in a light socket. Ive used oils like coconut and olive, but it just makes my hair greasy and by the end of the day its a tangled mess. Ive tried using just the castile soap and no conditioner but then I cant get a brush through it. Help me Im so frustrated. My daughter has the same type of hair I do so we need help to tame our curly locks. We both have long hair since cutting it short makes us look like we got a poodle style perm. Lol
In regards to the conditioner questions, I use the same thing my grandmother used : Beer. Any beer. I buy a 75o mls bottle (1.75$ CND) and it lastes me 4 hair washes, but my hair is at my waist:p I mix it with a couple of drops of rosemary oil, and voila! It works just as well as store bought. If I want a bit more moisture, I add a teaspoon of Jojoba oil.
Fluoride is only effective for your teeth when used topically. It is not effective for cavity protection when ingested. Most dentists do not know this and that is why the ADA promotes fluoridation of water.
Hey, Ladies, I’m interested in trying to go no poo, butttt i have color treated hair and so does my mom, thats one thing i love to do and hers is to keep the grey away. anyone tried this on colortreated and/or what about oily hair vs dry? I have oily while she has drier hair. and one more what soap did u use and what are the other options of soap you can use?
Got a prob…. I made this and when it settled it curdled… So today I boiled it with a little more water… Now its mucus textured (opaque/ clear and white mucus…) Easy to separate from each other but not easy to separate from its self… The clear and white are easy to separate kind of like separating an egg… But, on trying to “pour” some out for use, I had to pretty much pull it apart. It separated from all the water and floated up. I’ve ALWAYS had a problem with ivory soap separating and/or curdling… How do I fix this??