Shampoo bar

[meena.shah]

Can anyone please tell me if my recipe for shampoo bar is good I use full soap nut extract instead of water in lye

 

[MelissaG]

Never use lye soap on your hair. The soap we make isn't the right PH for hair.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

@MelissaG is right. I have did a lot of research on this and about the only way to make a shampoo bar is with synthetic ingredients.

Don't let the word synthetic scare you. There's a lot of good recipes that use only a few ingredients and most of the ingredients are synthetics derived from natural ingredients.

I bought a a decent recipe on Etsy for shampoo and conditioner bars.

 

[shunt2011]

Some people can and so use soap on their hair. I do not recommend it. I tried it and totally ruined my hair. Had to cut it pixie short. Lesson learned. There are many posts on this subject if you search. If you do try. It’s way too high in coconut for starters.

 

[AliOop]

What do you mean by:

I use full soap nut extract instead of water in lye

Are you saying that you do use lye, but you dissolve it in soap nut extract instead of plain distilled water? Because my first reading was that you don’t use lye- which makes it impossible to make soap.

 

[MorpheusPA]

I've actually used lye soap on my hair for years.

Now, a warning. (NOW a warning?) (I love that film). I'm male, have hair about half an inch long, no processing, no color, and very, very oily. I simply use the same soap on my hair I use on me--tallow based. I condition occasionally if I notice it's getting longer and too dry, which is practically never.

I wouldn't ever recommend this to most people who aren't like me. But buzz cut, short hair, balding and short, or bald, sure.

 

[Jillyb]

There are people who do use 'soap shampoo' if you are going to go ahead, I'd drop the coconut as you want VERY minimal 'cleaning' number yours is at 20. There is a shampoo recipe here that uses ACV etc and has 0 cleasing- do a search and read up on that as maybe a good starting point.
I used it for a little while but switched to a syd bar.. more expensive to set up for but tottally worth it for the sake of our hair. My resistance was thinking it was less natural but there are good 'natiral'surfactants you can use and fairly easy to make.

 

[Dawni]

My uncle uses any soap I give him from top to toe too @MorpheusPA. I'll say his hair is a bit longer than a buzz, but it's thick n curly. Works for him. Good for him lol

My hair is long, and thick and curly. Uhh yeah, see my display pic lol. My scalp loves lye based shampoo. My hair doesn't. I've yet to use a lye shampoo that works for my hair (not leaving it dry and dull and flat) and I've yet to use a syndet bar that doesn't give me itchy scalp that's oily. Weird right?

I'm gonna say try your lye shampoo, try a syndet (buy don't make yet lol the ingredients can be costly) and see what works for you.

I do have to point out though, that I've not used lye shampoo to the point where I needed to cut my hair. The longest was probably 3-4 months and then I switched to syndets. Your mileage will vary, so be very wary (oye that rhymes lol)

But I agree on lowering the coconut oil even with a high SF. Maybe use none. The soap nut liquid could be enough to get bubbles (not sure, haven't tried making with it in lye soap/shampoo) and the other oils will still lather also. Try using oils with the least cleansing factor maybe although that's not really the issue here, it's the pH. Still, I think maybe too much SF will weigh down your hair.

Side note: many have said that they can't tell a difference in using a certain oil or not at lower than 10%. If its me making this I'll skip the coconut and add it to canola and/or sunflower provided I don't go above my cut off for linoleic + linolenic (unless they are high oleic).

 

[KimW]

Actually...I use soap in my hair and it's fantastic. Soap doesn't strip my hair like shampoo and it definitely does not leave my hair brittle. I DO rinse with a vinegar hair rinse/cleanser I make. My hair is curly, thinish, but there is a LOT of it. Fun growing up with this hair in the humid south, but I digress. I sometimes make a soap bar just for my hair, which you could call a shampoo bar I guess, with ACV for the lye water. However, I typically just use one of my regular soap bars.

As far as your recipe - I would drop the superfat to 2% as a maximum. I'd also drop any fragrance oil. I've found that a superfat higher than 2% leaves a residue. I have yet to find a Fragrance Oil that does not somehow affect the feel of my hair ("brittle" "crunchy" "dry", etc), though I don't know why. You might be surprised how pleasant an unscented bar of soap actually smells.

On your oils - I'd drop the coconut to no more than 15% and up the palm if you're able. This because the coconut will cause the soap/shampoo bar to be used up very quickly when using it to wash hair because coconut soap is very soluble - meaning it gets used up quickly.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I can't comment on the soap nut extract because I've never used it. What I have used is every bar soap I've made to wash my hair along with the rest of me since starting to soap in 2004. Some performed better than others. As for the rest of your formula, it looks fine for an all purpose hand and body soap. There's nothing specific that stands out as especially good for hair. Here's a helpful link to learn more about Oils for Hair and Scalp.

@MelissaG and @Todd Ziegler: While there are those who cannot use lye-based soap to wash their hair, hard bars or liquid, there are many of us who do use them without any problem, myself included. The best way to prevent a bad reaction is to make sure to rinse with increasingly cool water until it is as cold as you can stand it to get all the soap residue out. Then apply an acid rinse using either a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice solution in 16 ounces of water to clear any remaining soap scum and restore the acid mantal of the scalp. There's also an "adjustment period" while your hair gets used to washing with lye-based soap. To learn more go to:

ALL ABOUT SHAMPOO BARS
https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/everything-about-shampoo-bars/

 

[Kiti Williams]

I am a soap shampoo bar user as well. My hair is long, sit on long and was very thick until menopause (sp?). My daughter told me about a month ago that she can see in my hair thickness when I started using my own soap on it. She told me it is thicker, so maybe some hair follicles got unplugged. I do use a conditioner bar with an ACV base.

 

[Michele M.]

I am a soap shampoo bar user as well. My hair is long, sit on long and was very thick until menopause (sp?). My daughter told me about a month ago that she can see in my hair thickness when I started using my own soap on it. She told me it is thicker, so maybe some hair follicles got unplugged. I do use a conditioner bar with an ACV base.

I never heard of soap conditioner bars. Do people make these at home?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I did a quick search and found this:

Issues with Hair Conditioner Bar Recipe

It's an old thread but my recommendation would be to melt down all the ingredients, then cool for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes to keep the ingredients from separating.

 

[linne1gi]

I never heard of soap conditioner bars. Do people make these at home?

I make conditioner bars all the time - it's all I have been using for over 5 years. Check out humblebeeandme.com Marie Rayma has some awesome conditioner bar recipes.

 

[Kiti Williams]

I never heard of soap conditioner bars. Do people make these at home?

I male a Conditioner bar for after wash care. It is made with BTMs and Cethyl alcohol. I think there is coconut oil in it as well. I use Jojoba and Argon oils as the frizz treatment. It works well on beards as well.