I made some shampoo by mixing equal parts dr bronner's castile soap and distilled water and about a table spoon or so of melted organic virgin coconut oil.

it suds great and smells great (almond bronner soap) but it leaves hair feeling really tangled. What can i add in it to make it better? Keep hair from feeling like it just got regular soaped and being a tangled mess?

i don't wanna add vinegar...that's gross; no matter how many people on the internet say it is great for tangles and homemade shampoos...

shampoo companies make shampoo all the time that does not leave hair feeling tangled without using vinegar...surely there must be something.

I use that Castile liquid soap too. I use it for hair and body. Undiluted. After all, it already has several oils in it, including coconut. It suds nicely without any help.

If you have a scalp problem, which I suspect you don't, you would add vinegar to help control bacteria or fungi. Soap and shampoos are alkaline. The vinegar's ascetic acid would kill the microbes.

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- Jim

�Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.� Sir Winston Churchill

when I use the bronner's castile liquid soap (diluted) as a shampoo, it leaves hair very tangled (the way most soap would do when used on hair).

most recipes I see, say to mix with oil....so i did...but that didn't help. I'm thinking of mixing in aloe vera juice; actually aloe vera gel right now, since that's all I have.

Surely there is a difference btw castile soap and shampoo?

Regular (commercial) shampoos contain detergents that strip all oils from the hair, so they add other chemicals to keep the hair from drying and tangling.

Detergents and soaps are somewhat different chemically. Bronner's is a soap -- not a detergent. Almost all soap-based shampoos leave a film behind. That's one reason so many people left traditional soap shampoos for detergent based ones years ago.

Tate's is the only thing I've found that doesn't leave a film and that is soap-based, but the oil is all coconut oil, and soaps made with coconut oil are reknown for their sudsing ability.

Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to go off into a mini chem lecture there.

Vinegar also helps with soap residue that comes with natural soap based shampoos as well. Apple cider vinegar is the usual thing to use. If you're in the sun it will give your hair a reddish tint that's very nice. If you prefer blonde with no red overtones, then lemon juice is what you want.

One of the truly natural shampoos I've found is Tate's. It leaves no residue at all and there is nothing questionable in it at all. It's pricey but it's really concentrated. Not too many health food stores here carry it, but it can be found on the Internet.

A small bottle lasts me and my daughter for a couple of months, and we both have waist+ length hair.

Tate's sells a conditioner too, but I've never used it. I mostly brush my hair properly to keep the tangles away, though olive oil can help if you're having particular problems. You can do a hot oil treatment or you can put a few drops on your brush and brush 100 strokes at least before you go to bed (grandma's old trick, that last one is).

Marshmallow Root is supposed to make the hair slippery and help with tangles and frizzy hair. It's mostly used in natural conditoners, but it might work by adding it into the shampoo.

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Aloe vera is often added to soaps, but as it isn't a fat, you have to use another oil to make the soap....have I misunderstood you?

i found out something.

don't use raw extra virgin coconut oil in shampoos. i melted it to add it and now, it smells gross. the almond castile soap smells awesome, but you can smell the coconut oil cut through. really gross. I'm thinking, maybe just alot of aloe vera juice mixed with liquid castile soap.

probably 80: 20....maybe 70:30.....

80% aloe juice
20% liquid castile soap (in my case bronner's almond).

i'm gonna google search aloe vera juice in shampoos and try it....I'll report back.

Ok, the new shampoo with alot of aloe vera gel and water and a tiny bit of bronner's castile soap didn't work well. left their hair super tangled...

i could try adding glycerin, but I'm not. I'm giving up trying to make homemade shampoo for now. what I have learned is that it is difficult to get the right mix of ingredients to make the hair nice and slick and soft afterward.

i bought some "everyday shea" shampoo. seems like the best brand at whole foods. very small amount of ingredients for shampoo. and one of the only ones that use virgin coconut oil.