Ahhhh! Thank you for this find. I've been attempting a body wash formula from a reputable YTuber and have not for the life of me get the SCI to dissolve. Making note for when I get back to this experiment. It will be a minute because I'm going back to the drawing board on my conditioner bar. I was using BTMS-25 and sal butter (plus the usual conditioner bar suspects) - but then I don't know what happened, the price at NDA sky rocketed, so I switched suppliers. After six months (stored in a soap room only fridge) the sal butter started to stink badly. Supplier told me it had a short shelf life, which was never an issue with what I got at NDA, so I suspect their stock was old before it got to me. I really wasn't happy with any of the other butters I was trying out in my recipe. I decided to go back to NDA despite the price, and they no longer carry Sal Butter at all. I'm going back to the drawing board and reformulating the whole mess. Long story short: Fixing what I broke so I can't play with body wash or bath bombs.From Marie at Humblebee & Me:
If you are making a liquid product with Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI), it will need to be dissolved in a suitable solvent first. Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) does not dissolve readily into water; I once combined some Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) with water in a jar, sealed it, and left it for 6 months. It never dissolved. I recommend combining it with the liquid amphoteric surfactant that is likely also present in the recipe and heating the two together in a water bath until you have a uniform paste. That paste will dissolve into water.
This! Yes! I also find the DIY B&B pourable shampoo bar lather lacking, although my hair and scalp feel good after using it. I've made two other bars with richer lather: the DIY solid shampoo bar and the Humblebee & Me Pink Clay Mosaic Shampoo Bars. (Mine don't come out as mosaics because I use powdered SCI instead of noodles.) My theory is the addition of SLSa in these two recipes makes the difference in the lather.I’ve done one test run with the first DIY B&B pourable shampoo bar I made and it worked well, seemed plenty hard, left my hair feeling clean and my scalp was not itchy. On the downside, I was hoping for more bubbles. I was surprised that this first test bar is somewhat similar to the Syndopour bars I made last year. In particular, the quality of the lather is similar, which may not be surprising since both are based on SCI. They are both quite different from the Sodium Coco Sulfate-based Lush bar I bought in February. That bar makes bigger and possibly more silky feeling bubbles. Will do another round of testing tomorrow.
One thing I still haven’t wrapped my head around is the objective with the SCI or similar. Am I trying to get it to melt -or- am I trying to get it to dissolve -or- both? I had my batter up to just below 200 F before I poured. My phase A didn’t get clear, but it was very fluid. With the hard water at my house, testing is always a struggle. I stayed in a hotel last night for a work trip. Should have brought the bar with me!That’s funny about the pourable shampoo not being sudsy - mine is super sudsy. I do get mine to be really dissolved before pouring - I’m not sure why that would matter though.
I always thought that it was just supposed to melt. After reading all these posts, I'm wondering if it even does that, or if it just softens enough so that it incorporates well with other ingredients into a homogenous batter.One thing I still haven’t wrapped my head around is the objective with the SCI or similar. Am I trying to get it to melt -or- am I trying to get it to dissolve -or- both? I had my batter up to just below 200 F before I poured. My phase A didn’t get clear, but it was very fluid. With the hard water at my house, testing is always a struggle. I stayed in a hotel last night for a work trip. Should have brought the bar with me!
Something nice for the face/hair like camellia oil.All this talk of shampoo bars.... I'm working on a men's line, beardos specifically. What would you add to the shampoo bars (hot pour or regular) for a beard wash?
We live on the edge of a salt marsh on the edge of a bay, which is not the ideal place to have a well. Our water softener helps tremendously, but we still have high TDS. It’s enough to affect soap lather, but not to drive me to buy a whole house RO system.Are you able to add any showerhead filters to help with the hard water, or do they just gum up too quickly?
Also, what is this work of which you speak? You retired!
No but I've been thinking about it. I have some I used to use in my shave soap, but I've stopped making shave soap, so I need to use it up. The blurb here sounds good: https://www.purenature.co.nz/products/camellia-oil-organic?_pos=1&_psq=camel&_ss=e&_v=1.0We live on the edge of a salt marsh on the edge of a bay, which is not the ideal place to have a well. Our water softener helps tremendously, but we still have high TDS. It’s enough to affect soap lather, but not to drive me to buy a whole house RO system.
I’m out of administration, but don’t fully retire until the end of the year. Eight months to go!
@Tammyfarms if you don’t mind me asking - what oils and additives did you use in your test bar?
@KiwiMoose do you use camellia oil in your shampoo bars? I just got some of that as a free sample.
I love camellia oil in my face creams. Just made this one this past weekend and it's beautiful!No but I've been thinking about it. I have some I used to use in my shave soap, but I've stopped making shave soap, so I need to use it up. The blurb here sounds good: https://www.purenature.co.nz/products/camellia-oil-organic?_pos=1&_psq=camel&_ss=e&_v=1.0
I used the recipe for oily hair which contains rice bran and castor oils. I figured I would try the recipe as written first, before I start modifying it. I only made 50 grams so not too much wasted product if I don’t like it.We live on the edge of a salt marsh on the edge of a bay, which is not the ideal place to have a well. Our water softener helps tremendously, but we still have high TDS. It’s enough to affect soap lather, but not to drive me to buy a whole house RO system.
I’m out of administration, but don’t fully retire until the end of the year. Eight months to go!
@Tammyfarms if you don’t mind me asking - what oils and additives did you use in your test bar?
@KiwiMoose do you use camellia oil in your shampoo bars? I just got some of that as a free sample.
I just realized I hadn’t replied your question about melting. For the pourable bar I had all of phase 1, without the SCI and kaolin clay, completely melted. When I added the SCI and clay it was the consistency of a medium thick paste that got thick and hard as it cooled. I had to warm it in the microwave several times to keep it workable so I could add phase 2. That mixture also cooled quickly and had to be warmed a couple times. Others have mentioned using the oven or a double boiler with the water near the top of the container to melt phase 1 and I think both of these might be better at keeping the mixture warm as the container would be warmer.One thing I still haven’t wrapped my head around is the objective with the SCI or similar. Am I trying to get it to melt -or- am I trying to get it to dissolve -or- both? I had my batter up to just below 200 F before I poured. My phase A didn’t get clear, but it was very fluid.
This is so amazing! I love the colour contrasts you choose.Latest kaleidoscope soap. Using WSP Island Margarita.
I know this may sound a little silly, but I actually crocheted a "cup holder", for lack of a better term, that fits over my 4 cup pyrex. Wearing gloves I dip it into the heated water, wring it out a little, then snug it onto the pyrex, then wrap a dry kitchen towel around it to keep it warm long enough to pour whatever I'm making. Works really great for lip balms, salves etc.I just realized I hadn’t replied your question about melting. For the pourable bar I had all of phase 1, without the SCI and kaolin clay, completely melted. When I added the SCI and clay it was the consistency of a medium thick paste that got thick and hard as it cooled. I had to warm it in the microwave several times to keep it workable so I could add phase 2. That mixture also cooled quickly and had to be warmed a couple times. Others have mentioned using the oven or a double boiler with the water near the top of the container to melt phase 1 and I think both of these might be better at keeping the mixture warm as the container would be warmer.
The SCM instructions are to melt the emulsifier in one container and mix the SCI and liquid surfactant in another bowl, that gets mixed with the cool down phase and the melted emulsifier is added last. The SCI is not heated.
I am going to try experimenting with adding SCI at different times to see what works for me. I will report back.
Edited to add: Not melting the SCI only applies to the powder. I have seen recipes from others with prills or noodles that does not call for melting.
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