Shampoo Bar Formula Help

[Ifiyenia]

fiddletree, same for me here. Although I didn't have any scalp problems, (well maybe some dandruff once in a year), I always thought I had oily hair with dry ends.

I had good results with some shampoo bars in the past, so I was determined to formulate a good recipe to make some of my own. Keeping in mind that my hair was too oily, I was trying to formulate a recipe for my type of hair. Fortunately with some good advice from the forum (thanks guys), I used an 8% sf, and decided to give it a go with a well balanced recipe.

So imagine my surprise when I started using my own cp shampoo bar, only to discover that my hair were not oily at all!

Back in the commercial shampoo days I used to wash my hair every couple of days if not everyday during summer. If I ever made the mistake of leaving them unwashed for more than 3 days, there was no way I could be presentable enough to go to work without washing them first...

Not anymore!

It's about 7 weeks now that I use my shampoo bar (I do an apple cider vinegar rinse afterwards) and my hair keep their form without being oily for at least 5 days. I was amazed to say the least.

The first couple of weeks were a little bit rough, but after that, all was great.

It's true that my hair is a little bit less shiny than with the commercial shampoo, but oh boy it's a small price to pay. After all, I just discovered some botanical rinses that give extra shine to your hair (God bless mom for sharing grandma's secrets), and I'm dying to try them out.

Good luck to all of you

P.S. I've used peppermint and rosemary essential oils in my bar, and I just love the clean, fresh smell of it, and yes, I do "not" like lavender too

 

[fiddletree]

So as to not start a new thread, I'm trying to come up with a different shampoo bar that the one I've made before (reducing CO, cutting out the sunflower oil, adding cocoa butter). I've run it through soapcalc and it looks pretty good.... any thoughts on tweaking it before I give it a go?

Coconut oil 30%
Olive oil 19%
Castor Oil 16%
Sweet almond oil 15%
Cocoa butter 10%
Jojoba oil 10%

I'm using a 5% lye discount.

 

[CamillaHB]

Did you try it out? I am curious to hear about it.
I want to make a shampoo bar too and I was thinking about making a bar with those ingredients, but I am a beginner and very unsure about how to create a recipe that will work.

 

[Mighty Mama]

I've been making the following shampoo bar for the past two years with wonderful results and feedback from my customers. I find it leaves my hair soft and I need to only wash once a week. In one of the bars I use herbal tea as the water with added peppermint oil, and in the other I use flat beer and add orange essential oil for the fragrance.:smile:

Coconut oil 45%
Cocoa Butter 5%
Olive Oil 30%
Shea Butter 10%
Castor Oil 10%

The bar is still fairly soft though and I've been considering adding Stearic Acid to firm up the bar. Would 10% be high enough?

 

[seven]

^^^
your recipe has a hardness number of 48, which is in the high range. it should be pretty hard already on paper. i'm curious, with that amount of coconut oil, how much did you superfat? the cleansing number looks pretty high. granted, i've never done this recipe, so maybe i have no idea what it looks like in reality.

 

[CanaDawn]

re the loss of shine using soap - try a dilute acid rinse (apple cider or any vinegar, around 1% (ie dilute the usual commercial 5% with three times its volume with water), citric acid (I think it's a half tsp per litre as a starting point?) or lemon juice. Why? Because soap is alkali and raises the cuticle scales of the hair shaft, and an acid rinse restores them to their normal flat, tight fit to the core of the hair, letting the light reflect off them, and causing shine!

My hair feels 100% different with soap and ACV than it ever did with shampoo and conditioner and the hairloss I was experiencing stopped immediately. I dont' even use a special formulation of soap. I MUST use the rinse though, or I can't comb it. With the rinse, no tangles at all, even though it is fine, straight and not far from waist length.

What about a citrus scent? (I'm fond of grapefruit myself, but lemongrass might be nice, too?)

 

[Seawolfe]

I'm a freak, my hair likes salt bars as shampoo but I always need a vinegar rinse. I just started adding a few drops of rosemary and lavender EO's. Might try some eucalyptus next.