How is this for a basic shampoo bar recipe?

chicklet said:

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.

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Sounds amazing!

OverUnder said:

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%

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I used a recipe from a book and poured the bars yesterday. It was:

Coconut oil 30%
Olive oil 55%
Castor oil 15%

1 tbs of almond oil

To that I added 2 tbs grape seed oil.

I scented with Eucalyptus EO and Spearmint EO.

Colored with white kaolin clay and powdered green grape leaf. This is a picture 12 hours after pouring it.

I look forward to hearing how your shampoo bars turn out, Frank! I bet they smell wonderful!

Frank did you cut these? Did I miss it?

Wal Mart sells Castor oil in a 6 oz bottle for $2.68. They are often sold out. When I see it I clear the shelf...lol. The cashier must think I need to poop real bad.

Frank, can you send me a link to your hair bows?

ah-ha is this for a shampoo bar? I loathe the very idea of them, as I have stated a couple times on various threads already. However I remember you stating interest in a shampoo bar recipe on one of my threads.

Rosemary EO helps a lot

It is the rosemary essential oil...I also use rosemary eo in my poo bars and I also infuse my oils with fresh rosemary. I do a heavy infusion and then I don't put any color in since the oils have a wonderful green color. I have had problems with my hair falling out and it has slowed down a lot plus I have a lot of new growth.

Debra

chicklet said:

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.

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How does a person calculate or even know how much superfat to use? Does a shampoo bar use the same lye as my body soap? Am I correct is thinking that the more superfat you do, shorter the life of the soap?

freesia792 said:

How does a person calculate or even know how much superfat to use?

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By experiment on yourself, or recommend'n by others. Some would say not to superfat at all, because shampoo needs to be degreasing. Others would say hair needs conditioning with superfat. YMMV.

Does a shampoo bar use the same lye as my body soap?

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Same kind of lye, yes. As to amount of lye, see above.

Am I correct is thinking that the more superfat you do, shorter the life of the soap?

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You mean shelf life, unused? That can be so due to rancid-making.

You mean life in use? No, it should last about as many washes no matter what -- unless you're trying to make up for extra oiliness of the soap by soaping your head with it more, in which case you shouldn't've superfatted to begin with!

I would say to people who want to try making shampoo bars for their own use, first see how you do washing your hair with off-the-store-shelf soap -- or, if you have any, your own homemade soap that you have for other purposes. That'll at least give you a starting point.

Wow! shampoo bars are a hot topic currently. Instead of posting in a different thread I decided to come back to my original thread. My original batch consisted of:
olive oil 33%
castor oil 30%
coconut oil 22%
avocado oil 13%

I have been using it for a while now and I believe it is decent but I do find it drying some days and there are days where I feel my hair and forehead get oilier than normal.

In a few days I am planning on making 1 lb batches of at least three different shampoo bar recipes. Some of the things I am going to try will be reducing the coconut oil to no more than 5% or removing it all together. Limiting olive oil to no more than 25% in some batches and adjusting the percentages of oils to see what works best for me. Currently I have various ingredients to try including:
lard
olive oil
coconut oil
castor oil
avocado oil
hemp seed oil
shea butter

I can also pick up other ingredients from a local supplier before soap day if needed. Typically I do not use fragrance or colors but I am going to be adding small amounts of oxide powders to help keep straight which batch is which. I will be looking through the other recipes I can find here for suggestion and am more than willing to entertain any ideas that come my way. I'll post the recipes and how things worked out. I'm off to make multiple 3" PVC molds for 1 lb batches.

My hair is curly and dry. I sometimes just put straight coconut oil on my hair and leave it overnight. The next day, after shampoo, it looks great. I would love to see the recipe for your shampoo bar!

This is the recipe I've settled on for now. Never need an ACV rinse. Occasionally I'll condition the bottoms of my long, curly, thick, oily hair. Keeps my hair clean at least a day longer than commercial shampoos, doesn't tangle, and leaves it soft and shiny. Instead of the sunflower listed I use brocolli seed oil, which isn't listed on Soapcalc. Next time I make it will use soapnuts tea, because the bubby's a little on the low side for my liking. I think I'll also drop the CO and babassu some and make it up in olive, avocado, apricot kernel and exotic oils. I do use a few additives at trace, and citric acid. I superfat at 9 percent. Love this recipe, although I still want to tweak it considerably.

Would LOVE some feedback on this recipe from the real masters, Lindy, Genny and others.

I'll be watching as well, though I've pretty much come to the conclusion that at least with our hard water, a shampoo bar of any sort (soap oils) just isn't going to work A syndet bar probably would, but if I'm going to use chemicals on my hair, I may as well use commercial shampoo....at least that's how my old brain looks at it.

So far I've had pretty good results with this recipe (I've only used it once) in both liquid and straight from the crockpot paste
http://wikitalks.com/2013/07/shampoo-from-scratch/
and straight up coconut milk and aloe works WONDERS. Still looking though, as I'd like to find a few things that work since I like to rotate.

Hello, my name is Patti and I'm a shampoo/hair products junkie

OverUnder said:

Wow! shampoo bars are a hot topic currently. Instead of posting in a different thread I decided to come back to my original thread. My original batch consisted of:
olive oil 33%
castor oil 30%
coconut oil 22%
avocado oil 13%

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i'm curious, with that amount of castor, how did you find it? is it not sticky? the most i had with castor was 15% and boy it was sticky as hell... till now..

paillo said:

This is the recipe I've settled on for now. Never need an ACV rinse. Occasionally I'll condition the bottoms of my long, curly, thick, oily hair. Keeps my hair clean at least a day longer than commercial shampoos, doesn't tangle, and leaves it soft and shiny. Instead of the sunflower listed I use brocolli seed oil, which isn't listed on Soapcalc. Next time I make it will use soapnuts tea, because the bubby's a little on the low side for my liking. I think I'll also drop the CO and babassu some and make it up in olive, avocado, apricot kernel and exotic oils. I do use a few additives at trace, and citric acid. I superfat at 9 percent. Love this recipe, although I still want to tweak it considerably.

Would LOVE some feedback on this recipe from the real masters, Lindy, Genny and others.

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What is your water as % of oils?

Water as percent of oils is 33. I just made a couple of batches of doggie soap with some of the same ingredients but neem and emu oils. Did with tea of marshmallow root and soapnuts, herbal infused beer and powdered goat milk. Way over the top, can't wait to see how it turns out! And, ahem, will definitely do animal testing

Bio Degradable

Does anyone know if our soap made from scratch is bio degradable?
Can we make that claim so that campers and hikers would want to buy it?

Yes, home made soaps and shampoos are considered biodegradable. The best definition of biodegradable I can find on the internet is "phosphate and detergent free". (there is no official definition on what makes a product biodegradable) Home made soap certainly meets that criteria. Although, all sources I found still recommend that you are 200 ft from any water source to be on the safe side.

I'll have to try this recipe next month... or maybe the original recipe. In any case, I'm glad you made this thread as I eventually want to try my had at shampoo bars. :-D