I Made Natural Shampoo

The school arranges professional development opportunities for teachers throughout the year. Most often, this training is either not available to me as a rule, or offered in Korean which makes it unavailable to me in practice. Generally, I don't mind because I get plenty of online training webinars from the EPIK program for native teachers in English.

What I do enjoy is the fun, enrichment activities provided every few months at the school that teaches a new skill and are not necessarily job-related. Last year I joined the calligraphy group and got to practice writing in Korean with a paintbrush.

This time, the choices were natural shampoo-making or making a cutting board. I actually don't remember being presented with the option, but found myself committed to the shampoo group somehow, while my main co-teacher went off to make a cutting board for her kitchen.

I walked into the classroom and several teachers were seated and waiting for the training to begin. Of course, I sat alone and waited. Teachers flowed into the room and sat everywhere throughout the room, except next to me. If they got too close, I'm sure they worried that they'd have to speak English with me. It wasn't until about 10 minutes into the presentation when the vice-principal came in late and took the only remaining seat, the one next to me. It was a nice gesture, still, she didn't talk to me at all for two hours.

Thankfully, there was another English teacher in the room who took pity on me and made sure I understood the instructions so I could make the shampoo. This is besides the point, but when I returned to school the next week, I learned that she would be away for a while because she was self-isolating on account of having close contact with someone with COVID-19. Hopefully, she's alright.

The session was led by an aromatherapist. I know this because, even though her presentation was fully in Korean, there were a few words of English sprinkled throughout: "aromatherapist, aromatic, lavender, and essential oil." The remainder was unintelligible but lengthy. She talked for an hour.

Finally, it was time to make natural shampoo. On our desks were a cup, scale, and ingredient list (also in Korean). The whole process was much simpler than I was expecting. Basically, we needed to put the ingredients into the cup, while carefully measuring it on the scale. The instructor passed out jars and containers of the various liquids. Where some people got in trouble, including the vice-principal, was that they didn't reset the scale each time, so their proportions were way off and they ruined their shampoo. I'm thankful that the English teacher explained everything to me, so my shampoo consisted of all of the proper liquids, in the correct amounts.

For those who ruined their shampoo by not following the instructions, probably because they came in late, the instructor made a batch at the end so they would have something to take home. 

I tried to translate the ingredients with my phone, but even with Google Translate, I didn't recognize most of the mix except lavender, oil, and mineral water. But I was surprised how many things go into shampoo. It took some time to add everything together.

Once we finished, we sealed the cup, gave it a good shake, and affixed the sticker. We were given a foaming pump to use with the shampoo. Mission accomplished, I made natural shampoo.

I guess making natural shampoo was mildly fun. Lots of ingredients, but quite simple in the end. Better than sitting at my desk for two hours, that's for sure. The shampoo smells a little too perfumey for my taste but it works.