Since publishing my DIY Shampoo if Allergic to Coconut and the UPDATED-DIY Shampoo if Allergic to Coconut posts, I had a little fortuitous accident. I was making the shampoo, and I grabbed the wrong bottle and added 3 tablespoons of the avocado oil, instead of the grapeseed oil as I intended. When I realized I’d done it, I decided to just add 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil so that the shampoo wouldn’t have two extra tablespoons of oil. I also used a little less distilled water than normal because, um, I did not plan well and I was mostly out. After the oil mishap, I wasn’t sure whether I’d end up throwing out the whole thing, or using it up as body wash. Well, seriously, the lather is a lot freaking better and shampoo is thicker and more like real shampoo in consistency. It’s weird to think that it makes that much of a difference, but I’m much happier with it than the last version. And so without further ado, I give you the updated post, with the changes in the ingredients underlined, italicized, and in bold:
So here’s the thing. Being allergic to coconut is a b*tch, once you realize that coconut is in just about every cleaning product on the market. To get a list of coconut derivatives, go here, thanks to Becky at the Allergic to Coconut? blog. Due to some issues with breaking out much more than I should be at freaking *40*, I decided I wanted to try cutting out any coconut derivatives that touch my skin.
First, most soap and shampoos contain at least one of the coconut derivatives on the list, if not five to ten of them. Most lotions, face masks, acne treatments, etc., etc., etc., contain at least one of the coconut derivatives as well. When I decided to go looking at my beauty and personal hygiene products, guess what? Every single one had coconut in them, except one lotion, and when I looked up the ingredients I didn’t recognize on that label, it turned out to be two forms of pesticide. Yippy fricking skippy.
The first thing I did was to try to find a recipe for shampoo, because I was breaking out in my hair, which hadn’t ever been a problem before. I posted this information earlier in one of our Fabulous Friday Finds, but I’ve made some modifications.
I found this recipe for making your own shampoo, which calls for castile soap. Just be aware that even some castile soaps, like Dr. Bonner, have coconut in them. I found a recipe for making castile soap from Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap. Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap does not have any coconut in it. I made the shampoo with some modifications and found it too drying on my hair, so I added olive oil, but found it could be a bit waxy. This time I think I have it the way I like it. I’ve been using it as a body wash as well.
Denise’s Version of DIY Shampoo
- 1 Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap – 8 oz bar, grated (I grated it in my food processor, dumped it out, put the blade in, put it back in the food processor and pulverized it some more. Doesn’t take as long to dissolve in the water this way. Make sure you clean your food processor really well afterwards.)
- 4 cups of distilled water
- 1 Tablespoon of grapeseed oil
- 2 Tablespoons of castor oil
- 3 Tablespoons of avocado oil
- 10-15 drops of tea tree essential oil
Grate Kiss My Face Soap. Place in a glass or plastic container with 5 cups of distilled water. Stir well, cover, and leave overnight. The next day, check to see if the soap bits have completely dissolved. If not, stir again and let sit. When the soap has completely dissolved, add, the grapeseed oil, the castor oil, the avocado oil, and the tea tree oil, and mix together. I used a whisk, I found it incorporated the oil better. This makes about 48 oz of shampoo. I put half in a pump bottle (Yes, it’s a store-brand hand sanitizer bottle, reduce, reuse, recycle, remember?) in the shower and half in the fridge until I run out. Or you could just make half the recipe 🙂
You can use the shampoo as body wash and facial wash as well, but stay tuned for further posts on facial cleansing options.
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