Natural Shower Recipes

Shower time!  So what do you normally use in the shower?  Shampoo, Conditioner, body wash, shaving cream...  did I miss anything?  My situation is a little different from the norm.  I teach Zumba and Aqua Zumba about 6 times a week.  This week I am teaching 7 times!  So I tend to shower at the gym more than at my own home.  It is important to me to not only find recipes to use at home but will also be portable to take them with me in my trusty gym bag.  These are the recipes I am using right now.  So far it seems to be working well.  (Deodorant and Body spray in a post to come.)

There is a learning curve I've learned when switching to natural products.  You almost have to change the way you perceive "clean."  If you are a bar soap person, you are probably used to the sticky, squeaky feeling you feel on your skin after you wash it.  I am personally a body wash person so it took some getting used to at first as most products I've made leave that squeaky clean feeling on my skin.

Shampoos

Coconut Milk & Castile Soap - This recipe smells great and seems to work well on my hair.  It also gets really sudsy which I like.  However, it does not work as a stand alone product.  I really need a conditioner to go with it.  The squeaky clean feeling is a little rough for my thick hair.  I found that once I started using apple cider vinegar as a rinse afterwards, it really works well.  (And by the way, I LOVE this lady's blog - I will be adding it to my resources on the side.)

Baking Soda and Water - The recipe is simple.  It's just equal parts baking soda and water and shake well.  That's it.  Again, I have to use this in conjunction with the apple cider vinegar but it works about as well as the Coconut Milk & Castile soap though it does not sud at all.  The bonus is that you can also wash your face with it while in the shower.

Conditioners

I am still working on this a little.  I have tried two different types and by far the apple cider vinegar is the best.  I know it sounds crazy but it works fantastically as a detangler and it softens my hair.

Coconut Oil and Honey - This was one of three recipes on this website.  It was a total bust for me.  My hair was so disgusting!  Even after it dried, it still looked wet.  Gross.  I would not recommed it.  BUT maybe another recipe on that site might work better.  I'll try it out in the coming weeks.

This was after it dried... not good.  I took another shower to wash it out later.

Apple Cider Vinegar - Another simple recipe.  Equal parts apple cider vinegar and water.  Look for one with the "mother" in it.  I LOVE this.  It works very well for me.  It smells a little funny at first but it goes away after my hair drys.  The only downfall...  when I sweat (which is a LOT in my Zumba classes) I can smell it.  It's a little weird but John assures me that I don't smell any worse than normal after a Zumba class. : )

 I used an old Soy Sauce bottle

Body Wash

I used this recipe.  I might not ever need to buy body wash again!  I ended up using Dr. Bronner's Citrus scented castile soap bar and grapefruit essential oil to make it a fresh scet.  One tip I have is be careful how much vegetable glycerin you add.  If you put too much in you will get a very thick goo once it's all cooled.  I usually have to dip my bottle in warm water for a while to loosen it up and then shake it well.  This makes a huge batch and I think it will last for a long time.  I use my loofa and it suds up great.  So it's sort of the best of both worlds, body wash type but leaves skin feeling like bar soap.

Shaving Cream

This is AWESOME!  I will never buy shaving cream again for sure.  This is the same recipe as the shampoo above except you add equal parts distilled water and put it in a foaming dispenser.  I used an old Dial foaming hand wash container.  The foam feels luxurious.  I'm not kidding.  It leaves my skin feeling smooth and nourished.

My old products and the new ones.  Or at least my 30 day experiment ones.