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One of the main reasons to consider making your own shampoos and conditioners at home is to avoid the controversial ingredient sodium lauryl sulphate(SLS) and its derivatives. SLS is a foaming agent made from coconut oil, which sounds fantastic, until you realize that it is powerful enough to be in common use as an engine degreaser! Along with being a such strong chemical, SLS can produce carcinogenic compounds known as nitrates when combined with other ingredients.( Note that SLS is NOT a carcinogen itself.) If you want to read more on the controversy with SLS, please click here.
Fortunately, for those of us in the know about making our own hair, skin and body treatments, there are a variety of recipes with which to make SLS free shampoos and conditioners. Some of these recipes are not for the beginner, as they are a variety of hot process soap making which involves the use of sodium hydroxide(lye). Many of these recipes would challenge an experienced soap maker.
The best alternative for those of us who are not experience soap makers is to use SLS free shampoo recipes based on liquid castile soap. Liquid castile soap is made using olive oil (incidentally, a wonderful oil for hair care) and natural potash. It is quite inexpensive, and can also be used for laundry and face and body wash products.
By incorporating herbal infusions into liquid castile soap, you can made SLS free shampoo that addresses concerns of dry hair, oily hair, ethnic hair, highlighted hair and more. The following books all contain shampoo recipes you can make to keep your family safe from perilous chemical ingredients such as SLS: