soapnut shampoo

Is it just me or did it ever bother you that the actresses on The Walking Dead and Lost always looked so... clean?  No products, rationed showers, and yet... In an attempt to recreate this look authentically, I've scaled back a lot of high maintenance habits one picks up as a teenager (ironically, the demographic least likely to need any sort of beauty boost).  The latest experiment involves soapnut shampoo and in most circumstances can be parallel processed with weekend cooking adventures.  I read a derivative of this in the book "Making it" but didn't have any of the ingredients at the time.  A year or so into this DIY thing, I'm way better provisioned.

Inputs

• (Homegrown acorn squash and wide mouthed canning jars entirely optional.)
• Soapnuts (calls for 5 nuts, but I threw in 10 because I was using "brut" bottles) - these are laundry soap alternatives available on Amazon and with the greywater cistern experiment, I had about 5 lbs of them lying around.
• Water- I used a pint glass to fill 2 bottles.  This is as much as mini crock could handle and since this stuff is fresh, you probably don't want to make oodles of it at once anyway.
• Mini-crockpot or standard issue pot + burner- MaEpic sent me her spare which has been perfect for these sorts of Jungle Jane adventures.  Pot works fine, but takes more supervision and occupies a burner which you might need for your split pea soup project.
• Cheese cloth or other filtering implement (possibly clothes pins/rubberbands/etc. for ease of use).
• Funnel (possibly widemouthed container with spout for liquid transfer)
• Cool small bottles - these are single serving champagne bottles purchased after reading "Sparkle" a self-indulgent chick lifecoaching book which advocates a "champagne diet" and comes with requisite pink and rhinestone cover (all of this thankfully masked by buying the kindle edition and reading on my iPhone).  TIL you can get lifecoaching credentials through online programs for less than 40 hours of work!  Would suggest the darker J Roget brand if confronted with a selection in BevMo.  It tasted better and was fizzier than its clear wide-mouthed Karma cousin.  Big mouths --> this runny shampoo will slosh all over the shower before a small share of it will make its way to your hair.   Bonus points for spray bottles for applicators.  You may have misgivings about choosing glass if you are inclined to drop stuff in the shower or balance things on precariously thin/crowded ledges. 
• *optional and awesome: 10 drops of essential oils or sprig or two of fresh herbs.  Rosemary is rad any time.  Lavender has calming effects if you tend to shower to unwind at the end of the day (or want to encourage hair growth).  Peppermint has some pickup if morning is more your style.  

Assembly:

1. Simmer your pint of water and soapnuts for a while-- say 20 mins stovetop.  Or just forget about them until they've turned the water in the crockpot a steamy golden brown.  
2. Add essential oil or herbal amendments if using and allow to cool.
3. Move out of pot and into wide-mouthed pour-friendly container (if available)
4. Line your funnel with filtration medium and pour liquid into bottles.  (soapnuts can be transferred into a pouch for a second life on laundry duty)
5. Refrigerate if not planning to use in the next week or so as this is a fresh product-- goes double for folks taking the herbal vs. essential oil route.  Mentally note that while it may be chilling in the fridge, this is no longer a champagne product

Notes on use:  this stuff won't lather the way a conventional shampoo does, or make your hair "squeaky" clean.  Think of it more as a rinse.  It is soapy-- shake the bottle and admire the foam.  It won't strip your hair of natural oils and cause it to dry out, thin at the ends, or create a heavy duty conditioner dependency.  Plus you get to choose what your hair smells like.  I'm trying this to extend the life of a flagging supermarket shampoo bottle.  If it does the trick, I've got 5 lbs of soapnuts to experiment with.  If it doesn't work out, there's a bunch of interesting shampoo bars on Etsy to investigate.