In this article, we will make a really luxurious homemade dog shampoo.
Using some simple ingredients, one can craft a very high quality dog shampoo that smells wonderful, cleans effectively, and moisturizes your dog to cut down on itching.
You will want to use it on your own hair and skin too, and you can!
Here’s the Recipe
- 1/2 cup liquid Castile soap
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup oats ground to a powder in a coffee or spice grinder
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup vegetable glycerine
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup dish soap
- 1/4 cup aloe juice
Combine all ingredients into a 1 quart mason jar, close the lid, and shake vigorously. That’s it!
Quick Note on Soap
The base of the shampoo is going to be liquid Castile soap. We use Dr. Bronner’s Almond Castile soap.
Soap is made from two things: Lye and either oil or fat.
The lye is made from water and wood ash and is caustic, but when combined with an oil or a fat, it goes through the process of saponification, and the caustic element goes away.
Almost any oil or fat can be used for soap making. Because lye is pretty much what it is, the type of soap is determined by what kind of oil or fat was used. In this case, “Castile” soap means that olive oil was used.
Other Ingredients
Vinegar is good for disinfecting and sanitizing. Plus, vinegar gives hair a wonderful shine.
Oatmeal is good for moisturizing skin. We take regular dry oatmeal and grind it to a powder in a coffee or spice grinder.
Lemon juice: Lemon is a disinfectant and deodorizer that also repels insects.
Glycerin: A soothing and moisturizing agent. Natural Vegetable Based Glycerin can be used in a lot of DIY recipes, so it’s nice to have some on hand.
Olive oil: Additional moisturizing ingredient.
Liquid dish soap: Used to make the shampoo lather more than it normally would.
Aloe: We recommend keeping a potted aloe plant in your home. They do not require much light and are very easy to maintain.
The juice from the leaves can be used at home to make a variety of different skin products. For the dog shampoo, we processed our own aloe but aloe juice can be purchased at most stores.
Thanks for reading, and please share this article if you found it helpful.