How is this for a basic shampoo bar recipe?

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tyerod

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So I am interested in trying shampoo bar and from information here I have developed a basic recipe to try.

Coconut oil 39%
Olive oil 39%
Castor oil 22%

Planning on 10% super fat and no dyes or fragrance. I think I can find all the oils at the supermarket, do they still sell castor at the supermarket? The other two oils I though about adding would be Avocado and Palm.
Plugging it into Soap Cal comes up with

Hardness: 37
Cleansing: 26
Conditioning: 57
Bubbly: 46
Creamy: 31
Iodine: 56
INS: 162

The cleansing looks a little high and I would maybe like to get the Conditioning up a little more so my hair isn't getting dried out. Let me know your suggestions. Thanks
 
They sell castor at the pharmacy; it's a laxative. In my pharmacy, they sell convenient 3oz bottles. In a pinch, they work great.
 
Lindy said:
Your coconut oil is way too high. I don't use coconut oil because it can strip the hair. Think conditioning rather than cleansing. That recipe will likely leave your hair rather frizzy. :wink:

I'm embarrassed to say that I bet that's why I hate using regular CP as shampoo. The coconut oil. You ever have one of those moments where you're just like, "duh!"? That's how I feel right now LOL I'm going to have to try my avocado CP recipe without the coconut oil.

Lindy, have I ever told you that I love you? ;)
 
I recently made a 100% coconut oil bar with coconut milk - at a 20% superfat. My hair turned out amazing and not frizzy at all - I think it's the high amount of leftover oils.
 
The first batch has been made. I cut the coconut down to about 22%, raised the castor up to around 30% and added around 9% avocado. The rest was olive oil. I did not use any dyes or fragrance in this batch. I'm going off memory; I don’t have the recipe right now. When being used my hair feels like it is getting stripped a little but after it dries it seems all good. I’ll give it some time and maybe adjust if I don’t like the results after using it. I did get the castor and avocado oil from Vitamin Shoppe online. I still need to make the vineger rinse to use with it.
 
As has been talked about it would be the coconut oil in the recipe. If you were to drop it out and look at just conditioning oils which includes tallow, lard or palm oil (palm kernel).
 
Now this is a first class thread right here! :) Ive been trying to come up with a good shampoo bar recipe myself. I was on the coconut and castor oil bandwagon till i read this post and had that "duh" moment instantly! :D I have been so used to making soap with coconut oil that i dismissed the option of soaping without it.

I regulary use coconut, olive, palm and castor in my shampoo bars and i add tea trea EO. Its ok for mans short hair, like my own. But longer and more specific hair are left straw like and dry. I later started adding TD and zinc oxide to the mix and that did somewhat soften the feel, but replacing coconut oil all together will be the deal breaker... :wink:

So thank you gals, you made my day! :)
 
Upon the information I got here I did drop the amount of coconut oil in my first attempt. I did not cut it out completely because most of the other recipes I saw had it in various amounts. The next batch I am leaving out all together and seeing how I like it. I do have short hair and the current experiment is woking good so far. I have had great feedback from a long hair user also. The experiment continues.
 
Aveda makes a great shampoo scented with rosemary and mint. Of course, it's crazy expensive. I'm gonna try a shampoo bar as suggested above and add rosemary and peppermint EOs. Is there anything special about how you shape them?
 
Aveda makes a great shampoo scented with rosemary and mint. Of course, it's crazy expensive. I'm gonna try a shampoo bar as suggested above and add rosemary and peppermint EOs. Is there anything special about how you shape them?

I did mine in a silicone baking mold so they had an obvious shape difference so my husband could tell it apart from another bar I made. I currently have 6 different bars in the shower :)
 
I make my shampoo bars in PVC. I've tweaked and tweaked my recipe and am the most happy so far with very low coconut, lots of avocado, lots of castor, a little Shea, and the rest tallow. I have a batch of beer bars curing I'm really anxious to try that has no coconut. I use rosemary essential oil - I've put it in my last 3 or 4 batches and really love the smell. Also, and this is purely anecdotal and not scientific fact, but something in my shampoo bars is helping with hair loss. There's not nearly as much hair in the comb, on the vanity, and on the floor as before. I'm not the only one to notice this and a couple of my aunts have proudly shown me fringes of new hair growing like a new set of bangs. I can't be sure, but I think it's the rosemary essential oil that is responsible.
 
I could only find Castor oil at my local health foods store

Wal Mart sells Castor oil located with the laxatives. I bought out the shelf yesterday, all 5 bottles became mine! I paid $2.68 for a 6 oz bottle. If they are out of stock, ask the people in the Pharmacy to order you some. They get deliveries everyday, and should be able to hold some bottles for you. How do I know this? Six years working for Wally, the last 3 in the Rx. :-D
 
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