Hiya Lady Sarah!
One thing to remember about Shampoo Bars is that it's takes a bit of time for your hair to adjust to them ... about a year for most of us. I even switched back to a commercial shampoo during that first year! Also, I have "virgin" hair and I don't use a hair dryer or any product other than a DIY conditioner (sometimes), hot oil treatment (occasionally), and a dot or two of Argan Oil for shine and to control frizzies.
Here's a link to learn more (Scroll all the way down to get to the good info
):
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/shampoo-bars.68585/
Sorry it is not a Shampoo bar but "Soap"
This is true and good to keep in mind when making a "shampoo" bar. I tried washing my hair with every soap I made when I first started soaping. Some worked better than others. Now, my favorite all-around hair and body shampoo is a liquid soap made from
50/50 lard & PKO (Palm Kernel Oil). My DH liked a hard bar:
62% palm, 24% pomace, 14% palm kernel oil; 2% SF, 32% water. It made his silvery white hair glisten -- no dingy yellowing at all. The point being,
it takes time to find what works best for you.
You're going to see people who have the opposite viewpoint about soap-as-shampoo -- Zany is one. You'll need to listen to both sides and make up your own mind on this matter.
I agree. Do yourself a favor and take it all in before deciding one way or the other. I've read absolute horror stories from SMF members of how using soap to shampoo damaged their hair.
The key to prevent this from happening, to my mind at least, is to be sure to get all the soap scum out after shampooing. Be sure to rinse with increasingly cool water until it is as cold as you can stand it. Then follow up with an apple cider rinse or something similar. In that video, Kathy mentions red wine vinegar. (Never tried that.
) There's also lemon juice, herbal rinses, parsley & lemon, etc. BTW, beer makes a wonderful rinse... adds body to the hair also.
SHORT STORY:
Years ago, I used a popular online DIY laundry powder for a long time. At first, it was amazing, but after a bit of time, I noticed my whites looked dingy and my towels felt stiff and developed an odor. This was a result of
not getting all the soap residue out. (Imagine doing that to your hair!) Once I used less soap, added white vinegar to the rinse water, and rinsed in cold water as many times as necessary to get all the soap out, my laundry came out as fresh, clean, and soft as any commercial laundry detergent.
I think this is true of using soap to wash hair as well.
I really like soaping 101. Here is her shampoo bar video:
Good video, but there are a couple of things I'd like to add that may be helpful.
1) Instead of "tempering an egg", (Old School) I find it works best to whip it into the castor oil and add that to the rest of the oils before adding the lye solution.
2) IMO & IME beer is fantastic in shampoo bars -- it has wonderful beneficial nutrients (esp. non-domestic beer) and makes copious lather! It may be the alcohol content that made Kathy suggest it may be "drying". To remedy that, the alcohol needs to be evaporated out of the beer before using it to make soap.
