Ashleigh offers recipes and reasons for making your own hair care products.

Did you know that almost 9 million tons of plastic gets thrown into the ocean annually? That is an incredible amount of waste, so what can we do to minimize the waste that pollutes our oceans? 

This is a great question to ask when you want to start making personal changes and alter your purchasing patterns to decrease your impact on Mama Earth. 

Take a day to notice every action you take. How much of your day includes single-use plastic? A lot of times, our daily life is much more wasteful than we would imagine, especially when it comes to our beauty routine. In our conversation with Mimi from Free the Ocean, we learn just how wasteful this routine truly can become. We often overlook the plastic containers in our bathroom because we see them as essential to our hygiene and self image. But those plastic containers really aren’t as necessary to your beauty routine as you might think. Making small changes in our purchasing patterns can go a very, very long way in combating the climate crisis. 

One way to reduce waste (and save money!) is to make your own shampoo and conditioner. One of the benefits to making your own beauty products is that you can customize the ingredients to accommodate your particular likes.

Let’s start this beauty experiment! Enjoy the recipes below.

Make Your Own Shampoo

Base ingredients:

• ¼ cup of canned coconut milk
• ¼ cup of castile soap
• A few drops of favorite essential oils 

Add-Ins: 

• ¼ cup of aloe vera gel (for dry hair) 
• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (for flaky scalp) 
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (for oily hair) 

Directions: 

1. Mix all ingredients together in a glass dispensing bottle. 
2. Shake well before each use. 
3. Shampoo will keep for about 1 month. 

Make Your Own Conditioner

Base ingredients: 

• 1 cup of coconut oil 
• ⅓ cup of avocado oil 
• A few drops of favorite essential oils

Add-Ins:

• 1 tablespoon of honey (for dry hair) 
• A few drops of tea tree oil (for flaky scalp)
• 1-2 tablespoons of brewed black tea (for oily scalp) 

Directions: 

1. Whisk all ingredients together for several minutes. 
2. Please in a glass dispensing bottle. 
3. Conditioner will keep for about 1 month.