I am so excited about this wonderful Silk & Cedar liquid shampoo. It’s loaded with all kinds of goodies for your hair, and once you’ve got your liquid soap paste softened, it comes to together in just a few moments. If you prefer liquid shampoo over shampoo bars, I think you’ll love this homemade version.
I’ve chosen three favourite hair ingredients for this shampoo to make it extra awesome for your hair. The first is silk peptides. Silk is an amazing protein, forming a protective sheen around hair that adds shine and elasticity.
Your hair is mostly keratin, making phytokeratin a great thing to spike your shampoo with. Phytokeratin is plant-derived keratin, and it helps boost shine, strength, moisture, and bounce. It’s a brilliant and easy ingredient to add to all your awesome hair concoctions.
Last but not least, some broccoli seed oil to help moisturize the hair. I’ve chosen broccoli seed oil because it has a wonderful silicone like feel, leaving the hair soft, smooth, and shiny.
The shampoo is finished off with some essential oils. Rosemary essential oil is said to stimulate hair growth, cedarwood essential oil helps with hair loss and dandruff, and geranium essential oil is said to encourage growth and regulate sebum. And, as a plus, they all smell lovely together.
Smoothing, strengthening, and stimulating—what more could you want from your shampoo?
Silk & Cedar Liquid Shampoo
100g | 3.5oz liquid soap paste, softened
½ tsp silk peptides, silk powder, or silk amino acids
1 tsp phytokeratin
½ tsp broccoli seed oil or camellia seed oil10 drops rosemary essential oil
20 drops cedar wood essential oil
6 drops geranium essential oilSoften you soap paste up to the texture you like for your shampoo. I ended up using about 100g (3.5oz) of water, but I’d recommend starting around 70g (2.5oz) and working your way up.
Once you’ve got your softened shampoo, stir in all the other goodies and decant it into a 250mL (8oz) pump-top plastic bottle, and use as you’d usually use shampoo.
Ty
🙂
I love your post. I was wondering if you have a shampoo recipe for hair that is color treated, plus our water is very hard. My hair feels like straw. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Mary
Hi Mary! I don’t have any shampoo recipes that are specifically for colour treated hair, but you might check out my conditioner, my hair mist, and my hair serum to impart some extra moisture 🙂
This sounds like another winner Marie. I have yet to make my first liquid soap. I’m procrastinating. I’m sure I’ll regret doing that. Now that I can make soap, I wonder what took me so long. The fragrance in this recipe might be what gives me the push I’ve been needing. Is it a “rich” scent?
Hi Mary! I’d moreso say this shampoo smells sort of dry and tangy rather than rich. If you’re looking for something rich I’d recommend making benzoin or labdanum essential oils your base note 🙂
Hi I just want to say that if I want to buy shampoo so pls tell me what s the price and what is the processor.as I m Indian
Hi Radha—I don’t sell anything.
This looks rather special! I’ve noticed though that you use silk in a fair few recipes, and I can’t help but feel it’s a tad unethical (unlike an animal product such as tallow, silk isn’t a byproduct, and involves boiling poor little silk worms alive in their cocoons in order to extract the silk fibres from the cocoon). Is there a less inhumane ingredient that can be switched out in recipes that call for silk? I love everything else, and I’m not a vegan – it just seems wrong to inflict that kind of suffering on wee beasties purely to get a beauty fix.
I am investigating silk powder & sourcing it directly from the manufacturer. Unlike in north America, most thing are either not available or much more expensive in NZ. This is my understanding about silk production:
“Silk consists of two types of proteins, silk fibroin and sericin…..Silk sericin ..it has wide applications in medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics.” from http://www.niscair.res.in/sciencecommunication/ResearchJournals/rejour/Jsir/Fulltextsearch/2004/April%202004/JSIR-vol%2063-April%202004-pp%20323-329.htm.
“Broken or waste filaments and damaged cocoons are retained, treated to remove the sericin, and combed.” from https://texeresilk.com/article/silk_making_how_to_make_silk
Similar to fluoride (a waste product of nuclear industry), the silk powder / peptide that we are using here is a waste or by-product of various industries including textile.
Just some info.
Very cool, Carol—that’s some great research 🙂
Hi Amber! I’m sorry, but from all my research silk is a really unique ingredient, and I don’t know of any close substitutes. The closest thing I could recommend would be allantoin.
Thank you for responding, Marie. I really appreciate that you reply considerately to all questions, even those that could be considered slightly contentious.
In contrast, I have noticed posts vanish from other DIY beauty blogs, deleted by the blog owner if they’re not in 100% agreement with the awesomeness of their recipe (e.g., if the recipe doesn’t work properly for the user, and the reader asks for advice, it just gets deleted)…
I guess those blog owners only want the 100% positive comments to be associated with them. However, I think they shoot themselves in the foot by doing that, as they lose a bit of readership faith and authenticity.
The difference in how YOU address comments is one of the great things that sets your blog apart. At risk of sounding OTT, I’d like to say that your recipes and wisdom have commandeered my humble respect, and one of my tabs is permanently open to ‘Humblebeeandme’. 🙂
Thanks so much, Amber 🙂 I love to inspire discussion, research, and the carefully considered use of ingredients, and of course I recognize that not everyone will come to the same conclusions—I just want people to make informed decisions!
Marie,
I am a newbie. I have been studying all of your posts (not done yet, but will be). I love the ingredients that you use. Thank you for sharing.
When I asked, the NDA rep told me that she teach & use SAAs (Silk Amino Acids) instead of Silk Peptide in her skin shampoo due to SAAs having smaller size & will be better absorbed into the skin & provide more benefit. Per NDA’s CoA, SAAs is “Min. 100% through 80 Mesh” while Silk Peptide is “Min. 95% through 80 Mesh”. Does it really make a different which one to use?
I am sure I will have more questions as I go along. Thank you again.
Hi Carol! I chose the peptides because they’re the middle of the road in terms of particle size, offering a good balance between sheen and absorption. I love ’em, but I’d definitely encourage you to do your own research if you think the amino acids might be a better choice for you 🙂
Brilliant, as usual! Just wondering…do you think this would wash out a hot oil treatment pretty well? Is the cleaning power comparable to a regular shampoo, or is it more like liquid Castile soap? Thanks!
All homemade soaps are going to be closer to a castile soap than a “regular shampoo” since the regular stuff is really just detergent, not soap. In my experience, homemade shampoo doesn’t do a great job of cleaning out a huge amount of oil, but I do have very thick hair, which makes a thorough sudsing more difficult.
Great recipe! I guess I’ll have to give liquid soap a try. I have tried to make some in the past but failed but your method seems much easier. Have you thought about creating a book and selling it on Amazon? I’d definitely buy a copy.
Thanks so much, Dawn! I have definitely thought about a book and would love to write one 🙂 If I ever do you guys will be the very first to know!
I’d really love to try this out one day- it looks so fun, but I’m wondering could a solution of yucca powder and water be subbed for the liquid soap paste in this and all your other liquid soap recipes? Also, would a yucca and water solution work for your whipped soap base as well? Really looking forward to trying this out 🙂
I have not found yucca root to be a very useful soap swap as it has almost nothing in common with soap. It’s a pretty weak saponin, and obviously lacks the body and texture soap paste. Yucca + water would basically be a tea that might bubble a bit.
Hi Marie, this shampoo sounds wonderful, however I could not help but feel curious as to what Amber said in her comments. I did a little bit of research and came across this company called Suboneyo who claim to be able to extract the silk peptides without harming the worms or the moths.
http://www.suboneyo.com/cosmeceuticals-cosmetic-ingredients.html
This may help those who have concerns 🙂
OOoh, very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing, Claire!
Hi, Marie!
So, if I’m using castile soap that’s already softened, would I use about twice as much (200g)? Or am I reading that incorrectly? Thank you! You’ve got me almost completely weaned from commercial body care products!
Hi Prudence! I’d use the amount of the soap paste + water to add, so that would be around 170g 🙂 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
Ah, of course! I had used a one-to-one ratio of water to soap paste, but with the standard formulation, the 170g makes total sense. 🙂
The reason I’m writing is to say that this formulation has worked for me even better than commercial shampoos. For several uses, I was afraid not to rinse with ACV afterwards, but one day I had none mixed up, so just shampooed. I thought my hair would be a tangled mess, and it honestly felt that way under the water, but once I was out and ran a comb through it, the tangles came right out of my mildly curly locks, and my hair felt great!
I can shampoo once a week without a problem now, which is a huge change from every other day with commercial products. And even after a week, my hair looks pretty good. I just put a little oil on the ends once in a while to keep down the frizz.
I am so thrilled that this shampoo is working so well for you! Thank you SO much for reporting back with your experience 😀 I am so in love with silk + hair these days, and I’m glad my love story is benefiting your lovely locks 😉
Hi Marie:
This blog is amazing and I love your recipes!!!! I am soapmaker and artisan of natural products for the last almost 8 years, and I have not found any blog with a lot of information and recipes. I admire your interest in answering all questions. About this recipe, I would like to know where can I get Phytokeratin. Thanks and God bless you!
Hi Angie! Thanks so much for reading and for your kind words 🙂 You can get phytokeratin from New Directions Aromatics (link in the big box above the comments) 🙂
Thanks Marie!! I really appreciate your prompt attention. I will be pending for all your new posts!!! Have a wonderful day!
🙂
Hello, I was wondering, where do you buy your silk from exactly? I’ve looked on amazon, I’ve checked our local co-op and nothing is showing up and I would like to buy some.
If you scroll up to the big box above the comments I’ve got links to all my suppliers 🙂 They all carry silk in some form or another!
Hello, sorry to bother you again, but I was curious…can I add silk peptides to a cream that has a base of shea butter, coconut oil, and essential oils as is, or do I have to mix it with water and use emulsifying wax to incorporate it into that base? I’m having a lot of trouble finding whether or not adding silk peptides (in powder form) as is into fat and oil bases will ruin the composition or render it useless. Thank you in advance!
Hi Emily! Silk is water soluble, so you will need to add it to a water base to dissolve it and use it in projects (otherwise you will just end up with silk grit in your body butter). You can read more about solubility here 🙂
Hi! I am wondering what the shelf life is like on this?
Hi Amy! As with all soaps it should be pretty much indefinite due to the high pH unless you dilute it so much that the pH drops considerably 🙂
Do you have any suggestions on something that can be substituted for the phytokeratin in this recipe? I am looking for a gluten free alternative. Thanks for creating and sharing so many amazing products!!!
Your best alternative would be plain keratin, though I’m not sure where you’d source that, and it definitely wouldn’t be vegan.
Hi Marie!
You mentioned in “Silk Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse” that “If you’re using homemade shampoo bars to wash your hair, an acidic rinse isn’t really optional—it’s a must.”
Does it also hold true for homemade liquid shampoos, like this one?
Cheers!
Yes! Anything that’s highly basic (all homemade soaps, really) will require an acidic rinse to balance out the pH of your hair 🙂
Hi Marie! i’m a fan of your blog, i’ve been makin some of your recipes for some time now, im from mexico! I was wondering if it would work to dissolve the soap paste into a blender instead of softening with a fork and that.. i found it really difficult to do it. although it worked at the end.. it took so much time! so do you think a blender would do the work?
Thanks for your recipes!
Hi Stephanie! Have you ever taken a bubble bath? ‘Cause that’s more or less what will happen if you put soap in your blender 😛 Bubbles everywhere! Not recommended.
Hi again, Marie! After reading “Abject DIY Failures, Parts I and II” (having just had MY first fail), it occurred to me that ascorbic acid might work to lower the ph of alkaline shampoos, since hair and scalp are in the 4.5 range. Do you think that might work, and would you suggest an amount for this recipe? I think I’ll order some KoH and try your soap paste recipe–right after I make your Awesome Lip Balm.
As a disabled elderly woman, my life was all epilogue until my daughter discovered your blog; you’ve breathed new life into me. Thanks!
Hi Dee! Ascorbic acid would be a very expensive way to lower to pH of anything—I’d probably recommend something cheaper like citric acid or vinegar. My concern with lowering the pH of soaps is primarily shelf life, in that the high pH acts as a preservative. So, if you do fiddle, be aware that mold might pop up 🙂 After that, I’d just get some pH strips and add your acid until you get the reading you’re looking for. Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me! I’m so thrilled I’ve helped spice up your life 🙂
Hi, I made the shampoo using the liquid soap paste, sandalwood hydrosol , camellia oil and cashmere protein (1 ml) instead of the phytokeratin, since it contained gluten. With the exception of the first trial, my hair looks greasy with each subsequent use. I have tried to temper this condition with water/Apple cider vinegar (about 80% water) but I am not seeing the happy results that others are experiencing. It feels like there is build up in my fine textured hair, especially around the crown. If you have any suggestions that might help show me the error of my ways, I would be grateful.
Hi Kelly! Are you used to using natural shampoos in your hair instead of commercial detergent-based ones? If not, you are likely not washing your hair well enough. This shampoo is not nearly as strong as a commercial detergent, so you’ll need to do a very thorough scrub of all your hair and your scalp to get your hair properly clean 🙂 Also, keep the ACV rinse away from your scalp—it makes hair greasier, faster. Hope that helps!
Hi Marie, I am familiar with more natural shampoos as I have been using them for about 2 years now. The one I use currently is the Carina Botanical shampoo/ body wash from Carina Organics out in B.C. That said, I would prefer to make my own liquid concoction, and your site provides the best guidance on accomplishing that goal. I continue to use my soap paste in the “unadorned” body wash recipe, and it works well, just seemingly not for my hair. I’ll keep trying though and see what happens next batch of paste.
Hi Kelly! I looked up the shampoo you mentioned, and I think something must be missing from their ingredient list, as it contains nothing that would make that mixture cleansing—it appears to be just water with oils + herbs, which would make it more of a lotion than a shampoo/body wash. I’m assuming the oils are saponified since the product description says it lathers.
Have you thought about trying a shampoo bar? I’ve found it’s easier to get fully clean hair with them as I have so much hair it’s hard to know where the liquid shampoo is, but that’s never a problem with a bar 🙂
Do you use tap, distilled, filleted water?
Tap!
Sorry! And is this gentler than a shampoo bar? Do you use a conditioner and a rinse?
This may end up being a bit gentler simply because it is pre-diluted, but once you use enough to thoroughly wash your hair it’s probably pretty close to the same. I rarely use conditioner, but I ALWAYS use an acidic rinse (read why here).
Hi, I love your posts and you have inspired me to try some. I have at last got some suppliers and i have made, 4 lots of soap, 2 lots of lotions, 1 lip balm and made liquid soap. I wish to try shampoo which i am making now.I am having trouble softening the liquid soap. Upon heating all i get is a hard head on top of the soap once cooling so i am struggling to find the right texture for my shampoo. As it cools and i stir a little i feel i am back to the beginning with lumps again. so i find it hard to see which texture is right for me. I must admit i did not weigh it out to begin with as too impatient. thank you for all your posts it has given me some great reads, thoughts, ideas and a new passion!
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 Dilution is becoming a pretty common problem for my soap paste and I’m thinking I may need to work on the formula to make it more dilute-able. Stay tuned… at least it’s great for cleansing balms!
update, thank you for your reply and i have some good news, another batch worked perfectly. all i did was leave it alone,no heating just mashed it a bit. so very pleased just need to wash my hair in it now, so will see how it goes. i made the shampoo bar and been using that for a few weeks but its not suiting my hair so will now try this, thanks so much!
Fantastic! I’m so glad everything worked out 🙂 Don’t forget to wash super-thoroughly with homemade shampoos (they’re weaker, so more scrubbing is needed) and to follow up with an absolutely essential acidic rinse.
Hey!
So I’m trying to gather up ingredients to make this shampoo and the only thing I can’t find is the phytokeratin. I checked both New Directions and Saffire Blue and can’t seem to find it when I search for it on their websites. Is there any other place I can get this from?
Hmm :/ I got mine from NDA, but they discontinued it. Boo. I found it here, though 🙂
Hi Mary..Big fan of your blogs…I have got ingredients in my cart…will try this and definetly tell you.
My questions:
Do you recomend this shampoo for my curly wavy, thick hair.
Can I substitute geranium oil with something else. Seems expensive.
I havent started making my soap – Can I use Kirk’s Castile soap and liquify it (1 bar+8 oz water) to make castile soap/ Dr Bronner’s castile soap. I am delaying the shampoo making just because I dont want to make soap…Someday I will…but do you have any alternatives please.
Thanks.
Hi Laxmi! Since I do not have curly hair I can’t make recommendations there, but I do have thick hair and this shampoo works well for me.
Read this article on essential oil substitutions re: geranium.
Using a different soap for the base might work, but I really can’t say how well. I definitely would not use a bar soap, as that gets pretty snot-y. You’ll basically be doing the soaping equivalent of decorating a store-bought cake.
I don’t think so that is so easy to make,but I will definitely try making it.I love to make hair products.I have tried some of home remedies with that I also love making styles.
Enjoy! If you don’t have experience with soap making I would recommend starting with bar soap, though 🙂
hi Marie, thank you for your recipe, i really want to make my own shampoo and i like the keratin and silk ideas but i would also like to add some vegetable glicerin to give it a bit of thick texture and some vitamin E, could i add all this in one shampoo ? would this work or would it be too much.
Thank you again and hope to hear back from you soon!
Hi Isabel! All true soap naturally contains glycerin, so adding more is not necessary. It’ll also thin out the soap with it’s texture rather than thicken it. You are certainly free, though. You can definitely add some vitamin E, though 🙂
I bet this smells wonderful! Maybe the next time I am out running errands I will pick up these ingredients and try it out. It definitely will be better for my hair, that’s for sure.
Enjoy it & thanks for reading 🙂
Hi Marie! I have some soap paste with a 1% SF from a different soapmaker’s website. Just olive, coconut, and castor. My first question is, would adding the extras after dilution (the phyto Keratin and broccoli seed oil) be an okay quantity given the SF or would it need to change considering your measurements are based on your own soap paste recipe?
Second, would diluting the paste in an ACV solution help with the pH? Sorry if this has been asked previously. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
can i susbstitute castille soap for liquid soap in this reciepe?
Hi Marigold! In this recipe you could, though you won’t need to dilute it. You also won’t get the benefits of the oils in the original soap paste, but it should do quite well all the same 🙂
Hi Marie,
Where can i find Phytokeratin PF in the US, NDA does not have it, Saffire blue does but they are charging $25+ shipping, I checked out all the other US stores listed on your site but can’t find it in any of them. Is there a substitute i can use?
Thank you!
Kelly
Hi Kelly! I’m afraid I have no idea if the suppliers on my giant list don’t have it :/ Not living in the States I’m sure you can appreciate my knowledge of US suppliers is almost entirely second hand. On the bright side… I just paid nearly $60 CAD to ship an order from the US up to Canada, so $25 isn’t so bad… 🙁 $25 is usually what I pay within Canada. Sigh.
Thanks Marie!! Will let you know how my shampoo and liquid soap making turns out.
Kelly.
Have fun!
LOVE this shampoo, and your website is awesome, thanks so much for sharing your ‘experiments’!
I made a batch of the liquid soap paste over a year ago and have made the shampoo about 3 times so far and still have enough of the paste for one more round. That’s even after giving some away in a little gift basket (actually 3) for Christmas last year along with some of my handmade soaps and other goodies. That paste recipe will make a whole lot of shampoo!
Thanks again, it’s my favorite shampoo ever!
I forgot to mention, I recently discovered abyssinian oil and tried adding it as a portion of the oils this time. I have SUPER fine hair and oily scalp and have to be really careful and stingy with oils, and have found I can use the abyssinian oil on my hair directly (albeit a tiny amount). Should be even MORE awesome now. Have you tried abyssinian oil yet? (I bought mine at LotionCrafter).
OOh, cool! I have some Abyssinian oil, and I have played with it, but not for hair… oooooh. Now I want to! Perhaps you’ll see some recipes mentioning you and featuring Abyssinian oil sometime soon 😉
YAY! I’m so thrilled you love it, I love hearing about older recipes that have become standbys for readers, it’s so awesome 😀 WOOHOO! 😀 Thank you so much for sharing!
Hello my name is Nichelle and I been making my own hair&skin products for 3yrs. This is interesting can i use my own base it’s infused African black soap I was inquiring about that.
Hi Nichelle! I find black soap doesn’t turn into liquid soap particularly well, but you could certainly try it. “Infused African black soap” isn’t really a standardized thing that I can comment on.
Hi Marie. I have been reading your recipes (I have made many bar soaps with them) and I have a quick question. I want to make some shampoo for my husband that will help with hair loss. I have read that white thyme, rosemary, lavender and cedar atlas will help with hair loss and hair regrowth. The thing is I am pretty new to this and I am not sure how much EO I can add to the shampoo base without weakening the final product, or making it too intense for his head. I want to add 10 drops of each oil per 2 oz of the softened liquid soap paste. If you have a minute will you please assist me in this? Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and recipes with everyone. I know I greatly appreciate it.
Hey Stephanie! That sounds like a good place to start as none of those EOs are very strong (like chili or cinnamon) 🙂 Read this FAQ article for more information.
hi Stephanie, were you successful in your experiments? i have really thin hair a bit oily and is falling, so i’m looking for some natural solution. did your hubby had good results? maybe you could share your recipe and results. thanks
Hi Marie! I was wondering if you have any thoughts on using fragrant oils? I see tons on NDA. I am wanting to switch to a natural hair routine, I am going to tackle learning to make soap first and then work my way up to the liquid soaps. I think the hardest part of letting go of my shampoo and conditioner is the scent. So I am wondering if experimenting with adding fragrant oils would be ok. Or if there is something about them that would be bad for hair/skin?
Hey Maggie! I usually avoid ’em because we really have no way of knowing what is in fragrance oils. You can read more on the EWG page for “fragrance”. I do make exceptions (mostly for rose scented soaps, since rose essential oil is so expensive), and of course it is a personal choice. If you want fruity scents you won’t be able to get those from essential oils, so you’d have to use fragrance oils. And if you want your hair to retain the scent for days after washing, essential oils won’t do that, but fragrance oils will.
Just curious whether you think this would work – I want to combine this with the general process of the whipped cream soap. So follow the ingredients here and use the paste and preparation from cream soap. Ever tried something like that? I’m hoping to make a replacement for an indie brand whipped soap that I use as shampoo. The other thing I noticed in her ingredients was some surfactants of the SL__ variety. Do you think their absence would be significant? Or how do you think something like the SCI you had in that face cleanser would play with a cream/liquid soap recipe? Thanks!!
Hey Krystina! The best thing I can recommend is heading over to the comments section of this recipe and searching for Vee’s comments 🙂 She’s been doing some experimenting in this realm!
I haven’t been able to find phytokeratin at NDA. Was hoping you could suggest an alternative? By the way congrats on the book I have been following your blog for awhile and your post/DIY are just awesome!!
Lotion Crafter sells a VegeKeratin that looks like more or less the same thing 🙂 And thanks for the congrats, I’m stoked!
Hi Marie, was kind of wondering if i can substitute making your liquid soap paste with Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap. Broke my arm two days ago and had a complicated surgery so one handed can’t do much even though i would of love it. Thanks..
You should be able to, just don’t add any more liquid. It’s sort of like decorating a store bought cake instead of baking the cake from scratch, you can still customize it 🙂
Yes, I kind of thought about that too. 🙂
Wish I could make your soap base but won’t be able to do much which involves a bit more complicated steps for a while. Will definitely make your soap base as soon as I am physically able to. 🙂
Some places, like Brambleberry, sell liquid soap pastes—that would also be a good option (and very likely WAY cheaper than Dr. Bronner’s!).
Thanks. I actually went ahead and bought liquid (for my shampoos, hand soaps and dishwashing soaps) and shredded Castile (for my cleaning and laundry powders) from Brambleberry and you are right, it cost me probably 4 times less money comparing to Dr. Bronner’s. 🙂
Nice! That’s definitely a much easier (and cheaper!) way to go about it—Dr. Bronner’s has done a good job of convincing people that his product (which is really just plain ol’ soap haha) is magic, when, well… we know better 😉
I agree with you and thank you so much for the tip!..:-)
Hi Marie, how much of the liquid castil soap should i use in place of “100g | 3.5oz liquid soap paste,softened”?? and i guess i have to diluate it with water,right??how much??would really appreciate a reply.Thank you very much.
Helo Ati!
Reading the previous comments Marie has posted, it looks like if you are using a pre-made softed soap base, you’re looking at using about 170g in total, and if you are using something like Doctor Bronners Liquid Castile Soap, you would use a straight swap. Good luck!
I’m just starting my journey into diy hair care. I have made some of your lotions and face wash recipes and so far, success :). Love that you are Canadian and have Canadian sources!!!!! I am currently looking at http://www.hairstory.com, have you seen? Could you play with that idea? Would love to mimic what they do without the hefty price tag. Aloe based hair cleaner with oils. what do you think?
Hey Connie! Welcome to DIY hair care, I think you’ll love it 😉 Hair Story looks quite similar to Wen in terms of composition and the promises. And they irk me, because they are misleading. Rant impending LOL: I welcome anybody (including the creators of such products) to apply straight aloe and oils to their hair; their hair will look disgusting. Hair can take very little oil before looking very dirty!
The ingredients these companies usually avoid mentioning outside ingredient labels are the emulsifiers they use—and emulsifiers have a lot in common with the surfactants they are railing against! Both essentially clean by emulsifying oils and water—binging the oils on our skin/hair with the water we’re washing with so they can be washed away. Things like emulsifying wax are positively or neutrally charged, while surfactants are negatively charged or amphoteric (both positive and neutral). The emulsifiers they are using tend to be gentler than surfactants, BUT there are many kinds of surfactants out there, so demonizing them on the whole (as that site does on their “Suds Suck” page) is easy marketing, but betrays a pretty fundamental lack of understanding.
Anyhow. The way these products work is they are basically watery hair conditioner with emulsifiers specifically chosen to help cleanse the hair. For a mucho more detailed, scientific explanation, Susan can fill in all the blanks!
Hope that helps (and wasn’t too rant-y haha). Happy making and thanks for reading!
Marie –
I am confused on the water to paste ratios for the shampoo. 100 g diluted is that the measurement with the water added? Your paste recipe says to start with 100 g of paste of 60 g of water for dilution. Is that what you mean here to use 100 g of paste and 60 g of water?
Thank you for your recipes I have been using many of them. My daughter has an allergy to Polyacrylic acid which is in everything. It is a life altering change for her to have these products from your recipes. Her allergy confined her to her home until I found you. God Bless you for sharing so much and for changing our lives. Looking forward to making her liquid shampoo, she has been using the bars until now. Made the paste this morning and ready to venture on to the shampoo. Thanks for your help.
The second one—100g of soap paste and dilute as desired. Thank you so much for reading and DIYing with me, it means the world to me when I hear that my efforts are helping improve the lives of others 😀
I am about to make the soap paste and shampoo, but IM wondering what dilution i would need for a thicker shampoo. I want something that can still squirt out of a squirt bottle but not be so liquid that it runs through my fingers when I squirt it into my hands. Also would adding a little citric acid to this to bring the PH down be ok? thanks!
That’s really not something I can just tell you off the top of my head—you’ll have to experiment with that yourself, sorry. I am wary about lowering the pH of soap as its high pH is a large part of what makes it self-preserving—the pH is too high for bacteria to survive. If you do want to lower the pH, I would recommend including some liquid germall plus, which has a very broad effective pH range. Happy making!
Marie, I wanted to thank you for this recipe! My hair is so silky and shiny. I think regular shampoos took away natural waves and volume I had when I was younger)) I absolutely love my hair now!!! I’m waiting for few things I ordered and when I get them, I’ll work on your Olive and Jojoba hair conditioner recipe. You are awesome!
Oh yay! I’m so glad 😀 Wahoo! Enjoy your lovely revived hair 😀
I haven’t been able to locate Phytokeratin at NDA or any other source. It seems like it was essential to the final product. I was wondering what you and everyone else is using as a substitute? I did see you recommended vegekeratin. Have you or anyone else tried it?
I haven’t tried vegekeratin because I really don’t feel like paying $30 for shipping plus brokerage fees and duty (sadly I’m not kidding), but from the description it is plant sourced keratin, which is exactly what phytokeratin is, so it should be a good alternative as it should be the same thing.
Where do you get phytokeratin? Thanks!
Sadly my Canadian source of phytokeratin has discontinued it (boo), but you can purchase VegKeratin from Lotion Crafter that looks to be the same thing. I haven’t tried it as the shipping to Canada is appalling, but from the description it is plant derived keratin, which is exactly what phytokeratin is. Hope that helps and happy making!
Hi, I love your blog and your recipe. I was wondering, for this shampoo, will all the added oil ingredients float on top after adding to the softened soap paste? Do you need to add any preservative to this recipe? If not, how long can it last? Thanks a lot.
Soap is a reasonably good emulsifier, so the oils incorporate on their own unless you use far too much of ’em 🙂 Read this on shelf life.
Thank you for your reply. I would love to make this shampoo and many many of your recipes. However not all the items listed in your recipe is available in my country. So sad….
And your blog is wonderful. Really love. Thanks for all your sharing.
I know that problem all too well—looking at all the stuff people in the USA can get that isn’t available in Canada is always a bit sad, haha. Thanks so much for reading!
Hi Maria. Love love your site! THank you! I’ve made the paste and now ready to try making a shampoo and wondering about a preservative? – Doesn’t any recipe with water have a limited shelf life?
Soap is a bit of an odd duck—its naturally high pH makes it self preserving 🙂 It is possible to dilute it enough that the pH falls so far that it no longer is, but I didn’t find that to be the case with this recipe. Happy making!
Hi Marie,
Can I substitute phytokeratin with vegetable keratin? If so, the amount remains the same?
Thank you for your lovely recipes, i am in love with DIY stuff 😀
Phytokeratin IS vegetable keratin (“phyto” means from plants), so yes 😉
Thank you for your reply. I am sorry, I didn`t know.
Happy making! 🙂
Thanks for reading and happy making!
Hi Marie,
I tried this recipe and it is absolutely fantastic! I am in love!
I made some for my relatives and they are in love with it also!
We thank you for your hard work!
I wanted to ask you a quick question, in this recipe or in other liquid shampoos cand I subtitute the water with tea? like marshmallow root or horsetail?
if so, the amount remains the same 70 g water=70 g tea?
Thank you again! God bless and happy making!
Hey Lidia! While you technically can, I do not recommend it—teas contain a lot of botanical matter that’ll really challenge the shelf stability of the recipe 🙂
Thank you, Marie!
I think I`ll stick wIith the water 🙂 If I make a small batch, then I think I`ll try with tea. My sister in law has long hair and she finished the bottle with 100 g shampoo in 1 month. If I make the same amount, I think I can make it with tea.
Thank you again! 🙂
Happy making 🙂 Do keep in mind that a full month is PLENTY of time for something to spoil, though—five days is more than enough time.
Hi Marie, I have a question for you, can I reduce the ph with citric acid for this recipe and would I need to use a preservative?
Hey! I’ve got two FAQs on this: here and here 🙂
Having trouble finding phytokeratin. In picture, saw it with New Directions label. Couldn’t find it on their website either. Any suggestions?
Windy Point have it in Canada, and Lotion Crafter has it in the USA 🙂
Hi Marie! first of all thank you for all your posts – very inspiring 🙂
I’ve made this shampoo first as it’s easy to make with little ingredients. However I’ve used Pure Liquid Castile Soap instead of homemade soap paste.
My hair feels a little dry and tangled – hard to brush! Is is because of liquid soap?
Hey Greta! I suspect it’s due to the high pH of soap, which is a fixed thing. When shampooing with soap it is typically recommended that you follow up with an acidic rinse to counter that high pH. That said, high pH shampoos (and therefore all soap-based shampoos) do not work well for everyone—I used them for years with an acidic rinse to no ill effect, but due to the acidic pH of hair, many people have much more success with acidic shampoos. You can learn more with this great blog post. My newer shampoo formulations are syndet based and are mildly acidic; you might find those work better for your hair 🙂 Happy making!