Citric acid in a shampoo bar

BrambleNBumble · Oct 14, 2014

For those who may have used citric acid to lower the ph of a shampoo bar, has it really helped? If so how much would one use ppo? I had a friend ask me to make her some shampoo bars so I've been looking into different ways to make it and I like the idea of lowering the ph since both her and I have fine hair that breaks easily.

kdaniels8811 · Oct 14, 2014

Warning - hair lecture about to commence. My fine thin hair breaks very easily so I stay away from harsh shampoos, heat (styling or drying hair) and I use catnip tea as a conditioner which really helps prevent breakage. The catnip tea is put into a baggie and I soak my length for 20 minutes or so before rinsing. I only use herbs or shampoo bars to wash my hair.

Oh, you asked about citric acid. I toss in a heaping teaspoon to my 3# shampoo bar recipe since we have terribly hard water in Ohio. It makes my shampoo bars easy to use and rinses cleanly. I do not know if it lowers PH but it helps to prevent the mineral build up on my hair. The other thing I do is rinse with a tablespoon of cider vinegar in a quart of water after using a shampoo bar. I know, it sounds like a hassle but my hair is at my waist and growing. Before switching to the steps outline above, I could not keep my hair from breaking at shoulder length. I hope this helps.

Obsidian · Oct 14, 2014

Citric acid doesn't lower the PH, It will neutralize some of the lye which in turn will raise your SF some. It works great reducing soap scum though which is why I use it.

Here is some info on using citric acid:
Citric acid is used to create sodium citrate for a chelating agent/hard water softener/lather booster. For every 1000 grams of oils, you would add 10 g of citric acid and 6 g of extra lye to your water solution to create sodium citrate without extra superfat.

BrambleNBumble · Oct 15, 2014

Good to know about it helping with hard water. When would I add it to my soap, with the lye mixture or at trace? Would I be able to drop the SF percent in soapcalc to 1% and still be okay without having to add too much more lye? I'm afraid of having it come out lye heavy.

The Efficacious Gentleman · Oct 15, 2014

Looking at the info from Obsidian, you put it in to the water before adding the lye in.

Essential Bliss · Feb 4, 2022

I have a question about CA used in shampoo bars. Ive read their recommended range is between 1-2%. Although, in a lye calculator (lyecalc.com) there’s a section for additives and citric acid (CA) is listed. It gives the amounts of CA for you recipe @ 1% 2% & 3%. It also tells you the amount of xtra lye needed to maintain your SF % for respective amounts. I have tried all three.. I also read not to Go over 3% bc it can cause the outside of your bars to form crystals. The first SOAP that I tried w/ CA @ 3% I experienced slight crystal formation. Not bad, barely even noticeable. Before noticing the crystals, I made a Shampoo Bar w/ CA @ 3% with no formation of crystal. With that being said, I had to rebatch this shampoo bar (original design fail). Maybe different recipes/ oils used etc.. have differing results? I’m curious if anyone with hard water has found their “favorite“ or most effective go to CA %. Also should the amounts of CA differ between soap and shampoo bars? Any information regarding this topic will be helpful as I am struggling to find research on this topic. Thanks a bunch y’all!