Natural Shampoo: Does it work?

I haven't used any synthetic moisturiser or cleanser on my face for a number of weeks now, (following a horrible allergic reaction to a 'posh' skincare cream).  My facecloth, witch hazel and walnut oil routine is proving to be ideal for my face.  And this got me thinking about my haircare routine.

I do like my hair to look nice (who doesn't?) and over the years I have gone through several phases of using expensive shampoos and conditioner sets, to then swinging to buying whatever is on offer at the supermarket.  My current shampoo has been dictated by what is on bulk-buy at the wholesaler we use. 

But in a desire to reduce the rubbish I am putting on my skin and to reduce the rubbish I am producing (check out the picture of the shocking pile of plastic bottles I have for recycling at the moment!!) I stumbled upon the idea of using soap nuts to wash my hair.

I have been a recent convert to soapnuts for washing my clothes.  They are the fruit of the Soapberry Tree, which is dried and harvested by hand in India and Indonesia Check out Living Naturally Soap Nuts for more info..  By my thought process they must be better for the environment than synthetically produced, plastic bottled, water polluting, detergents.

The information blurb that comes with the soapnuts has pretty much 101 uses for soapnuts!  One of which is as a shampoo.  So, always up for a challenge, I thought I would give it a go. 

Turning the soapnuts into shampoo couldn't have been easier.  You just had to put 15-20 nuts in six cups of hot water, bring the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes are up, you simply wait for it to cool down, then add a few drops of your favourite essential oil (I used ylang ylang) and bottle it all up.  I had too much for one bottle so put the spare into labelled glass jars, ready to refill the plastic bottle.

So, what was the result?  I washed my hair last night.  The soapnut shampoo did not lather at all (I expected this, as the blurb warns you it won't). So I treated it like conditioner, by pouring it on my hair, rubbing in, then leaving for a couple of mins, before rinsing out.

I then used an apple cider vinegar rinse.  Basically a few spoonfuls of cider vinegar diluted in glass of cold water, poured over my hair (I did this over the sink; I am not brave enough to pour cold water over myself in the shower!)  This is an old-style treatment for hair that I have read about lots of times, so wanted to try it instead of conditioner.

And you know what, my long hair is soft and shiny and smells fresh and clean.  So it worked.  (I doubled checked the smell with JW, who didn't know what I had been using, and he confirmed my hair smelt 'very nice'.  So no trace of vinegar then!) 

I will keep using the soapnut shampoo and vinegar rinse for a couple of weeks and report back on it's success or failure in the longer term!