I read about bran hair wash in an old book: It said that the bran cleans the scalp naturally and makes shiny hair. For the bran shampoo you’ll just need two ingredients; and according to the article, the bran solution can also be used as mild face wash.
Ingredients:
- bran (oat or wheat)
- boiling water
Fill bran in a small linen bag. Pour boiling water over it. Let it steep for about 15 minutes. Squeeze the linen bag and remove it; and the bran shampoo is ready for use.
DIY Bran
As I hadn’t bran at home at the moment, I made my own. I ground wheat grains, and sieved the flour to get the bran. Here’s my tutorial about how to separate bran from flour.
Bran Shampoo
The recipe doesn’t say how much bran and water to use. I used the bran in the small bowl in the picture above (about three or four tablespoons of bran) and just some boiling water, as the solution can always be thinned down with water later.
The shampoo is thicker than other homemade shampoo recipes I tried and is therefore easier to distribute. It has a natural, clean smell, and cleans the hair more than other vintage shampoo recipes I tried, but not as much as store-bought shampoo. Here a woman uses rice water (from cooking rice) as hair rinse and face wash.