Shampoo Bar Recipe
If you've never used a shampoo bar, you are absolutely missing out. These little bars have transformed my hair care routine completely, and I'm excited to them with you.
In my bid to use more natural ingredients and reduce single use plastics in all areas of my life, I've branched out into handmade soap, homemade lip balms, and now solid shampoo bars—and I couldn't be happier.
The first time I lathered up with my own homemade shampoo bar, I was skeptical. Could something so small and simple really clean all this hair effectively? But after the first use, I was converted. My hair felt clean but not stripped, soft but not weighed down, smooth and healthy.
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What Is A Shampoo Bar?
Shampoo bars are basically shampoo in a solid form!
These bars are also known as syndet bars. The word syndet is a portmanteau (or combination) of the words synthetic and detergent.
But don't let the word synthetic deter you though, because synthetic doesn't automatically mean bad for you. The ingredients in this shampoo bar recipe are naturally derived, and the formula is carefully formulated to create a beautiful, long lasting bar with a creamy lather and will leave your hair with a luxurious clean feeling.
Why Use Syndet Bars Instead Of Soap?
Traditional soap is made up of fats and oils that are saponified - turned into soap - with the help of lye. The resulting bars have a high pH which, depending on your hair, can be incredibly hard on your hair, leading to damaged, split ends, dullness, tangling, and dry hair and scalp.
Syndet bars are much lower in pH and much easier on your hair - helping to keep it clean and healthy. The lower pH enables us to use great, hair healthy additives that are sensitive to pH and the saponification process.
Beyond that, syndet shampoo bars are super easy to use, easy to make, easy to store, and easy to travel with. Once you try one, you'll be converted too!
Ingredient Highlight
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI)
SCI is a gentle, anionic surfactant that is derived from coconut oil. It adds a lovely, creamy, rich lather to our shampoo bars, and cleans the hair effectively because it is able to mix with both water and oil. 1,2
Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa)
Not to be confused with Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS). SLS is an inexpensive and effective surfactant, but is hard on the skin and hair. While SLSa is a much gentler, milder ingredient that is less likely to cause irritation, dryness, or damage to the hair or scalp.
SLSa is an anionic co-surfactant derived from coconut and palm oil. This fine white powder offers a wonderful foamy lather to our shampoo along with mild cleansing. 3,4
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
This liquid surfactant is derived from coconut oil and is used in hair care products to lift and remove oil from hair strands. Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a co-surfactant that helps to improve the mildness of the surfactant blend while also acting as a foam booster and lather stabilizer. 5,6
BTMS - 50
BTMS - 50 is a positively charged emulsifying wax derived from rapeseed oil. It comes in white or off white pastiles that can have a slightly fishy odor, but the scent does not present in the final product.
BTMS - 50 improves manageability of your hair by reducing friction and providing slip. It's a wonderful conditioner that coats the hair strands in a fine layer, helping to lock in moisture and prevent moisture loss. 7,8
Sodium Lactate
Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid, which is a natural acid derived from the fermentation of sugars. It is a powerful humectant, helping to attract moisture and can help improve the softness and manageability of your hair while keeping it healthy and hydrated.
I use liquid sodium lactate 60 which is 60% strength. If you're using the powdered version, you'll want to decrease the amount used by 40%. 9,10
Cetyl Alcohol
Cetyl alcohol is a white, waxy ingredient extracted from vegetable, coconut, or palm oil. It is used in this formula primarily as a hardener to improve bar life, but it does bring emollient and conditioning characteristics to the shampoo as well. 11,12
How To Make Bar Shampoo
This homemade shampoo bar recipe is made of up a few different stages, they are not complicated but the guide needs to be followed closely - as certain ingredients are heat sensitive.
Don't forget to grab the printable guide below!
Heated Phase:
- Prepare a double boiler by adding water to a heavy bottomed sauce pan.
- Add 84g sodium cocoyl isethionate powder, 18g cocamidopropyl betaine, 12g BTMS -50, 4g cetyl alcohol, and 5g of cocoa butter to a heat safe container. I use a glass Pyrex measuring cup.
- Bring the double boiler to a bare simmer, and heat the ingredients until they melt into a thick paste, stirring regularly. This can take a little while, as BTMS-50 can be really difficult to melt. It usually takes 25-30 minutes for my blend to melt.
- Remove from heat and add 62g sodium lauryl sulfoacetate and 7g sodium lactate to the mixture and stir until completely combined. The mixture is quite thick at this point and needs to be mashed together to combine.
Cool Down Phase:
- Use an infrared thermometer to take the temperature of the surfactant blend. Once the temperature drops below 104f (40C) we can begin the cool down phase.
- Add 4g fragrance oil, 3g baobab or rice protein, and 1g of Optiphen Plus.
- Mix the shampoo bar base thoroughly.
Mold The Bars:
- Press the warm dough firmly into molds, ensuring to remove all air pockets. If you don't have a cylinder mold, you can use a solid muffin tin, a slider burger press, a firm soap mold, or do like I did and use a moon pie press.
- Allow the shampoo bars to firm up for 12 hours before removing from the molds.
- Cure the bars for 48 hours before using.
Molding Your Homemade Shampoo Bars With A Moon Pie Press
This is a really fun way to mold your shampoo bars - it takes a little extra effort but I think the results are worth it!
- Dust your moon pie press with a little cornstarch or rice starch to prevent sticking.
- Shape the shampoo dough into a rough ball, dust the outside of the ball with rice starch then place it on a sheet of parchment paper.
- Place the moon pie press on top of the dough ball, and press down on the plunger firmly - holding the base down to avoid the dough from spilling out the sides. Once the plunger has fully compressed the shampoo bar, stop.
- To remove the shampoo bar from the moon pie press, press the plunger while lifting up the moon pie press, the bar should pop right out.
- Allow the bar to cure at least 48 hours before using.
Tips + Tricks
Using DIY Shampoo Bars
The process couldn't be easier - even for people like me with lots of long hair!
- Wet your hair in the shower as normal, then wet the shampoo bar, rubbing gently in your hands.
- Rub the bar along your hair line, down your part, along the nape of your neck, then part your hair in a few places and give the roots a little scrub with the shampoo bar.
- Using your fingertips, scrub your scalp as you normally would with liquid shampoo until a thick lather appears.
- Rinse, then condition as normal.
If you find that the shampoo bar isn't lathering as well as you expected, you can give your hair a second shampoo - you'll really see the bubbles and foam then, but this is not necessary - the mild surfactants in the shampoo bars don't suds up quite as much as traditional shampoos - but the clean is still squeaky!
Personally, I only wash my hair once every 5-7 days- though it does get a rinse and condition between, unless it's legitimately dirty (like after cleaning out the chicken coop LOL), and I can always tell if I've gone longer - as my shampoo doesn't get as fluffy!
Adjustment Period
If you're already using SLS free shampoos, you'll likely skip right over any adjustment period when switching to a syndet shampoo bar. I already used natural type shampoos before I switched over and I didn't miss a beat!
If you're using commercial shampoos, your hair and scalp may go through an adjustment period as they get used to the milder detergents, and stop producing so much sebum (oil). This is completely normal, and usually lasts a couple of weeks.
Avoid over washing during this time, which can make your scalp overcompensate and create more sebum. Try to brush your hair at least twice a day, this will help redistribute the oils and keep your hair nourished.
pH And Your Shampoo Bar
The pH of your shampoo is vital to the health of your hair. Our hair has a naturally acidic pH and highly alkaline products can change the electrical charge of the hair surface, increasing friction and lead to cuticle damage and hair breakage. 13
Shampoo with a lower, slightly acidic pH, between 4.5 and 5.5 lead to less frizz, less friction, and improved hair health.
I've developed this recipe to use mild, gentle surfactants that have a neutral, hair friendly pH. If you're changing ingredients or quantities, you'll have to test the pH to ensure its correct.
Batch + Storage
Batch:
A 200g batch makes about 2 good sized shampoo bars. I like working with this quantity because I'm not making these to sell, just for personal use.
That said, if you love the recipe, feel free to scale it up - the results will stay consistent across batch sizes because I have developed this recipe by weights versus volume.
Storage:
I find the shelf life of these shampoo bars to be about a year, so keep that in mind while you're making it - I try to only make up what I can use or gift within a reasonable timeframe.
The enemy of your shampoo bar's life is constant contact with water, so it's important to store it properly.
Store your shampoo bar in a self draining dish or a wire shower rack to allow water shedding. This also allows the bar to dry out in between uses.
I brought a bar with me on holidays to the Dominican Republic, and although it worked great, the shower in our room didn't have a drying rack for it, so I stored it in a tin after using it, which didn't allow it to dry out. The bar softened up and used up really quickly!
Formula
| Ingredient | Percentage | 200g Batch |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) | 42% | 84g |
| Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa) | 31% | 62g |
| Cocamidopropyl Betaine | 9% | 18g |
| BTMS-50 | 6% | 12g |
| Sodium Lactate 60 | 3.5% | 7g |
| Cocoa Butter | 2.5% | 5g |
| Cetyl Alcohol | 2% | 4g |
| Fragrance Oil | 2% | 4g |
| Hydrolyzed Protein | 1.5% | 3g |
| Optiphen Plus | 0.5% | 1g |
Ingredient And Supplies Links
- sodium cocyl isethionate
- sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
- cocamidopropyl betaine
- BTMS - 50
- sodium lactate 60
- cetyl alcohol
- hydrolyzed baobab protein
- optiphen plus
- fragrance oil
- violet #2 dye
- 2.5" moon pie press
DIY Shampoo Bar Recipe
Materials
Heated Phase
- 84 g sodium cocoyl isethionate powder
- 18 g cocamidopropyl betaine
- 12 g BTMS-50
- 5 g cocoa butter
- 4 g cetyl alcohol
- 62 g sodium lauryl sulfoacetate powder
- 7 g sodium lactate
Cool Down Phase:
- 4 g fragrance oil
- 3 g hydrolyzed protein rice, baobab, oat or silk
- 1 g optiphen plus
Instructions
Heated Phase:
- Prepare a double boiler by adding water to a heavy bottomed sauce pan.Add 84g sodium cocoyl isethionate powder, 18g cocamidopropyl betaine, 12g BTMS -50, 4g cetyl alcohol, and 5g of cocoa butter to a heat safe container. I use a glass Pyrex measuring cup.
- Bring the double boiler to a bare simmer, and heat the ingredients until they melt into a thick paste, stirring regularly. This can take a little while, as BTMS-50 can be really difficult to melt. It usually takes 25-30 minutes for my blend to melt.
- Remove from heat and add 62g sodium lauryl sulfoacetate and 7g sodium lactate to the mixture and stir until completely combined. The mixture is quite thick at this point and needs to be mashed together to combine.
Cool Down Phase:
- Use an infrared thermometer to take the temperature of the surfactant blend. Once the temperature drops below 104f (40C) we can begin the cool down phase.
- Add 4g fragrance oil, 3g baobab or rice protein, and 1g of Optiphen Plus. Mix the shampoo bar base thoroughly.
Mold The Bars:
- Press the warm dough firmly into molds, ensuring to remove all air pockets. If you don't have a cylinder mold, you can use a solid muffin tin, a slider burger press, a firm soap mold, or do like I did and use a moon pie press.
- Allow the shampoo bars to firm up for 12 hours before removing from the molds.
- Cure the bars for 48 hours before using.
Mold The Bars With A Moon Pie Press:
- Dust your moon pie press with a little cornstarch or rice starch to prevent sticking. Shape the shampoo dough into a rough ball, dust the outside of the ball with rice starch then place it on a sheet of parchment paper.
- Place the moon pie press on top of the dough ball, and press down on the plunger firmly - holding the base down to avoid the dough from spilling out the sides. Once the plunger has fully compressed the shampoo bar, stop.
- To remove the shampoo bar from the moon pie press, press the plunger while lifting up the moon pie press, the bar should pop right out.
- Allow the bar to cure at least 48 hours before using.
How To Use A DIY Shampoo Bar:
- Wet your hair in the shower as normal, then wet the shampoo bar, rubbing gently in your hands.
- Rub the bar along your hair line, down your part, along the nape of your neck, then part your hair in a few places and give the roots a little scrub with the shampoo bar.
- Using your fingertips, scrub your scalp as you normally would with liquid shampoo until a thick lather appears.
- Rinse, then condition as normal.
Notes
Tips + Tricks
Pin This Guide To Making Shampoo Bars!
Sources
1 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/sodium-cocoyl-isethionate/
2 https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci-ingredients/sodium-cocoyl-isethionate
3 https://shop.hdchemicals.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-the-difference-between-sls-and-slsa
4 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/sodium-lauryl-sulfoacetate-slsa/
5 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/cocamidopropyl-betaine/
6 https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci-ingredients/cocamidopropyl-betaine
7 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/btms-50/
8 https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci-ingredients/behentrimonium-methosulfate
9 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/sodium-lactate/
10 https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci-ingredients/sodium-lactate
11 https://www.humblebeeandme.com/project/cetyl-alcohol/
12 https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci-ingredients/cetyl-alcohol
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