How to make herbal shampoo bars
This shampoo bar formula is excellent to start with if you're looking for a basic, minimalistic, easily adjustable recipe. It features 4 surfactants for a gentle, non-irritating bar that I paired with hydrating, moisturizing Panthenol, hair shine complex Vithaar, and nourishing Broccoli Seed Oil.
These Herbal Shampoo Bars are enriched with Spirulina Powder and Bhringraj Powder.
Bhringraj could be beneficial for different hair types and is said to stimulate hair growth, repair weak and damaged hair, and prevent graying and dandruff.
⚠️IMPORTANT: IF YOU DON'T HAVE SOME OF THE INGREDIENTS LISTED IN MY FORMULA YOU CAN STILL MAKE THESE SHAMPOO BARS. CONTINUE READING TO LEARN HOW TO ADJUST THIS FORMULATION
I used different surfactants that work together beautifully:
SCI (Sodium cocoyl isethionate) - white powder
SLSA (Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate) - white powder
SCS (Sodium coco sulfate) - white granules
Coco B (Cocamidopropyl Betaine) - liquid surfactant
You do need at least two surfactants a liquid and a solid one to create a successful batch of shampoo bars but I do recommend using three or more. If you have SLMI or another solid surfactant on hand you can use it in this formula instead of SLSA or SCS.
For the oil phase, I opted for amazingly light but super hair-loving Broccoli Seed oil that is known to be a silicone substitute in hair products. You can use a light oil or Dimethicone instead.
My actives in this formulation are Panthenol and Vithaar Complex. I am pretty sure Vithhar is impossible to buy anywhere outside of the EU which is why I chose a few substitutions available in many countries.
Hydrolyzed Protein
Honequat
Silk Amino Acids
A hair-loving active of choice
The making process does not require heating or melting and the whole thing comes together rather quickly. For a small batch like mine (200g) kneading with your hands is enough but if you would like to scale up then it's a good idea to use a stand mixer to do the mixing for you.
These shampoo bars dry super quickly. Mine were hard enough to use just after 30 minutes of drying in a warm room. However, it's best to let your solid shampoo bars to air dry for 24-48 hours. If you live in high-humidity climates or you added more liquids than I did you would need more time to dry your shampoo bars.
I didn't use any colorant in my formulation because spirulina worked well enough but if you would like a deeper color you can use micas, water-soluble dyes, or lakes in your shampoo bars.
If you don't have spirulina or Bhringraj powder, use more powdered surfactants instead, or add any powdered extract that you like.
You can substitute Euxul PE9010 for Liquid Germall Plus. The recommended usage rate for Liquid Germall Plus is 0.5% so you need to add an extra 0.5% of a liquid ingredient in your formula (for example Panthenol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, fragrance oil, Broccoli Seed Oil, etc).
Now, let us take a look at the formulation
To make, combine everything in a bowl and knead with your hands until everything comes together like play dough. In the beginning, your ingredients could be stubborn and it looks like it's never going to work but trust the process, knead, squish, and mix and it will turn into beautiful, workable shampoo bar dough.
Once everything is combined you can start pressing your bars. I used 3D mold and mooncake press but you can also shape these bars by hand.
I hope you like this formulation as much as I do. Happy making!
P.S I couldn't make any pictures of the process because it was getting dark already and my phone does not have the best camera😅
What do you think about this Formula? Would you like to make one? Do you have any questions? Feel free to comment down below or reach out to me via Facebook or Instagram.
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