This request came to me from Kylee, who uses a similar one by Avalon Organics for her dreads. She says “this shampoo has the ability to clarify, which is what I need, and the aloe and citrus work wonders on cleaning/tightening dreads.” The ingredient list for the original had a lot of great things on it, but it wasn’t a true soap—it was a detergent made with surfactants, albeit more natural ones. So, I set out to make something similar, with all the good stuff, and made from true liquid soap.
The liquid soap base is the one in my liquid soap overview, made up of great oils like olive, coconut, and castor. To that I’ve added some 200x concentrated aloe vera powder, to give the soap a great big aloe kick in the pants.
From there I’ve added blitzed up calendula and chamomile. Calendula adds shine and soothes the scalp, and chamomile brightens and can help with dandruff. It can also lighten hair, though, so if you want to avoid that, you can easily eliminate it and replace it with more calendula.
The blend of essential oils creates a wonderfully complex bouquet of citrussy goodness. If you’ve only got one or two citrus essential oils, feel free to replace the others with more of that. Benzoin and cedar mellow out the citrus scents nicely with their soft, subtle tones. Mmm.
And last, but not least, a bit of wheat gluten amps up the protein content of the shampoo—you can leave it out if you like.
The final shampoo is downright lovely. Soft and slippery, with good lather and a lovely scent. I’m storing mine in a pump-top bottle in the shower for easy dispensing and palm refills (since I have quite a lot of hair).
Citrus Chamomile Liquid Shampoo
100g liquid soap paste, softened
2 “nips” 200x aloe vera powder30 drops lemon essential oil
3 blobs benzoin essential oil
5 drops cedarwood essential oil
10 drops lime essential oil
8 drops grapefruit essential oil
4 drops litsea cubeba essential oil2 tsp calendula leaves
2 tsp chamomile flowers1/2 tsp wheat gluten (optional)
Start by soaking your soap paste so it’s the consistency you prefer your shampoo to be. I ended up having to add about 100g of water, but I’d recommend starting around 70g and working your way up to it (which can take a while, but it’s easier than ending up with super watery shampoo).
Once your soap paste has softened, the rest is a snap. Stir in the aloe vera powder and essential oils. Blitz the herbs in your DIY specific coffee grinder until you’ve got quite a lot of fine powdery stuff (this will take a while). Sift the remnants through a fine sieve—discard the large bits, and stir the fine bits into the shampoo.
If you’re using the gluten, sprinkle it in and stir to combine.
Decant into a 250mL pump-top plastic bottle and use as you’d use any shampoo. Enjoy!
Nice! Thank you!
🙂
Interesting. I’d like to make this but what is “liquid soap paste?”
If you click the link in the ingredients list it’ll take you to a recipe on how to make it 🙂
Hi Marie! Does this shampoo have any issues with the oils separating out? This shampoo recipe is not appropriate for my dry, curly, thin, henna-colored hair, but as I’ve mentioned to you before, I make my own shampoo, and the oils always separate out. I tried using xantham gum to thicken and homogenize the shampoo, and it turned out badly. I’ll try polysorbate-some number next time, I guess, but in the meanwhile, I’m always looking out for the solution to my shampoo-separation problem. Thank you!
Hi Tammy! So, in my experiments so far with oils added to liquid soaps, I’m finding the hardness of the oil really effects how much I can add without separation being an issue. For instance, I can incorporate a lot more shea butter or cocoa butter than I can olive oil, and a blend of olive oil and cocoa butter will work better than just olive oil. I’ve also been playing with soy lecithin to some success.
Hi Maria, It really really interesting to me. Just wondering how you can do so many diy items. Wonder woman!
😀 Thanks!
Hi Marie how are you?, just passed by to say hello and see how you are! very nice recipe as always! hello from Grecce…
Hi Athanasia! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I love you blog! You are amazingly creative and you put out so much useful material.
This looks like a great simple recipe for liquid soap, but I wouldn’t use it on my long hair. I have to assume that if you use it, you follow with an acidic rinse, like vinegar or lemon
juice, otherwise you will get horrendous build up because of the high pH of real soap.
I make soap for a living and I am always amazed at people who claim that their ‘shampoo bar’ soap is the best thing on the market. Sorry, but even superfatting the soap will not lower the pH down to where it plays well with hair. Susan of swiftcraftymonkey has been blogging about cosmetic chemistry for years and her articles on hair chemistry are really revealing. This one about soap and hair is pertinent to this post: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-cp-soap-doesnt-make-great-shampoo.html
Having said that, my experience from family and customers is that soap works fine for short hair.
Hi Gillian! Thanks for reading 🙂 I have pretty long hair (past my waist) that’s fine and thick, and I’ve been using nothing but homemade shampoo bars/liquids on it for over 3 years now. I always follow up with an ACV rinse, and my hair has never been happier. If I do skip the rinse (usually because I’m traveling), I don’t get build up—I get tangles. I find I really need the acidity of the ACV rinse to smooth my hair back down and keep it manageable.
Everyone’s chemistry is different, and I know you want to use the simplest and least processed bodycare possible, so if things work for you, I wouldn’t change anything.
But… I make a number of hair care products and I would be more than happy to send you some to try, if you’d like… actually I’d be honored. They are surfactant based, but with really nice ingredients.
Thanks again for all you do!
I’d love to try your stuff! If you want to send me an email, I can provide you with a mailing address 🙂
It’s like you read my mind! I was just considering submitting two requests: one for a liquid shampoo recipe and the other for ideas on what to do with all this calendula!
I can’t wait to try this recipe, especially since I have a well-earned three-day weekend coming up, during which I intend to pamper myself. I’ll let you know how it goes
Awesome! Glad to have anticipated you 😉 Have fun with the pampering!
Would a pure castille liquid soap work in place of the homemade soap paste? I would love to make my own shampoo, but I know that I won’t be making the soap paste anytime soon.
I’d also love to know this! Soap-making is beyond my willingness to diy at the moment, but I’m really attracted to this shampoo recipe.
Hijacking this to add another question: I’ve been oscillating somewhere in the shallow end of “natural” hair care for a while now (no traditional shampoo or conditioner; sometimes washing my hair with the all-natural herbal etc soap I use for my body, sometimes washing it with baking soda; routinely using a starch/baking powder dry shampoo late in the wash cycle; spritzing with some oil for shine and manageability), and am wondering how this kind of shampoo would fit in. I love the fact that I’ve been able to avoid washing my hair except for about once every 6-7 days, but have no idea how much this differs from washing it with soap, or washing it with a traditional “detergent” shampoo. I know you’ve written a lot about natural haircare elsewhere on this site — how do you think this can fit in on the spectrum of haircare for (very long-haired) people?
xo! Your site’s inspired me to dive into making my own cosmetics and skincare stuff, and it’s been incredibly beneficial to my day-to-day sense of confidence in my appearance. Thanks so much for sharing all of this.
So, I’ve been doing natural hair care using only homemade shampoo for over 3 years now, and I’ve got really long hair, too (dusting the top of my pants now, beyond my waist). I wash my hair every 4 days or so (more often in the summer, less often in the winter). I use a homemade shampoo (bar or liquid), and always follow up with an ACV rinse to counter the high pH of the shampoo (which is basically soap in those forms, and nothing at all like detergent as it doesn’t contain any surfactants). All this works really well for me 🙂
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me! I’m thrilled my DIYs are helping you feel better 🙂
It should, more or less, though I can’t speak for how moisturizing it will be as I don’t know how the soap was made. You’ll also want to skip the dilution phase 🙂
Laughing…. Calendula *petals/flowers*, dear!, not leaves. (grin)
The chamomile may only give a slight highlights to the hair, depending on one’s hair color. I was born tow-headed, hair darkening with age to med. ash blonde. Chamomile adds shine, at most, for me.
I must try your liquid soap recipe soon. I am hoping a shampoo will work better than bars for long-term usage. I prefer the bars, but I have to use a commercial detergent shampoo for a few days every month. No ACV rinse afterwards, either. I can use that before to clarify. If I use it afterwards, my hard water leaves my hair gummy. Hard water is a booger sometimes.
Eh… whoops 😛 They sort of look like leaves 😉
Your hard water must be a lot harder than mine! I don’t get gummy hair :/
Super super excited to see that you duped my suggestion! Plus, I happen to have all of these ingredients, thanks so much Marie! Lovin’ humblebeeandme! 🙂
Woo! Thanks for the great idea 🙂 I look forward to hearing how it lives up to the original.
Wow, so cool. I just made a chamomile and manuka honey shampoo bar, sat down to read your site with a cup of coffee and found this. I scented mine with Litsea Cubeba and Lemon Eo’s too. Maybe we could do a soap swap sometime as would love to try yours 🙂
OOooh, beautiful! I’m definitely down for a soap swap, I wonder what postage across the world would be on a bar or two?
I love your site! It was because of your awesome ideas and enthusiasm that I finally tried my first shampoo bar. An apple cider vinegar bar. It took a bit of getting used to at first. Then after a bit the ends of my hair got dry and pretty darn ugly. We’ll say straw like. 🙁 So, I then added the ACV/horse tail infused rinse and it helped but still was horrid to comb out. My next soap batch I added some horsetail and glycerin along with some ginger root at the end of the cook Huge difference. In this recipe I noticed you used benzoin. My questions, what does it do for your hair and how the heck do you get it mixed??? lol, I tried that in another recipe and ended up with a nasty blob stuck to the side of my soap pot and then in my sink. I’ve been horrified at the thought of using it ever again since!
Hi Patty! Congrats on diving into making your own shampoo 🙂 I’m glad you’ve found a shampoo/ACV combo that’s working for you! If you’re still having trouble with tangles, try adding some marshmallow root to your ACV rinse—I swear by it!
I tend to warm my benzoin in a hot water bath and drizzle it into mixtures, and I don’t have any troubles at all blending it in when I do that 🙂 I chose it here mostly for its scent, but it is said to help with acne and psoriasis as well.
Hi Marie, I am progressing now from easy perfumes and cremes into the more useful conditioner and shampoo making stage. However the ingredients lists are quite daunting. I use Lush’s Big saltbased semiliquid shampoo until now and would like to make something like that for myself. Also, is there something for brunettes what chamomile is for blondes? Girl, I am jealous of the superlong hair you have, I cannot have anything else but a pixielook, my hair is just too fine and wispy. But I find that good really natural products help and I would like to make my own. Do you have any tips? Love from Holland, Katja
Hi Katja! Congrats on diving deeper into DIY 🙂 Brunettes get molasses—I love this shampoo bar! I also have an article on things my hair loves that you might like 🙂
well, thanks for the tips but still daunting
🙂 Start slow, and work in small quantities—you’ll gain confidence over time 🙂
What do reds get!? lol 😉 (or strawberry blondes)
Rooibos!
For the BIG shampoo from lush u can just chuck some sea salt in to some handmade shampoo. However u would want to use the mix fast as the salt sometimes will turn into a soupy mess after a while. This way it’s cheaper than spending 20 something CAD on a mixture u can make yourself for a tiny fraction of the price.
Hi! came across your recipe and i love the herbal additions. But I just have one question….why do you mean by “nips”?
Check out this FAQ article 🙂
This is so great, I really want to try out this shampoo! Is it suitable for naturally straight and oily hair though?
It should work well for naturally straight and oily hair as it’s a clarifying shampoo 🙂 Just be sure to remember that it is natural, and therefore not as strong as a detergent based shampoo. You’ll need to employ some elbow grease to ensure all your hair gets clean.
Looks like a wonderful recipe Marie,I’ll be sure to try it once I have time to visit the store I get my stuff from. Thanks for all the hardwork you put in to developing these recipes.
🙂 Have fun!
Will the chamomille and calendula desintegrate? I’m afraid it will clog the pump bottle.
Have you ever made a PH balanced shampoo? So maybe you could skip the acid rinse?
You’ll notice there’s a step in the recipe where you pass the shampoo through a fine sieve—that’ll prevent any clogging issues 🙂
The high pH of soap is what preserves it, and I’m concerned that lowering its pH to neutral would open it up to bacterial growth, but I haven’t tried it myself.
Hi Marie,
I’ loving your website and all the info you pass along. I’m a newbie at this, and it all started because my 2 yr old granddaughter has terrible excema and I wanted to make something natural for her. Now here I am wanting to make everything we use, and I was wondering if more ingredients could be added to the liquid paste after it has liquefied…ie…more castor oil for sudsing…silk amino acids…does this all need a preservative ??? Thanks so so much for you!!!
Hey! You can add some things to a liquid soap paste, like silk amino acids and essential oils. Don’t add castor oil—it won’t do anything. Castor oil has to go through saponification to increase sudsing, you can’t just add it to anything and expect bubbles 🙂 The pH of soap makes it self preserving, so as long as you don’t greatly dilute the end product it should not require a preservative.
I just found out about your page – boy I love it! Beautiful soaps I want to make immediately, yummy lip gloss I want to eat and so much useful information! I am definitely pre-ordering your book!
I have got a quick question. Where are you learning about everything? All the chemistry and all the calculations.. because it is very impressive! 🙂
Gopd luck to you, wish you everything smellilng nice and many subscribers! 🙂
Hey Katarina! Most of what I know has been learned over years of research, trial and error, and old-fashioned doing. I love reading ingredient labels, seeing what other people do, and seeing if I can do it, too 😛 YouTube is a great resource for soaping, and Point of Interest is also incredible. I’m afraid I can’t recommend one source, it’s really just the end result of years of obsessing over making things 🙂 Happy making and thanks for reading!
Love your blog. Just stumbled upon it looking for a recipe for shampoo bars safe for dreads without having to ACV rinse. I really dislike the smell so if I can avoid that at all costs, I’d be a much happier dreadie. Any suggestions on a shampoo bar that has the lowest residue without being surfactant based? I’m concerned about leaving any kind of sticky residue building up within the dreads. Would love to hear your suggestions! Thanks!
If residue build up is a concern, and you really can’t scrub at your dreads too much, you really should look at a surfactant based shampoo—they rinse much cleaner, don’t require an acidic rinse, and don’t have build-up issues. I’ve been experimenting with some homemade surfactant based shampoo bars and I quite like them; they’re easy and leave my hair extra clean feeling! Susan has some excellent tutorials on them 🙂
How much does 2 nips of aloe vera powder weigh, or is it too little to register on a scale that goes down to .1g? I’ve got a scale like that, and I have ordered the spoons, but they won’t arrive before I need to make the shampoo. Thanks.
I’m afraid I have no idea without going and getting everything out and weighing it out, but 2 nips = 1/32 tsp, and having a bit less or a bit extra certainly won’t ruin things 🙂
Thanks.
That works. The smallest measuring spoon I have is 1/8 tsp, so I can just weigh that and divide it by 4 (and hope it’s not too little to register, though I doubt it will be).
I hope that works!
So I was looking at your recipe here and was wondering if it would work to dilute the soap paste with aloe vera juice as a work around not having the powder. I plan to get some eventually but let’s face it, my wish list is always growing faster than I can fulfill it. Right now I’m trying to focus more on using up what I already have.
Definitely! The juice is usually just water + the powder anyways 🙂
I am going to try this recipe, but I am not into making the liquid soap from scratch – medical school equals no time! I would like to try using Dr Bronners Pure Castile Soap as a base, what would you recommend in terms of additions, if any, based on his soap does not quite have everything your liquid soap recipe needs? Also, what would be approximate conversion for liquid aloe vs the powder, as I have liquid. Thanks, can’t wait! Also, if I am adding liquid aloe, should I add a little bit of germall?
Hey! You’d want to use a premade soap paste, not a fully complete soap. Something like this would work well. Using Dr. Bronner’s would be like using a fully baked cake in a recipe that called for cake mix 🙂
Hello Marie,
What is the shelf life for this shampoo? I use Avalon Organic too!
And can I use it on my dog?
Thank you =D
For shelf life, please refer to the FAQ 🙂
I don’t recommend using this on your dog due to the high pH—you can see what I use and read more here 🙂
Hi Marie, every time I try to get to your basic liquid soap recipe I get an error 404 message saying page not found. Have you taken the post down or is the link broken?
Please ignore my comment, Marie. I found the recipe via a search but the link from this page does not appear to be working.
How weird—I’ve fixed the link!
Hey there Marie!
I am loving your shampoo and liquid soap recipes! But, because I don’t have all the necessary surfactants and some other ingredients quite yet, I made a liquid soap paste with my own recipe, and now I’m trying to determine if it can be used as shampoo. My liquid soap was made from a blend of olive, rice bran, castor, jojoba and coconut. (coconut amt was less than total liquid oils) For the water, I used glycerin and dissolved the KOH into it. (speeds up the tracing and cooking stages.) I should also tell you that I superfatted at 3%. The soap is clear, but nowhere on my KOH bottle was I able to find the purity level. Oh well! During the last 15 minutes of the cooking phase I added honey for nice lather. It has been one week and the soap paste has been diluted at a 1:1 ratio. (Distilled water.) So, this net part is where I’m wondering if something has gone wrong. I wondered if you could help me figure this out? Here’s the thing. At a 1:1 dilution ratio, the consistency seems quite thin….a bit like maple syrup, but not thick like store bought shampoo. I have read that carefully and slowly adding a precisely made saline solution will thicken the soap/shampoo. But, should I further dilute the recipe before doing that…so the ratio is at least a 2:1 ratio of water to paste? The liquid soap is nice and clear, although dark, because of the honey. I think it would work well as a thin base in a foamer pump. But for shampoo, is there anything else, besides saline, that could increase the viscosity of the soap? I wish I had Vit B5 or silk amino acids, or some other shampoo additive! Last time I used Fenugreek tea for the dilution phase. But for thickening…..I’m not sure what to do. I suppose right now it is simply a variation of liquid glycerin soap. Any thoughts or advice on what I might do to make it more of a “shampoo” consistency? (PH is 8-9) Thank you for any advice you might have! I am mostly a CP bar soap kinda gal, but am trying to branch out, and still familiarizing myself with the available surfactants, emulsifiers and thickeners. I do enjoy having a “soapy friend” to DIY with. 🙂 Thanks.
Lisa