# Needing help with beard shampoo for my man



## LoveForTheBeard (Dec 7, 2014)

Hello, I realize that this endeavor may be tricky as there is not much information out there on beard shampoo. I've been doing my research but its been difficult to find out what I need exactly to make a nice beard shampoo to go with my beard oil. I have a lot of essential oils that I will be using but I need to know what else I need beside jojoba oil? Coconut oil will provide conditioning if I understand correctly, I'm wondering what I need as a base cleanser. Will coconut oil soap work? I'm not interested in a bar and would like a liquid. Also, what will keep the solution from spoiling or help keep a longer shelf life? Will grapeseed fruit oil work for that? Or vitamin E oil?  I have so many questions and I (and my husband too) am so glad to have found this forum!


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## DeeAnna (Dec 7, 2014)

I'm confused -- have you made soap before? You speak of coconut oil soap as if it's the same as coconut oil itself, and you mention jojoba in the same context as EOs.  And if you're talking about a soap, why do you think soap will spoil? I'm not at all sure I'm following you correctly. Can you go a little slower?


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## DeeAnna (Dec 7, 2014)

My previous post sounds cranky. I apologize for that. 

The way I read your post, it seems like you may be mixing the idea of oils being used to condition the beard with the idea of a soap being made from those oils to clean the beard. There is quite a difference between the two types of products, even if they use some of the same starting ingredients. It would be helpful to know what you see as the difference between a shampoo for beards vs. a shampoo for hair.

You also don't say what your experience level is regarding soap making. I'm sure people's answers will depend on whether you are new to soap making or an experienced soap maker. It sounds like you are wanting to make a liquid soap with its own set of skills, concepts, and ingredients vs. a bar soap with somewhat different requirements.

Could you try again, please?


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## LoveForTheBeard (Dec 8, 2014)

I am so glad you reworded your questions back to me. I'm about as novice as they come and I do realize how much of an amateur I am. At this moment, I do a line of body butter and lip balm but no soaps. 

What my goal is, is to make a 2 in 1 beard shampoo plus conditioner. After some more research last night, I ended up purchasing Dr. Bronners Castile soap as a base for my 2 in 1 vs. coconut oil soap, which I do know is very different to just plain coconut oil. I'm going to be adding coconut oil to the recipe so it acts as a conditioner. If that will work?

 I believe the face to be much more of a sensitive area than the scalp in general and the hair is more coarse. The idea here, is to use the castile soap  to help with sensitivity and cleansing and coconut oil for conditioning the coarse hairs on the face (if i understand correctly, coconut oil can act as a cleanser too?). Jojoba oil helps with acne and dry skin and has a nice long shelf life as does the coconut oil. It also penetrates the hair follicle, has anti fungal properties, and stimulates hair growth. I'm sure you know all of the benefits to these wonderful oils but these are the reasons I'd like to have them in my finished product.

I am trying to  figure out if my combination of almond oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, and castile soap plus my essential oils for their various properties, would work? I do know that the coconut oil will provide a bit of a lather, which i find that the men generally want to have with a beard wash. Will the other oils be too oily or will the castile and coconut oil help remove them but also leave behind their conditioning properties?

I hope this helps a little? Again, I'm very new to all of this and there is A LOT to learn, which i assure you, I am trying!! I wasn't really sure how to properly ask and I'm very aware how my frantic questions must have been confusing.  I appreciate any info you may want to share, which is why I came to this forum. I read elsewhere online that you all are a helpful community and I am overjoyed that this network exists for novice and experts alike!


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Dec 8, 2014)

Welcome!

I would take a good long look at a lot of the stuff on here.  Search for shampoos, as a start, and then conditioners, thinking of ways to adapt them to meet the needs.


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## shunt2011 (Dec 8, 2014)

Firstly, Bronners isn't technically a Castille soap.  Check the ingredients.  True Castille is 100% Olive Oil.  I think that if you add just extra oils to it you will run into the problem of it not mixing together and separating as well as totally cutting any lather that may be in the the soap to begin with.  I personally don't think I would even try that.  You would be better off learining to make your own soap and formulate it to be extremely conditioning and gentle.  However, I don't think it would work like using a beard oil after cleansing.


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## Susie (Dec 8, 2014)

I am going to make a guess here, and please correct me if I am wrong.  

You are not wanting to make the soap for the beard cleaner/conditioner, you want to add oils to it to make it a cleaner AND conditioner in one step.

If this guess is correct, then what you want to do is not going to work well.  The soap will separate from the oils, and instead of getting a softer beard, you are going to get an oilier one.  To make a conditioner, you need products like BTMS 50 which is a product that conditions hair, yet remains able to be rinsed relatively cleanly.  You need to focus on either making soap, or conditioner if you are wanting to avoid all the synthetic detergents and such in commercial  shampoo/conditioner products.

Now, if you are not trying to avoid synthetic detergents and such, there are several good recipes online here for shampoo bars using syndets(synthetic detergents).  

If you are wanting to make shampoo bars that are more natural, there are LOTS of pages on those as well.  

There are even threads for conditioner bars on here. 

Then there are lots of treads on how to make liquid soaps that can be used for shampoos.  

But those are all separate subjects.


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## DeeAnna (Dec 8, 2014)

Hey, thanks for giving grumpy me a second chance. I appreciate your kindness! 

I agree with the others -- making a lye soap into a combination shampoo AND conditioner is a tall order. Adding oils to a solid lye soap cuts lather. Adding oils to LIQUID soap will not only cut lather but it will also cause separation, as Susie explained. The products out on the market that say they do all this are going to be formulated with synthetic detergents.

Lye soap has its strengths, but trying to be too many things all at once is not one of them. You may find more success formulating a mild soap, whether solid or liquid, followed by a separate conditioner product. Put your therapeutic ingredients (jojoba, etc) in the conditioner -- it's a leave-on product so those ingredients will remain on the skin and hair to offer users the most benefit.


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## new12soap (Dec 8, 2014)

I don't have anything to add to the issue of a beard wash and conditioner in one, but I did want to jump in to say that while essential oils do have a lot of wonderful properties, a lot of them can be very irritating or cause photosensitivity and should only be used in _very_ small amounts, especially in a leave-on product.

As you said, facial skin is very very sensitive so please make sure to do your research about your EOs too!


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## LoveForTheBeard (Dec 8, 2014)

OK so, I will be doing a shampoo a only and will forgo "conditioner " in place of a beard oil which would act as a conditioner, after reading these comments! Your help is invaluable!!

 I am focusing on keeping these products free of anything that isn't natural or organic. Ill be looking into the BTMS 50 to see if it falls in line with my requirements of being all natural. 

So kind of back to my original post, has anyone tried coconut oil soap before? I guess I'm just trying to find out what a good base would be for the shampoo itself. 

My search for beard shampoo and a basic natural shampoo yielded virtually no results. I'm trying to find a good base recipe for even the soap if anyone has one that they don't mind sharing? 

Thanks for all of your replies and enthusiasm!


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## DeeAnna (Dec 8, 2014)

Soap made from palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and babassu are strong cleansers. I wouldn't use them 100% on skin (or beard) without a high superfat -- they are likely to make the skin dry and "tight". In this case, it would be incorrect to assume the benefits of coconut oil to the skin and hair will be the same as the benefits of soap made from coconut oil.

Here is more information I've written that may be helpful to you:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showp...7&postcount=17
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=468038&postcount=10
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=468170&postcount=13

Hopefully others will chime in with their opinions about and answers to your questions.


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## JustBeachy (Dec 8, 2014)

What it seems like you're describing is a Wen type product. Part of the 'no poo' craze. Hair One has one out as well. I've tried these and love the results, just not the costs.  I've been working on a recipe for about a month or two, and am getting closer. One of the experiments is made with my Castille soap, which I liquify. I just grate it up and put it in a mason jar, then fill the jar with 180 F water and let it set. It goes liquid and stays that way for,  thinking....last batch is still liquid and it's been about a month. 

Susie has a good suggestion with the BTMS 50.   I use just a bit of the  Castille mixture, the BTMS, Glycerin, Jojoba and Olive oil, different extracts, little preservative.  I create a "conditioner that also cleans", somewhat of a two in one product, just really light on any "cleansers".  

I've been using nothing on my hair besides these experimental mixtures for over a month now. Just had a hair cut the other day and the girl who cuts my hair was asking what I was using. My first thought was, she's gonna tell me I'm going bald.   But no, she said my hair felt great and was in great shape. 

Now that I"m done explaining what I'm working on.  My advice, go look at this lady's blog. Read through tons of her stuff, (she has some stuff on cleansing conditioners as well, she just isn't gung ho about the idea).  I've pulled info from her and from product research to design my experiments. 

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com

Hope that helps.

Just an afterthought, I stay clean shaven now, but for years wore a mustache and goatee. I was always looking for ways to condition the beard. Almost makes me want to grow it out again and test this on it.  Almost..


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Dec 9, 2014)

There is a wealth of information on here about shampoos, no-poos and the like. A site search for shampoo will show you many threads where many different recipes are already discussed and tweaked - a great place to start to get your foundation on shampoo bars etc.


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## APetree (May 6, 2017)

Hey there! There's wide variety of base cleaner you may add like vitamin E oil or grapeseed oil would also work. Don't forget to add almond oil and coconut oil to your beard shampoo. Soap made from palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and babassu are strong cleansers. to know how to make a beard shampoo and what ingredients you can use in it.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (May 6, 2017)

^^^ this isn't all good advice. That link goes to a detergent based cleaner (which is good for use on hair in general) but the post refers to making a soap from oils which would be cleansing and that is not good for use on hair in general


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## Susie (May 6, 2017)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> ^^^ this isn't all good advice. That link goes to a detergent based cleaner (which is good for use on hair in general) but the post refers to making a soap from oils which would be cleansing and that is not good for use on hair in general



^^^What Craig said!


You beat me to it.  But that is very well stated.


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## Zany_in_CO (May 7, 2017)

LoveForTheBeard said:


> Hello, I realize that this endeavor may be tricky as there is not much information out there on beard shampoo. I've been doing my research but its been difficult to find out what I need exactly to make a nice beard shampoo to go with my beard oil.



Hiya LoveForTheBeard and Welcome! I did a quick search online and I'm wondering if this is what you are thinking of making? 



> How To Make Beard Shampoo
> Ingredients:
> 2 teaspoons of jojoba oil or coconut oil
> ¼ cup of Castile Soap (liquid form)
> ...


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## DeeAnna (May 7, 2017)

Guys, y'all are necro-posting. Love for the Beard made 3 posts, all in 2014 with her last visit was early 2015. I think she's long gone. 

To APtree -- if you are truly interested in helping people "...learn more here to know how to make a beard shampoo and what ingredients you can use in it. ..." as you stated, then start posting links to places that really provide this info and stop posting links to products for sale. Two of your three posts have links to your biz website, so to me you are starting to sound more like you're a spammer selling stuff than a person genuinely trying to be helpful.


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## Zany_in_CO (May 7, 2017)

DeeAnna said:


> Guys, y'all are necro-posting. Love for the Beard made 3 posts, all in 2014 with her last visit was early 2015. I think she's long gone.


Oh no! hahaha Good catch, DeeAnna!


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