Many people do not realize the (potentially) negative impact of the products they use on a daily basis; whether it be cleaning products sprayed around the house or personal care items being applied to the body. Years ago I started switching out my cleaning products from store-bought to DIY versions. Initially I did this as a way to save money, but soon realized how much better these homemade products were for the safety and health of my family. It wasn’t until recently that I started switching out my personal care items. However, in making this switch, I noticed that products using high-quality, natural ingredients tend to be more expensive than the brands I had been using. So this budget-friendly girl decided to figure out how to stretch those natural products to make them last a lot longer. While this post discusses making products from Young Living last longer, please feel free to try these hacks using whatever brand you have chosen for yourself.
Making natural products last longer does not take a lot of time or money, all you need are a few foaming hand soap dispensers and distilled water.
Young Living products are being used in the examples below because they are what use. I do not know for certain whether other brands can be stretched in the same way, however, you can always give it a try.
Make Natural Shampoo Last Longer
Shampoo is something I use every single day, and I’m sure that’s the case for many of you as well. Here’s the thing about shampoos and soaps: they often contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). Both of these ingredients are cheap to produce and are added as an emulsifier, surfactant, and/or foaming agent. Yep… all those suds you see are because a chemical was added to create them. Natural shampoos and soaps will often avoid using SLS and SLES, which means you probably won’t get that same foaming action you’re used to… No worries. I’ve gotcha covered. Using a foaming hand soap dispenser will not only allow you to get more out of your bottle of shampoo, it will also produce suds.
Directions
Start by grabbing an 8-9 oz foaming hand soap dispenser and add 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of shampoo to the dispenser. (It’s totally fine to eyeball it by filling the dispenser about 1/4 of the way.) Then fill the remainder of the dispenser with distilled water*. Shake to combine. (I noticed the shampoo took a little more shaking than other products, so if you are seeing the shampoo settle to the bottom, give it a good shake for a couple days. Eventually, you will notice consistency throughout the dispenser.) I use about 4 pumps on my shoulder length hair each morning. You may require more or less depending on the length of your hair.
Using this method, I was able to stretch a 10 oz. bottle of shampoo into 40 oz.
*It is recommended that you use distilled water because tap water contains natural impurities that can lead to bacteria growth. It is also recommended that you only make one dispenser at a time, storing the concentrated product in its original container until you’re ready to make another batch.
Make Natural Conditioner Last Longer
Conditioner is another “daily use” product for me. Before we learn how to stretch it, let’s chat about one of the most common ingredients added to personal care products: fragrance. I know. It doesn’t sound all that bad, right? But did you know there are 3,999 materials used in the creation of “fragrance”?! 3,999!!! And guess what? Because “fragrance” is considered proprietary in nature, brands do not have to disclose which materials they’ve added. (You can find the full list of materials used in fragrance from The International Fragrance Association here.)
Directions
I’m not sure about other natural conditioners out there, but Young Living’s Copaiba Vanilla Conditioner is thick. About half-way through the bottle, I was having a hard time getting it out due to its consistency, so I filled the bottle up with distilled water and gave it a good shake. At first the conditioner had a bit of a watery consistency, however, while we were on vacation for a week, the bottle sat in our shower and upon arrival home, the consistency was perfect. Take a look…
You simply combine 1 part conditioner to 1 part distilled water and shake. Maybe let is sit a few days to come together, and you’re done. From here on out, I will continue using the original bottle, filling it half full with conditioner and then adding distilled water to fill the bottle. If you order this conditioner for the first time, simply store 1/2 of the conditioner in a separate container until you are ready to make your second batch.
Using this method, I was able to double the amount of conditioner.
Make Natural Body Wash Last Longer
I have been a faithful body wash user for as long as I can remember, however, I recently tried a natural bar soap, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to body wash. My biggest concern in trying a bar soap was that it would dry out my skin, but guess what? It had the opposite effect. The natural bar soap was less drying to my skin than the body wash I’d been using… So I start researching why this might be and found that many surfactants used in soap can be drying. Going natural, whether with a bar soap or body wash, may help you avoid that itchy, dry skin.
Directions
We are going to follow the exact same directions as the shampoo above. Grab a 8-9 oz foaming hand dispenser. Fill it with 2 oz of body wash (or just eyeball 1/4 of the container). Fill the rest of the dispenser with distilled water and give it a shake.
With this method, I was able to stretch an 8 oz. bottle of body wash into 32 oz.
For a few ideas on stretching your cleaning products, check out these posts…
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The hair conditioner dilution when you say one part conditioner one part water do you mean like half of a bottle of conditioner and half distilled water?
Yes. Exactly. Half a bottle of conditioner mixed with half a bottle of distilled water 🙂
Love these ideas on how to stretch these products and SAVE $$$. I’m so glad to have stumbled across this blog. Thanks for sharing!
Do you have a hack for diluting the lotion?
It isn’t a good idea to dilute your personal care products especially natural ones that may not have as strong preservatives in them. When you add water (distilled or not) to a product you are disrupting the stability, giving a higher chance for microbial growth and any active ingredients in the formula are now not going to be at the right concentration to work effectively. These products were not made for you to dilute they were made to be used as attended.
While I completely understand your point, I actually would have an incredibly hard time using the conditioner in its current state as it is so thick, it doesn’t come out of the bottle very well. Diluting it down allows me to actually get it out of the bottle. As for the shampoo and body wash, I use it up so quickly (and only make one batch at a time so the fully concentrated version is still in its original bottle) that I’m not too worried about bacterial growth. However, if it makes you feel uncomfortable to dilute your products, that is totally fine. I think it’s important that we all do whatever we feel best doing.
I’ve just recently order some YL shampoo and conditioner, but I’ve been wanting to add some oils to it to make it more specific to my hair type. Do you know roughly how many drops can be added once it’s diluted?
thank you for these great suggestions! Is there an advantage to using the foam pump versus the regular pumps? I greatly dislike the foam pumps as my kids seem to break these often and those pumps don’t work after a few weeks at our house.
Using a foaming dispenser is what allows you to stretch the product. The foaming dispenser is only filled with 1/4 of the product and 3/4 distilled water. Using a regular pump would mean that you’d need to use full strength product, and therefore, you couldn’t stretch it at all. Doing the 1/4 product to 3/4 distilled water in a regular pump would simply give you a watery product, which wouldn’t be ideal.
could i do the same with the lavender mint shampoo an conditioner?
I would assume this would work no matter which scent you choose to use.
Could you do the same with the Shutran 3 in 1 wash?
I would think this would work the same for all the body washes available.
These are such great ideas! I have just started using Young
Living’s shampoo and conditioner, and this will be a great way to stretch it! You are absolutely right, the conditioner is really thick!
Wow, what great tips for extending the YL products! Love it.