Make your own DIY shampoo and conditioner

Have you ever used things out of the kitchen to make your own DIY toiletries? In a lot of instances, it works just as well as the products you buy over the counter. Moreover, since you know what is going in the mix, you risk having less adverse effects on your skin.

When I was about 12 years old, I experimented with making an egg mask and not too long ago, I found out about the benefits of bicarbonate of soda, which I love.

I’ve also been using the mix below as a dry shampoo. You add about a spoonful of corn flour and a spoonful of cocoa powder. Mix together with a few drops of essential oil. You can use a soft fluffy brush to dab it on your dry scalp and then brush it off.

The corn flour is supposed to soak away excess oil, which makes the hair looks greasy. But leaves just enough to keep hair shiny and healthy with it’s natural oils. Which is why there are some people who are all for dry shampoos.

I guess it works. But you have to get over seeing yourself with powder and get used to the smell of cocoa in your hair. Plus it’s quite messy and I tend to see a lot of chocolate powder on the sink as I brush the powder away.

Anyway, to continue with the wonderful no package shop that I visited, I thought that I’d share also some DIY shampoo and conditioner that I learnt how to make at La Citta.

To make your own shampoo, you need :

• A tablespoon of chickpea powder
• A tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 100 ml of water

Mix the ingredients in a bottle and shake it well. This shampoo lasts for about 2 washes and should be used within the week.

You use it as a regular shampoo – rub it on your scalp and in your hair. It probably feels odd to use as it doesn’t sud and have bubbles like a regular shampoo. And the smell from the vinegar is something that you have to overcome. I have to admit that I was really sceptical that it would work but after two days of washing my hair this way, I have to say that my tresses look really good.

Chickpea powder is supposed to have a good cleansing properties for the scalp and the acidic properties from the vinegar makes the hair shiny.

Next time, I think I’d add some essential oil to make the smell more bearable.

To make your own conditioner/hair masque, you soak some linseed for several hours. Possibly even overnight. After that, you heat it up and then set the timer to 5 minutes once it starts simmering. There should be white bubbles as what you see below.

By then, the consistency of the liquid should be a little bit viscous, slightly gel-like but still watery. At this point, let it cool down and then separate the liquid from the seeds. The part we use is the liquid.

And to use the conditioner, you simply spread it on your scalp and hair, leave it on for a while and wash it off. Or for a deeper conditioning effect, leave it on for several hours while you do your housework, chores or grocery shopping. It’s transparent so no one could really tell if you tied up your hair.

Men could use this too for their beard.

Anyway, this conditioner, I love it a lot! The smell is pleasant hit of sweetcorn and somewhat floral. It’s a little messy to use it from the recycled glass bottle I used, so I reckon it’ll be much easier to get a squeeze bottle to store the conditioner the next time.

Check out how my hair is loving it. Shiny and bouncy! And believe me, I’m not using any other additional products at all the past week. I’m really surprised at how well it works on me.

All in all, I’d still use my regular shampoo once in a while, but after this little experiment, I really don’t mind continuing with the DIY shampoo and conditioner 🙂