I started to post this in the what did you do today thread, but it's so long that I decided to start a thread...
First, reading the SCM website is work, but I'm impressed by the depth of the information. I'm learning a lot even though jumping around from linked page to linked page makes me crazy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that the key thing I learned from reading about micelles and surfactants is that bigger is better. As I understand it (right now), blending milder/co-surfactants with the anionic surfactants leads to bigger micelles which equates to milder cleansing.
Testing - I did a round of shampoo bar testing this morning at the sink, using my hands, and compared the following bars: DIY B&B pourable, Lush SCS-based "Honey I Washed My Hair" bar, Kitsch Tea Tree and Mint Clarifying bar (SCI and Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate), a bar I made last year using Syndopour base which is Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (20-40%), Propylene Glycol (20-40%), Glyceryl Stearate (10-20%), Aqua (10-20%), Glycerin (10-20%), and a mystery shampoo bar that I bought last year, but I forgot the brand name. For additional comparison, I added in a bar of my avocado oil-rich, low CO soap that was sitting by the sink.
pH - I only tested the DIY B&B and Lush bars and the liquid shampoo I've been using lately. The DIY B&B bar was around 5.5 using Machery-Nagel pH strips (2-9 range) and a 10% solution. The Lush bar pH for a 10% solution was 6.5% (lower than I expected based on SCS being the main ingredient). The liquid shampoo was between 5.0 and 5.5.
Lather - I'm happy to say that the DIY B&B pourable bar I made on April 20th, with coconut and castor oils but no water phase additives, performed very well. It's making a lot more lather than it did when I tested during the first week. I'm happy with the lather structure, which can go from creamy to bigger open bubbles depending on how much water I add. It is lathering at least as well as any of the other bars, including the SCS Lush bar and better than my low CO cp soap. At this point the only thing I feel it's lacking with respect to lather feel is some slip. Maybe this is because I didn't add any of the phase B additives, or possibly I need to play around with the types and amounts of oil/oil soluble additives? Suggestions please!
Mildness - too early to say much for any of the bars except the Syndopour. When I used a Syndopour test bar for a few months last year my scalp did not get irritated or itch and my hair seemed fine throughout (I was using my normal liquid conditioner). Even though the Lush bar is testing at pH 6.5 I'm worried about using it on my hair for more than a few trials due to the SCS (which has plenty of SLS in it). Plus, now I'm worried about rinsing it out of my hair (see below).
Slip - I do like a little slip in my lather. My cp soap bar and the Lush shampoo bar both have some slip, which the others are lacking (IMHO). The slip of the Lush bar seems to make it easier to distribute the lather in my hair. If I wanted to increase slip in cp soap lather, I would add rice bran oil (linoleics) or silk. Will either of those noticeably increase slip in a shampoo bar? Additives I have in addition to all kinds of oils and butters are: silk amino acids (liquid), silk peptide powder, panthenol powder, allantoin powder and two silicone alternatives - Neossance Hemisqualane and Natrasil - that I bought from LotionCrafters to try in conditioner bar and possibly lotion. ETA: I may also have Honeyquat, plus I have glycerin and sodium lactate, edta and sodium citrate. If anyone has any suggestions, TIA! If not, I will just keep reading. Given the price of ingredients, I've decided to read as much as I can before making more bars.
Texture - I'm finding that I'm very aware of the textures of the various bars, which range from smooth to grainy/gritty. My cp soap is the smoothest, the Lush bar is next. Even though the Lush bar seems to be made from prills/noodles based on the photo on the website* and looks and feels a bit lumpy/bumpy (a bit like ciaglia soap), the base texture actually feels very smooth. I like the overall hand feel of this bar the best and went ahead and bought a bit of SCS to see if I can replicate/understand the texture. All of the rest of the bars have texture issues (IMHO, or possibly I have unrealistic expectations for shampoo bar texture). The DIY B&B pourable bar I made is almost smooth, but with some distinctive small, but gritty pieces. Did I not thoroughly dissolve/melt the SCI? The Kitsch bar has pit-like features on the back surface and the bar shape is so odd that it's hard to evaluate the texture at this point. The Syndopour bar has a smooth consistency, but has gone a bit chalky over time. The mystery bar is very gritty and another very noticeable thing is that it makes a milky lather. Maybe it has clay or rice flour or something like that in it?
Rinsability - My cp soap is the easiest to rinse off, followed by the DIY B&B bar. The Lush bar is the most difficult to rinse off. I initially noticed this by chance, but have since read on SCM that anionic surfactants can be hard to rinse off skin. After using the Lush bar, making lather and then rinsing all of the lather off (based on visual and wet feel), I stuck my hands back under the running water and rubbed them together. Voila, more suds. Rinsed again, rubbed again and still a tiny bit of sudsing. All of the detergent bars do this to some degree, but it doesn't happen with my cp soap which has sodium citrate and is low superfat (3%). I will definitely want to be paying attention to this quality as I move ahead.
Fragrance - If you're looking for lasting fragrance, the Lush bar wins by a mile. Even after I wash my hands with any of the other bars they still smell like the Lush bar. Is that a good thing? I guess it depends on what's in their mystery "fragrance."
* a photo of the Lush bar after a fair amount of testing compared with photo on website.
First, reading the SCM website is work, but I'm impressed by the depth of the information. I'm learning a lot even though jumping around from linked page to linked page makes me crazy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that the key thing I learned from reading about micelles and surfactants is that bigger is better. As I understand it (right now), blending milder/co-surfactants with the anionic surfactants leads to bigger micelles which equates to milder cleansing.
Testing - I did a round of shampoo bar testing this morning at the sink, using my hands, and compared the following bars: DIY B&B pourable, Lush SCS-based "Honey I Washed My Hair" bar, Kitsch Tea Tree and Mint Clarifying bar (SCI and Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate), a bar I made last year using Syndopour base which is Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (20-40%), Propylene Glycol (20-40%), Glyceryl Stearate (10-20%), Aqua (10-20%), Glycerin (10-20%), and a mystery shampoo bar that I bought last year, but I forgot the brand name. For additional comparison, I added in a bar of my avocado oil-rich, low CO soap that was sitting by the sink.
pH - I only tested the DIY B&B and Lush bars and the liquid shampoo I've been using lately. The DIY B&B bar was around 5.5 using Machery-Nagel pH strips (2-9 range) and a 10% solution. The Lush bar pH for a 10% solution was 6.5% (lower than I expected based on SCS being the main ingredient). The liquid shampoo was between 5.0 and 5.5.
Lather - I'm happy to say that the DIY B&B pourable bar I made on April 20th, with coconut and castor oils but no water phase additives, performed very well. It's making a lot more lather than it did when I tested during the first week. I'm happy with the lather structure, which can go from creamy to bigger open bubbles depending on how much water I add. It is lathering at least as well as any of the other bars, including the SCS Lush bar and better than my low CO cp soap. At this point the only thing I feel it's lacking with respect to lather feel is some slip. Maybe this is because I didn't add any of the phase B additives, or possibly I need to play around with the types and amounts of oil/oil soluble additives? Suggestions please!
Mildness - too early to say much for any of the bars except the Syndopour. When I used a Syndopour test bar for a few months last year my scalp did not get irritated or itch and my hair seemed fine throughout (I was using my normal liquid conditioner). Even though the Lush bar is testing at pH 6.5 I'm worried about using it on my hair for more than a few trials due to the SCS (which has plenty of SLS in it). Plus, now I'm worried about rinsing it out of my hair (see below).
Slip - I do like a little slip in my lather. My cp soap bar and the Lush shampoo bar both have some slip, which the others are lacking (IMHO). The slip of the Lush bar seems to make it easier to distribute the lather in my hair. If I wanted to increase slip in cp soap lather, I would add rice bran oil (linoleics) or silk. Will either of those noticeably increase slip in a shampoo bar? Additives I have in addition to all kinds of oils and butters are: silk amino acids (liquid), silk peptide powder, panthenol powder, allantoin powder and two silicone alternatives - Neossance Hemisqualane and Natrasil - that I bought from LotionCrafters to try in conditioner bar and possibly lotion. ETA: I may also have Honeyquat, plus I have glycerin and sodium lactate, edta and sodium citrate. If anyone has any suggestions, TIA! If not, I will just keep reading. Given the price of ingredients, I've decided to read as much as I can before making more bars.
Texture - I'm finding that I'm very aware of the textures of the various bars, which range from smooth to grainy/gritty. My cp soap is the smoothest, the Lush bar is next. Even though the Lush bar seems to be made from prills/noodles based on the photo on the website* and looks and feels a bit lumpy/bumpy (a bit like ciaglia soap), the base texture actually feels very smooth. I like the overall hand feel of this bar the best and went ahead and bought a bit of SCS to see if I can replicate/understand the texture. All of the rest of the bars have texture issues (IMHO, or possibly I have unrealistic expectations for shampoo bar texture). The DIY B&B pourable bar I made is almost smooth, but with some distinctive small, but gritty pieces. Did I not thoroughly dissolve/melt the SCI? The Kitsch bar has pit-like features on the back surface and the bar shape is so odd that it's hard to evaluate the texture at this point. The Syndopour bar has a smooth consistency, but has gone a bit chalky over time. The mystery bar is very gritty and another very noticeable thing is that it makes a milky lather. Maybe it has clay or rice flour or something like that in it?
Rinsability - My cp soap is the easiest to rinse off, followed by the DIY B&B bar. The Lush bar is the most difficult to rinse off. I initially noticed this by chance, but have since read on SCM that anionic surfactants can be hard to rinse off skin. After using the Lush bar, making lather and then rinsing all of the lather off (based on visual and wet feel), I stuck my hands back under the running water and rubbed them together. Voila, more suds. Rinsed again, rubbed again and still a tiny bit of sudsing. All of the detergent bars do this to some degree, but it doesn't happen with my cp soap which has sodium citrate and is low superfat (3%). I will definitely want to be paying attention to this quality as I move ahead.
Fragrance - If you're looking for lasting fragrance, the Lush bar wins by a mile. Even after I wash my hands with any of the other bars they still smell like the Lush bar. Is that a good thing? I guess it depends on what's in their mystery "fragrance."
* a photo of the Lush bar after a fair amount of testing compared with photo on website.
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. Most of the commentary about rice protein is that it helps with volume to the extent that is of interest.
