Make my own Shampoo bar

[Heidi_234]

I'm not living in the US and ordering Shampoo bars are quite costly affair for me. Can I make my own shampoo bar just as good as CV, which is so popular around here?
I googled it, and all the recipes contain lye in them. I don't know much about it, except that it's not safe (Fight Club anyone?). Is it okey to use lye in the shampoo bar? Does CV bars were made this way?
Does anyone here tried to make his own shampoo bar?

[SHELIAANN1969]

Hi Heidi, yes you can make shampoo bars, the recipes that you googled ALL have lye, that is how soap is made.

Shampoo bars usually have added Castor Oil in them to make them *bubbly*

I prefer the Hot Process method for making soap, if you use the CP (cold process) method, it takes awhile for the bars to cure. With the Hot Process method you can usually use the bars the next day. Hot process just means you are cooking the soap with heat and thus making it *soap* faster.

I would suggest going to -- www.craftster.org and look under bath and beauty, there is a wealth of information and detailed instructions there along with recipies, photos and anything else you can think of on soap making!

Good luck, it's lovely, I only use homemade soap now and will never use commercial soap again if I have a choice.

I get itchy with commercial soap and this is a lovely and addictive hobby!!:D

[HairColoredHair]

Lye is dangerous, yes, but after the curing process there is no lye remaining in the soap... so it's safe. You could always pH test to be certain. :)

[Heidi_234]

Hi Heidi, yes you can make shampoo bars, the recipes that you googled ALL have lye, that is how soap is made.

Shampoo bars usually have added Castor Oil in them to make them *bubbly*

I prefer the Hot Process method for making soap, if you use the CP (cold process) method, it takes awhile for the bars to cure. With the Hot Process method you can usually use the bars the next day. Hot process just means you are cooking the soap with heat and thus making it *soap* faster.

I would suggest going to -- www.craftster.org (http://www.craftster.org) and look under bath and beauty, there is a wealth of information and detailed instructions there along with recipies, photos and anything else you can think of on soap making!

Good luck, it's lovely, I only use homemade soap now and will never use commercial soap again if I have a choice.

I get itchy with commercial soap and this is a lovely and addictive hobby!!:D
Thank you very very much for the info Shelia Ann, I would defenitly look into this.
So you make your own shampoo bars then?

Lye is dangerous, yes, but after the curing process there is no lye remaining in the soap... so it's safe. You could always pH test to be certain. :)
It would be too base as I understand, right?

[HairColoredHair]

Soap is a little basic to begin with, but lye has a pH of 14... I think bleach is 11?

[Euphony]

Check out Miller Soap (http://www.millersoap.com) - there's gobs of information on that site!

You combine lye water with oils, you always have way more oils than lye that is needed for it (that's called superfatting). The lye and oils go through a process called saponification, saponification is what makes the salt that is soap.

HA I found a thread I started on it eons ago: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=427 (I'd forgotten about that thread :D ).

[Kirin]

If you are not comfortable with handling lye, all soaps are made with it.... so in handmaking from scratch thats hard to avoid. However many companies sell "rebatching soap" which you cut up. They have instructions on how to melt it down, add what you like, and reform it into bars.

These soaps would be called melt and pour (glycering, not great for hair) or rebatching soap.

[Heidi_234]

Check out Miller Soap (http://www.millersoap.com) - there's gobs of information on that site!

You combine lye water with oils, you always have way more oils than lye that is needed for it (that's called superfatting). The lye and oils go through a process called saponification, saponification is what makes the salt that is soap.

HA I found a thread I started on it eons ago: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=427 (I'd forgotten about that thread :D ).
Thanks for that site, it really does have heaps of info!
And the thread too, now I have tons of reading to do. :)
Nice to know folks here do make their own poo bars, so I know it can't be that tricky.


If you are not comfortable with handling lye, all soaps are made with it.... so in handmaking from scratch thats hard to avoid. However many companies sell "rebatching soap" which you cut up. They have instructions on how to melt it down, add what you like, and reform it into bars.

These soaps would be called melt and pour (glycering, not great for hair) or rebatching soap.

No, it wasn't that. I just didn't know that lye is a standard component in soapmaking, and all I knew about it that it wasn't flesh friendly so it seemed wrong to me. But now after this thread and the reading I've about soapmaking and the chemicals reactions involving lye I was reassured that it is indeed legitimate component.