# Shampoo bar & 100% coconut oil .....



## Deeore2017 (Sep 7, 2017)

Hi all, 

One of the first reasons i got into soapmaking was to make my own shampoo bars. 
Somehow got derailed from that objective as i got  the soapmaking bug and can't stop trying things out for new recipes...but want to start seriously thinking about it. 

My issue is that locally not so many oils are available, and my challenge is to use only locally available and produced raw products. 

My issue is that for the moment only coconut oil is available...i could go into producing castor oil at small scale but not yet in a position to do so. 

I've got my additives worked out  - want to work with bananas,peanuts (oil or butter???) , coffee and oil infusions as well as (local) herbal juices known to be locally used for haircare ( instead of shampoo) but .... Is a 100% non oil stripping coconut oil shampoo bar is possible? 

All the recipe i come accross use several types of oils... i've researched on the subject but have found nothing so far. Any input on this welcome !  

D. 

PS. should probably add that this shampoo bar is meant for frizzy/nappy hair.


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## toxikon (Sep 7, 2017)

Hi Deeore! So here's the scoop. There are some mixed feelings about using lye-soap on your hair here in the forum. Some people love it, their hair and scalp tolerate it great. But many others had good results AT FIRST, and then the lye-soap ended up really damaging their hair. Some people had to completely cut off their hair to help it grow back normally. 

Lye-soap is high pH, and there's no way to get around it. Reducing the pH by a significant amount is pretty much impossible. Human hair and scalp oil, sebum, has a pH balance of between 4.5 and 5.5. Lye-soap pH is around 10-13. Skin is able to bounce back pretty quickly from the high pH of soap, since we're always shedding it. But hair doesn't grow back nearly as fast, obviously. So the damage builds up over time.

So that's my two cents. I'd personally not take the risk, ESPECIALLY with only coconut oil.

The good news is you can make some nice soap with only coconut oil! The key is keeping the superfat very high for body soap (or very low for laundry soap). 

You'll want a superfat around 20% for 100% coconut oil soap. Coconut oil is very cleansing and will leave your skin feeling dry without that high superfat. Coconut oil is also very water-soluble, so you'll find your bars won't last as long as other, more-balanced recipes. That's just how coconut oil is.

You can make a very nice salt/brine bar with 100% coconut oil as well.


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## BattleGnome (Sep 7, 2017)

I don't have any shampoo bar experience, you will find it is a bit of a hot topic around here. Most hair has trouble with the ph of a lye soap bar. I don't want to get into that rabbit hole.

What I can add is a comment on the peanut butter: I'd go with oil over the butter. The butter has enough unsopanificables that it could leave a residue in hair. I do have some bars of 100% peanut butter to test skin feel (somehow I never get around to it) but I don't know how that will translate to hair.


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## shunt2011 (Sep 7, 2017)

I would never use 100% CO soap on my hair.   I tried shampoo bars several years ago.  And totally ruined my hair.   Hair doesn't like high PH.   Some are able to use them but many more have ruined their hair.


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## Obsidian (Sep 7, 2017)

I too used to use shampoo bars, loved it at first but over two years it destroyed my hair, had to cut it all off. If you still want to try it, absolutely do not use coconut oil. Do you have any other oil available?


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## Deeore2017 (Sep 8, 2017)

Aaaaaargh :headbanging:..
So so glad I asked! This is not the feedback  you get from the various internet articles you come accross. I'll leave this at the back of the shelf and continue lazy researching and reading...

Another question but on the PH thing... if the soap cures long enough, isn't that supposed to lower the ph overtime? 

D.


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## shunt2011 (Sep 8, 2017)

Deeore2017 said:


> Aaaaaargh :headbanging:..
> So so glad I asked! This is not the feedback you get from the various internet articles you come accross. I'll leave this at the back of the shelf and continue lazy researching and reading...
> 
> Another question but on the PH thing... if the soap cures long enough, isn't that supposed to lower the ph overtime?
> ...


 
The PH may drop a bit but soap naturally have a PH of 8.5-12 or so.  Not good for the hair.


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## ilovebathing (Sep 8, 2017)

I would probably try another difficult project and for me personally, how about liquid soap?  I am no scientist or chemist, so I don't even know if Potassium Hydroxide would work best?  The process looks tedious, but I too am curious to try it when time permits.  I found this one and I believe other folks in this forum have chatted about her ideas...
http://alaiynab.blogspot.com/search/label/tutorial

Also wasn't sure if you have the following oils because she recommended Olive Oil, Coconut, and Castor.  Yikes, hope my link works above!


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## BattleGnome (Sep 8, 2017)

The method in post 4 of  this thread  is much easier. The only change I'd make to the method is to use enough water to dissolve your KOH and the rest of the water portion could be glycerin if you choose. No heat needed.


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## soapmaker (Sep 8, 2017)

Well....not sure if I should add my 2 cents or not but here goes...I have used a shampoo bar on my hair now for probably 6-8 years. I'm curious about the posts that say "totally ruined my hair."  Could you describe how? I love my bar. We have soft water which makes a huge difference as there is no scum. I do a lemon juice rinse after shampooing but not every time. Of course if your hair is color treated you can't use the lemon juice.  

I've never tried this but I did see this you tube video:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONCguY9KFAM[/ame]


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## jcandleattic (Sep 8, 2017)

Save the coconut oil for a hair serum, or balm. As others have said, some people have no problems using a shampoo bar, others have terrible problems. I never used it long enough for it to damage my hair, other than stripping out the color, (dye, not the natural color) but I just did not like the feel of my hair after using a shampoo bar, especially a coconut oil bar. Have you ever went swimming in the ocean, and felt how your hair feels after it dries from that? That's what my hair felt like after using a 100% CO bar. Bleh it was awful. (for me)

I'm one of those people who truly believe you should only wash your hair once or twice a week. My hair has never been healthier until I started only washing my hair on Sunday's and Wednesdays. I still shower/rinse my hair everyday, but don't use shampoo on it at all except 2 days a week.


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## soapmaker (Sep 8, 2017)

jcandleattic said:


> Save the coconut oil for a hair serum, or balm. As others have said, some people have no problems using a shampoo bar, others have terrible problems. I never used it long enough for it to damage my hair, other than stripping out the color, (dye, not the natural color) but I just did not like the feel of my hair after using a shampoo bar, especially a coconut oil bar. Have you ever went swimming in the ocean, and felt how your hair feels after it dries from that? That's what my hair felt like after using a 100% CO bar. Bleh it was awful. (for me)
> 
> I'm one of those people who truly believe you should only wash your hair once or twice a week. My hair has never been healthier until I started only washing my hair on Sunday's and Wednesdays. I still shower/rinse my hair everyday, but don't use shampoo on it at all except 2 days a week.



Yes, that's how often I wash my hair too. And yes I know how awful your hair feels when you have been in salt water. Hardly seems to come out even with shampoo. BUT my biggest skin and hair benefit has been using softened water. The next biggest benefit is homemade superfatted soap


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