Basic Customisable Shampoo Recipe

Ingredients:

Phase A

• 1% xanthan gum
• 53% herbal infusion (refer to herbs below) | or use hydrosol or plain water
• 3% vegetable glycerine

Phase B

• 10% cocamidopropyl betaine
• 8% coco glucoside
• 15% lauryl glucoside
• 5% Hydra Hair | or use a different oil of choice such as castor oil, argan oil, grapeseed, etc.

Phase C

• 1% D panthenol
• 3% hydrolyzed protein/collagen/vegetable keratin
• 1% Geogard 221
• Citric acid to adjust the pH
• Optional: a few drops of essential oil of choice
• Herbs for the infusion:
  I use equal amounts of hibiscus, peppermint, aloe, marshmallow, horsetail and Irish moss. But you could also consider other herbs such as olive leaf, rosemary, even chlorella powder. You can refer to the list here for more inspiration:
• Beakers
• Soup/immersion blender
• pH strips or digital pH meter
• Spatula spoon
• Bottle with a pump cap

Method:

1. As the first step, make up your herbal infusion by putting one tablespoon of each herb in a large beaker. Pour over freshly boiled and slightly cooled water, and let this steep for at least 30 minutes. Then strain through some triple folded gauze or cheesecloth so that no particles are left in the water.
2. Combine the xanthan gum and vegetable glycerine in a beaker and mix them together to form a slurry. Weigh out the herbal infusion amount needed for phase A, and blend with the xanthan gum mixture to create a gel.
3. Add in the three surfactants and the hydra hair, and blend with a stick/immersion blender to fully combine. Lastly, add in the preservative, protein and panthenol, and blend again with the immersion blender.
4. Check and adjust pH to 4.5 with citric acid if required. Decreasing the pH will lead to a change in colour as hibiscus is a pH indicator!
   The colour will be a light pinky beige colour if you used the hibiscus. If you left it out, the shampoo will be more of a yellowy green colour due to the other herbs.
5. Decant into a pump bottle and enjoy.