M&P base for shampoo bar issues

[Stuart Graham]

Hi,

I have been using Stephensons SS base from some time now and though it doesn't makes so much foam, it does work for me, but I've had some issues with some bars:

After taking out of the mold, I usually store them in a plastic box, and many stay there some days on good conditions. But some others are not, they start "sweating", and some produce "scales", I can rub them easily but that's not the right way.
The base is not cheap and maybe I'm doing something wrong in the recipe.

I use:
100 gr base
0.5 tsp white clay (I was wrongly using 5 grams which is like 0.75 tsp, now I'm using 3 grams)
0.5 tsp ground rosemary
8 drops rosemay essential oil
10 drops "growth oil", it's a mix of vitamin E and castor, argan and almond oils
a tiny bit of shea butter, just the tip of a teaspoon

Maybe too much oil? Maybe it's the base? Maybe I should wrap them in a plastic film as soon as I take them out of the molds? Maybe it's the storing conditions because my city has a humid weather (Lima, Peru)? so many questions

 

[shunt2011]

That shampoo base is MP soap. It needs to be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or shrink wrap or it's going sweat and change. It will eventually warp and dry out with a weird appearance. I tossed it as I hated it on my hair. I've tried it all and it's a big no to me.

 

[Stuart Graham]

oh I see, you mean soap? but it said solid shampoo... have I got scammed?

 

[DeeAnna]

No, you haven't been scammed, exactly. It's just that in the consumer world, shampoo almost always means a synthetic detergent (syndet) based product intended to clean the hair.

In the world of people who make handcrafted cleansers, a "shampoo" can be a syndet-based product or a soap-based product to clean the hair. The only way to know the difference is to read the ingredients list.

Soap -- meaning a real soap made with fat + lye -- doesn't work as a shampoo for many people. The texture of the hair changes in a way the person doesn't like and/or the hair gets increasingly dry and brittle over time. These changes can happen with or without the use of an acid rinse.

This is why soap-as-shampoo is a big "no" for Shari (shunt) and me. After my hair got fried from using soap-as-shampoo, I learned how to make a syndet shampoo bar, and my hair is responding very well to that.

Many other people have hair that doesn't have problems with soap-as-shampoo. For those who find it works for their hair, more power to them.

 

[Stuart Graham]

Ohh thanks! I want to learn more about syndets!

 

[Megan]

Looking at the ingredients, the main surfactants are Sodium laurate and sodium stearate. Both of these have a high pH (they are the same compounds we make when we saponify stearic and lauric acids when we make soap...although we don't tend to use free fatty acids in our soapmaking). These ingredients aren't super hair friendly. With the other ingredients, they might not be so bad...but in my opinion there are so many other good, gentler surfactants that you can use on your hair, that I would just pass on this base. I really like sodium cocoyl isethionate and have been using an SCI based homemade "shampoo" (I say that because I don't really have a set formula down) for about a year now.

 

[Stuart Graham]

Tthanks Megan, I only have two SCI recipes and use white clay, which I was told not to use it at a high concentration (my recipe says 19.5gr out of 30gr total). So it looks quite dry, but it cleans better than the stephenson soap. I'll give it SCI another try!

 

[Walrus]

There was a study carried out in the uk that concluded that any detergent used on the hair to wash it is as good as any other at cleaning. Ie soap works as well as any shampoo.

The feel of you hair is down to other ingredients ie chemicals and and silicone.

All are bad for the environment.

I prefer to keep it simple and once went two years without washing my hair and it was fine.

 

[Angie Gail]

I love the shave and shampoo MP base from WSP: Crafters Choice™ Premium Shave & Shampoo MP Soap Base - 2 lb Tray - Wholesale Supplies Plus

I've been using it for about a year and I love it and have also gotten good feedback from friends, family, and customers. I don't add anything to it but fragrance oil and sometimes Mica for color. It lathers very well and makes my hair smoother and more manageable.