EOs for shampoo bar?

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tersh79

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Howdy, soapers! After test running a great shampoo bar, I'm happy with the results I've had with my hair and ready to dive in to making my own.

From the Lindy's shampoo bar thread, I'm going to follow this recipe:

Water as percent of oil weight: 35%
Superfat: 6%

Avocado Oil: 30%
Castor Oil: 10%
Olive Oil: 40%
Shea Butter: 10%
Soybean Oil: 10% (although I'm going to use Sunflower instead of soy because of allergy concerns)

.. unless anyone has a good reason *NOT* to use that recipe...

I'd like to make a fancier bar though, maybe with some infused herbs and EOs. I have a bit of a dry scalp (try NOT having one living in the driest desert in the United States), and I also have some thinning hair, so I'd like something that is stimulating as well.

I'm thinking about using rosemary and spearmint to start. Should I infuse rosemary and spearmint in to the water solution, olive oil, both? If both, does it matter what "percent" - 50/50? 60/40? 30/70? Or just chuck a handful of each in to the oil, and what infuses, infuses?

Also, I usually do hot process soap, that won't affect anything will it? I do CP also, I just like the speed of HP!

Any other help/advice is recommended, thanks!
 
Well, your castor is a little high IMO. But it is OK. I used to use rosemary tea in my shampoo bar and found that it turned my white hair orange over time.

Frankly, I am a bit confused. You mentioned EOs then talk about infusing which must be the plant material.... Are you talking about both?
 
I made this bar and used coconut milk powder (reconstituted in the water) which added a lovely slip, and infused the olive oil with rosemary which added a lovely delicate scent to the bar (be aware that it will also add some green color). I also added an egg yolk (must be tempered!) and a bit of herbal essence FO. LOVE it!

The trick is to do what YOU want. Experimentation is half the fun, and how else do we learn what works for us? Likes and what works is so individualized....what I like and what works for me is not going to be the same for you (chances are). The worst that can happen is you'll have a lovely soap which may or may not be 'perfect'....but it'll give you an idea what to do/not do next time ;)
 
I also put egg yolks in my shampoo bars, makes such a nice thick lather. I had used ginny's original recipe for a few months but my scalp was still too oily so I removed the soy and added 5% neem & 5% coconut. The addition of coconut upped the cleansing number just a tiny bit so it cleans my scalp better and the neem seems to be helping my seborrheic dermatitis.
I think my next batch will be infused with rosemary and lemon thyme.
 
I also put egg yolks in my shampoo bars, makes such a nice thick lather. I had used ginny's original recipe for a few months but my scalp was still too oily so I removed the soy and added 5% neem & 5% coconut. The addition of coconut upped the cleansing number just a tiny bit so it cleans my scalp better and the neem seems to be helping my seborrheic dermatitis.
I think my next batch will be infused with rosemary and lemon thyme.


Me too Obsidian.
I LOVE the bar (I subbed sunflower for the soy) but it doesn't work for me as a shampoo bar. We have really hard water, and even with a shower filter it just leaves me with that waxy feeling, even after being poo free for months (not transitional waxiness). I kinda thought no shampoo bar was going to work for me with our water (and yes, I did do an acid rinse after).

I recently tried a shampoo bar (purchased) that worked really well for me and the big difference as far as I can tell from the ingredients listed was the bar had a high percentage of babassu oil, so I'll be trying that next. Genny's bar is a great starting point though, and lovely as a face/body soap.
 
Me too Obsidian.
I LOVE the bar (I subbed sunflower for the soy) but it doesn't work for me as a shampoo bar. We have really hard water, and even with a shower filter it just leaves me with that waxy feeling, even after being poo free for months (not transitional waxiness). I kinda thought no shampoo bar was going to work for me with our water (and yes, I did do an acid rinse after).

I recently tried a shampoo bar (purchased) that worked really well for me and the big difference as far as I can tell from the ingredients listed was the bar had a high percentage of babassu oil, so I'll be trying that next. Genny's bar is a great starting point though, and lovely as a face/body soap.

I live in the desert and we have really hard water too, although I just saw you can buy water softeners for just your shower head, bought a cheap one to try out and see if if makes a difference. I haven't used babasu before (not to mention sunflower or avocado), maybe I'll give it a try!
 
Well, your castor is a little high IMO. But it is OK. I used to use rosemary tea in my shampoo bar and found that it turned my white hair orange over time.

Frankly, I am a bit confused. You mentioned EOs then talk about infusing which must be the plant material.... Are you talking about both?

That's what I get for composing the message late at night! I guess my question is, should I just use EOs? Or will infusing the oils/water bring additional benefits/fragrance? Which EOs/herbs would do best for dry skin?
 
I made this bar and used coconut milk powder (reconstituted in the water) which added a lovely slip, and infused the olive oil with rosemary which added a lovely delicate scent to the bar (be aware that it will also add some green color). I also added an egg yolk (must be tempered!) and a bit of herbal essence FO. LOVE it!

The trick is to do what YOU want. Experimentation is half the fun, and how else do we learn what works for us? Likes and what works is so individualized....what I like and what works for me is not going to be the same for you (chances are). The worst that can happen is you'll have a lovely soap which may or may not be 'perfect'....but it'll give you an idea what to do/not do next time ;)

Where do you find coconut milk powder?

I love the egg idea, but I think an egg allergy is possibly to blame for the hair loss. No can do on beer either, I'm trying to keep this bar as allergy/autoimmune free as possible.

Definitely agree on your last point! I just need a good recipe to start with and can go from there!
 
If you're going to HP the soap, then adding EOs after the cook would give the most benefits, because they wouldn't come into contact with active lye.

I've heard rosemary and tea tree are good for scalp problems. In my own bar I didn't use EOs, but I did do teas and infusions with marshmallow root, chamomile, lemon, and calendula. My hair's still in the transitory period, so it's hard to tell what is from Funky Hair Syndrome or if I need to do more tweaking with my recipe.
 
The EOs I have used for my shampoo bars are peppermint and basil. Basil promotes growth by stimulating circulation and peppermint helps stimulate blood flow to the root of the hair. I have also infused olive oil with chamomile that I plan on using in my next batch. But, like everyone said, just go with what you works for you. It's not a bad idea to a little research on the benefits of the EOs on hair either. That way you won't end up using any that have the opposite effect that you're going for :)

Isg, I like that link for EOs to use for different hair types. I've only used one shampoo bar recipe and it recently dawned on me that different hair types need different ingredients in their shampoo bars :)
 
tersh79, I get my coconut milk powder from WSP....good price and the stuff is great, I love it.

If you want herbs for hair growth, nettle leaf is the way to go. For dark hair rosemary (sage is also supposed to be good). Marshmallow root for detangling. There are tons of websites with that sort of info with the no poo movement going strong. This is where I bought my awesome shampoo bar (henna) and they have a nice listing of the herbs they use and their benefits http://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/ingredients/faqherbhair.aspx (I am in no way affiliated, nor do I care if you buy their products....for the record. I have read lots of good things about them though, hence the purchase.

I don't use a lot of EO's because my budget doesn't allow it, but I do have the basics. Some rosemary gets added to all my hair products, but IMO you can't beat the benefit of an infusion. At least in my case as I can't afford to add enough EO to get the benefit that a dried herb will give me. YMMV ;)
 
If you're going to HP the soap, then adding EOs after the cook would give the most benefits, because they wouldn't come into contact with active lye.

I've heard rosemary and tea tree are good for scalp problems. In my own bar I didn't use EOs, but I did do teas and infusions with marshmallow root, chamomile, lemon, and calendula. My hair's still in the transitory period, so it's hard to tell what is from Funky Hair Syndrome or if I need to do more tweaking with my recipe.


Thanks for the reply! I'm about two months (3?) in to using shampoo bars, and I found that I wasn't using enough acid in my hair rinse. Using apple cider vinegar, it took half of a cup ACV and a half cup of water to make my hair not feel gummy. After two weeks of that my hair was great and soft, but it also stank pretty bad! So, I switched to citric acid, which I had on hand for bath bombs, and it's just as good but with no stinkyness (I use about a tablespoon or two per cup of water).
 
I'm using way less citric acid than that! I'm using about 1/24 tsp per 2 cups of water. I had read that 1/6th tsp citric acid per two cups water drops the pH to the point where it's as acidic as hair can safely handle. (Before I was using the citric acid, I was slowly upping the amount of ACV I was adding...)
 
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