It’s official. I’m entering the world of DIY beauty. It’s a world I have avoided for some time, thinking – I don’t have time to make my own beauty and body care products. That’s why I buy them. Someone else has taken the time to do it, and to figure out what works. But NOW I am seeing how EASY some of the recipes are, and how much CHEAPER it is to make my own. (And trust me, the recipe has to be truly simple for me to consider spending any time making it on my own!) So – I’m sharing them with you!
**Note: If you are concerned about the pH of your DIY hair care products, I tried using a red cabbage method as a pH indicator that worked quite well! Because I’m pretty sure not everyone has those pH strips hanging around…
1. DIY Shampoo from scentsable-living.com
- 1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1/3 cup liquid castile soap
- 1 tsp olive oil
- essential oil
Put ingredients together in a container and shake well. Shake before using.
2. Shampoo for dry hair/scalp from simply Essential Oils
- 1/4 cup distilled water
- 1/4 cup liquid castile soap
- 1/2 teaspoon Jojoba Oil, grapeseed, or other vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp essential oil
Put ingredients together in a container and shake well. Shake before using. This is pretty much the same recipe as the DIY foaming hand soap I have been using! It’s also the basis for the first DIY shampoo I used.
3. DIY Shampoo from CanCan
- 1/2 cup liquid castile soap
- 1/3-2/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted
- 5-15 drops essential oil
Put baking soda & castile soap into a container and shake to combine. Add other ingredients and shake it up.
4. Homemade Shampoo with Essential Oils from Shalom Mama
- 1/2 cup liquid castile soap
- 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tbsp Fractionated Coconut Oil
- 1 tbsp Vitamin E oil
- 40-50 drops essential oils
Put ingredients together in a container and shake well. Shake before using.
5. Rye Flour shampoo from Kanelstrand
- 3-4 tbsp rye flour
- lukewarm water
Add lukewarm water to rye flour and stir to mix. Add water until you get the consistency of a thicker liquid like shampoo. This one is pH balanced for your hair (Kanelstrand also talked about how baking soda is too alkaline for your hair) so I gave it a go to see how it worked. It left my hair feeling nice and soft when I followed it with an apple cider vinegar conditioner (see below) – however I could not rinse out all the flour no matter what I did. So my hair felt and looked pretty nice except for the flour flakes that people could mistaken for dandruff.
UPDATE: I have found a solution to the flour flakes problem and am now loving using this as a shampoo (recipe here)!
6. No Fuss Conditioner from simply Essential Oils
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup distilled water
- 8 drops essential oil
Put ingredients together in a container and shake well. Shake before using. I love this! It’s what I’m currently using as a conditioner.
7. Hair Conditioner from buzzfeed.com
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- a few drops of essential oil of your choice! (I added this because it just makes it more awesome)
Put ingredients into a container and shake to mix well. Shake before using.
8. Coconut Lavender Conditioner from free people
- 1 cup coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
- 1 teaspoon Jojoba Oil
- 5 drops lavender essential oil
Mix all ingredients together for several minutes and transfer to a container. The mixture should stay fresh until the coconut oil’s expiration date. To use – only put a tiny amount starting at ends of hair. Don’t apply too much to top of the head as it can make hair look greasy.
9. Coconut Oil Deep Conditioner and Detangler from One Good Thing by Jillee
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon Jojoba Oil
- 3 drops essential oil
Stir ingredients together (they should all be at room temperature, coconut oil should be rich and thick). Apply to hair from roots to ends. Cover hair with a shower cap, leave on for 15-30 minutes. You can use this same recipe to make a detangler by putting in 1 part of the conditioner and 10 parts of water into a spray bottle.
Looking for other DIY recipes? Check out my face care system for under $30, dry skin relief cream, foaming hand soap, and lip balm!
Do you have a favourite recipe for DIY shampoo or conditioner?
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Is it really cheaper? because castile soap (Dr Brommers?) and coconut oil can be pretty expensive….have you priced it out compared to a good natural premade product?
merry xmas by the way 🙂
Merry Christmas to you too! I am going to do a cost breakdown in a future post because I knew people would ask! But yes it is cheaper! It’s true that castile soap and coconut oil seem expensive when you buy a big tub – but you don’t use very much at all to get the equivalent of a store-bought bottle.
Thanks for sharing this post. I am eager to try some of these.
You’re very welcome! I’d love to hear which one you like best when you give them a try!
So I have hard water at home and I know that the castile soap reacts making my hair looking and feeling gross because of soap scum. Do you have that problem? Or does the coconut milk or what counter the soap scum?
Thanks for your comment. I have hard water at home as well, and using the castile soap mix does make my hair have a “wet look” as opposed to a “fluffy look” – and every couple of washes I will use a bit of baking soda as well to cut through it when it starts to feel too heavy. I haven’t tried the coconut milk one; my hair isn’t dry so I think it would be too oily for me. I am currently working on a more pH-balanced shampoo because I keep hearing the castile soap and baking soda are too alkaline for hair.
Will you post that recipe when you’ve got it?
Absolutely! It’s coming up in a few days!
Here it is!
http://juicygreenmom.ca/diy-ph-balanced-shampoo/
How much of recipe #1 for shampoo should you use each time in the shower? The same amount as a store bought shampoo?
I haven’t used recipe #1 myself, but judging from the ingredients, I would guess that you would actually use less than store bought shampoo. Perhaps even half the amount. DIY shampoos with liquid castile soap tend to go further than store bought shampoos.
Are these safe to use on my 2yr old?
Marissa, if you are using essential oils with your 2 year old, I would use less than stated in the recipe to make sure it’s super diluted. The other thing is that these may not be “tear-free” so if you get it in your eyes, it may sting. Otherwise, I would be comfortable using them with a young child!
Does the conditioner with coconut oil, olive oil and honey need to be refrigerated at all times?
** I meant coconut milk
Good question! I think it would harden if you put it in the fridge, which may make it difficult to use. But I wouldn’t make a huge batch – I would make a small one so that I could get through it quickly.