Shampoo Savvy

You: Shampoo Chef And if stretching your shampoo with water isn’t savings enough, you can be even more of a shampoo superhero by making your own. If you’re having flashbacks to those pictures in schoolbooks of pioneer women toiling over a bubbling kettle over an outdoor fire, don’t worry. Making your own shampoo and conditioner is way easier than that—and doesn’t involve lye! And yours will work just as well as the store-bought kind, will not be hazardous to your health, and will be all natural.

All-Around Just-Plain-Good Shampoo ½ cup water ½ cup liquid soap (vegetable based) 1 teaspoon light vegetable oil or glycerin (leave out if you have oily hair)

Combine all three, mix well, and store in another bottle or dispenser you’ve recycled. As with the water-added shampoo lauded above, this shampoo will not be as thick as store-bought shampoo, and it may not be as sudsy. But no worries—it will be just as effective. Use about a palmful, lather, rinse, and go forth with shiny hair—and pride in your resourcefulness.

All-Around Just-Plain-Good Shampoo PLUS Herbal Infusion Use the recipe above, but instead of ½ cup water, use (rather creatively) ½ cup herbal tea. Make sure you brew a strong cup of tea this time. Start with lavender, chamomile, or rosemary, but really, the world is your teahouse here, and you—you are the shampoo chef, remember.