Castile Soap Shampoo Recipe

Having made our own body and cleaning products for a while now, we recently created a castile soap shampoo recipe. It has worked wonders in not only cleaning but making our hair look and feel gorgeous!

I (shannon) have thick hair— an attribute I did not appreciate when I was younger. I remember being so upset that my hair wouldn’t do a lot of the things that the other girls in school would do, due to its thickness. Now, I am so thankful for it. The older I get, the more hair I lose, right? So, at least I have a lot of it. 

Why homemade shampoo?

One thing is for certain. I can tell easily if a certain shampoo is worth my time or not. We have had a lot of trouble finding an affordable shampoo that is chemical-free and animal cruelty-free. Have you ever read the back of your shampoo bottle? Have you read the ingredients you put on your body at all? You should. It can be scary. So, like many of our cleaning supplies, we have mastered our own castile soap shampoo recipe. We’re going to share it with you!

What is Castile soap?

If you are new to the natural cleaning game, then you may not have heard of castile soap. My grandmother used to use castile soap, so I was aware of it but hadn’t used it personally until recent years. 

Castile soap is called that because it was originally derived from Castile, Spain. It is made from pure olive oil. You can find it in liquid form, or a solid bar. Nowadays, many Castile soaps are made of other oils. Some use vegetable oil, coconut oil, and of course, some put essential oils in it. It has been said that Castile soap may promote hair growth. We are all about that!

We’d be remiss in not saying that Castile soap does not use any animal fats, which is rare in many soaps. Again, read your labels.

Making your own shampoo

Again, if you are new to making your own natural shampoo, or any product, homemade products often don’t look nor feel the same as store-bought products. When someone comes over to our house and washes dishes, they are always amazed at how different the sink looks with our dishwashing liquid. It doesn’t have a lot of bubbles. Bubbles don’t translate to clean, just so you know.

When you have your own homemade shampoo, you not only feel better about it because you made it but your hair and scalp will feel better. No matter your hair type, you can make and use your own shampoo ingredients. Shampoos in the store will make you think that you have to use a certain kind for your hair. You may often find yourself searching for an hour in the shampoo aisle.

You no longer have to do that when using your DIY shampoo. Bonus, making homemade shampoo is super easy. We’ve made several kinds through the years, and this castile soap shampoo recipe is our fave!

Since Castile soap has a drying effect, be sure to use a recipe like ours. We have items in the Castile Soap Shampoo Recipe to counteract the dryness it can leave behind.

Castile Soap Shampoo Recipe

What ingredients do you need, and why?

• Start with Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap. Trust us on this one. Not only is it high-quality, but the bottle is plant-based, so you are helping the planet by supporting a company that declines to contribute to the plastic ocean we already have. Plus, there are so many benefits to having Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap around, which we will get into another time.
• Water- we have beach water. If you know, then you know. It is harsh, so when I make our shampoo, I boil our water, or I use distilled water. Same thing.
• Jojoba oil– protects and moisturizes the scalp. It is a great addition. We think it is what helped us with the perfect recipe. 
• Essential Oils of your choice (unless you buy Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castile Soap as we do.) Lavender and Tea tree oils promote healthy hair, plus they are fresh and calming. 
• Coconut oil– you can use a tiny bit of this as a conditioner if you have dry hair or dry thick hair. Just rinse very well. 

There are several recipes out there that call for coconut milk. Please do not do that. Once you open coconut milk, it must be refrigerated. It also only lasts about 5-7 days. It sounds great, but it’s just not healthy as it is going to sit in your hot, steamy shower. Yuck.

There are also recipes that use apple cider vinegar, but while we found that it cleans, it had a very drying effect. 

How much of each of the ingredients do you need?

Here’s the thing. We make more than most people do. So, if you want to make a bigger batch, use our recipe. You can always cut it down into smaller batches of shampoo Castile soap. It’s up to you. We’re going with our recipe, so you can follow those measurements if you’d like. 

Note- coconut oil goes a long way. I use it as a hair mask when my hair is super dry.  Also, for beach days, I put coconut oil on my hair after swimming in the ocean. It helps reduce the salty dryness I usually get at the beach. Some people do the same with aloe vera.

To see other recipes that we use with Dr. Bronner’s, including a very easy laundry detergent using baking soda, head over to our DIY recipes.

We hope you consider this recipe and other natural recipes for cleaning. As Dr. Bronner says, “Times will change when we change”. Let’s do better for ourselves and the environment. 

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