I’m a tiny bit obsessed with all things that come from that store that carries all handmade, naturally sources, non-animal tested personal care products and this DIY sea salt shampoo is no exception. I know that we’ve talked about this before. So I’ll make this part quick. I recently (like last month) discovered some pretty amazing hair products on a mission to pick up “just one thing”.
DIY Sea Salt Shampoo
But, I can justify trying to make it on my own! I happened to have an empty pot laying around, and so I figured “why not?”
Homemade shampoo is easy to make, thankfully. It literally took me a few minutes. I ended up putting my empty pot to good use and quickly, too! I made this recipe using an 11 ounce pot, but you could halve it to fit in something smaller.
DIY Sea Salt Shampoo
To make your shampoo, you just need a few common ingredients:
-
- 14 tbsp. coarse sea salt
- 1 cup organic unscented castille soap (I used this one)
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 10-15 drops of essential oils
Obviously, sea salt is the main component in this recipe. This is because sea salt helps make your hair not only clean but also voluminous.
It is very important to add any base oil to homemade shampoo recipe for the main reason: sea salt has ability to dry out skin or hair, so base oil helps to avoid such effect.
Again, depending on your hair condition, you can choose variety of oils to your sea salt shampoo:
- MCT oil is helps ensure your hair is hydrated but won’t weigh it down. This is my preference as it’s closest to the “original” recipe.
- Olive oil is suitable for any hair type. It helps make your hair shiny and adds volume.
- is awesome for dry or damaged hair. It adds strength and promotes hair growth.
- Avocado oil is great if you have a sensitive scalp and can help restore damaged and brittle hair.
- Hazelnut oil has a thick consistency but works beautifully on oily hair. It actually removes excess grease helps make hair squeaky clean.
I also like to add essential oils not only because when you pick the right oils, they can actually help your natural shampoo work better.
If your hair is healthy and normal, opt for lavender, eucalyptus, rose, or geranium. If you’re like me with dry, damaged or color treated hair, you may want to consider sandalwood, patchouli, neroli (my favorite), or elemi.
If you deal with oily hair, citrus oils such as lemon or orange combined with tea tree are great. For thinning hair, consider sage or rosemary essential oil.
Make Your BIG Sea Salt Shampoo
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, combine them in a glass mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon (do not use metal) until well combined.
As I mentioned, I use a “recycled” LUSH pot to store mine. Because your shampoo contains both lemon juice and salt, it’s naturally self-preserving. Just don’t sit it on the window sill.
Remember, sea salt naturally strips your hair of old gunk without stripping all the healthy oils. This means that there’s less weighing it down and your hair’s natural volume can take center stage.
That’s it! I only recommend that you add 100% therapeutic grade essential oils which you can easily buy online.
Awful do not use the lemon juice as it just curdles the oils and the whole lot ends up in the bin. Without the lemon it works reasonably well, follow with a cider vinegar spray if acid is needed.
Right there with you – love LUSH, and loved Big. I had an old sample of it (I mean like 6 years old) in the cabinet the other day. Tried it, thought “wow”, looked at the price, meticulously reviewed the ingredient list, and came here. Made a batch today, and tried it out and BEST HAIR PRODUCT EVER. With the LUSH product, it felt amazing. I was surprised by how much lather there was, but I could also feel the oils. I wanted to skip conditioner to see the raw results but after a towel dry and brushing, decided some argan oil would be the right move. Felt SOOOO soft.
Making my own the lather wasn’t as full, so I ended up using significantly more product than I had with LUSH. The scent is AMAZING and BONUS – no conditioner, no argan oil and it’s incredibly silky smooth, none of that shampoo only dry feeling. Just checked my roots, thinking it’s not possible for this to be THIS good. . . and you know what – my hair looks lovely, no oily residue. Incredibly soft, shiny, and clean. THE TRIFECTA!
So here’s what I put together:
1 c. shampoo (Used Herbal Essences Blue Ginger & Micellar Water for Volume)
.75 lb coarse sea salt
3 T lemon juice
3T coconut oil
3T raw honey
3T witch hazel with aloe
Sandalwood, Neroli, and Spearmint
Heated the coconut oil, with sea salt in a double broiler (max temp 112F). Removed from heated and mixed in the additional ingredients. Let sit overnight. Mixed in the morning, then moved to the fridge. Let the mix firm up, then using a hand blender mixed the ingredients more thoroughly. This creates a really beautiful, fluffy whipped consistency.
Background: I have fine, henna dyed hair, shoulder length. I (nearly) never blow dry, curl, or use styling products. I’m an air dry kinda girl 365 days a year. Due to hormonal changes I’ve had to amp up my moisturizing game, and would never dream of going sans conditioner, which is partly why I’m so impressed with this! Also, with fine naturally straight hair – volume is an impossible dream for me without extensive time, effort, and product so that wasn’t my goal in trying to product but it has resulted in moderately more volume.
Can I use fine sea salt?
Sure – it will change the texture of the final result, though.
I tried this recipe and ended up with really think curdles that had to be washed off with copious amounts of dish soap. Not sure what happened there, please advice 🙁
This was a horrible recipe! It just made a sticky paste that stuck in my hair like tar and took three washes with liquid shampoo to get out. Waste of time, energy, and money.
DONT DO THIS. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. Makes a paste. Does NOT work.
Same here.
Indeed the lemon juice is not a nice addition.
I had to wash my hair with half of bottle of shampoo to remove all the oil.
I read above to not add the lemon.
Ill give another try
For the love of all that is soapy and cleany, do not do this.