Shampoo Bar Recipe & DIY Hair Rinse

I've had quite a few requests for a shampoo bar, so I’ve been going through my notes to find an easy recipe for you guys.

Isn't a shampoo bar the same as a body bar, you ask?

Not exactly. This is what I've learned over the years: A great shampoo bar makes a good body bar, but a great body bar does NOT make a good shampoo bar.

That's why I had little luck in the beginning using handmade soap on my hair. I would use whatever soap I had in the shower to wash my hair and it wasn’t pretty - believe me. I have thick longish hair, so the first obstacle I faced was getting the suds to spread evenly- it took quite some effort. Then, after washing, my hair would look as if I had just combed a stick of butter through it (I’m exaggerating, but you get the picture). And, it was pretty much unmanageable, since I skipped the acidic rinse after washing as well.

Usually what we’re after in a body bar is skin loving goodies that stay on our skin after we’re done washing. But the purpose of a shampoo bar is to gently clean our hair without leaving much residue behind. With that in mind, I tried to keep as little extra oils in this soap as possible so that it won't weigh down your hair.

What is Cold Process Oven Process (CPOP)

I'm using a technique with this project which is referred to as CPOP. It involves putting your soap in the oven once it's poured and leaving it there for a while. This ensures that the soap goes through "gel" - a stage of the saponification process. It can also be achieved by putting a heavy towel around your mold, but with single cavity molds the oven works best. I like to gel almost all my soaps - they release easier from the mold, harden faster and have brighter colors that way.

Why is it a good idea to do an acidic rinse?

Handmade soap has a ph of 9/10 – slightly alkaline with 7 being neutral. Rinsing your hair with vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid will balance the ph of your hair. If you have hard water in your house this is even more important since vinegar will remove metals and soap residue from your hair. And lastly doing an acidic rinse will smooth down your hair cuticles and make your hair shiny, soft and manageable.

Remember this is a rinse - it’s supposed to be rinsed out after applying. Vinegar is a strong acid that can eat holes in metal - you don’t want that to be sitting on your hair.

Here’s the thing with hair though - everyone’s different. This recipe might work for you or it might not. Maybe your hair is not a good fit for shampoo bars all together and that’s ok too. There are lots of surfactant based shampoos out there that are not laden with chemicals.

This recipe is loosely based on Liz Ardlady’s Shampoo Bar. She has done extensive testing with different recipes- you can read her full article here.

If you give this recipe a go, let me know how it worked for you.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

Let’s get started:

If this is the first time that your making cold process soap, make sure you check out my beginner tutorial, lye safety tips and list of equipment you'll need.

Cold Process Shampoo Bar Recipe:

• Coconut oil (33%):  4.3 oz/ 122g
• Canola oil (25%): 3.25 oz/ 92g
• Pomace (olive oil) (25%): 3.25 oz/ 92g
• Cocoa Butter (7%): 0.9 oz/ 26g
• Castor oil (10%): 1.3 oz/ 37g
• Sodium Lactate (optional): 1 teaspoon – it’s a great humectant (draws moisture to your hair) without being greasy
• Essential Oil (EO) of your choice – I’m using Tea Tree (7g) and Lemongrass EO (7g)
• Distilled water: 3.5 oz/ 99g
• Lye: 1.9 oz/ 53g

Special equipment:

• Single cavity sunflower mold

Directions:

• Follow standard lye safety procedures
• Place your single cavity mold on a wooden cutting board
• Preheat your oven to 170° F
• Prepare your lye solution and let cool
• Melt and warm your oils/butter
• Add EO to your oils
• Add Sodium Lactate to lye solution when it's below 130° F
• When Oils and Lye are at around 110° F combine both
• Stick blend until medium trace is achieved (soap batter traces on the surface but sinks in after a few seconds)
• Carefully fill each cavity of the mold almost to the brim
• Gently tap your mold and cutting board down to release airbubbles
• Place mold and cutting board in oven and leave on for 45 min
• Turn oven off and leave soap in there to cool overnight
• The soaps are ready to be released after 24 hours
• Cure for 4 weeks

How to make and use a simple Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse:

• Combine 2 oz of water and 2 oz of vinegar
• Fill into a spray bottle
• Shake well
• After shampooing spray rinse into your hair and massage it in
• Let it sit for a few minutes
• Rinse out completely

Until next time. Happy Tinkering!