Eco-friendly and good for your hair, learn how to make a non-soap shampoo bar, why to make one, and how to use it.
What is a Shampoo Bar?
A shampoo bar is a solid cleanser that is meant for cleaning the hair. Shampoo bars have been gaining popularity lately because they have no need for plastic packaging, allowing them to be a zero waste type cosmetic product.
Why Use a Shampoo Bar?
There are several benefits to choosing a shampoo bar over a liquid type shampoo.
Sustainability
Because they are a solid-type product, no plastic bottle is needed for storing shampoo bars. When you make them yourself, there is absolutely no need for any sort of packaging whatsoever. Choosing to use a shampoo bar means that you can help reduce waste and eliminate the need for single-use plastics.
Travel-Friendly
With new restrictions on traveling with liquids, shampoo bars are a great TSA friendly alternative for those who want to fly with cosmetics in their carry on luggage.
Can you use a shampoo bar on your body?
Because the surfactants used are nice and gentle and the pH is also skin-friendly, you can use the shampoo bar on your body too. That makes it especially travel-friendly because you really only need to pack one bar for all over cleansing.
Preservative phobia?
While I think you should use a preservative when making this, as a precaution, shampoo bars are really the only type of surfactant based shampoo that you could get away with making without a preservative.
Because it doesn’t have any water-based ingredients in it, it technically doesn’t need a preservative. On the other hand, because you are contaminating the outside with water constantly, it still is a good idea to use one to keep microbes from growing on the surface of your bar.
If you are completely set against using a preservative, though, this is the only type of product where I’d say you could give it a try. If you do go that route, I’d suggest being careful about drying the bar immediately between uses and storing in a very dry environment.
Soap-Based Shampoo Bars vs. Surfactant Based (SYNDET) Shampoo Bars
There are several types of shampoo bars that are available for selling or for making yourself.
Soap-Based shampoo bars
While considered the most “natural,” soap based shampoo bars aren’t the best choice for most of us because of their high pH. Soap based shampoo bars are just that, soaps made with lye and oils just like the other soaps that I have shown you how to make on the blog.
Often times, people try to make soap bars slightly less harsh for hair by slightly lowering pH. That is done in an effort to make them better for hair. The problem is that the pH of soap can only be lowered slightly or you end up ruining it. Soap’s high pH is also what makes it self-preserving, meaning that it doesn’t need a preservative.
While most people’s skin can easily recover from using soap with its high pH, our hair is much more delicate. Most of our hair (other than the part in the follicle) is dead. For that reason, it can’t as easily recover from harsh conditions as our skin can. While you can condition your hair and smooth out the outer portion (the cuticle), making it look shinier and healthier, prolonged use of soap will normally damage hair.
When using a soap-based shampoo bar, you are normally told to do a final rinse with vinegar. The high pH of soap lift up the cuticle of your hair, making it look dry and dull. Because vinegar is acidic, that is meant to help close the cuticle and make your hair look healthier and shinier again.
Why make/choose a surfactant based (SYNDET) shampoo bar?
A synthetic detergent shampoo bar may sound like it would be harsher on your hair, but that isn’t really the case.
Many of us have been told that soap is good and natural and that “detergents” (other non-soap surfactants) are harsh and bad for us.
That misconception probably stems from the fact that most shampoos for sale use sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a popular (yet harsher) anionic surfactant. SLS is often used because it cleans very well and is quite inexpensive, but it also can irritate skin and strip skin and hair of their natural oils. (Yes, it may be cleaning too well, in a sense.) Fortunately for us, there are many types of milder surfactants available. As the demand rises for more natural, safer alternatives, the variety of available surfactants is increasing.
The advantage of using these more natural surfactants is that the pH can be adjusted to better suit our hair and keep it looking healthy. Soap, at the lower pH’s that we’re aiming for in hair care products (between pH=4-6) just isn’t soap anymore. Trying to lower the pH of soap that much would break it down. It’s impossible to make a soap-based shampoo bar in the ideal pH range for our hair.
If you do choose to use a soap-based shampoo bar, remember that it is important to follow it up with an acidic rinse. That can be achieved by rinsing your hair with diluted apple cider vinegar, for example.
How to use a Shampoo bar
Shampoo bars are actually quite simple to use. Using one is just like using a bar of soap. In fact, you can begin the process by lathering up the shampoo bar in your hands just as if you were washing them. Once you’ve worked up a lather, you can then rub your foamy hands over your hair and scalp, rubbing it in to work up a lather.
The other possibility is to take the shampoo bar and rub it over your wet hair until you’ve worked up the desired amount of lather. The only inconvenience to that method is that you are more likely to cover your shampoo bar with stray hairs.
Where to Store a Shampoo Bar
Once you’ve finished lathering up with the shampoo bar, you should rinse it and store it in a place where it can fully dry. Make sure that you don’t store it in a puddle of water or your shampoo bar could easily disintegrate.
I normally stand my shampoo bar up so that it is resting on one of the smaller edges, this allows for the maximum amount of air circulation around it. (It’s also why I prefer making a rectangular bar to a round one like the ones made by Lush.)
If you do plan on storing in a travel tin, make sure that the bar has completely dried before you store your bar or it could melt into a mushy mess.
Watch How Easy it is to Make a Shampoo Bar
How to Make a Shampoo Bar?
Shampoo Bar
Materials
- 45 g SCI
- 20 g SLSA
- 18 g coco glucoside
- 8 g coco betaine
- 3 g shea butter
- 2 g BTMS (I used BTMS-25)
- 2 g b-panthenol
- 1 g preservative
- 1 g essential oils
- .5 g vitamin e
Instructions
- Weigh out the surfactants (the SCI, SLSA, coco glucoside, and coco betaine), the shea butter, and the BTMS in a double boiler insert, or in a bowl that can be heated over a pan of boiling water.
- Begin to slowly heat and melt the ingredients over a double boiler, stirring until the ingredients have fully melted.
- This mixture is very thick and difficult to work with, so it’s really impossible to let it cool before mixing in the other ingredients. You’ll want to remove the mixture from your heat source and add in the other ingredients, working quickly.
- Do your best to fully incorporate the preservative, vitamins, and essential oils. Immediately press the mixture into a bar mold. I use silicone molds meant for bars of soap.
- You can help smooth the top of your bar by placing a sheet of parchment or wax paper over the mixture in the mold. Carefully rub over the top of the bar to smooth it.
- Optionally test the pH of your shampoo bar by running some water over the finished bar and testing the lather with a pH test strip. Because this is a solid product, it’s impossible to otherwise test the pH.
We’re looking for the pH of the lather obtained using your shampoo bar in your water (with whatever preservative you chose to use, and whatever optional ingredients you may have added).
This will help us determine if it would be best to adjust the pH of our next batch. The pH can be lowered by adding a few drops of lactic acid. (It’s unlikely that you’d want to raise the pH, but that can be done with some NaOH carefully dissolved in water.) - Once your shampoo bar has cooled, you can remove it from the mold and allow it to dry further. Unlike homemade soap, this shampoo bar can be used immediately. If it’s too soft, though, you can let in harden up slightly by leaving it to dry for a few days. (This can occur in regions with high humidity.)
Customizing your homemade shampoo bar
This shampoo bar uses a mixture of liquid and solid surfactants. Depending on the humidity of your region, you may want to adjust the ratio of solid to liquid surfactants in order to obtain a harder or softer shampoo bar.
The solid surfactants
SCI is short for Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate. It’s the first of the solid surfactants used and is also sometimes called “baby foam” because it is a gentle surfactant, mild enough for use in baby products. It’s derived from coconuts. SCI can be tricky to work with, but worth it because it’s such a great surfactant that works well in both soft and hard water. It’s normally sold as a powder or fine granule.
SLSA is short for Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate. It’s an ECOCERT certified surfactant that gives off a lot of foam. Because it can be derived from both coconut and palm oils, it’s a good idea to look for providers that either derive it only from coconut oil, or use sustainably obtained palm oil.
The liquid surfactants
Coco glucoside is one of my favorite mild and natural surfactants. It’s a gentle non-ionic surfactant and I’ve used it already in several recipes, including my DIY micellar water and the liquid clarifying shampoo.
Coco betaine is another coconut oil-derived natural surfactant that is often combined with coco glucoside because they work together well to form a nice foam and together have better cleansing properties.
Conditioning agents
Even though the surfactants that I have chosen are mild, it’s still a good idea to add some emollients or other conditioning agents. In my bar, I’ve chosen to use shea butter and BTMS. BTMS-25 is the cationic emulsifier that I use in my favorite homemade conditioner. (Soon I’ll be showing you how to make a solid conditioner bar too!) While these are optional ingredients, I think it’s a good idea to use them to help protect your hair.
Vitamins
I chose to use both vitamin E and b-panthenol in my shampoo bar. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that when used at .5-1% of the recipe helps keep other oils from going rancid. B-panthenol is also known as provitamin B5, and it can act as a humectant, helping to attract moisture into our hair, as well as to help nourish it. While these are also optional ingredients, they are a very welcome addition to your shampoo bar. I use both of these vitamins in most of my homemade skin and hair care products.
Preservative
I’d suggest using a preservative in your shampoo bar because it will be used in a humid environment, and you’ll likely be getting it wet quite often. You’ll want to make sure the pH of your bar is in an effective range for whatever preservative you choose (and you’ll need to use it at the recommended percentage). I’ve been using Sharomix 705, an ECOCERT certified natural preservative which can be used at around 1% of the recipe by weight. For it to be effective, the product needs to have a pH below 5.5.
If you are dead set against using a preservative, do so at your own risk. You’ll need to be very careful about keeping the bar in a very dry environment and making sure you can dry it out fully as quickly as possible.
Stephanie King
Hi there,
I have question in regards to the preservative. Could I use citric acid instead? I forgot to order the preservative in my order! I tried zinc ozide but it split the mixture!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
I’m afraid that wouldn’t work. I have a guide to natural preservatives that would help you.
Fiona
I’m loving reading through your blog! Two questions on this recipe: #1 is it suitable for use on children/babies? #2 Would this bar be suitable for body washing too? Is ph the main differentiating factor between a product being for hair vs skin, or is it more complex than that?
Thanks so much
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Fiona,
Yes, and Yes!
Basically, yes, to the last part too. It’s mostly about pH. Skin can recover more quickly from changes in pH. Hair is more sensitive because it’s mostly dead. So, it something is suited to hair, it’s likely fine to use for skin. If it’s OK for skin, though, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s OK for hair.
Matt
Hi there, really looking forward to giving this a try and have been wanting to make own shampoo bars for some time, a lot of other recipes online are just soap!
Two questions if I may?
– How would we go about ‘colouring’ the bars to match the frangrance (e.g yellow in colour for citrus smelling shampoo)
– Is there a way to achieve the ‘grainy’ effect that I see in LUSH bars?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Matt,
It really depends on how natural of a solution you want.
There are soap colorants for sale online. I’m sure you could use the same colorants for soaps here.
The more natural colorants include iron oxides and micas.
I’m not sure about the “grainy” effect. I’ve never tried lush bars, so I’m not quite sure what you are referring to. I guess they could add some sort of exfoliant, but it seems likely that it could get stuck in your hair and leave it less than clean.
Valentina
Hi Tracy
First of all, thank you so much for all the knowledge sharing and the recipes – I have done a lot of research before trying my hand at homemade soap (and the rest) and this is by far the best website!
I have read your article on natural surfactants and tried out Shikakai powder on its own as a shampoo with great results, but I do miss being able to leather my hair at least a little when I wash them, so I was thinking to include the Shikakai powder as part of this shampoo bar, in place of some of the solid surfactants (it will also give it a nice chocolate colour!). Do you think it could work? If so, do you have any suggestions as to the proportions (how much Shikakai powder and by how much to reduce SLSA and perhaps SCI)?
Thank you!
Valentina
PS: I have seen a few people comment that they struggle to source ingredients in the UK – I stumbled on this shop based in Devon which processes online orders https://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/shop Having ordered from them, I would say prices seem very competitive and the products are good quality + they allow orders in smaller amounts.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Valentina,
Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been a bit sick this week and haven’t been as active on the blog.
I’ve never tried using shikakai powder in a shampoo bar. To be honest, I bought shikakai powder a while back and still haven’t even gotten around to trying it yet!
You may be able to sub some of one of the surfactants for it, but I’d really try with a very small amount at first, just in case.
The surfactants help give the bar the right hardness and consistency, so changing out too much could totally change the feel of the bar. It’s really all about experimentation. If I do get around to trying it myself, I’ll try to remember to update here. ?
Thanks for the supplier tip too!
Cheryl
I’ve just recently learned that I’m overly sensitive to the sulfates in soaps, shampoos, and yes – toothpaste lol. Having spent 2 days just researching, I’ve decided to try your recipe for a shampoo bar. I have extremely dry skin but am allergic to shea butter (latex). Can you recommend a suitable alternative that would hold up in this recipe as well as the shea? Thank you so much.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Cheryl,
I’d just sub it out for another butter that you can tolerate.
Keep in mind that some butters are harder than shea (like cocoa butter) and others are softer (like mango butter).
So, to get the right hardness of the bar, you may need to compensate by adding more liquids/less solid ingredients to a bar using cocoa butter instead of shea (or the other way around if you are using mango butter instead- meaning, reduce the liquids, and increase solid ingredients slightly.)
I think the difference would probably be subtle, though, so you could just try it with the substitution and then make changes to get an ideal consistency after seeing if you think it needs it or not. (You could always wait to add preservatives and essential oils until you are happy with it- so you can remelt if needed, to fix the consistency.)
Janice
During lock down I bought a liquid soap making kit for my kids to make from scentssoapsandcandles.co.uk
My kids enjoyed the process and I liked the fact that I could buy different fragrances to add to it when I reordered. I’m going to try melt and pour soap next. Thanks for all the helpful information.
Gary
Hi There,
Like all the previous comments below, Thank you for sharing this!
I have followed your recipe a number of times now, and each time have slightly modified it as it was not as hard as i wanted it to be. The good news is, I now have a very hard, solid bar; taking advice from Swiftmonkey website and your core ingredients. I just wanted to ask you and or anyone else here that have made this, mine always feels slimy to the touch. Like wet paint thats not fully dried. I have even tried curing it for a week or 2, but its not as dry as cold-pressed soaps. I am wondering if it’s me or this is how shampoo bars are suppose to be.
I also notice that high street shops likes to leave the noodles of the surfactant intact for decorative purposes, but thinking if they did that to create a crust to hide the sliminess of the end product? I guess once you use it in the shower, it really doesn’t matter. Just wanted your thoughts on how the end product should be.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Gary,
I haven’t really found that to be the case. I wonder if its the humidity of where you are of if it’s a difference in the ingredients from place to place.
I’ve also never seen the undissolved “noodles” of the surfactant on a product before- interesting!
In any case, it should be simple enough to make a harder bar by decreasing the liquid surfactant and any oils.
Maybe test leaving certain ingredients out to see if they are what you don’t like. You could decrease or leave out the shea and/or BTMS, maybe? It would make it less conditioning, but if you follow up with a conditioner anyway, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Leslie
Hi Tracy ,
I have tried out your recipe, hard to get SCI in the U.K. but managed to find a Dutch company that brings it over in bulk. Definitely need a mask when using it! Also I have noticed that the BTMS does not melt easily , I didn’t notice it in my first batches because I added the dry ingredients first. When I added the wet first as in your video ( might be useful to list the wet ingredients first , just a suggestion) I am still waiting for those little beads to melt! ( 30 mins now on high in a slow cooker- it finally started to melt when I put the lid on) I am using BTMS 50. All that taken in , I guess I’ve used the shampoo with unmelted BTMS and is been good. My hair feels great, having a dry scalp I’ve made a scalp spray with aloe juice, apple cider vinegar and filtered water which does the trick.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Leslie,
I haven’t had that issue, but thank you for letting me know.
I’m slowly going through all of the articles on my blog and updating them, so getting feedback is always helpful.
I use BTMS 25. They should both work interchangeably in this recipe, but I’m wondering if that’s why it is taking longer for yours to melt?
I just made myself a new bar, but when it comes time to making my next one, I’ll experiment a bit with the order of melting to see if I find it making a difference!
I buy ingredients from several places in Spain, btw. One that I like is cremascaseras.es
You wouldn’t get free shipping as I normally do if you were to order from them, but I do know they send internationally so, perhaps, check them out to see if they would be any cheaper for you?
Zita
Hi Tracy! 🙂
First of all I want to say a huge thank You for leading this blog! Recently I’m trying to make most of my cosmetics on my own and your recipes helped me a lot! I have already made some toothpaste, mouthwash and soaps as well.
In few weeks I’m going to run out of my last shampoo I bought at the stores and want to make a shampoo bar. I’ve tried to read about it as many articles as I can and even checked a few big brands what is in the ingredients list. Most of these brands are using Lye in the products and yes, as you mentioned they are also recommending ACV raise afterwards. Since I have an oily (but unfortunately damaged) hair I’m not sure if Lye soap shampoos would work for me or not. To be honest it is a lot easier and cheaper to make and I have everything for it at home. For you recipe I can’t find some ingredients in my country (Hungary). I can find Coco-Glucoside, cocamidopropyl betaine, SCI, but SLSA is only avaible in 1 source and quite expensive… 🙁 Could You please help me if I can make a great shampoo bar with only these ingredients? 🙂
Thank You so much!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Zita,
You can definitely use those ingredients. (Use the Cocamidopropyl betaine in place of the coco betaine.)
If you told me which ingredients you can’t find, it might be easier for me to help you.
Also, the places I buy from here in Spain do sell to Europe, I think. (I buy from cremas-caseras.es, jabonarium, and granvelada quite often.)
Lee
Hi
I was wondering what you thought about using your shampoo and conditioning bar on dogs? I’m collecting recipes and I’ve tried both your shampoo and conditioning bars as well as made your dog soap which is lovely. I’ve read all your postings and was curious as to what you thought about these to bars on pets (dogs generally).
Thanks a gazillian, you rock!
Lee
Tracy Ariza
Hi Lee,
I have used them on my dog and they work well. I’ve been meaning to make a post about it eventually. 😉
When I wrote the first post, I hadn’t dabbled in making shampoo and conditioner bars yet.
Honestly, I still use the soap bars on her too, and I find that they all work really well on her hair. On the other hand, I can’t use anything soap based on mine. I think that the difference is that dogs aren’t bathed as often as we are. If you were going to bathe your dog every day, it would probably be best to use the non-soap one.
Jenna Routasaari
Hey, thank you for recipe. 🙂
I am wondering how to change or what ingredients to add if I have oily hair? I think this recipe is great for normal to dry hair, but I need a bit more. Any ideas?
Thank you.
-Jenna from Finland
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Jenna,
Perhaps you just need to allow your hair to adapt to a milder recipe. This is actually quite cleansing- more than most of the liquid surfactants and more than my liquid shampoo recipe.
Your hair will get used to stronger shampoos and more frequent washing and will create more oils to try to protect you. If you start using milder shampoos and wash less frequently, for a while you’ll feel like you have too much oil. Your hair should adapt, though, and begin to produce less oils.
Meghan McKenzie
Hi Tracy,
Thank you so much for this info! I love your website.
I am trying to make shampoo bars out of just a few ingredients.
1. SCI
2. Coconut Oil
3. Jojoba Oil
4. Hydrolized wheat protein
5. Linatural Preservative
6. Essential Oils
I melted the powdered SCI and oils together, then added the wheat protein, preservative, and essential oils. However, its been over 72 hours since I made it and it doesn’t seem to want to dry. It’s still squishy. Is there an ingredient I am missing to help harden it? I heard Cocoa butter might help. Or did I make it wrong, like should I not melt the powder SCI?
Thank you for your help!
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Meghan,
You may have added too many liquids to combine with the SCI. If you’ve added too much oil, wheat protein, etc., that can be a problem. I also added a bit of BTMS to help condition and emulsify any water-based ingredients with the oil-based ones. Did you have problems with separation?
Some surfactants are able to solubilize oils to a certain extent, but I’m not sure how much oil you can add without an emulsifier.