# Decent Shampoo Recipe Needed



## northernsoap (Mar 16, 2014)

So after my attempt at glycerin based LS I'm back at square one. I need something that will not leave residue but will clean the hair. What's a tried and true recipe that you can vouch for?


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## Lindy (Mar 16, 2014)

The problem here northernsoap is that people who have developed a good recipe are unlikely to share for the very reason you're asking for one.  They are not easy to formulate.  So people who have a good one have spent a lot of time and money developing it and aren't like to share it.


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## AustinStraight (Mar 16, 2014)

To be honest, I really like just using a 100% CO, 20% superfat recipe.  It might be a little nicer on the hair with shea butter added to it, but it works well how it is for now.  It all depends on your hair type.  If you're troubled by residue, make a solution of one part white vinegar (or herb-infused vinegar, if you want a treat) to one part distilled water.  Keep it in a spray bottle in the shower, spray it on your hair after shampooing, leave it on for about 3 minutes, rinse it off and your hair will be residue-free.   It dissolves the soap scum on your hair.  It also works well to dissolve soap scum in the shower.


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## northernsoap (Mar 17, 2014)

I hear you. Should I go with a castille-based shampoo? What are the pros-cons?


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## AustinStraight (Mar 17, 2014)

Pure olive oil soap (castille soap) is known for being conditioning & gentle, but it's also not very cleansing.  I recommend just playing around in soapcalc until you find a good recipe.  Remember to change the lye type from NaOH to KOH.  Unfortunately I've never made soap using KOH, I know it involves making a soap paste in the crockpot kind of like how hot process bar soap is made and then mixing it with water & citric acid.


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## Lindy (Mar 17, 2014)

You want a gentle and conditioning soap... coconut oil is not always a good option.

 ETA - you remember my comment about good recipes?  You have someone who has never made liquid soap, let alone liquid shampoo offering you advice on how to make this.


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## Obsidian (Mar 18, 2014)

There is a good shampoo bar recipe floating around if you might want to try a bar, another option is this recipe http://wikitalks.com/2013/06/honey-beldi-hair/
I replaced the mustard with avocado and the camelina with shea, I also dropped the coconut oil down a little so it wasn't as cleansing since too cleansing is hard on your hair and scalp. I do have a bit of trouble using the beldi paste as is so I dilute it 1:1 with water and put the resulting thick liquid in a pump. I suspect the shea made my paste a bit stickier then the original recipe would be.

I made it HP and it does separate badly while its cooking but it eventually comes together. Its also a very nice body soap for those with dry skin.


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## CaraCara (Mar 18, 2014)

Anyone who can use shampoo bars is very lucky. My hair took a looong time to forgive me for trying one out last year. There are a few shampoo recipes floating around in the forums--just have to search them out and modify the oils based on what goodness they will contribute.


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## AnnaMarie (Mar 18, 2014)

I have tried to find a "starting point" shampoo recipe myself. There are a couple out there that I might play around with in the future. I am hoping that Soap Queen will write a blog post with a basic shampoo recipe sometime. Good luck!
Cheers!
Anna Marie


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## FGOriold (Mar 18, 2014)

I find that my formulations for shampoo bars are quite different than those for liquid shampoos when it comes to coconut/babassu oil.  For shampoo bars I keep the levels around 25 - 30% for for liquid shampoo it varies from 40 - 75%.  Dry hair types seem to like the lower coconut/babassu oil amounts while oilier hair prefers the higher amounts or the shampoos leave their hair a bit oily.  My hair which is on the normal to oily side likes my liquid shampoos with coconut/babassu oils at around 60 - 65%.  Do not know why this is, but it is how it works for me.


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## Lindy (Mar 18, 2014)

Somewhere else to do some research is SwiftCraft Monkey's blog http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2013/05/back-to-very-basics-shampoo.html.  She doesn't make soap the way we do, but she does have a lot on there about shampoo made with surfactants.


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