Not only is making your own homemade shampoo a great way to save money, but it’s healthy for your family and you’ve got control over the ingredients, so you can choose how the shampoo makes your hair feel.
I have toyed with many homemade shampoo recipes through the last few years as I have gotten into soapmaking and making other natural family care products, but this is the one that has become our family favorite and the staple in our bath.
One recipe lasts our family of four 3-4 weeks and rings in at about $1.64 per batch. I still prefer to use a separate conditioner afterward, but my husband and my kids find that it conditions sufficiently all by itself.
Oh, and this recipe works as hand soap, body wash, and baby shampoo too!
Conditioner Update – 15 January 2013: I have received lots of requests for a homemade conditioner, and unfortunately none of my experiments have resulted in anything desirable yet. (Heh.) However, my friend, Heather, the Mommypotamus, has preceeded me and published six conditioner recipes in her fan-TAB-u-lous e-book, DIY Organic Beauty Recipes, along with natural hair color, hair spray, and some delicious sounding shampoo recipes (Sweet Orange and Honey Shampoo, anyone?), so hopefully you’ll find at least one recipe that will work for you and your family.
Homemade Shampoo
1/2 cup pure liquid castile soap (e.g. Dr. Bronners, Trader Joe’s, etc)
1/4 cup water
1/2 – 1 tsp. olive oil
10-40 drops of essential oil or therapeutic oil (optional)
Place all ingredients in a jar or squeeze bottle and shake vigorously to combine. (I find a peri bottle left over from postpartum care or purchased from a medical supply pharmacy works like a charm, as it holds exactly the full recipe with room to shake and has the measuring increments printed right on the bottle.)
For oils, if you’re using the oil merely for the purpose of adding a lovely scent, such as lavender, sweet orange, cedar, or almond, start with 10 drops and then add according to preference. However, if you have dandruff or are struggling with other scalp and skin issues, like ringworm or fungus, use a therapeutic oil such as tea tree oil, oil of oregano, or neem oil, and use at least 30 drops.
And of course, change things up according to your family’s preferences – that’s the beauty of making things at home!
UPDATE December 19, 2012 – In the comments, at least one person has asked for a thicker recipe. After a few new experiments and after switching a few ingredients around, I’ve come up with one that I hope will satisfy the craving. It doesn’t lather upquite as nicely, but it’s still decent. As always, feel free to adjust for your family’s needs!
Homemade Shampoo – Thicker Recipe
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. olive oil
10-40 drops of essential oil or therapeutic oil (optional)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 cup pure liquid castile soap (e.g. Dr. Bronners, Trader Joe’s, etc)
Place the water and oils in a blender and turn it on (any speed will do). With the motor running, add in the xanthan gum and mix until thickened, about 5 seconds.
Turn off the motor and add the castile soap. Replace the cover and quickly pulse 3-4 times to thoroughly emulsify. Don’t overdo it or you will have copious amounts of bubbles on your hands! (Speaking strictly from experience, of course…)
Pour into a pump bottle and use as desired.
This post has been included in the Real Food Wednesday carnival for “Natural Body Care Products for Real Foodies, and Simple Lives Thursday.
About Kresha
Kresha is the mother of three young children, the wife of one incredibly good man, an opera singer, a cloth diapering instructor, and an avid researcher. She and her husband share a passion for living life thoughtfully and intentionally in response to God's grace in their lives and she loves to share good meals (and good wine) around a very large table.
Looks like a great recipe! I ‘m tired of chemical shampoos and all ready make my own soap. One thought about the essential oils though, oregano essential oil can (and does) burn the skin, I would limit to one or two drops instead of 30 if using in this shampoo, I can only imagine rinsing that off and having it burn the heck out of your eyes!
That’s very true!!! I use ONE drop in my toothpaste and that’s about all I can handle.
The tea tree oil can be used at that concentration, but oregano oil should be used much more sparingly. In fact, to treat a fungal infection on the scalp, it might work best to put 2-3 drops of oregano oil directly on the scalp, then add the shampoo to wash.
Thanks for your great comment.
Ive been trying to move on to a more natural money saving lifestyle and this seemed like a good thing to do. I used lavender Castile soap with orange essential oil. It seemed to clean my hair so much better then store bought shampoo and my hair smells amazing!! Thank you for the recipe.
You’re so welcome! I’m glad it worked for you. The lavender and orange combo sounds really yummy!
Can you use any other oil besides olive oil? Just curious if it’d work with other kinds.
Y’know, I’m not sure. I’ve only ever used olive oil because it’s a fairly traditional oil that’s been used for centuries as a personal care product. Coconut oil would certainly be lovely for moisturizing and as an antifungal for the scalp, but it would solidify under 76 degrees, so that might be more frustrating that it’s worth.
I use apricot kernel oil and avocado oil in soapmaking sometimes – perhaps try one of those if you’re wanting something different, as they would both nourish the hair and the scalp well.
I’d love to hear what works for you if you try anything different!
Thank you! I was thinking about coconut oil, but I don’t know if I want to deal with heating it up every time I need to use it. It might work right now since it’s warm out anyway, but in the winter time that might get annoying, haha.
If you are worried about coconut oil solidfying, see if you can find it in a fractionated form. Fractionated means it simply has separated the light parts from the solid parts. This form stays longer (non rancid) and will not solidify, perfect for shampoo and body wash!
If you mix solid coconut oil with a hand mixer for almost 10 mins it stays in a whipped form. I use it in a body scrub and leave it in my shower. I have to mix it up each use, but not reheat it. I imagine it would work the same way if you just shake the shampoo bottle quickly before each use. That’s what I plan on trying. Coconut is the only oil I use in anything.
Does your shampoo actually get soapy when you use it on your hair?
Yes, it lathers up quite nicely due to the castile soap. It’s quite satisfying.
Another GREAT recipe!
hello! love this! just out of curiosity, what kind of conditioner do you find goes well with this shampoo without making your hair oily? thanks! anja
Oddly enough, I find that I don’t need a conditioner with this shampoo. I said “oddly enough” because I’ve been a life-long absolutely-need-conditioner-or-my-hair-will-be-uncontrollable person, but since we’ve switched to using this shampoo two years ago, I have found I can skip the conditioner without losing control of my hair.
However, if you do want or need a conditioner, I suggest baking soda. (I know it sounds weird, but it does work!) Squeeze as much water as possible out of your hair after rinsing out the shampoo, then rubbing a liberal amount of baking soda into it. Rinse it out and your hair will be soft and sleek.
hello! thanks so much! i may have to try that…but i do have concerns about it. i’ve tried using diluted baking soda as a shampoo before i found your recipe and it horribly dried out my hair and scalp.
since using this shampoo, though, i’ve discovered that equal parts white vinegar and water lightly sprayed in after shampooing and then rinsed works very nicely as a “conditioner”. without it, i get very, um, ?fluffy flyaway unruliness. my hair is long, thick, fine and curly, so the fineness needs *something* to keep it to a dull roar… thanks again! blessings! anja
I’m confused about the olive oil.. Dr. Bronner’s pure Castile soap already has olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut, palm, and hemp oils in it. Is it necessary to add more oil?
Thanks for your help!
Yes, it is necessary to still add a bit of olive oil.
All the lovely oils in Dr. Bronners have already been saponified, which is the process that takes oils and turns them into soap through a chemical reaction. The bit of olive oil that is included in this recipe forms a nice moisture barrier on the hair shaft and the skin to help keep moisture in.
Awesome! Thank you so much for the timely feedback. Getting ready to make my first batch right now!
If using the Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castille soap, is it the Unscented Baby/Mild soap? Just trying this for the first time and wanted to order the right one. The other ones that I found were all scented so i thought that would limit the fragrances that I could come up with in the finished shampoo. Thanks for your help!
You can use any liquid castile soap you’d like – unscented would be advantageous for exactly the reason you suggest, but you can use any that you’d like. We usually only have various scents on hand, like lavender or eucalyptus, so I just use whatever we have.
I made a batch of this last night and used it for the first time this morning. I like everything about it with one exception that maybe you could help with. The stuff smells great ( used Dr. Bronners eucalyptus ), lathers nicely, is not nearly as ” heavy ” as commercial brands, hair is much more manageable & feels clean for a change and I find that I also have no more need for conditioner. However ; since the consistency is more like water, as opposed to ” syrupy ” commercial brands, It’s just a bit awkward to pour into the palm of my hand without wasting most of it. What could you sugest to solve that ? Thanks !
I’m so glad you’ve liked it so far!
For that exact reason, we make our batches in a squeeze bottle so that we squirt it directly onto the hair. I imagine a spray bottle could work well too, although it might gunk up over time (I’m not sure, I haven’t tried). Otherwise, I totally agree – it’s frustrating to pour it in your hand only to have it drip out or run off the sides.
I hope that helps!
By the way, does anyone else have creative methods of applying this shampoo?
If you are not opposed to plastic, how about a ketsup or mustard container with a flip top or squirt lid? I don’t use store bought mysef, however I do know a lot of people who do, so I assume you would too. I am all about reusing what is out there.
I’ve been playing around with adjustments to the recipe to get it thicker and I’ve posted a second recipe above! I hope it helps.
Try a foaming hand soap pump.
I’m just going to play around with it on the next batch by adding a bit of vegetable glycerin. That might help . Thanks again !
Oh, what a great idea! Please let us know how it turns out.
It also occurs to me that one might be able to use xanthan gum or gelatin in this context, but I’ll have to play around with that to see if it could actually work.
Thanks for a great comment!
Thank you for posting this recipe! I have been using it for the past 4 days, and for the most part, I really love it! It lathers up great, and I love the smell! The only problem is that when the bottom of my hair dries, after using the shampoo, it has sort of a waxy feeling, and it’s very hard to brush. My hair near the roots however feels nice and soft and great. I was wondering if anyone has experienced this, or knows what might be causing it. I am using your recipe exactly, with tea tree oil and lavender oil. Thanks!
I make my own shampoo, too. I use 1/4 cup of Dr. Bronner’s, 2 tsp avocado oil, 1 tsp vegetable glycerin, 1/8 tsp of tea tree EO and 1/8 tsp of peppermint EO. I love avocado oil and vegetable glycerin for my hair. It really makes it feel great! I will be trying the xanthan gum to thicken it up a little! Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve heard that the avocado oil and the glycerin are especially good for “extreme” hair types – extra dry, extra oily, extra thick, extra kinky… I’ve always wanted to try it, but never have. Thanks for sharing the recipe and how it works for you!
Hi, I was wondering if anyone tried using one of those foaming squirt bottles. It turns the liquid into foam. and if that would work for the shampoo. I just found this site, the shampoo recipes sound great I am going to try them. Where can I get the liquid Castile soap?
Oh, that’s a fun idea! If it works with the shampoo, that could be a great solution to the problem!
You can get liquid castile soap at any health food store or natural aisle of a supermarket. It’s quite common and shouldn’t be difficult to find.
Hi, I just found your site and LOVE it! A question re the shampoo…do you use organic high quality oils or cold pressed grocery store variety? Also, do you have a recipe for conditioner?
I’m so glad you enjoy the site.
As for oils, I’m assuming you’re asking about the essential oils, since there’s less than a teaspoon of olive oil in the recipe. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.) For essential oils, I use whatever I have on hand. I purchase various oils for various purposes and typically have various samples on hand, so the quality definitely varies. For certain things, like using a diffuser or making a vapor rub, I try to only use the highest quality oils I have, but for this shampoo, I wouldn’t worry about using the best of the best unless you’ve got serious scalp issues like severe dandruff or eczema. Organic might be more important, since essential oils are so concentrated, but those are expensive and sometimes difficult to find, so do what works for you. Anything your local health food store carries should be of high enough quality for this application.
Is that what you were looking for?
As for conditioner, as I mentioned to another commenter above, I actually have stopped using conditioner since I started using this shampoo. I used to HAVE to use conditioner to have any control of my hair, but this shampoo seems to do it all and I haven’t used conditioner in years. The commenter above said that a half/half mixture of white vinegar and water spritzed onto the hair seemed to work very well, and perhaps others have other suggestions?
The shampoo recipe is wonderful! I used a little lemon essential oil and it smells fresh and nice.
Do you have something for dandruff?
Not specifically, but theoretically as this shampoo doesn’t strip the hair and scalp of its moisture, and as you eat nourishing foods, your body *should* balance out its own pH so that the dandruff takes care of itself. Doesn’t really help in the short-term though.
Can anyone else here suggest any natural dandruff remedies?
I posted your question over on our Facebook page and several others are chiming in with their tips and ideas!
Hi Kresha,
I love your site and your recipes inspire me! A couple of questions:
1. I noticed that the Dr. Bronner’s bottle said that the product could be used as a body wash or shampoo just as it is. As you said, it already contains shea butter. I tried using it as a shampoo yesterday and it seemed to work very well. I think I will still try your recipe, but I’m wondering what you think of just using the product as is for shampooing?
2. You mention early on that this can be used as a baby shampoo. Have you tried that? I sometimes get blepharitis, which is treated by washing the eyelids with baby soap, and I’m wondering if I can use your shampoo for that and not irritate my eyes.
Thanks for your ideas and inspirations!
Rene’
Hi, Rene.
Thank you for your kind words.
Here are a few thoughts:
1. Absolutely castile soap may be used on its own as a shampoo. I tend to add other ingredients to it just to add other properties – olive oil, for example, to provide a moisture barrier (which is especially lovely for those of us who fight frizz regularly) and tea tree oil to help combat scalp issues. Definitely do whatever works best for you!
2. I would NOT recommend using castile soap to clean your eyes or your eyelids, as it can burn. We do indeed use this recipe on our babies, but for some reason, it’s never been an issue. Perhaps because none of our children can stand having water anywhere near their face, so we tend to rinse out shampoo fairly quickly. (It seems no one has taught them how fun it can be to twirl and swirl shampoo-lathered hair…) I don’t know of any other recommendations to make for an eyelid wash, but I’ll definitely think more deeply on it and post here if I come across any seemingly helpful ideas!
Is Sulfate in the castille soap? It causes breage, so I’m told, and I am fighting that problem as we speak. thanks
No – pure castile soap has no sulfates or sulfites. Of course, double check your labels to make sure a specific brand hasn’t added anything, but if it’s pure soap, it will just be soap.
With the addition of water into the shampoo, is it well preserved bc of the essential oils? I tend to use recipes that don’t contain water bc I don’t like preservatives,unless that are natural, of course, from EOs ,etc. is there a shelf life?
I have no idea of the shelf life, honestly. Our typically batch lasts us between 2-4 weeks and I made a triple batch once that was used up within 2 months. Beyond that, I don’t know!
It’s totally fine, too, to make the recipe without the water. The water is just to stretch it a bit.
Hi Kresha. Thank you so much for researching and sharing your findings on your website! I am going to try to make this recipe soon. I have all of the ingredients except for the liquid Castile soap. I do however have a bar of Kirk’s Castile soap that I bought from Cracker Barrel
. I was wondering what your thoughts were on grating and melting a portion of the bar of soap to yield the 1/2 cup of liquid soap that your recipe calls for. Thank you again. So glad I stumbled upon your website. I will definitely be reading more 
You could certainly try it – I’m sure it would work just fine. My only hesitation is that every time I’ve grated bar soap to make liquid soap, the final product ended up a bit ropy. I would assume that would happen in this case as well, although that wouldn’t affect the function of the shampoo, just its texture and how it pours out of the bottle.