I’ve made lots of homemade shampoo before, and recently I had great results with my DIY clarifying shampoo and the shampoo bar without lye, but what about a cold process shampoo bar recipe?
The therapeutic shampoo bar below must be one of the best homemade shampoo recipes I’ve ever used. It has a delightful aroma that lasts all day long, and it really does revive flat, dull and thinning hair.
- This cold process shampoo bar is a fantastic soap that’s suitable for all the family including anyone who may be suffering from an itchy or flaky scalp.
- It’s full of essential oils aimed to stimulate the memory and lift tension, along with nourishing the scalp and adding a lovely shine to your hair.
- It’s also a great bar to take with you when travelling, especially if you intend to fly.
- You can cut the amount you may need from one of the bars and pop it in with your hand luggage without the worry of carrying liquids.
The Ingredients
- 25 1/2 oz (722g) Olive Oil
- 3 1/2 oz (71g) Sweet Almond Oil
- 2 oz (60g) Beeswax
- 2 oz (55g) Creamed Coconut
- 4 oz (110g) Soapmaking Lye
- 9 1/2 oz (265g) Distilled Water
- 2 Chamomile Teabags
- 4 teaspoons (20ml) Bergamot Essential Oil
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) Lavender Essential Oil
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) Geranium Essential Oil
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) Rosemary Essential Oil
The Method
Watch How To Make Basic Cold Process Soap
Before you make this soap, take a few minutes to watch the video below for the basic method. For more detailed information see how to make cold process soap at home.
Use The Cold Process Soap Making Method plus the following recipe specific steps:
- In Step 1 – Put the chamomile teabags into a bowl Boil the mineral water and pour it over them. Once cooled, strain, and reserve the infusion. Substitute the water for the infusion in the cold process method step 3.
- In Step 3 – Melt the creamed coconut with the oils and wax this will need to be stirred continuously to avoid the coconut from sticking to the bottom of the pan whilst heating.
- In Step 4 – Combine oils and lye when both temperatures equally reach 130 F (55 C)
Photos From This Recipe
Annemarie’s Shampoo Bar
Hi! Thanks for sharing your homemade shampoo recipe!
My daughter and I just plopped our first batch into our molds. When I added our crazy blend of essential oils, the batter came to a very thick trace quickly. It’s now getting all gooey and gelly! It was a surprise to see it reach gel phase so quickly.
Very excited to watch it develop into fabulous shampoo!
We forgot to check our essential oil supplies before we started. The original blend was a spicy citrus of lime, orange, cinnamon, and patchouli. When we ran out of lime, we added lemongrass and basil. Then when we ran out of wild orange, we added grapefruit. We barely had enough cinnamon and earth and wood (from Eden’s Garden) to finish the blend. We ended up with a crazy citrus explosion that we will never be able to recreate.
We ran out of sweet almond oil, so I had to supplement with 2 ounces of avocado oil. I definitely blended it too long. The trace was already pretty thick when I added the essential oils. Then it really thickened! We plopped the batter in the molds, and they began to gel immediately.
Annemarie
Check out more homemade shampoo recipes here. Do you have your own recipe? If so, tell us what ingredients did you used in the comments below.
Have you tested the ph of this soap…has anyone? I’m curious.
Hi Margaret,
Yes I have and it was all within safe levels. I always test the PH of my soaps before I post them on my blog.
Hello!! thank you so much for sharing the recipe, I would like to try but a small batch, is it safe to say I can divide the quantities in 2 to make a smaller batch?
Kind regards,
Denisa
Hi Denisa,
Yes absolutely, as long as you half the measurements precisely. If you want to be super precise, you could take the oils and run them through our soap calculator.
Good monring,
I’m writing from Italy, just one question: what is it meaned with “lye”? I can use glycerin, too? thanks and sorry for the question but i just want to be sure os the result.
Kind regards
Hi Annalisa, Welcome to Savvyhomemade.com
You can not use glycerin for this soap, you must use Lye as it is necessary to make cold process soap. you can find it here https://www.savvyhomemade.com/wholesale-soap-supplies/#Lye_Sodium_HydroxideCaustic_Soda
Before you make this take a look at my post and video showing you how to make cold process soap in detail. https://www.savvyhomemade.com/how-to-make-soap/
Spero che questo aiuti, buona giornata.
Hi, roughly how many bars will this recipe make?
Hi Ruth
For me its about ten good size chunky bars, but it would depend on your mold size and how thick you cut them 😉
I have never made soap or shampoo before. Does it have to cure and if so, how long? In step #3- you heat the oils and the infusion in separate pans at the same time so you will need 2 thermometers to check the temperature and then add together? Thanks for your help!
Hi Becky
Yes you will need two thermometers, for more info check out my full tutorial on cold process soap making
What an interesting recipe! Thank you so much! I have read that bees was can kill the foam in soaps. What about the bubbles?
I wouldn’t worry about that, I never have and I get enough bubbles, some soaps have more than others and beeswax makes a slightly harder soap… but one nice benefit is that beeswax makes your soap last longer.
I’m not sure exactly what creamed coconut is???? I use coconut oil in my cold process soap so could I sub that for the creamed coconut?
Hi Lynn
You can get creamed coconut on Amazon, but there are probably a few other places.
Coconut oil won’t really give the same texture so it would take some experimenting. Hope this helps 🙂
Is it possible to use something else besides Lye? I have Hashimoto’s so I’m careful what I use on my hair and body.
thank you,
Barb
Sorry Barb, unfortunately you cant make cold process soap without using lye ;-(
Barbara Winge I too have Hasimotos and I use homemade lye soap on my hair and it has worked wonders. Lye is in ALL natural soaps. regular store baught shampoos are bad for our hair.
We can’t use almond oil due to nut allergies. Can you recommend an oil to use in place of it? We can use coconut so would that be OK? Thank you!
Hi Ronda, You can replace Sweet Almond Oil with any other liquid carrier oil… Johoba or Avocado would be nice.
Before substituting ANY oils in a soap recipe you must run the revised recipe thru a soap calculator to determine the correct quantity of lye needed to convert the oils into soap. Every oil has a different SAP number and without doing this you run the risk if producing a lye heavy soap that could burn or irritate your skin.
I have used this recipe before and I really enjoy it! Nice solid bar. I have a question and I can’t remember if I am reading the recipe incorrectly. The water is used to brew the tea, but what liquid does the lye go into?
Thank you!
Hi Joy,
Following the basic cold process method here you just need to substitute the water element for the infusion.