Sulfates are added to most hair shampoos and cause havoc on your hair and scalp health. Yes, there are options these days, or better still, make a sulfate-free shampoo at home.
Before we delve further into making a homemade sulfate-free shampoo, let’s understand how sulfates work.
Understanding Sulfates
Sulfates give a rich lather and help with the cleansing of dirt and grime, a reason they’re added to hair shampoos – the rich lather. However, they strip off hair’s natural oils, leaving it parched and dry. It also affects your scalp with continued exposure, and those with sensitive scalp are left with inflamed and irritated scalp.
Sulfates can also leave you with damaged hair, a reason many are trying to get rid of sulfates.
Benefits of Homemade Sulphate-Free Shampoo
Preparing a homemade sulfate-free shampoo has many advantages besides being sulfate-free. When we prepare our homemade shampoo, we use natural and harmless ingredients.
It’s also pocket-friendly and does a world of good by improving the health of your hair and scalp. It also doesn’t strip your hair and scalp of their natural oils.
Additionally, we can choose what ingredients we like, modify the recipe to suit our requirements, and prepare a homemade shampoo that’s better than commercial shampoos without damaging aftereffects. Depending on the ingredients used, it can promote hair growth, curb hair loss, modify to suit our hair type, etc. What’s not to like about it?
Essential Ingredients and Supplies
For preparing your own sulfate-free shampoo, you need a few basic ingredients. We’re going to do a basic sulfate-free shampoo that you can tweak according to your preference and requirements.
The essential ingredients we need are liquid castile soap, distilled water, carrier oil(s), and essential oil(s). You can choose what you like from the shampoo recipe and tweak it to make your own customized for your needs and preferences.
Basic Recipe for Sulfate-Free Shampoo
Let’s learn how to prepare a sulfate-free shampoo, shall we?
Ingredients
- Liquid Castile Soap – 4 Tbsps.
- Distilled Water – 8 Tbsps.
- Argan Oil – 1 Tsp.
- Jojoba Oil – 1 Tsp.
- Lavender Essential Oil – a few drops
- Tea Tree Oil – a few drops
Preparation Instructions
Nothing special. Add all the above-given ingredients, including distilled water, to a sterilized shampoo bottle and shake gently. Your sulphate-free shampoo is ready!
Usage Instructions
Nothing special, use like you would your normal shampoo.
Take enough shampoo and apply on your wet hair and scalp.
Gently massage the shampoo to get rid of dirt and grime, and let it sit for a minute.
Massage gently to get rid of dead skin cells and wash them off.
You can finish with a conditioning rinse or a leave-in conditioner and let your hair air dry.
Customizing Your Sulfate-Free Shampoo
You can choose what essential oils you like for this shampoo recipe. We have chosen lavender and tea tree essential oils for their hair and scalp benefits. Who doesn’t love the aroma of lavender oil, right?
You can use any vegetable oil or carrier oil you like. We have used a combination of jojoba and argan oil in this shampoo recipe to nourish hair follicles. You can use avocado oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, etc.
Rosemary essential oil or Indian gooseberry-infused carrier oil can help prevent premature grey hair.
You can add vegetable glycerin to this shampoo recipe for added moisturization.
If you have dark hair and want to improve your hair health, you can add henna powder to this recipe. It’s a very common ingredient in dry hair wash shampoo powder.
You can add chickpea flour if you have light-colored hair. Chickpea is lightening bleaching, and you don’t want to add it to your homemade shampoo if you have darker locks and are not looking to lighten it.
You can add honey for moisture and shine if you’re not looking at vegan options. Honey is a humectant and also a nourishing ingredient.
You can add tea tree oil or margosa oil to combat dandruff.
For those who don’t prefer liquid castile soap, you can make a shampoo base from soap nuts and shikakai (hair fruit) pods. You can soak it overnight and boil it the next day to get a foamy liquid.
You can also use castile soap as your base by shredding it and diluting it to liquify it with distilled water when you don’t have liquid castile soap or want to use a castile soap bar in your pantry.
If you have colored hair, don’t add henna powder if your locks are light-colored, as it can stain them.
You can add orange peel powder to this recipe for a nourishing and citrusy recipe.
You can add a dash of ACV to add shine to your locks.
You can add rose hydrosol to this recipe to make your hair soft.
Tips for a Successful DIY Shampoo
Make sure to measure out the ingredients you’re using and check for equivalent substitutes when using substitutes.
Use sterilized vessel equipment and maintain cleanliness to prevent microbial infestation and expand shelf life.
You can use natural preservatives when preparing homemade sulfate-free shampoo and refrigerate the recipe if needed.
Alternatively, you can add broad-spectrum preservatives for commercial uses or for larger batches.
Always use distilled water in any recipe that is meant for storing and not immediate use only.
Safety Precautions
Always ensure you’re not allergic to any ingredients or the recipe itself. A simple patch test can help identify any allergic reactions ahead.
If you’re allergic to any ingredients, do not use them in the recipe and substitute them with suitable alternatives.
Even without any allergies, if you have any adverse reaction to the shampoo, stop using it immediately, discard the batch, identify the issue, and prepare a fresh batch excluding the ingredient in question. You don’t have to be allergic for an ingredient to cause an adverse reaction or a combination.
Conclusion
Try this recipe and make it own by tweaking the recipe to suit your requirements and preferences. That’s the fun part of DIYing, isn’t it?
Do let us know how you liked the results. Don’t have time for DIY? No worries, we’ve got your back with a range of premium vegan hair care cosmetics from Vitamins Revive. Do check out their online store to know more about their products.
Questions? Requests? Feel free to write back to us for any requests, questions, or feedback, and don’t forget to let us know how you liked the recipe.
