BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Hair Making your Own Shampoo

Yesterday when I used the shampoo I used a hot oil first. I finished with a conditioner. When I was done my hair felt a little "gummy" - the brush was a bit hard to draw through it. I thought it might be the oil so I didn't comment on it.

Today I used the shampoo again, and a conditioner. Again my hair felt gummy / sticky. It felt thicker which is good, and it's still soft and fragrant. Interestingly yesterday I was raving about the great smell all day - today my nose must be used to it and I hardly notice it! I'll have to make 3 different types of fragrances and alternate between them daily so I don't get used to them

But anyway, back to the gummy party - even now running my fingers through the hair it's a little tangled.

I just found a site saying apple cider vinegar is a natural detangler. Here I was considering adding oils into the mix to help make it more "separatey" - it never occurred to me to add vinegar! I'll give that a try tomorrow.

Lisa,
Is the conditioner you used homemade or store bought?

The conditioner is a Suave one I've used for a while and it's always been great before. So it's not the conditioner.

I tried adding some glycerine to the homemade shampoo today to thicken it up a bit and hopefully make the hair less tangly. It didn't help. My hair is still tangly. It is also thicker! When I put it in a ponytail it's definitely a thicker ponytail.

Also Bob mentioned today that my gray is going away! So the rosemary is helping with the gray, which is cool. Even when I dye my hair (I use very short-term dyes, the uber-non-permanent) there are always grey hairs left. The rosemary in this shampoo is apparently browning them which is great!

So I have some good and bad here. I still LOVE the fragrance. I love the softness of my hair, the feel against my face. It is definitely one of the best non-allergenic shampoos I have ever tried. I love that my hair is thicker. I just have to figure out this gummy / tangle problem.

Tomorrow I am going to use a regular cleansing shampoo to get my hair back to "normal". That way I know going forward what is causing what. Then on Wednesday I'm going to shampoo with just the orange castille soap base, to get a sense for what that alone is like.

Aha! I'm finding places that say you need a rinse after this kind of shampoo, a vinegar rinse. It detangles. So vinegar, aloe vera, glycerine and water. And random herbs as desired.

OK I need to order some aloe vera and glycerine to give this a shot! It might not be the shampoo's fault it at all - it might be that I'm not following with a rinse.

I did a day of my "store bought" shampoos etc. and my hair returned back to a non sticky state and was as it had always been. So that was a good reset period. Then I gave it a day off.

Today I decided to do a three part process. First I did a homemade hot oil, which I have in another thread -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=511091

That worked very well and was super easy.

Then I used my rosemary shampoo which I bulked out with glycerine. So it was 1/4 cup of my homemade shampoo added to 1/4 cup glycerine. The glycerine made no real difference in the thickness nor in how it seemed to work. So I wouldn't recommend bothering with that. It was still wonderfully fragrant and foamy, but still "tacky" when I was done.

Then I finished with a vinegar rinse. Wow, what a difference! The tackiness all went away, and my hair was shiny and smooth! I'll make a separate thread about that - but I *highly* recommend using a vinegar rinse to finish with if you're using homemade shampoo. All my tangle issues instantly went away.

These are great tips - thanks Lisa, Jase and Lynne! I am going to try making my own with some Lavendar.

I love the scent of apricot also - can this be put into the shampoo and rinse?

Watkins used to make a shampoo that had Nettles and Thyme in it and that was very good for body as well as promoting hair growth for those with thinning hair. I know that to use the nettles, one has to wear gloves and pick the young tender leaves. Simmer for at least five minutes, strain with a coffee filter then add this to the shampoo mixture you make. Do you think this would work?

Kudos to you shampoo makers. That's one of the last things I can see myself making.

Oh, although I did was my hair with an egg once when I was a teenager. Does that count? LOL

Deb - it is REALLY easy. In essence you take castile soap which you can buy by the gallon and just add in some aromas. It would take you five minutes to do. The only reason my recipe takes longer is I went through the trouble of boiling down my own rosemary from scratch. You don't have to do that at all.

Although I do have to say that I adore the smell of the fresh rosemary in my hair - and it is naturally dying my grey hairs so they aren't noticeable any more. So it actually was worth the effort to me

Rosemary is very good for your hair. I make a Rosemary rinse by simmering one ounce in about a pint of water for five minutes, strain and cool to a comfortable temp and rinse my shampooed hair with it. I love the fragrance!