Thanks Mellicious i will give this a try!
Syndet shampoo bar recipe help needed
- Thread starter Gaisy59
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nframe
Well-Known Member
Mellicious, why do you use agar agar?
Not Mellicious, but the agar agar can be used as a conditioning agent and binding the ingredients together. This recipe is very similiar to this one Argan Rose Pressed Shampoo Bars - Humblebee & Me
nframe
Well-Known Member
Thank you.
Thanks cmzaha for the reply and the link. I decided to try a bar with the ingredients I already have and then will give other recipes a try. I can keep ordering product til the cows come home with all the different ingredients
Claudette Carignan
Well-Known Member
Thank you cmzaha for sharing this link. I’ve been wanting to make shampoo bars but couldn’t find a recipe anywhere that explained it clearly like in this link. Now to be able to find all the ingredients!!
Mellicious
Active Member
Dahila, which pH meter do you have and where did you purchase it from?I do not believe in strips , I use ph meter and yes I test each batch, However I had a plastic strips from Formulator Store (I think that's the name) and they are incredible accurate when ph is 4.6 they show 5 , which surprise me every time I use them, I use them to check how low is ph then the meter.
Susan explains so well how to adjust it and how to measure, You could use strips just for general information
link to good strips, They costed so much cause I am in Canada, but they are the best I have . Link: https://www.formulatorsampleshop.com/pH-Fix-Indicator-Strips-10-Pack-p/fssd22020.htm
you need to make solution 5grams of syndet bar 45 of distilled water then measure it, I use ph meter 5 g of syndet 95 g of DW. easy peasy
Dahila would it be better to use citric acid to lower pH or lactic acid? I used lactic acid last time but you use citric.
Carolyne Thrasher
Well-Known Member
I use Bespoke Formula's book for my syndet bars. I purchased both hers and Swiftcraft Monkey. I do not have dry curly hair but I would back the slsa down and increase the sci. SLSA can be irritating at too high a percentage. 10% kokum would definitely be moisturizing. You might consider adding some cetyl alcohol and bumping up the btms 50 to 5%. I don't use sodium lactate in my bars. Regardless make a 100 g batch (one bar's worth) at a time until you have it dialed in so you don't spend a fortune on mistakes. The only way to learn shampoo bars is through mistakes. It's a different animal than soap. You may have to try 4 or 5 recipes until you get one you like. I promise it's worth it in the end though. Make the recipe above (just 100 grams) and then make one of HumbleBee's. Between those two you will learn a lot. And you can't learn it until you do it. It will seem overwhelming at first. Just keep on and expect to make mistakes and waste material.
Mellicious
Active Member
I have curly hair and formulated a bar that seems to do my hair pretty good. I use a total of 70% dry surfactants (SLSa and SCI), don’t need to add any sodium lactate because the solid content is high enough. Kokum butter sounds good, though I use mango butter or Shea butter. I also add hydrolyzed wheat protein and panthenol. What made the difference for me (detangling) was coconut silicone (Coco Caprylate). Well it’s not a silicone but it has the same benefits
Can you tell me a bit about how you incorporated the coco caprylate into your bars? Making Cosmetics has a product called BioJelly that has CC as the first ingredient. Since I have a bunch of other stuff from their shop in my cart, I'm toying with whether to add this to my shampoo bar, as well. I have super thick, curly, dry, low-porosity hair. It was long till about two weeks ago - it's pretty short now, but still a ton of hair.
Keeping an eye on these conversations. I plan on making some bars this weekend and will check pH and report back.
Thanks, I am planning to make mine this weekend, as well. I keep going back and forth between something very basic, and a recipe with all the things. Sigh.
I do know for sure that I want a melted version so the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Having separate "noodles" in the final product would mean you could not be sure how much of each ingredient was being activated during the shampooing process.
Here is something that my hairdresser told me that made me rethink my processes/formulas...she said that for curls the shampoo is the cleaner but it’s the conditioner that ends up making the difference for our curls. Now she is a curl specialist stylist so pretty much knows what she is doing. So once i figure out a syndet bar that isn’t harsh then i am going to focus on a great conditioner.
Mellicious
Active Member
I don’t have me recipe at hand but if I remember correctly, I added it to the cool down phase where preservatives are added (while still mixing it in my kitchen aid. I’d have to have a look but I think I used 2% CC
@Mellicious that is very helpful - thank you! I realized that I can't make my bars just yet, as I am waiting on my dust mask to arrive. My lungs are pretty sensitive so I didn't want to chance it with a paper mask.
daisychain
Member
I hope it's OK to reply to some older messages like this. I just saw these posts and was curious about your experiences, because I've found the same with these shampoo bar formulas.
I was wondering if you put yours in the freezer? Because I've seen people claim this is a make-or-break factor for these particular formulas. Which is odd to me, as I haven't found it crucial to freeze syndet bars and most professional formulas don't suggest to do so. But maybe some ingredient in hers needs it.
I'm not really interested in perfecting these formulas, I'm happy with my own - but just curious what might make these not work for some of us, when others rave about them
Dahila
Well-Known Member
Nope it is not about oils or butters. Right now I completely changed my formula, it has nothing to do with Susan"s formulas, My syndet bars are hard like a rock and very good
I now use the Hot Pour Shampoo Bar recipe from DIY Bath and Body on Etsy. Melt everything together in the microwave, stir well, add preservative when cooled a bit, then put into molds. Easy, fast, and nice hard bars. Most importantly, they get rave reviews from family who have tried them. Hair is soft and clean, scalp isn’t itchy or irritated, and there is zero product build-up or color stripping.
She does recommend popping them into the freezer to harden, help with mold release, and dehydrate them a bit. I’ve tried both ways, and the frozen and non-frozen bars are identical after a few days. But the freezer really does give them a head start and dry them out a bit faster.
She does recommend popping them into the freezer to harden, help with mold release, and dehydrate them a bit. I’ve tried both ways, and the frozen and non-frozen bars are identical after a few days. But the freezer really does give them a head start and dry them out a bit faster.
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