What does your monthly budget look like? Whether you’re single or a mom who creates a monthly budget for the entire household, one of the items in your to-buy list is shampoo and conditioner. Those who have long hair or household with numerous family members might find themselves spending more than average on shampoo and other hair care-related expenses.
You don’t want to scrimp on buying this personal care essential because you’d want to care for your locks, but there is no need for you to spend a fortune on it, either. Here, we will take a look at the ways by which you can save money on shampoo.
Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Shampoo
If shampoo is a personal care essential that should always be included with your monthly budget, is there a way for you to cut back on the costs? Find out here as we take a look at the top ten techniques on how you can save money on shampoo:
1. Know what your budget is for buying shampoo every month
To give you an idea about how much people are spending on average when it comes to buying shampoo, here are a few quick statistics:
- According to market research firm Mintel, consumers spent more than $2.3 billion last 2011 for buying shampoo and $1.7 billion on conditioner.
- According to The Beauty Company, consumers spend their money on cosmetic products with the following percentages:
Hair Care = 20%
Facial Skin Care = 27%
Fragrance = 10%
Make-up = 20%
Personal Care = 23%
Since almost everyone uses shampoo, this product makes up the vast majority of the cosmetics market. Two of the biggest shampoo manufacturers are Procter & Gamble who manufactures Pantene products, and L’Oreal.
So if you feel like you are spending too much on shampoo, conditioner and other hair care products, you are not alone – other people are doing it, too. The good news is that there are ways for you to cut back on the expense, the techniques of which we will enumerate next.
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2. Apply shampoo wisely so you are not wasting product in the first place
The number one reason why you are spending too much on shampoo is overuse of the product. What kind or brand of shampoo are you using? For most generic brands, the formula is concentrated enough so you won’t need a palm full of shampoo to wash short hair. For women with long hair, a nickel-sized drop of shampoo should be enough. Apply the shampoo from the top of your head and work the lather downwards so you won’t use any more product than you have to.
For women with short hair, an amount lesser than that should be fine while men with short hair can use just a few drops of shampoo to wash their hair.
3. Use a pump dispenser so you can maximize the product in each bottle
Since your goal is to not use more shampoo than what you actually have to use to keep your hair clean, what can you do to stop the actual wastage of product? The bottles that shampoos and conditioners come in usually make you pour more product than you have to on your hands. You cannot put the excess product back so your instinct would be to simply dump the entire amount on your head.
To prevent this wastage from occurring, why not use a pump dispenser? You can also recycle hand lotion containers so that when you squeeze the pump, the right amount of shampoo will come out. Using a pump dispenser will also give you the entire contents of the original shampoo bottle, which you can use up to the last drop.
4. Don’t apply shampoo every day
There are people who wash their hair every day but there’s actually no need to do so. According to WebMd.com, hair is a fiber which does not need daily washing, otherwise it’s not going to look its best. If you have long, thick, curly or processed hair, washing it every other day is plenty enough. For average hair lengths, four or five times of washing a week should do.
Those who have thick or long hair will require less frequent shampooing because the oils from the scalp do not travel don the hair shaft as quickly, so it will not appear dirty or oily even if you fail to wash it for a couple of days. For those with thin, short or straight hair, every other day shampooing would do. Aside from maintaining the length of your hair, doing this will reduce your budget for shampoo.
5. Don’t buy shampoo from the drugstore
The drugstore is the usual suspect of where people buy shampoo, conditioner and other hair care products. But did you know that you can actually save up to 25% when buying from superstores like Walmart or Target?
A $1.25 bottle of shampoo at a drugstore will only cost $1 or less at Walmart or Target, especially during sales or when you’re buying in bulk. Except for the high-end brands, you will save a lot of money if you know where to look for great deals on shampoos – and that’s not in supermarkets.
6. Use coupons or loyalty cards when buying shampoo
Similar to how you would use coupons or loyalty cards to save money when buying items from a grocery store, you can also use the same perks when buying shampoo and other hair care products from stores. Coupons will give you several cents or a few dollars off when buying certain shampoo products, while loyalty cards allow you to earn points which you can use when buying other items from the store.
7. Buy shampoo in bulk
If you’re buying generic shampoo brands from the store, you can actually buy bottles in bulk to save money. Just make sure to compare the unit price of bulk packages versus the individual prices so that you would know which deal will really be lighter on your wallet.
8. Make your own shampoo
Prepare Your Own Shampoo
When you go online, there are lots of ‘recipes’ that you can follow on how to make your own shampoo. Those who are taking the natural or organic route would rather make their own shampoo rather than rely on chemical-based formulas. Here are a few examples:
Castile Shampoo
Ingredients:
¼ cup water
¼ cup liquid Castile soap
½ teaspoon oil (Jojoba, olive or grape seed)
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a plastic or glass bottle, and use as you would your regular shampoo.
Baking Soda Shampoo
Ingredients:
½ cup baking soda
3 cups water
½ cup apple cider or regular white vinegar for rinsing
Instructions:
Mix baking soda with water, and the formula will last for several washings. Shake and apply the mixture onto your scalp. After washing your hair, rinse using apple cider or white vinegar which can be substituted as natural shampoo.
9. Extend the use of your favorite shampoo
If you don’t like mixing your own shampoo formula using natural ingredients, you can simply extend the use of your favorite shampoo. How?Follow these instructions:
- First, measure two ounces of your favorite hair shampoo brand on a container.
- Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
- Add 5 ounces of water.
- Mix well.
- Pour the mixture into a foam pump dispenser.
The resulting mixture will be thinner than the original consistency of what’s in the shampoo bottle. But it will still work perfectly well on washing your hair. At the same time, you do not have to buy as much product and still get to use your favorite shampoo brand using this simple product extension technique.
10. Other ways to save money on shampoo
When you’re at a store deciding which shampoo brand to buy, remember that it does not pay to shell out top dollar on this hair care product. The brands which are under $5 will work just as well as the more expensive brands. The goal of shampoo is to rid your scalp and hair shafts of dirt and oil build-up, so they all pretty much work the same way. The more expensive brands simply rely on fragrance or other extra ingredients to put the price up.
When it comes to buying conditioner, however, you will get what you pay for. The more expensive brands have the right ingredients to maintain the health and softness of your hair, so it pays to invest in pricier conditioners. If you want, you can also consider buying products which combine the formulas of both shampoos and conditioners. There are plenty of two-in-one products in the market that you can buy.
All in all, keeping your hair clean does not have to cost a fortune. By going for supermarket brands, using coupons and knowing where to buy your shampoo products, you can save a lot of money while keeping your locks clean, soft and healthy.
