Lilac Vanilla Shampoo and Conditioner

Inside these unmarked bottles, is homemade shampoo and conditioner, that I created from materials that function as a base and from mainly kitchen staples and some essential oils. Why I do it can’t be answered with a single reason. Which I think is a hallmark of any good personal decision in life. Multiple reasons, being a better method in my view of being the reason for any given personal choice.

So, let me discuss some of my main reasons for making my own shampoo and conditioner. First one is cost. For the cost of 1 small bottle of shampoo or conditioner for a similar if not the same price, I can buy a gallon or 5 of base. For 50 cents, I can then add additives that are natural, to it that benefit my hair’s health and can even impact the issues it has. And then when I run out, I can make 6 more bottles or more without paying another penny. So, this method is cost affective. Second, I can never find the fragrances I like at the drugstore, at the salon I use, or at the mall in a cosmetics shop. They just don’t tend to make the fragrances I gravitate to. They also often use unnatural fragrances which quite frankly give me a headache. There are all kinds of additives to store bought that are less than natural and healthy. With my own, I know what is in it. I know it is safe, that it doesn’t cause cancer or any other ickiness. I also know the quality of what I am using on my hair is very high, as I am a homesteader not a business looking to pay less for ingredients while taking in more than what the final product is actually worth from consumers. These are some of the main reasons I do this.

That said…. There are draw backs to making your own stuff also. The mess on the kitchen counter after you bottle it can be a pain. Running out of olive oil or other kitchen staples more quickly can be a minor annoyance. Having to maintain your stock and store it can be hard when storage space is not overly plentiful, and lastly, because it is natural from natural ingredients once made, it only lasts so long. So make it as you need it. Which means with some regularity you must mix up a new batch, which is not the most convenient thing in the world to be doing with any real frequency. It means planning time to both make it and clean it up. It means you must plan to have what you need for it in the house. Which is actually how this project today started.

I had planned to make some moisturizing cream for my body, or body lotion and discovered… I was out of base! So I made a pivot, to shampoo and conditioner.

For this you need some nice essential oils with fragrances you like, some lavender, rosemary, and lemongrass essential oils also, olive oil, vinegar, 2 large bowls, 2 spoons for mixing, 2 plastic squeezable 16 oz bottles, and 2 funnels.

I tend to play with the amounts of ingredients I add. I like to add till I have a consistency and fragrance I really enjoy. But for the sake of creating a specific recipe

16 0z of shampoo base.
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 drops rosemary essential oil
6 drops lavender essential oil
6 drops lemongrass essential oil
enough essential oil in the fragrance/s of your choice to drown out the fragrance of the medicinal essential oil additives.

Put all of it in a bowl. Mix it well, then pour it or spoon it into the funnel and allow it to fill your plastic bottle. Put a cap on it. Use it as needed. Should last up to 3 months.

16 oz conditioner base
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons vinegar
6 drops rosemary essential oil
6 drops lavender essential oil
6 drops lemongrass essential oil
Enough essential oil in whatever fragrance/s you like to drown out the medicinal essential oil’s fragrances that help make hair healthy.

Mix well in a large bowl. Then using the spoon and funnel fill your plastic bottle. Put a cap on it. Use it within 3 months for best quality.

I tend to choose fragrances by season. Now that it is spring, I have been playing with a new fragrance one I recently fell in love with. Vanilla Lilac. To me, it smells like spring. It is also elegant, sophisticated, old fashioned, feminine, then the vanilla adds a hint of exotic sexiness. After many years with my old go to spring fragrance this one feels fresh, new, and exciting. Isn’t that how spring should feel? I have also made perfume and soap out of this fragrance, I love it. Next up, body lotion for my dry skin, when my lotion base arrives.

I add olive oil, because olive oil is a great way to replenish the moisture soap leaches, and I include vinegar, because it is an amazing natural detangler. Rosemary, helps hair grow, lavender is an antifungal as is lemongrass so your hair comes clean and is treated with a natural agent to get the worst yuck out of your hair. Fungus, is a leading culprit in causing dandruff, so again good for scalp health.

In summer, I will probably switch to some other fragrance, something brighter, maybe more woods and flowers fragrance of some kind. Autumn, will get fruity with hints of cinnamon. Then in the winter, warm spices tend to be my go to fragrance, vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom.

Eventually, I hope to make a nice label for this stuff and offer my excess in the shop. But for now these boring images of bottled shampoo and conditioner are the best I can do, as I spaced out and forgot to photograph the process to reach this point. Sorry. Will try to do better with my body lotion when I make it.

One last thought… Having nice smelling stuff to pamper yourself with is a really nice thing after a hard day on your feet, baking, cleaning, crafting, and dealing with smelly animals, or working out in the heat. It is nice to have self care that makes once feel….. Civilized. On a homestead, moments where you don’t smell bad and aren’t filthy, are not to be taken entirely for granted. It’s also nice because on the rare occasions I do leave the homestead I always get inquiries about how I manage to smell so good. Being able to be a human rather than a homestead creature, sometimes is something one really needs. It can feel rather good. This is one of the ways I do that, making sure my self care is high quality and smells unlike anything bought in the store.

Thanx for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm