A Different Breed of Recipe: Homemade Shampoo!

So 10 months into my vegetarian lifestyle and I’ve come to believe a few sterotypes that go along with sustaining this healthy diet.

1.  Vegetarians do yoga.  People I’ve met in person and through this community GENERALLY take great physical care of themselves and that translates into excersice of some kind.  For most meat-free people I know this means yoga.

2. Vegetarians are GENERALLY more intellectual and spirtitually inclined.  Maybe it’s because the don’t have all that shit food weighing them down and they see things more clearly, but I tend to believe that they’re more open-minded, intelligent and overall have better brains than meat eaters.

3.  GENERALLY, vegetarians are more eco-friendly, earth conscious and “green”.  They have a better understanding of the effects we have on the world around us through our food, energy and lifestyle choices.  Sustainability is usually a priority for vegs, and hence, the whole point of this post.

I recycyle relentlessly.  I tried to reuse and donate as much of our stuff as much possible.  We try to grow our own food as best we can, make compost with our food trash and buy as much organically made clothes and products as possible.  We’ve got a shitload of those onbonxious reusable bags laying around, and I get SO pissed when I forget them and are subjected to using paper bags from Whole Foods.

That being said, we’ve now branched out into making our own at home products.  We’ve used vinegar and baking soda as our sole apartment cleaners for quite some time now, and we’ve got our sights set on homemade shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste and deodorant.  Abstaining from buying these sometimes pricey products that are usually still full of chemicals even if they’re “natural” or “organic” not only helps the earth, but helps us find new (and cheap) ways to use up common household products.  I actually REALLY love this shampoo recipe and it was so easy to make.

1 cup castille soap

1 bag chamomille tea

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp nettle leaves (optional for dry, brittle hair)

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 1/2 cups water

• Boil water, then add tea bag, nettle and rosemary into a large coffee mug or bowl and steep for 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes mix in honey and castille soap, then let sit in the fridge for an hour before transferring to a shampoo bottle-enjoy!