The best shampoo you'll never find in a store

I'm here to let you in on an amazing deal for a fantastic shampoo that leaves your hair moisturized and feeling squeaky clean. It's also very safe to use, but you can't search for it on the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database. The best part of all, it is super inexpensive!

This is a very, VERY exclusive opportunity. It's only available to you because it's actually made by you, in your home, with ingredients that you've likely already got in your pantry (or can find easily in most grocery stores).

I made the commitment to green up my shower routine a few months ago and have experimented with umpteen different combinations - baking soda paste dry washes (icky chalky mess), apple cider vinegar rinses (tolerable, but never made my hair feel absolutely clean), coconut oil treatments (hello greasy, stringy hair), "safe" shampoos from natural foods stores (buh-bye money and easily combed hair). I wasn't totally satisfied with any of those, but I wasn't ready to give up. Enter pinterest.

I can't express how much I heart pinterest. From ideas for gardening that I will likely never successfully implement in my yard to elaborate recipes that are intimidating yet enticing, you can find everything on that site. It is an especially good resource when researching ways to live clean and green. I've made a ton of homemade cleaners thanks to strangers pinning ridiculously easy "recipes". So, I was beyond excited when I came across a pinned photo of the back of a woman's head...her hair looked healthy, smooth, and beautiful. The pin promised access to the best homemade shampoo EVER or something to that extent. SOLD.

I would try to convince you that this is my beautiful head of hair, but I have no time for styling.

I originally intended to use my homemade coconut milk for this recipe, but I wasn't thinking straight and added vanilla to it for my kids to drink. Oh, well...Native Forest canned coconut milk is thick and creamy (while my homemade was not), plus their products are organic and BPA-free. This was so easy to mix together and I decided an unused, cute hand soap pump dispenser was perfect for this use.

Here's the recipe (adapted from wellnessmama.com):

• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1/3 cup liquid castille soap (I used Dr. Bronner's almond)
• several drops of vitamin E oil
• Lots and lots of the essential oil(s) of your choice (I decided to rip off Aveda and do rosemary and peppermint oils)

Place all ingredients in the dispenser and shake.

You will need to shake the dispenser before each use. I use about two palms full of the shampoo each time because I have very thick and pretty long hair. This will lather up a little, which I like. Natural shampoos tend to not lather at all and conventional (read: chemical soup) shampoos lather a ton...this is somewhere in the middle. I make sure I rinse very well to prevent any build-up because I have extremely hard water. Occasionally, I'll follow a normal shampoo routine with an apple cider vinegar rinse just to be sure that everything has been totally cleaned out.

Since I started to use this shampoo, my hair has been much more manageable. I can run a brush through it without encountering tangles and my hair looks and feels great once it's completely air dried.

Give it a try and let us know how it worked out for you!