Homemade, chemical-free shampoo

I decided to try a little a experiment this week after stumbling across an idea for homemade shampoo.

For the most part I use commercial shampoo that's on the organic/natural end of the spectrum with as few of the nasty shampoo toxins as possible (no SLS!). Even so, basically every commerically bought shampoo has a few unwanted chemicals, if only to preserve shelf life. I used to use the Beauty Without Cruelty shampoo, but Wegman's stopped carrying it for whatever reason, and there aren't many brands I like as well as that one, so I decided to try the all natural route this week.

I'd heard before that hair could be washed with baking soda, followed by a vinegar rinse, so I decided to give it a go. To make the baking soda shampoo mix a few spoonfuls of baking soda with a cup of water (if your hair is short, you can lessen the recipie). Make sure it's all stirred in well.

The hardest part to get used to is the fact that the mixture is so thin when you're used to using thick shampoos. The second thing is that is feels like you're washing your hair with sticky sand. That's where the vinegar rinse comes in. Mix two spoonfuls of vinegar with a cup of water (again if your hair is short, you may need less).

Like the baking soda, the vinegar rinse is thinner than any shampoo, but once you get used to that, it does get rid of the stickiness left behind by the baking soda.

This homemade shampoo works fine, but it does have one odd characteristic. The hair is clean, the hair looks clean, but the hair doesn't feel clean. It has a heavier weight due to the fact that the natural hair oils aren't being stripped away as they are with commercial shampoo. That means even though it is clean, and looks clean, it doesn't have that light, squeaky-clean feeling.

This may take some getting used to (or I may just decide to run back to my bottle of chemical shampoo.)