Walk down the shampoo aisle of any discount store or pharmacy and you’ll be hard pressed to find products under $3 or $4 dollars per bottle. Bright, colorful bottles call to you from shelf upon shelf, each claiming to be the answer to your hair’s particular problem. The truth of the matter is that what you are really paying for is the fancy coloring and exotic perfumes in those shampoos.
There is no denying that some of them smell darned good. It brings to mind the Herbal Essence television commercials of a few years back where a young woman shampooing her hair with its luxuriant scent moaned as if she was in ecstasy. Check out the spoof of the commercial on the left for a quick giggle. If you can afford it, that’s wonderful but many of us cannot. We’re looking for ways to live cheaper, cleaner, purer lives and homemade shampoo can help.
Blend 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1 cup of water. Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate, can be purchased for literally pennies. You can save even more by buyin g ti in bulk and using it make other household and laundry cleaning products which I’ll cover in separate articles.
For really soft hair, use rain water you collect yourself. This also means you don’t pay for the water in the solution, bringing your costs down even more. It is possible that a 16 ounce bottle of homemade shampoo can cost you less than fifty cents! This concoction is safe for all types of hair and can be used daily.
If you prefer your shampoo a little thicker, mix the baking soda with some whole oats in a blender until you have a flour-like consistency, then add the water. You may have to play around with this until you get the consistency you like. You can substitute corn starch for the oats or you can use both - just ¾ tablespoon of each.
For extra oily hair, beat two eggs before showering. Dampen hair and work in the eggs. They bind to the hair oils. Rinse with warm water and shampoo as above. You’ll end up with clean, shiny hair for just pennies.
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