Want the Best Natural Shampoo? Make It Yourself

Washing your hair with shampoo is an important part of your health and wellness routine. It cleanses your hair, nourishes it, and helps it to look its best.

But not all shampoos are created equal. Some include harsh, harmful chemicals that can hurt your health and wellness more than it helps it. That’s why many conscious consumers are making the switch to natural shampoo.

If you’re interested in finding the best natural shampoo, then there’s no need to pay an arm and a leg for it at a specialty wellness shop. Just make your own instead.

It’s easier than you think. Keep reading to learn everything that you need to know about creating your very own DIY natural shampoo.

Or, start shopping for the ingredients that you’ll need now:

• Liquid Castile Soap for the basis of your all-natural shampoo
• Natural Beauty Wellness Kit for all of the tools and ingredients you need to make your shampoo at home
• Your favorite essential oil for the perfectly-scented DIY shampoo

What is natural shampoo?

The definition of natural shampoo is a bit harder to parse than you might expect. That’s because there’s no industry-wide standard for the term.

These things are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It’s their responsibility to set strict guidelines for terms that companies may use while marketing their products. For example, they came up with the guidelines that must be met for a brand to use “organic” in their marketing materials.

But the USDA hasn’t set very strict guidelines for the usage of the word natural at all. The only requirements that must be met for a product to be natural are that it must be:

• Minimally processed
• Free of added color
• Free of artificial ingredients (but this requirement has been interpreted very broadly by the U.S. court system)

All of this is to say that the natural shampoo that you see at the store may not be as wholesome and healing as you thought. That’s why we recommend making your own. Doing so will ensure that you get the all-natural hair care product that you’re after.

What sets natural shampoo apart from store-brand shampoos?

Truly natural shampoos, such as the kind you make at home, offer several improvements over their store-bought counterparts.

First, natural shampoos are free of the harsh ingredients that can be found in commercially available options. This is a list that includes things like:

• Sodium lauryl sulfates
• Propylene glycol
• Siloxanes
• Ammonium lauryl sulfate
• Mureth sulfate
• And more

These ingredients can be very damaging to your hair. They can reduce the size of hair follicles, dry out glands, and leave your hair feeling dried out and unhealthy. Things like sodium lauryl sulfate can also both dry out your scalp and irritate it.

Natural shampoo enables you to avoid all these harmful side effects. But on top of that, it also has nourishing benefits that will help you to get the most out of your hair care routine.

Natural shampoos are typically made with natural plant oils and herb extracts. These feature naturally-occurring nutrients that can do wonders for your hair. Some of the benefits of using natural shampoo include:

• Hair follicle stimulation for improved hair growth
• Overall improvements to the condition of your hair and scalp
• Nourishing for people with all types of skin and hair
• Environmentally-friendly production process and end-product

Are homemade shampoos as effective as store-bought ones?

Some people are hesitant to swap an all-natural DIY shampoo because they think it will be less effective. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The confusion may lie in the fact that all-natural shampoos tend not to lather up as much as store-bought ones. But this is simply because they don’t include the artificial ingredients that create the lathering effect.

All-natural shampoos still include soap. Recipes also commonly call for essential oils. Many of these have naturally-occurring antimicrobial and bacterial properties. That means they’ll take care of your scalp and hair just as well as harsh chemicals can.

How to make the best natural shampoo

The idea of making your shampoo can feel daunting -- especially if you’re not someone who usually does this kind of thing. But the process is super simple. Just follow the steps below and we’ll have you creating natural shampoo in no time.

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

Let’s start by getting everything that we’re going to need to create the shampoo. Don’t worry, you won’t have to spend a ton of money or hunt down hard-to-find ingredients to do this. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of liquid castile soap
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerine
• A few drops of your favorite essential oil

Step 2: Gather your tools

You’ll also need just a few tools to make the creation process easier on yourself. Put together a bowl for mixing, something to mix with, and either an old shampoo bottle or another container that you can put the mixture in when you’re done with it.

If you want to make getting all of these ingredients and tools easier for yourself, check out our Natural Beauty Wellness Maker Kit. It includes everything that you need to create a wide variety of DIY products.

Step 3: Mix it all together

This step is straightforward enough. Just put all of the ingredients into your bowl and begin mixing them. Keep going until the mixture’s texture has become consistent throughout.

Step 4: Transfer it to a container for use

You can use as much or as little of the mixture as you need depending on how much hair you have. Lather your hair up one time, then rinse it away with warm water. 

You’ll notice that this DIY natural shampoo is a bit thinner than store-bought ones so it won’t lather as much. But don’t worry, it will still clean your hair just as effectively as its commercially-available counterparts.

The 5 best ingredients to add to your natural shampoo

The recipe we shared above is just one of the many ways that you can make your own natural shampoo. You can get playful with the creation process. Try out a few different ingredients and see which ones work best for your hair. Here are five of our favorites.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil is the perfect addition to your next natural shampoo blend. Its soothing, calming properties promote tranquility and make it an excellent way to prepare yourself for a restful night of sleep. A lavender essential oil can also contain antibacterial properties to promote scalp health and certain properties that may lead to faster hair growth.

Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary essential oil is another excellent addition to your shampoo recipes. It’s especially impactful as a booster of both hair thickness and growth rate. The oil also has a refreshing, stimulating quality that makes it perfect for your morning hair care routine.

Thyme Essential Oil

Thyme essential oil is known for its spicy, heady scent when used in aromatherapy. But the oil also has several qualities that will help your hair. To start, some research suggests it can actively reduce hair loss. 

It’s also been proven to help treat alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disorder that leads to patchy hair loss.

Tea Tree Essential Oil

Tea tree essential oil in a wide variety of health and wellness products. There’s a good reason for this. It has powerful antibacterial and cleansing properties that make it an excellent addition to just about anything.

Tea tree is great for hair growth and may even be an effective way to treat dandruff. Add to that its uplifting scent and invigorating sensation and you have an essential oil that’s perfect for an all-natural shampoo recipe.

Peppermint Essential Oil

Peppermint essential oil is known for its refreshing scent, invigorating scent. It can be used as an instant refresher to reboot your mood whenever you’re feeling a bit down.

But peppermint essential oil also makes a great addition to DIY hair care products. The tingling sensation that it offers can increase circulation in the area that it’s applied. This can lead to increased hair growth, follicle depth, and even a higher number of follicles. It also smells fantastic!

Try our natural ingredients

The best natural shampoos start with the best ingredients. So don’t settle for less. Check out the Nourished Essentials shop to find everything that you need to start making your own shampoo at home.

Our high-quality essential oils are 100% natural and full of nutrient-rich plant oils to boost your health and wellness. Or, check out our carrier oils to find a number of health-supporting ingredients that can be added to your DIY shampoo recipes.

We even sell several different Wellness Maker Kits for you to consider. These include ingredients like carrier oils, essential oils, and hydrosols. But they also include a number of tools that will enable you to create the all-natural DIY products that you want without having to order a bunch of stuff online or visit several stores.