Adding colorants to shampoo bars, also MP shampoo base by Stephenson

[earlene]

I am posting a new thread so it doesn't get lost in another thread.

As a white-haired woman with psoriasis of the scalp, I had to switch to purple soap after my hair turned brassy from the medicated shampoo that treated my psoriatic scalp. Even though I now use Humira injections which worked wonders to rid my body and scalp of psoriasis, I continue to use purple shampoo because I really prefer the way my hair looks using purple shampoo & purple conditioner.

I never planned to even attempt making a shampoo bar until I read this post from @AliOop and I thought, I could give that a try, but how to find a hair-safe non-dying (wash out tint is okay, but I do NOT want to dye my hair) colorant is my first concern.

I did find this link to an appropriate colorant (CI 60730): Water Soluble Dye - Deep Purple (Ext. Violet 2) The link was on SwiftCraftyMonkey (this link), but unless you are a subscribing member, you probably won't be able to read that post.

Has anyone tried making a purple shampoo (liquid or solid) and if so, what did you use & how well did it work compared to store bought purple shampoo?

.. I haven't tried it, but here is a video of another maker who has, and who is pretty satisfied with them. ...

Two different videos using the Stephenson's Syndopour product:





Where to buy Stephenson's Syndopour is listed on their website with links: https://www.stephensonpersonalcare.com/syndopour

It is also listed on Amazon, but far too expensive there right now!

At this time, for me the best price point including shipping is from Bulk Apothecary in Ohio (for the Syndopour). Windy Point is in Canada, so shipping of the colorant is quite expensive, therefore I am looking for a US alternative, so far without much luck.

I am hoping to give this a try and expect it would travel well.

 

[cerelife]

I just bought the Syndopour and the Stephenson's conditioner base from Bulk Apothecary!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Here it is on Etsy: Makingcosmetics Violet No. 2 External D&C Cosmetic - Etsy #60730 and the description states “Has excellent affinity to hair.”

My four pounds of Syndopour from Bulk Apothecary arrived today. It cost me $9.33/lb ($.58/ oz) including shipping, but after a first time customer discount of 15%.

 

[cerelife]

Yeah, I bought 4 lbs of the Syndopour and 3.5 lbs of the conditioner base since shipping was the same for half that amount. I've been a BA customer for years (I get my Vetiver and Dark Patchouli here), so no new customer discount for me.
But...I did get a 10% discount because these items sat in my cart for a few days!

 

[cmzaha]

Other than making my own solid shampoo bars, which I still like better, I also liked this one this base. Crystal Solid Shampoo
Depending on your tax rate the Violet 2 is a couple dollars cheaper on Making Cosmetics site even with shipping.Violet No. 2 External D&C 1172 | MakingCosmetics

To answer your original question I have made shampoo bars with purple colorant but I have gone back to using Clairol's Shimmer Lights shampoo which contains Violet 2, since I have not made products in about 3 yrs and do not want to fool with Roux's fanciful rinse.

 

[earlene]

Yeah, I bought 4 lbs of the Syndopour and 3.5 lbs of the conditioner base since shipping was the same for half that amount. I've been a BA customer for years (I get my Vetiver and Dark Patchouli here), so no new customer discount for me.
But...I did get a 10% discount because these items sat in my cart for a few days!

I am going to have to try that trick next time! Leaving it in my cart for a few days and waiting for an additional discount - I did not realize that was a thing.

Here it is on Etsy: Makingcosmetics Violet No. 2 External D&C Cosmetic - Etsy #60730 and the description states “Has excellent affinity to hair.”

My four pounds of Syndopour from Bulk Apothecary arrived today. It cost me $9.33/lb ($.58/ oz) including shipping, but after a first time customer discount of 15%.

Too bad Making Cosmetics doesn't have it on their site. That price on Etsy is shocking! ETA: I bought it anyway as shipping was free, so it still was the least expensive route for me (found so far, anyway).


ETA:

Other than making my own solid shampoo bars, which I still like better, I also liked this one this base. Crystal Solid Shampoo
Depending on your tax rate the Violet 2 is a couple dollars cheaper on Making Cosmetics site even with shipping.Violet No. 2 External D&C 1172 | MakingCosmetics

To answer your original question I have made shampoo bars with purple colorant but I have gone back to using Clairol's Shimmer Lights shampoo which contains Violet 2, since I have not made products in about 3 yrs and do not want to fool with Roux's fanciful rinse.

I missed your message & link, Carolyn. Oh, well, it is on the way from Etsy. I tried finding it on the making cosmetics site, but for some reason did not find it listed. Thank you for finding that link for me (for future reference, at least.) Now to try and solve the problem that my password no longer works at Making Cosmetics (also had the same issue with some other sites, so I think it's time to delve into what's going on here on my computer with passwords. Maybe the update to my antivirus software changed how my passwords work.

Apparently my MakingCosmetics account was purged, no longer even in their records. So I made a new one. Shipping is not expensive, so if I like the Violet #2 that's coming from Etsy, I'll buy it from the site instead, because even with shipping it's cheaper than the Etsy price without shipping. But it is annoying that records of past orders on the site also got purged when my account was purged. That's a pain. But I have found that other sites also seem to purge previous purchases over time. I am not sure why they do that, but it's annoying when I want to look back at previous purchases.

 

[Carly B]

I just bought the Syndopour and the Stephenson's conditioner base from Bulk Apothecary!

I got the Syndapour yesterday so today I will try it. I've tried the Stephenson conditioner base,
and I'm not sure I'm a fan. My hair felt nowhere near as soft as when I use liquid conditioners (I use Lush conditioners). I'm thinking I'm going to try and add some coconut and/or argan oil
to the conditioner base and see if that helps.

Has anyone else here added oils to the conditioner base?

 

[earlene]

Apparently my Violet#2 arrived while we were in DC. We just got back really late Saturday night; I picked up Kitty Baby on Sunday morning from the vet's boarding & spent the day mostly with her. Hubby picked up the mail from the Post Office yesterday (including a traffic ticket from Italy!)

I'll make an unscented trial bar with Syndopour & Violet#2 this week. My goal is to create a purple shampoo bar to take the place of my store-bought purple shampoo that will do pretty much the same thing as the store-bought does, which is to tint my hair a pale-ish lavender when I use more of the shampoo. When I use less, the tint is not very visible, but it always prevents a brassy color from developing, and keeps my white hair white.

When I do test it, I'll have to go without the purple conditioner to see the true effect. Perhaps it would be best to do a one-last shampoo session with only the shampoo & not the conditioner & take a photo so I can compare later to my new shampoo-bar. I don't always use conditioner anyway, so it's not like my hair will suffer for not using it. Conditioning my hair is a fairly new phenomena for me as I went decades not using conditioners because they always caused blotchy red spots on my face when I used them on my formerly very long hair. When I started wearing my hair very short where it no longer touched my face, I felt safe trying out conditioners again and don't have any red blotchy reactions like in the past. But I still don't use it with every shampoo, mostly because I feel like it flattens my hair & reduces the look of volume, which defeats the purpose of my hairstyle, which is a bit of a spike-y look. I like my hair to be fluff out like teddy bear fur when I don't use styling gel.

 

[earlene]

Well I did at last get around to making 2 bars of Purple Syndopour Shampoo today. Plain, no scent, nothing added but the Violet#2. I decided to try two different intensities of color, so went with 50 grams as the bar size, and used micro-scoops as my measuring tool. I went with 1 micro-scoop per 50 grams base for one bar and 2 micro-scoops per 50 grams base for the second bar.

I bloomed the mica powder in a vert tiny amount of hot water (did not even register on my scale) prior to adding it to the melted base. The instructions for processing syndopour can be found here. Melting to 80°Celsius took about 30 seconds in smaller increments. Mixing in the bloomed mica was a breeze. I await the bars to set up & they are in the freezer to make removal from the molds easier. Then I'll let them sit for a day before cutting to size to fit into my travel-size soap case.

One concern for me was that I rubbed a bit of the base (no added color) onto the back of my hand & rubbed it in like I do with soaping oils sometimes, and that area of my hand turned red & uncomfortable after a short time. After I noticed the feeling, I washing it off of course, but an hour or so later, it's still a bit red (smaller, but not gone) and not yet feeling normal, still somewhat uncomfortable. So I am not sure I am even going to be able to use this base on my scalp. I am keeping watch on the spot on my hand and have compared the ingredient list to that on my regular purple shampoo (L'Oreal Elvive).

I don't know why the top surface (back) of my hand is sensitive to the Syndopour when I have no adverse reaction to the longer list of ingredients (although not the same ones, and obviously different proportions of ingredients) in Elvive.

I am guessing it may be the first ingredient, but I cannot be sure unless I check all products in my house for that same ingredient and do a similar skin test. So more investigation in store for me tonight.

 

[earlene]

I washed my hair with the Purple Syndapour Shampoo bar a couple of days ago. I used the one with the higher amount of Violet #2. The lather was not purple like my purples soap lather is, but their was a visible tinge of lavendar in my hair so even without the deep purple lather, it did it's job. I did have to work up a better lather with the second pass (wash, rinse, repeat), as the first pass was not very lathery, but my hair was dirtier than usual from a hot & sweaty day of high humidity and heat and exertion.

I find this soap to be a lot softer than I like bar soap to be. I was prepared for it form reports from other soapmakers, but I still don't like that it is so soft. The bars I brought with me are vary small because we are traveling, so I expect they will be completely used up by the time I return home. That's not a very definitive explanation as to performance related to a specific amount of soap, but I'll try and pay closer attention to how long a bar will last once I am using a home-sized bar (which I will weigh & keep notes to give me a better idea of how long it lasts in normal use.)

Photos of my hair after washing are on my phone. At some point, I will upload them to my computer & create a little photo gallery thread on the shampoo soap & how it works for me, but not now as we have activities planned here on our vacation.

No further problems with that itchy redness I reported on the back of my hand when I rubbed some plain Sydapour onto the back of my hand. That lasted a few hours, that particular day, but not again after that day. Nothing like that happened when I washed my hair with my bare hands, & my scalp had no such experience.