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Cleanse your hair gently with this DIY clarifying shampoo that uses natural surfactants to remove dirt and leave your hair clean and soft.
Because many of you have found me through my soap recipes (like my liquid Castile soap or my easy beginner soap), I often get requests for a soap-based shampoo. While I love making soap, I never use soap for my hair because it leaves my hair dry and unmanageable. Some people are able to cleanse their hair with Castile soap and are quite happy with it, but I’m not one of those people.
Why not use liquid Castile soap?
I’m not alone, though. Castile soap isn’t an ideal shampoo for hair because the pH of soap is high yet our hair and scalp have a more acidic pH. Not only can an alkaline shampoo increase the negative charge in the hair making the hair more prone to friction and damage, but it can also be irritating to your scalp.
In an attempt to remedy this issue, most people who wash their hair with soap or soap-based “shampoos” will follow it up with a vinegar rinse to lower the pH again. Not everybody reacts well to vinegar rinses either. I, again, am one of those people and I don’t like the feel of my hair after a vinegar rinse.
Choose natural surfactants
You want a “natural” alternative, but soap may not be the best option. So what’s left?
Natural surfactants, of course!
Surfactants have a bit of a bad rap. It’s partly because harsher surfactants like SLS Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate can be found in just about every conventional product at the supermarket. It can be found in everything from household cleaners to shampoos, shower gels, and even toothpaste! (You can make your own toothpaste sans SLS, too!)
I’m actually not even an SLS hater, to be honest. (Shocked?) I use it in my homemade version of Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds just like they do (I’ll share my recipe soon!), but I reserve it for general cleaning around the house. For my skin and hair, I choose milder, more natural surfactants instead!
With time, more natural surfactants are being developed to meet consumer demands! I wrote more about them and shared a list of some of my favorites in my post about working with natural surfactants! (If you aren’t familiar with natural surfactants, I recommend reading that post as a great starting point for making your own homemade products!)
Who is this shampoo best for?
Because this is a fairly gentle shampoo, it should work well with most, if not all, hair types.
Those who follow the curly girl method for developing waves or curls and keeping their hair hydrated can use this shampoo as a “low poo” alternative. (No, I didn’t come up with that term.) It makes a good starting point for beginning the process and for occasional washings when normally using co-wash.
You can use it as often as works best for your hair. I have been developing my natural waviness over the last few years by rarely using shampoos and sticking to very gentle ones when I do. I usually use this shampoo around once a week and for my other “washing,” I either co-wash with my homemade conditioner or I use a DIY conditioning shampoo. (Yet another recipe that I’ll be sharing with you shortly!)
Why make your own clarifying shampoo?
It’s very difficult these days to find shampoos free of harsher surfactants like SLS. When you make your own shampoo, you can control which surfactants you use.
Many shampoos also have other ingredients that may not be right for your hair. They may contain non-water soluble silicones, harsh preservatives, and artificial fragrances.
Customizing your DIY clarifying shampoo
What it comes down to, though, is that when you make a product, you can control the ingredients and customize the recipe to suit your needs. While most of us aren’t that in tune to our hair and will use just about any shampoo that doesn’t have harmful ingredients, those that are doing processes like the curly girl method to maintain perfectly hydrated curls and waves are often very in tune to what their hair needs in terms of vitamins and proteins. Your hair may show more need for protein, for example, so you can adjust the amount you add to your hair care products. Looking for a shampoo without protein, you can make it without too! Making your own shampoo allows you to fine tune it to perfectly suit your hair from batch to batch.
Vitamins and Proteins
In this shampoo, I chose to use d-panthenol (provitamin B5) to help nourish the hair, but you could also add some hydrolyzed wheat protein or silk protein to give your hair extra nutrients. (Just use the suggested range for each particular ingredients, as suggested by the supplier, and exchange any water-soluble additions for part of the water in the recipe.)
Distilled water or floral waters
In the shampoo in the photos, I actually used an infusion of peppermint leaves in distilled water as the water component of the recipe. I like mint for shampoos because it leaves your scalp feeling nice and refreshed, and just feels clean to me. That refreshing feeling is said to help stimulate the circulation in the scalp and may help stimulate hair growth.
Prefer to use a floral water or some other infusion? Go for it. It’s your shampoo. Nettle tea would also make a good base as nettle is also said to be great to help fight hair loss. You could have the best of both worlds by using a nettle infusion and some peppermint essential oils.
The surfactants
You can experiment by changing up some of the surfactants in this shampoo. I used a mix of non-ionic surfactants (coco glucoside and decyl glucoside) as well as an amphoteric surfactant (coco betaine) to help boost the foaming. Because my husband likes a lot of lather to his shampoo, and I’m not using any of the harsher anionic surfactants like SLS, I’m using a relatively high percentage of surfactants in this recipe. You can reduce the percentage of surfactants added to make for an even gentler shampoo, but you will probably find that it will also lather a bit less.
Natural DIY Clarifying Shampoo
DIY Clarifying Shampoo
Materials
- 88 g distilled water (or infusion, or floral water)
- 40 g coco betaine
- 25 g coco glucoside
- 25 g decyl glucoside
- 10 g glycerin
- 4 g xanthan gum
- 4 g d-panthenol
- 2 g peppermint essential oil or other essential oils of choice
- 2 g sharomix or other natural preservative in percentage necessary for your chosen preservative
Instructions
- Mix together the glycerin and xanthan gum until the xanthan gum is fully incorporated into the glycerin. Pre-mixing the xanthan gum into the glycerin will help ensure that you don’t get lumps in your shampoo as xanthan gum can be tricky to mix into water.
- Once you’ve incorporated the xanthan gum into the glycerin, you can begin to add the other ingredients. Slowly stir in each ingredient keeping in mind that vigorous stirring can cause foam production, making it more difficult to work with the shampoo.
- Once you’ve finished mixing together all of the ingredients, check the pH of the shampoo with a pH test strip. You want your shampoo to fall in a slightly acidic range. (A pH of 4-5.5 is an ideal range to aim for.) You also want to make sure that the pH is suitable for the preservative that you are using.
- If you need to adjust the pH, you can bring it down with the addition of a few drops of lactic acid or can raise the pH with either baking soda or sodium hydroxide (aka. lye). Otherwise, you are ready to bottle and use your natural homemade clarifying shampoo.
A Beginner’s Guide to Working with Natural Surfactants
Christina
Searching your site for the moisturizing shampoo. Am I missing it somehow, or you have not posted it yet?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Christina,
I probably never got around to posting it. I wasn’t feeling very well for quite a long time and realized it was my high oxalate diet that was really making it so that I couldn’t focus or get anything done. I’m now feeling much better and getting more published, but I have a lot to catch up on. I do plan on getting out a lot more DIY posts in the near future. (This week my focus is on overhauling the toothpaste and oral care section!)
Christina
Thank you! I really love your site. Can’t wait to make the shampoo and conditioner.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Thanks! Wishing you the best of luck with it! I hope you enjoy it!
Danielle Busenitz
Could I substitute all three surfactants in equal amount for Shea Butteramidopropyl Betaine? I have a coconut allergy and cannot use the coconut based ones. Do you know of a pure source for the shea butteramidopropyl betaine? The one source I thought I had found ended up having additives. I can still use it but not one of my kiddos because of his allergy to one of the additives in the one I got.
Also, have you ever formulated a laundry detergent or dishwasher detergent? I’d like to play around with the shea butteramidopropyl betaine in these applications as well but don’t know where to start. We have hard water and the standard homemade soap recipes just aren’t getting our clothes clean. That is if I can source the surfactant without the unsafe additives for my son.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Danielle!
That must be frustrating!
I’ve never even seen Shea Butteramidopropyl Betaine. When I was researching non coconut surfactants a while back, I couldn’t find any!
You can definitely give it a try. The only issue I see is that it won’t have the same cleansing power because I imagine it will be similar to coco betaine.
You won’t have the benefit of all of the different types of surfactants working together.
I do have a laundry detergent recipe up, but it uses SLS. It does a great job cleaning, but you may not be able to use it?
Meagan
I’m unsure if you are aware if this, but for shampoos the active surfactant matter should be 10-15%. the recipe as written has it above 18%. wouldn’t that be too harsh?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
That is why this is meant to be a clarifying shampoo and not a daily use shampoo. These are mild surfactants and with the combination of them, this is only slightly higher than a “general use” shampoo. I only wash my hair with shampoo once a week at most, and this is the shampoo I have been using for years for that purpose. Between shampoos, I do occasionally wash with a conditioner.
Laura
Hi, thanks so much for the inspiring formulations! I‘ve never made shampoo before (well, I tried making a zero waste powder shampoo but it wasn’t very successful). I have decyl glucoside and Cocamidopropyl Betaine but can’t get coco glucoside. I do have SLSA and SCI powder. Would either work as a substitute for c. glucoside? or should I just use more decyl glucoside? Thanks for your feedback! Laura
Tracy Ariza, DDS
I’d probably just try with more of the decyl glucoside. It won’t be exactly the same as they are slightly different types of surfactants (non ionic vs amphoteric), but you should have something that works decently. (Ideally, you’d sub it for another amphoteric surfactant.)
Jess
Hi,
I get psoriasis and wanting to know if I can adjust the recipe to get a more cleansing scalp clean?
I love all your recipes and have been using them for my diy home products!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Jess,
Yes, of course!
You can use less water to have a more concentrated shampoo. You can experiment with the recipe until you get what works best for you!
Rochelle
Hi there, I’ve found a shampoo base for sale online in NZ that has the following ingredients: Aqua, Lauryl Glucaside, Sodium Coco-Sulphate, Macadamia seed oil, Coconut oil, Phenoxyethanol, Citric Acid and Ethylhexyglycerin. It say that you can add up to 5% extras. What do you think of this combo? I have oily hair and have tried making my own shampoo but it always ends up way more oily! Thanks for your time 🙂 Blessings
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Overall, it looks fine to me. SGS is sort of a SLS alternative that some people like, but others say it’s not much different. I’ve never personally tried it, so I’m not sure. It’s anionic like SLS so it should be a good cleanser.
LG is non ionic and good to pair with the SGS.
They added oils, probably to make it slightly less harsh. I personally don’t love adding a lot of oil to shampoo as it interferes with it’s cleansing abilities and can separate out, but I think they’re generally added for product appeal. (People see oils and assume the shampoo is conditioning.)
I prefer to allow the shampoo to do its main purpose,cleansing, and use a conditioner afterward, but overall, that mix looks fine to me.
Oily hair can benefit from washing less harshly, less often. It will be worse at first, but as your scalp adjusts, it will make less oil.
I used to wash a lot more often and no longer need to.
You may benefit from a gentler shampoo and wait out the adjustment period.
Molly
Are the links for the products ones you have tested or do you use a different supplier?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
I live in Spain and generally buy from cremas-caseras.es
Rosa Maria Victoria
Hi Tracy, Greetings from Mexico. I love this recepie and I have all the ingredientes but I wanted to ask what do you mean with clarifyieng shampoo? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hola, Rosa!
I call it clarifying because it cleanses enough to use less often. I recommend using a lower concentration of the surfactants for every day use, for a daily shampoo, but, in actuality, it’s still gentler than most shampoos that people buy and often use every day.
Rosa Maria Victoria
Exactly what I was looking for, after months of searching for a liquid shampoo, thanks for the recepie!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
Zucu
Hello! I would love to make this recipe, and I’m grateful that you’ve shared it with us! I live off grid, and therefore I am interested in products that are both biodegradable and also greywater safe (ie. sodium-free). I’m curious if you know whether or not this recipe is both biodegradable with sodium-free?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Zucu,
These surfactants are generally listed as highly biodegradable, so I assume you’d be fine.
They are also considered more “natural” than most other surfactants.
Michelle
I’m curious where the “natural” part is, considering none of the surfactants are naturally occurring on their own? Are they synthesized versions of the original plant materials? Or are they extracts using the isolated natural plant/root/Earth-matter?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Michelle,
The surfactants I used are COSMOS approved for use in organic/natural cosmetics. I formulated the recipe after taking several courses in “natural surfactants” and “natural cosmetics.”
While the term “natural” is hard to define as it can be used in many ways, for cosmetics, I generally look to that. (They are generally extracted from plant material, but, yes, it is normally done in a lab.)
Caroline
Hello Tracy! I’m thinking of making shampoo for my 2 children, 4 and 7. They have straight, fine Asian black hair. Would like to check if this current recipe is suitable for their hair? They do not have oily scalp so I’m unsure if I should use this on them.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Caroline,
Yes, it’s still a very gentle shampoo with gentle surfactants. I just increased the percentage a little bit (as compared to one for daily use). I only use it 1-2 times a week. If you’d use it more often and find it too drying, you could lower the surfactant amounts slightly by replacing some of the surfactant with more water. (Keep the overall quantity by weight the same so as not to affect the amount of preservative needed!)