Soap nuts are nothing but the golden-brown fruits of a small tree called Sapindus Marginatus. These are dried under the sun to make the hard round drupes that we use for cleaning and washing our scalp and hair. So, if you want to enjoy all these amazing benefits for your locks naturally, you should learn how to make shampoo from soap nuts.
Things and Ingredients Needed:
- Soap nuts – 30 grams
- Dried acacia pods – 30 grams
- Fresh or dried hibiscus flower – 20 grams
- Plain water – 200 ml.
- A pair of mortar and pestle
- A medium-sized saucepan
- A drawstring bag (cotton is preferable)
- A bottle (an old shampoo bottle will do)
Method of Preparation to Follow:
- Crack the acacia pods to take their seeds out. Put them in the mortar.
- Grind them well with the pestle to form a smooth fine powder.
- Pour this acacia seed powder into the cotton drawstring bag. Also, put the soap nuts and the fresh or dried hibiscus flowers in it.
- Pull the string of the bag from both sides and tie it firmly. It should become air-tight now.
- Place the saucepan over medium-high flame and pour water into it. Put the drawstring bag in it too.
- Bring the water to a boil. You need to boil it for at least 30 minutes so that the soap nuts can release all their saponin content properly.
- There will be gentle foams on the surface of the water after half an hour as the saponin (it is basically belongs to the ‘Amphipathic Glycoside’ family) creates a soap-like base naturally. Turn the heat off once you see it.
- Place the saucepan aside and wait until it reaches the normal room temperature.
- Remove the drawstring bag from the mixture and squeeze it hard into the saucepan to take out the remaining extract present inside it. This way, you will get the maximum amount of shampoo.
- Discard the drawstring bag along with the residue.
- Pour the freshly prepared concoction into the bottle very carefully. Here is your homemade soap nut shampoo absolutely ready!
Things You Must Remember:
Now here are a few vital things that you must consider before preparing soap nut shampoo at your home:
- Homemade soap nut shampoo is not at all similar to the one that you buy from your local stores. It is less soapy in texture and much thinner in consistency than its synthetic versions.
- You should never expect your homemade soap nut shampoo to produce good lather as it doesn’t contain SLS-like chemicals. But it is actually much more effective than the artificial ones.
- Just like other homemade products, it also doesn’t contain any preservative. Hence, it cannot be stored for a long time or even refrigerated. It is suggested that you prepare it in small quantity.
- The saponin content of soap nut makes the shampoo highly alkaline. It is recommended that you use it in very small quantity. Or else, you may end up making your locks extremely dry.
Give this recipe of homemade soap nut shampoo a try and take proper care of your scalp as well as hair. Also, do not forget to let us know how it came out.