Making Wholistic Shampoo

As a chemosensitive person one of the hardest things to manage is finding suitable personal grooming products. I ran the gamut for over a decade, and even decided to get with just shaving my hair off a few times. I think I did ok carrying the look, but having my locks back, and finally mastering making my own shampoo after becoming a soap maker myself, I feel like I have the best hair I've ever had. In the spirit of sharing great things, though I don't sell my shampoo bar yet, I thought I would share the process of making it here.

I did a lot of research into the kinds of natural herbs and oils that support the health of the hair. Finally settling on a simple combination of ingredients, some of which I also use in a conditioning wash that I make to go along with the shampoo. 

First I make the soap. Making a decoction of the herbs and other water soluble ingredients, and then I freeze it. Adding the lye to the frozen decoction prevents the caustic gasses from being created when they come into contact. Next I measure the oils, and add them to the slow cooker to melt them and eventually end up with a hot process soap. Once it jells I put it into the mould and wait for it to harden. This part can take up to 24 hours if you want to wait that long. 

Next I repeat the process with the decoction, with the same ingredients. While all of the herbs and oils went through the saponification process in the soap bar, in this part of the process they remain fully intact.

Making a double boiler with a small pot and a metal bowl I add both coconut oil and sunflower oil, grating and melting the soap back down with the oils, and then slowly add in the strained decoction until I get the viscosity I'm looking for. I use this part of the process to create a liquid soap that won't be overly alkaline and strip the hair, but rather protect it. Just the soap alone can be too stripping. This is the main reason I don't offer the shampoo bar for sale, yet.

Once all of the ingredients are melted in the bowl together I let it stay on low heat for about 20 minutes with a cover on just to let everything mingle. Once it's ready I blend it with a hand blender, and allow it to cool. I keep the extra in the fridge until it's used. It can separate a little but a good shake puts it all back in order. Now for the actual recipe... 

Sher's Shampoo Bar (3 bar batch size)

Coconut Oil 80g
Sunflower Oil 105g
Avocado Oil 20g
Cocoa Butter 15g

Liquid 71.25g (see liquid decoction recipe)
Lye 35.63g

Liquid Decoction Recipe

Distilled water
Peppermint
Hyssop
Calendula
Yerba Mate
Fenugreek
Rice
Oat
Honey (Add honey to the decoction after it's been removed from heat and strained)

Added after jell phase...
1 tsp Honey & 1 tsp Collagen powder mixed with 2 tbsp warm water (you can also mix it with the left over strained decoction as long as its warm enough to dissolve the honey and collagen)

~ Tea bags are great for making the decoction. You don't need loose herbs but they're also great if you have them. You can play with this and make your own version for what works for you, but consider the why of the above ingredients, it's a great combination!

Peppermint stimulates hair growth at the root.

Hyssop cleanses and supports the scalp as well as the hair, and has anti-inflammitory and gentle anti-fungal properties. It's also considered a spiritual herb for cleansing if you're like me and appreciate that kind of thing. 

Calendula sooths the scalp, preventing irritation from the surfactant properties of the soap.

Yerba Mate aids in stimulating and toning the scalp and has powerful anti-oxidant properties toning and purifying the hair strand.

Fenugreek has been used in Ayurvedic shampoos for thousands of years. Here it supports the hair with its ability to stimulate growth, prevent DHT (which can cause hair loss) from attaching to the hair follicle, and helps to thicken the hair.

Rice protein helps to reduce frizz, supporting the hair strand by filling in weak spots.

Oat helps prevent irritation of the scalp, reducing inflammation to help prevent hair loss and improve the quality of hair growth.

Last is honey, bringing its brightening and antioxidant properties, helping to keep the scalp calm and nourished as the soap does it's work removing the unwanted dirt and oils. 

Collagen is added with more honey after the jell phase, but for the why of it as an ingredient it's a core building block of hair nails and skin. Thickening the hair, and supporting both the follicle and scalp. I'm really glad I took the chance and decided to put it in there.

~

For me this has given my hair new life and I'm all about it now. As I was researching the various ingredients I found products with them in them, some here and some there. All mixed with chemical surfactants and irritants, fragrances, and preservatives. Some of these products were as expensive as $350 per bottle, and didn't even list the ingredients other than the one or two golden carrot ones. I can make this in my kitchen on a Sunday afternoon. It can be even more simple if you're just getting started or can't use some of the things I mentioned. Just be sure to consider the alkalinity of your end shampoo, your hair will thank you! In my opinion it's not just your hairs health that will improve, avoiding the plethora of toxic chemicals in common personal grooming products is the best way to make sure you're health is being supported wholistically by your total environment. 

When it comes to toxic load, using food grade ingredients, and the same ingredients in both soap, shampoo, and conditioning hair rinse, and many of those same things being in your actual diet, your body can relax and know that it's in an environment that it understands at the epigenetic level, and that its supported in that environment. For me as a Chemosensitive person, that's really important, but I don't think I'm that different from anyone else when it comes to that. We're all chemically sensitive at some level. 

That was a lot but I hope you can benefit from it. I think I'll save the conditioning rinse for another day!

Thanks for being here and TTYS!
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Sincerely, Sherry
Old Mill Natural Soap Company Owner/Chandler/Soapmaker

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