Syndet Shampoo Bar Trials

[Misschief]

I highly recommend that Esty shop! every recipe that I've gotten from them has been the best ever!!! And I've bought 6 recipes from that shop so far.

I have all of them. Haven't made everything yet but I do have all the recipes and love everything I've made so far. She has some great freebie recipes as well on the group's FB page.

Have you used the conditioner bars? I have been a hairdresser for a very long time and everyone asks me about the shampoo bars . I can’t recommend until I have I tried it. May not be for me as my hair is naturally black and I bleach it so I can have Royal blue hair! Eager to try the shampoo bar recipe .

@chrissyshuen, I've been using the DIY shampoo bars for about 3 years now (exclusively). When I last had my hair cut, about a year ago (yikes, where did the time go??), I asked my hairdresser for a report on my hair (see my avatar). She said my hair is very fine (it is) and I have a LOT of it (I do!); she also said my scalp looks very healthy and my hair is (in her words) exceptionally healthy. I do use the DIY conditioner bars as well, only on the ends.

 

[violets2217]

Have you used the conditioner bars? I have been a hairdresser for a very long time and everyone asks me about the shampoo bars . I can’t recommend until I have I tried it. May not be for me as my hair is naturally black and I bleach it so I can have Royal blue hair! Eager to try the shampoo bar recipe .

I do use the conditioner bars too! My hair has never been so soft and shiny. I’m not shedding as much hair and my scalp is not itchy or anything! My daughter also uses them and she has VERY thick curly hair that is usually a frizzy mess, but it has tamed her hair quite a bit! She doesn’t use product so it’s quite amazing how it helps her curls. Good Luck!

 

[AliOop]

Have you used the conditioner bars? I have been a hairdresser for a very long time and everyone asks me about the shampoo bars . I can’t recommend until I have I tried it. May not be for me as my hair is naturally black and I bleach it so I can have Royal blue hair! Eager to try the shampoo bar recipe .

I've also used both the shampoo bar and conditioner bar from the recipes purchased from this shop, and I love them both. The shampoo is sulfate-free so it is appropriate for colored hair.

My hair is thick, curly, dry, and low-porosity. I only wash it once a week unless I've gone swimming or gotten super sweaty. I can't use much in the way of post-wash products because they all make me break out in pimples or rashes, or make my scalp and skin flake and peel so I look like a walking snow globe. I don't get any of those reactions with either of these recipes, and it's all looking as healthy and moderately shiny as my hair ever looks.

 

[Savonette]

when I use my moo cake mold I roll my weighed shampoo into a ball then kinda dip it into some color of metallic mica. Just enough to keep it from sticking and not so much it ruins the design.

 

[violets2217]

She has some great freebie recipes as well on the group's FB page.

Looking for those recipes NOW! Lol!

Found this video:

Easy fast method

very helpful...

ETA: I was on their business page... but just found their group page in another post. Hopefully I’m accepted to join! Lol!

 

[AliOop]

@Savonette thank you so much! I am going to give it a go using your method!

 

[soapysandie]

I want to make a syndet shampoo for blondes.Any idea which pigments I could use please?

 

[GemstonePony]

I'm not sure

I want to make a syndet shampoo for blondes.Any idea which pigments I could use please?

I'm not sure I understand the question: are you looking to make a shampoo that dyes your hair blonde? Or just make a shampoo with pretty colors that won't affect your hair?
If you're looking to actively dye your hair blonde via shampoo, I'm not sure how to go about that without frying your hair.
If just you want your shampoo to be pretty color, IMO micas are the way to go. They're finely ground shiny lab rocks, so the color doesn't go anywhere the rocks aren't, and as long as you rinse remotely well there shouldn't be enough of them left close enough to each other to color your hair. I'm not sure what resources are available in Portugal, but in the US most reputable body product crafting supply stores carry some.

 

[earlene]

I would suspect she means pigments that won't turn the blonde hair green or brassy or some other unsightly shade.

My hair is now white, but was blonde most of my life. Now I use shampoo with a purple color to decrease brassiness that had happened when I used another shampoo. I could probably DC the purple at this point, but I do still have some, so continue to use it. I was going to use bluing, which was a commonly used color corrective used by white-haired woman for generations, but couldn't fine any in the stores.

So I would suggest blue or purple.

 

[HowieRoll]

Just a note...i also have the DIY shampoo recipe and it is nice but she uses 73% SCI noodles and the safety value is only up to 55% at most. I called her on it and she got a little defensive. So i just did some adjustments.

I had a similar experience, Gaisy59. Once I purchased the recipe I was surprised to see the SCI used at such a high percentage, surpassing my supplier's max usage rate by quite a bit (it was surprising especially since her listing explicitly states, "The ingredients included in these recipes have been deemed safe for use in the percentages provided."). I did some digging around but the only SCI safety studies I could find rated it safe for use up to about 50%. So I reached out and asked if they could kindly point me in the direction of which studies led them to conclude 73% was safe but they were unable to because I'm not sure such studies exist. Now, I'm not sure this means a 73% usage is unsafe, just that it hasn't been proven safe beyond 50%-ish. I don't sell or give away shampoo bars, but if I did I would not use this recipe because of the liability of not having scientific backup proving the ingredients at the rates they are used were tested safe.

 

[GemstonePony]

I'm more of a mad scientist with my bars, and constantly tweak ingredients and numbers just to see what happens. However, the most I've gone is 50% SCI, and found it too harsh even with 20% oils and the rest E-waxes and whatnot.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm more of a mad scientist with my bars, and constantly tweak ingredients and numbers just to see what happens. However, the most I've gone is 50% SCI, and found it too harsh even with 20% oils and the rest E-waxes and whatnot.

I use it at 55%

 

[Misschief]

Sandra (of DIY Bath & Body) HAS addressed the issue of the high percentage rate of SCI. If you check the files in the DIY FB page, she posted an article in 2019, entitled "SCI Percentages ~ “I’ve been told that the maximum usage of SCI is 50%. So, why does your shampoo bar have 73%?"

 

[AliOop]

@Misschief for those of us not on FB, would you feel comfortable summarizing her response for us here? Or giving us links to any sources she quotes? Thank you

 

[Misschief]

@Misschief for those of us not on FB, would you feel comfortable summarizing her response for us here? Or giving us links to any sources she quotes? Thank you

Basically, she's saying that the products that mainly contain SCI are things like bottled shampoos and cleansers that also contain water. Shampoo bars are a concentrated product which is diluted as it is used, bringing the total percentage down. And her final paragraph, "An average sized shampoo bar of 75 grams, with 73% SCI would have 54.75 grams of SCI. One 75 gram bar will make anywhere from 700 g - 800 g of liquid shampoo. If one took the time to do this, the SCI content of the liquid would be 54.75 grams (of SCI) divided by 700 grams (total liquid shampoo) which would give you a total of 7.8% SCI in the whole batch, which of course is actually quite low. Even if I dropped that amount of liquid shampoo down to 600 grams total, the final % of SCI would still only be 9.1%. "

 

[AliOop]

Basically, she's saying that the products that mainly contain SCI are things like bottled shampoos and cleansers that also contain water. Shampoo bars are a concentrated product which is diluted as it is used, bringing the total percentage down. And her final paragraph, "An average sized shampoo bar of 75 grams, with 73% SCI would have 54.75 grams of SCI. One 75 gram bar will make anywhere from 700 g - 800 g of liquid shampoo. If one took the time to do this, the SCI content of the liquid would be 54.75 grams (of SCI) divided by 700 grams (total liquid shampoo) which would give you a total of 7.8% SCI in the whole batch, which of course is actually quite low. Even if I dropped that amount of liquid shampoo down to 600 grams total, the final % of SCI would still only be 9.1%. "

That makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Misschief]

I want to make a syndet shampoo for blondes.Any idea which pigments I could use please?

You would want to look for Violet #2 for blonde or grey hair.

 

[Quanta]

I'm more of a mad scientist with my bars, and constantly tweak ingredients and numbers just to see what happens. However, the most I've gone is 50% SCI, and found it too harsh even with 20% oils and the rest E-waxes and whatnot.

Which other surfactants did you use with it? I am using cocamidopropyl betaine and sodium lauryl sulfoactetate and it seems pretty mild. My current bar formula is 53% SCI, 20% SLSa, and 9% CAPB.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Which other surfactants did you use with it? I am using cocamidopropyl betaine and sodium lauryl sulfoactetate and it seems pretty mild. My current bar formula is 53% SCI, 20% SLSa, and 9% CAPB.

I use 55% SCI, 4% SLSa (anymore than that and my head itches) I don't use CAPB, a small percentage of DLS and Capruyl glucoside and 10% foaming apple.

 

[GemstonePony]

Which other surfactants did you use with it? I am using cocamidopropyl betaine and sodium lauryl sulfoactetate and it seems pretty mild. My current bar formula is 53% SCI, 20% SLSa, and 9% CAPB.

Oh, I'd have to hunt down the scrap of paper I wrote that particular formula on. Cocamidapropyl betaine was probably a small percentage, and a little Polysorbate 80 might have been in there too. I shampoo my hair daily, so my formulations tend to be weak compared to commercial ones.
ETA: different hair types, skin types, and life styles all do better with different formulations. I don't mean to imply that high amounts of SCI or any other surfactant are wrong or bad. I was only intending to state what works for me, and I meant to imply that safety isn't the only consideration when trying to find the right formula for your hair.