Chamomile Shampoo Tutorial

I've had this recipe for Chamomile Shampoo that I've been wanting to try for a long time. The recipe is from the Homemade book that I've reviewed in the past. I finally decided to buckle down and make it. It's not as fast to make as other shampoos I've made, but it wasn't bad. It smelled lovely as I was making it too.

Here's the recipe:

Chamomile Shampoo

1 handful fresh or dried chamomile flowers

1 1/4 cups boiling water

3 Tbsp. pure soap flakes or leftover slivers of soap

1 Tbsp. glycerin

5 drops yellow food coloring (opt.)

I got the chamomile flowers and glycerin from the health food store, but you can grow your own chamomile! :-)

1. Place the flowers in a heatproof bowl and add the boiling water. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

You're essentially making a tea. Mmmm! Smell that wonderful chamomile!

2. While you're waiting, grate 3 Tbsp. worth of soap. Use the smallest grater you have. It helps the soap shavings soften and melt faster.

3. Strain the chamomile "tea" into another bowl.

I had to strain mine twice - once with a large sieve and once with a fine sieve. There are a lot of tiny bits from the flowers that you definitely don't want to have left in your hair...

4. Add the soap flakes to the "tea". Let them stand until the soap softens - a few minutes.

5. Beat in the food coloring, if desired (I did add it just to see), and glycerin and beat until well blended. This might take a few minutes, and as you can see it turned the shampoo into a weird yellow froth.

6. Pour the mixture into a clean 14-ounce bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Keep in a cool, dark place.

(Not the shower, obviously??) Too bad. I'm keeping mine in the shower.

I'm planning on using some tonight. I'll have to report back to let you know if the foam settled into a gel or more of a liquid. Tonight I'll just have the interesting experience of shampooing with "foam poo". Heh heh. I'll let you know how it works!