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DIY shampoo bar

Shampoo Bar Recipe - Coconut & Lime

This DIY shampoo bar works wonders on my hair. And if you get yourself a beautiful mold, you’d be surprised how sophisticated and luxurious these little bars can look.
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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: DIY Bath & Body
Cuisine: N/A
Difficulty Level: Easy
Yield (adjustable): 100 g
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Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Equipment:

Instructions:

  • Before you start making shampoo bars be sure to put on your face mask. Then, place all your drying ingredients into a bowl and stir. 
    53 g Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate Powder, 15 g Arrowroot Powder, 5 g Powdered Coconut Milk, 1 g Allantoin Powder
    place all your drying ingredients into a bowl
  • Weigh the coconut oil into a heat-proof container. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave or by placing the beaker into a water bath to melt and remove it once it has melted.
    10 g Coconut Oil
    how to make shampoo bars - Weight the coconut oil into a heat-proof container.
  • Add the Cocamidopropyl Betaine, the lime essential oil, and the preservative to the melted coconut oil. Stir to combine.
    14 g Cocamidopropyl Betaine, 1 g Lime Essential Oil
    Add the Cocamidopropyl Betaine
  • Now it’s time to combine our dry and wet ingredients. So go ahead and sprinkle the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. 
    combine our dry and wet ingredients
  • Use the spatula to bring the ingredients together. You are looking for a crumble-type consistency.  
    how to make shampoo bars - Weight the coconut oil into a heat-proof container.
  • Once you have the correct consistency that is not too sticky so that it sticks to your hands, you can use your hands to bring it all together. Give it a good knead to ensure everything has been fully incorporated and you have the consistency of play dough. If the dough is too sticky, you could add more arrowroot powder or more glycerine if it is too dry.
    consistency of play dough
  • When you have a good, flexible dough, start filling the mold. Make a single bar or split the mixture into two 50g bars. I like to push the shampoo dough in a bit at a time to make sure it is getting into all the corners and sides. If you prefer, you can just place the whole dough ball in and give it a good squish down.
    start filling the mold
  • For a smoother finish, try placing a piece of wax paper over the dough and smoothing it down with the palm of your hand. Then, place the mold into the freezer for a couple of hours to harden. After a couple of hours in the freezer, the shampoo bar should be hard enough to remove it from the mold. 
    smoothing it down
  • Once the shampoo bar has hardened, you can remove it from the mold. You will notice that it will soften slightly once it has defrosted. The shampoo bar will need to dry out and harden for a good few days before you can use it. I found most bars take around a week before they are ready.
    Once the shampoo bar has hardened, you can remove it from the mold.

Notes:

Important:
  • This shampoo bar can be used as an all-over soap as well as a shampoo bar. 
  • To check the pH. Unfortunately, the bar needs to be solid, so you shave 1g from it and dissolve it in 9g water. Adjust the sample if needed (5 to 6pH), then multiply this by the bar's weight. In this case, the bar is 100g, so if the sample needs to be adjusted by 0.002, we could multiply this by 100 = 0.2, so we would add 0.2g of citric acid to the next bar we make.
  • You must wear a face mask whilst working with powder surfactants.
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