It took me a while to finally give up chemical shampoo and now I wonder why it took me this long to make this change! I gotta say, shampooing has never been this much fun since Gugo came along.
So today, I’m gonna share to you how I now take care of my locks – naturally – with my new shower buddy! My Homemade Gugo shampoo.
Fact: Gugo is said to be a pretty large tree which can be found all over the country and has quite a few good stuffs in it come as food or as medicine, considering its fruit, seeds and bark.
Now, the bark’s been long used in the Philippines ever since the olden times as shampoo, which I find kind of vintage-y and cool. Its active ingredient is Saponin, the one responsible for the foaming effect when mixed with water. Saponin is believed to lower cholesterol, prevent heart diseases and cancer. Cool, right?
So, about that Gugo shampoo, in order to DIY, all you need are these:
Gugo bark, 1 large strip (the one I used was about 18”x4”)
Vinegar, 1 tsp.
Calamansi, 2 pcs. medium-sized
water, 500 ml
Empty Bottle, 500ml
How to:
Soak the gugo bark in 500ml water for 30 minutes or more. As you soak, occasionally squeeze the bark. Then, add 1 teaspoon vinegar and calamansi juice. Transfer the mixture to an empty bottle.
soak it up!
The result is L-O-V-E. No tangles, only soft, clean, shiny, bouncy locks. I have never enjoyed my hair this much. And heck I don’t even have to use conditioner anymore, which is a pretty good cut back on the budget. I just used Human Heart Nature’s 100% Natural Sunflower Beauty Oil after while my hair is still damp, I love to use this oil on my hair because it’s packed with vitamins and has a thick consistency but leaves a non-greasy feeling.
(Gugo-shampooed hair with sunflower oil after 8 hours or so, no retouch whatsoever)
I bought my gugo bark at an ordinary organic stall inside the Batangas City Old Market (PHP 20.00/bark BUT you might want to scoot around the entire area b/c the prices vary depending on which stall you buy from! I recently bought a medium-sized bark around PHP 8.00 only), just around the corner when you’re in the city. You can ask the old folks there for direction.
I heard its shelf life can last up to a year, I’m not sure about that but I’m looking forward to having my bottle emptied within just a span of one month or so, and then I’m gonna make me’self a new one again!
How about you, are you ready to dump the old chemically bombarded, commercially fabricated shampoo for this timeless health-friendly piece of slightly lathering friend?
Lemme know!
***UPDATE (April 6,2015): After appox. 16 days of using this shampoo, I can really say that my case of hair fall has been reduced to about 80% which is awesome. I don’t even suffer from dandruff anymore! The only setbacks are, in the first few days, I’ve kinda felt some oil build ups in between my hair strands, but eventually it went away, I just made sure I washed it thoroughly with the shampoo. What I do is I pour some on my scalp and massage thoroughly. I then put some part of the shampoo in a dipper, put my hair inside it, then I massage it with my hands. Rinse well after! You can try it and see what method works for you best!
I been search for a source of gu-go bark here in the US but to no avail. Where do you get your gu-go bark?
Thanks.
Gina
Hi, Gina! I got mine from a local market here in our city. You might want to try these sites https://www.facebook.com/GugoShampoo and http://www.embodymentorganicessentials.info/gugo-bark-shampoo.html . Hope this helps!
Hello! I’ve been searching for gugo bark as well – which city did you buy it in? Was it in the wet market? Thanks for any leads!
Here is Batangas City, PH. We got two public markets here, the OLD and NEW, as we call it. I bought mine at the OLD one.
Hello. Can I store it in a bottle for 1 month?
Yeah, but I think the bottle would already be empty before a month passes by!