Making Conditioner From Scratch

[Runzel]

For various reasons, I have taken on the quest of making conditioner from scratch that acts similar to commercial conditioner. Anyone want to help?

The basic requirements of the finished product are:

Water soluable, so it can be applied and rinsed out in the shower
Thick enough for ease of application and so it stays in the hair
Detangeling/slimy enough to enable curly hair to be combed easily while it's in
Moisturizing
Healthy
Relatively simple to put togetherI've been getting by with saturating my hair with AVG in the shower and combing through while it's in as gently as I can, so I figure I can only go up from here!

My first concern was I needed something thick and an emulsifier to mix the oil and water together, so I have purchased guar gum and tried it yesterday. I got mango butter, purified water, and guar gum and mixed them all together. The result was nicely thick and stable, but the mixture was not smooth...it was more like tiny lumps of gel with the half-emulsified fat inbetween. Still, it was easily applicable and slimy, and it was nice to comb through my hair with relative ease. After it rinsed out, however, the "slimy" aspect completely disappeared, and my hair felt a bit rough. :( I'm guessing that the mixture might not be acidic enough, and though that could be cured with a vinegar rinse, I'd rather have it in the conditioner.

I'm thinking of trying the mixture with a liquid oil next instead of the mango butter, to see if that results in a smoother product.

Suggestions are welcome! I have to order everything online, so it takes a while to get new ingredients. I'm hesitant to use AVG in the mixture until I can be sure I'm not allergic to it. Other things I have on hand are jojoba, glycerin, and various oils and herbs.

[Silver & Gold]

I have no suggestions at this time but I'm hoping to read something from anyone who has come up with a good recipe for conditioner.

[morguebabe]

Well you have to have two phases.
YOu have a water phase you heat and mix. This woud have the water in it, aloe powder, and the gum (I think I can find an old formula)
Then you have the oil phase. that has all your oils, and butters. You heat this to the same amount you heat the water phase.
then you add the OIL to WATER. Mixing. but now put it in a cool water bath. keep mixing it untill it's the right consistency.


Did that help at all?

heres a link to a formula of a chemical one: but you can see how it's set up.
you can kinda use it (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Daily+hair+conditioner+from+Lipo+Chemical.-a0187766081)

[Runzel]

Thanks, morgue, that should be helpful. I had read that guar gum did not need to be heated in order to be used, and was unsure if it'd be a good idea to heat oils with a low smoke point....do you still need to heat an oil "mixture" if there's just one oil? What effect does that have on the product? Same with the water...if all you're using is water for the water "mixture", what purpose does heating serve?

[bridgetsgirl]

Have you considered putting aloe gel/juice and honey in it? I imagine honey wouldn't be much of a problem as long as the conditioner isn't used as a leave-in and you heat the honey up beforehand so it doesn't interfere with hair color.

I'll be keeping an eye on this for sure, since I want to set up a greywater system when DH and I buy a house, and not many bath and body products are compatible with greywater systems.

[Runzel]

Have you considered putting aloe gel/juice and honey in it? I imagine honey wouldn't be much of a problem as long as the conditioner isn't used as a leave-in and you heat the honey up beforehand so it doesn't interfere with hair color.

I've been having problems with skin irritation when I use aloe, so I'd rather not use it until I can be certain I'm not having allergic reactions to it.

I was avoiding honey due to the lightening aspect, but thanks for reminding me that heating changes that. Also, since I'm a curly tring to comb through my hair with conditioner, I'm concerned that the honey might make the solution too sticky for a comb to glide through easily. Do you have experience with adding honey to your products? Does it make them sticky, or is the stickiness absorbed so that it would not make it more difficult to comb through it?

[lora410]

hmmm. I make lotions with liquid lecithin, water and oil and its thick like conditioner. I wonder if this would work for conditioner?

[SimplyLonghair]

hmmm. I make lotions with liquid lecithin, water and oil and its thick like conditioner. I wonder if this would work for conditioner?
I am interested in a using lecithin as a mixer as well so I am interested.
/hijack bridgetsgirl have you considered an aerobic system? I get the benefits of a greywater system as I get to use my water to water with, but no issues with "stuff" in it. :D /end hijack
I want a natural conditioner, because I cannot use very many on the market due to allergies to the ingredients.

[Runzel]

Lecithin....hmm. The only information I've been able to find on that is that it's either derived from soy beans or egg yolk. I know egg yolks are great emulsifiers, but I also know they've got lots of protein! :rolleyes: Do you know if lechithin contains protein? I'm allergic to soy, so if it's soy-derived then that one's a no-go for me, but others are more than welcome to try it and I'd love to hear the results!

[bridgetsgirl]

Runzel-No aloe for sure then...I tend to use higher concentrations of honey, which is a bit sticky for combing thru. In weaker dilutions, it might not be a problem. Can't say for sure as I've never tried it...when I'm in more of a position to experiment, I'll look into it, unless you beat me to it!

*sorry to hijack* Simply Longhair- the greywater systems I've been looking into involve artificial wetlands with gravel and cattails/reeds to clean the water...I'll have to look into aerobic systems (unless I unknowingly just described one!) I'm wanting to directly water veggies with the water. /hijack

[SimplyLonghair]

Lecithin....hmm. The only information I've been able to find on that is that it's either derived from soy beans or egg yolk. I know egg yolks are great emulsifiers, but I also know they've got lots of protein! :rolleyes: Do you know if lechithin contains protein? I'm allergic to soy, so if it's soy-derived then that one's a no-go for me, but others are more than welcome to try it and I'd love to hear the results!Most of the ones that I have found are soy based. I have the liquid form it breaks up fat so I take it in pills for that reason. I just wanted to use some in conditioners.

[morguebabe]

I would imange that if you one have one ingreident in your phase and one in phase b then you still need to heat so they 'mix'...

[Runzel]

Most of the ones that I have found are soy based. I have the liquid form it breaks up fat so I take it in pills for that reason. I just wanted to use some in conditioners.

Ah yes. I am finding that the main possibilities are either the soy lechithin or emulsifying wax, beyond that there's long chemical names of stuff I probably don't wna tin my hair anyway. I'm allergic to soy, but I'm considering trying it on my hair anyway...hmm...


I would imange that if you one have one ingreident in your phase and one in phase b then you still need to heat so they 'mix'...

That makes sense. Thanks!

So I tried again jsut with the guar gum, oil, and water, this time heating the water slightly, adding the guar gum a tiny bit at a time stirring constantly, and then adding in the oil. I got a very smooth result! Guar gum is the main ingredient in commercial slime, and I used grapeseed oil, which is green, so the result was neon green thick slime. :D

The main thing I wanted to figure out is if the rough hair texture after the stuff rinsed out was from the guar gum, which is why I used grapeseed oil instead of mango butter--I wanted that third ingredient to be totally different. It really makes my hair very slippery so it worked great for CO combing in that respect, but was very very heavy. And once it rinsed out, the slipperiness left and I was left with very rough feeling hair, just like the first time. :( My other theory was that perhaps it was the ph level, so I tried a vinegar rinse, and it didn't help. My skin was suffering from feeling rough too.

So I'm of to try another emulsifier. I'm leaning towards the soy lechithin, though I might react too badly towards that...glyceryl monosterate seems to be another possibility, but the only place I can find it has the smallest amount at one pound.

On the upside, the guar gum usage has resulted in nice clumping, even though the sheer amount used in my conditioner attempt does weigh my hair down.

As I've ben doing more research I'm realizing this business of making hair products is a lot more complicated than it looks! But I'm hoping that in the end I'll have a personalized conditioner that works for me and my hair. :)

[girlcat36]

There was an LHC member, Tomm, that was making his own conditioner. Haven't seen him around for awhile, though.
I think he got the ingredients website that was called soapcrafters, or something like that.

[Norai]

I tried making my own conditioner once (I make my own lotion, it's essentially the same thing if you're using oils) and wasn't too happy with what I got. I think I used something like 20 or 30 percent oil, a few percent emulsifier, and the rest water. The hardest part for me was that the conditioner had no slip - I'm sure there's something you can add to it that will do that, but I don't know what!

However, I notice that my trader joe's conditioner basically only also has oil and water (water has herbs of various types in it), so it must be possible! Maybe with less oil and more water? Glycerin might be a good ingredient to add.

I figure it's basically the same as lightly oiling my hair though, so stopped trying to make it into classic conditioner... but I still use my trader joe's... if I could only figure out how they do that! If you come up with something good, let us know. :)

[Furiana]

Citric acid is often used in regular conditioners to raise the pH. I've used it in rinses for my hair before, and it seemed to work! (As long as I didn't overdo it, but that's true for everything. :p)

Glycerin would probably be a good one, too. Again, it's frequently used in commercial shampoos, and I at least have had good results with it in homemade mixes.

[Sunshine69]

I have done this and made some pretty good conditioner. I think the recipe I came up with is somewhere in one of the sorbolene threads. There's a website called makingcosmetics.com where I got the emulsifiers and cationic surfactants from. I really liked making my own conditioner because I could add whatever oils and EOs that I liked the best.

I made my own for several weeks, but then I got too busy. And I use so much conditioner that I'd have to make a new batch every week.

What I like to do lately is use coconut milk as a conditioning treatment once a week, and then wash it out with some shampoo diluted in cheap conditioner.

[Hermoine]

Off the top of my head id suggest an aloevera base, as pure edible-aloe should be non-reactive, but if you're not sure, you can always make a conditioning serum with jojoba oil + honey + olive oil mix and apply it as a pre-shampoo if you're feeling more oily or as a post shampoo dt if you're normal to dry (add a bit more honey if you're feeling a bit crunchy from product or heat use or other factors...)...
As for being allergic, you might have something on file from previous medical tests if you can't remember, but they can always give you anew sensitivity test for allergens if needed...

Good luck!:D

[pixiechick]

OOOh, I would love to know how to do this! Keep us posted on your results.

[Norai]

I forgot to add that I use emulsifying wax NF as my emulsifier - I've heard it's much more reliable than lecithin. It's some sort of vegetable wax, not entirely natural, but harmless. It's also very cheap, can get it here: http://www.lotioncrafter.com/polawax-emulsifying-wax-nf.html as well as many other similar sites.

I usually use it at 4% for lotions.

Also another problem I had when I tried to do conditioner - it didn't rinse out very well, left my hair oily. Might work better at a lower percentage of oil, dunno.

You'd also want some form of preservative in it if it's not going to be used within a couple weeks, or keep it in the fridge... don't want to put mold in your hair...ew

[klcqtee]

My grandmother used to use a mixture of evoo and honey. I don't know what the mixing ratio was though... I do know, if you heat it about 15-20 seconds (dependent on the strength of your microwave) it helps the evoo and honey to mix together better. You don't want it much above room temperature. If it feels warm to your hand, wait for it to cool! Doesn't have to be heated, just makes mixing easier.

She used it as a leave in (about 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the amount of time she had on hand). In theory, you could take a bath and just enjoy hanging out in the bathtub for a little while with the mix on.

I hear eggs are also good, so you could try adding some eggs.

I know you have allergies. If your body can't handle evoo, maybe try some coconut oil instead?

Good luck!

[karli]

Last time I made a conditioner I used:

450 ml destilled water
20 g stearamidopropyl dimethylamine(emulsifier)
12 g cetylalkohol
10 g jojoba
5 ml glycerin
paraben

I heated it up in a waterbath, until it all melted. Then I stirred until it reached about 40 d celcius when I added 2,5 ml citric acid.

I use it sometimes when I co, but it`s more of a nurturing conditioner. My hair has been quite frissy for a while, so this has been good to clean with. The hair has gotten almost to soft.

[shadowclaw]

Also, since I'm a curly tring to comb through my hair with conditioner, I'm concerned that the honey might make the solution too sticky for a comb to glide through easily. Do you have experience with adding honey to your products? Does it make them sticky, or is the stickiness absorbed so that it would not make it more difficult to comb through it?

If you are still interested in adding honey to your mixture, from my experience, it does not make your hair sticky or difficult to comb. I like to do a sort of honey mask on my hair, because it is such a good moisturizer (as I understand it, honey attracts moisture). I mix an equal amount of conditioner to honey and I do not have any stickiness problems. The honey does tend to make the conditioner very runny, so I often add a bit of aloe gel to help thicken it. I guess you could really call it a modified SMT.

[OhMyCurlz]

I make my own hair care products. The easiest type of recipe would be something similar to KCKT. That is a very simple recipe and just invoves and infusion (tea) the emulsifier and mango oil. A good way to determine how much of each product to use is to look at the percentages. It's usually recommended to use 5% e-wax.

If you want to make it a 2 in 1 type of product, you coud try using aloe juice as your base adding the e-wax and mango oil as well along with honey for a curl defining leave-in product.

Shade

[Silver & Gold]

I make my own hair care products. The easiest type of recipe would be something similar to KCKT. That is a very simple recipe and just invoves and infusion (tea) the emulsifier and mango oil. A good way to determine how much of each product to use is to look at the percentages. It's usually recommended to use 5% e-wax.

If you want to make it a 2 in 1 type of product, you coud try using aloe juice as your base adding the e-wax and mango oil as well along with honey for a curl defining leave-in product.

Shade

I'm intrigued. I would love to know more about your recipe. What do you use for an emulsifier? Also what types of tea do you prefer and why? Do you have a base recipe you can suggest for experimenting?

[sorraia]

I just recently found this de-tangler rinse on another hair site.
It sounds like it would be very healthy for your hair.
I have not tried it yet but plan to.

De-tangler Rinse
1 tsp marshmallow root
1 tsp burdock root
Pour 12 oz of hot water (or less depending on how viscous you want it )
over herbs. Stir, then let set for 10 minutes stirring occasionally to release slime.
Strain and use liquid. (Optional) add a healthy squirt of EVOO or Jojoba
Put in spray bottle.

[Starr]

If you heat the honey before adding it to your water phase it will destroying it's lightening properties.

[OhMyCurlz]

Borax plus beeswax is a common emulsifying system a lot of people use when they do at home emulsions. for a KCKT duplicate though it would probably be

40% distilled water infusion of herbs
40% aloe juice
5% cetearyl alcohol
5% behentrimonium methiosulfate
10% mango oil
I would then add a bit of honey to the mixture.

Since it would be an at home recipe, you would just need to keep it refrigerated. This is just the percentages I'm assuming based upon how they fall on KCKT ingredient list.

My own personal leave-in recipes are a lot more difficult and I don't typically write them down. I just do and add whatever my hair feels at that time..lol. :eyebrows:

The tea infusion really has no benefit. Cetearyl alcohol and behentrimonium will detangle and condition your hair just the same even if you add it to straight water. You could do 80% water or just 80% aloe juice and get the exact same results.

Shade


I'm intrigued. I would love to know more about your recipe. What do you use for an emulsifier? Also what types of tea do you prefer and why? Do you have a base recipe you can suggest for experimenting?

[pinchbeck]

I'm intrigued. I would love to know more about your recipe. What do you use for an emulsifier? Also what types of tea do you prefer and why? Do you have a base recipe you can suggest for experimenting?It looks like Silver & Gold uses Emulsifying Wax as an emulsifier. It is a fatty alcohol and I believe it is a combination of Cetyl, Cetearyl, and Stearyl Alcohols. Correct me if I am wrong somebody (learning is so much fun!).

[OhMyCurlz]

No, you aren't wrong. Mine is cetearyl and polysorbate 60.

[hopinghoney]

I have recently found the (my) perfect answer to this. I spent ages pondering on emulsifiers etc. Having looked up the ingredients in commercial conditioners (even so called organic ones) I know I will never use them again. But what's a long haired lady to do? My problem was solved by a nutritionist I've been seeing.

I'm allergic to soya and can't digest dairy at the moment, so she suggested a creamy smoothie made of avocado, bananas and water.

Not only does it work, but I realised that if you add a little lemon or lime juice, it is the perfect conditioner!

The avocado has already emulsified the oils and the bananas add shine and thicken the conditioner. The lemon/lime juice of course adds the all important acidity.

And, as far as convinience goes, this is the funny bit. Originally I thought it would be a hassle to make up conditioner ever time I washed my hair, but I think it is a matter of what we are used to. We (I) are used to reaching for a bottle. But if I was making breakfast, a smoothie would be a quick and convinient meal, so when I want to wash my hair I do the following:

1) Make up a smoothie base of 1 banana, half a medium avocado and enough water to make a single cream consistency (about half a pint).

2) Take out about a quarter of it and add a couple of teaspoons of lemon or lime juice. This is your conditioner

3) Then add my whey powder, green powders, liquid minerals or whatever to the rest of the smoothie still in the blender. Blend and drink.

4) Wash my hair using mellies soap nut technique (thank you)

5) Add the first bit of the smoothie to my hair in exactly the same way you would use a commercial conditioner. I some times put it in and rinse immediately, sometimes leave it in while I'm having a bath for a deeper condition.

The beauty of this is that it is a great base. You can add whatever you like in terms of oils and herbs, or honey. I haven't yet, but you could replace the water with a herbal brew- nettles, chamomile, rosemary, hibiscus - add essential oils, add jojoba (in small amounts).

I have long, straight, mid-back length, prone to very slight greasiness hair, but I can see this being versitile enough to suit any hair type.

Obviously once you start adding other ingredients you probably won't want to drink it - although you could. I have a small batch in my freezer to see if it can be frozen and taken out when needed. I froze it in an ice-cube tray. It looks fine, but I haven't used it yet.

I would love it if others tried it and let me know how they get on. I wonder if it would work as a conditioner only wash? Have fun experimenting!

hopinghoney

[Mannaz]

I'll definitely try this! I'm not sure about CO though, there doesn't seem to be anything that actually cleanses as far as I know.

[Fethenwen]

Bringing up this thread, I'm still searching for the perfect eco-friendly conditioner. And now I thought, heck, why not try to make one myself?

I have been calculating the costs of the ingredients and yes, I would save quite a lot of money. One batch would be about 400ml and total cost about 6,20€ per bottle. + that I would be able to use high quality organic and biodegradable ingredients and experiment :) And I would not have to use up heaps of plastic bottles when I can just make my own and refill existing bottles.

I would be using this as a base recipe: http://www.brambleberry.com/Webpage.aspx?WebpageId=39

I was thinking about infusing the water used for this with amla, or perhaps use rosewater. I would also add citric acid for balancing the ph level. Some of these ingredients could be used for making my own skin cream... so perhaps I should do that also while I'm at it! For the skin cream I would whip up some sheabutter and go from there.

Anyone else making their own conditioner at this time?

[Lindaleriel]

I've recently begun making my own conditioner (and various other stuff), I haven't landed on my perfect recipe yet, but here is my most recent version.

77% Distiled Water
10% BTMS-25 http://www.lotioncrafter.com/lotioncrafter-btms.html
2% Hydrolized Oats http://www.lotioncrafter.com/hydrolyzed-oats.html
3% Oilve Oil
3% Avocado Oil
3% Water Soluble Shea Butter http://www.lotioncrafter.com/shea-butter-ws.html
1% Optiphen Plus (preservative) http://www.lotioncrafter.com/optiphen-plus.html
1% Fragrance or essential oils

I more or less use this method http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.ca/2012/09/newbie-tuesday-lets-make-conditioner.html, although I don't heat the oils and water separate, just toss them all into the same pyrex measuring cup and call it good. And this is the site I use for doing all the calculations for amounts, math is soooooo not my friend, I could not do this without this calculator or something like it, it's about 3/4 of the way down the page. http://lotionsecrets.com/preservativechart.html.

I mostly love this conditioner, my hair is definitely the softest and healthiest feeling it has ever been, but something is off about my curl pattern, it's like it is so soft it can't even hold a ringlet. I usually fall in the 3a with a touch of 3b range and since using this conditioner it's more like 2c with a touch of 3a. Not sure what I need to change to get my curls back. Maybe less BTMS? Maybe less oil? Maybe it's the oats? I'm thinking I'm going to start with reducing the oats to 1% next time.

Oh, and for fragrance, there are TONS of sites out there that sell fragrance oils for cosmetic use so I can't pretend to know the best, but I ordered mine from here and have been quite happy with them. http://www.wellingtonfragrance.com/ I also got an amazing discontinued bath and bodyworks scent copycat at this site, but the smallest they have is 2oz which is a serious TON of scent, you'd better really really love anything you get. http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/

I've been trying to figure out what to mix up from my wellington stash for the perfect light fruity/floral scent, my most recent one is close, though still missing something. 1 part Raspberry, 1 part Nectarine, 1 part Green Apple and half a part Lilly of the Valley - I think it needs more Lilly and maybe... Strawberry? Lemon? Monkey Farts is an awesome scent that would be great for hair products, but it just smells like my son to me since I use it in his diaper rash cream. There are also lots of copycats for various perfumes, if you have a signature scent that might be nice to coordinate, I'm going to try D&G Light Blue Type next batch. That's my usual scent, I just usually like something a little fruitier in the shower. This foray into making my own toiletries has been pretty fun. I really like getting to keep tweaking until I get it exactly right for my hair. I'm going to try doing a highly conditioning gentle cleanser once I run out of the the shampoo stock up I did right before I started this whole project. My hair does not respond well to CO wash, but I think would actually do better with something less than a true shampoo, so I'm planning to add cocamidopropyl betaine http://www.makingcosmetics.com/Coco-Betaine-p30.html to a much lighter version of my conditioner recipe and see how that goes.

[Fethenwen]

That's interesting, thank you for your recipe and all the links!

I was thinking about using EO oils in my conditioners for scent, but perhaps I will purchase some fragrance as well. They are quite cheap and non-allergen, I was thinking about sandalwood or perhaps white tea.
There is one really neat online shop here in Finland that I can get all my ingredients from: http://pieni.tuoksukauppa.net/PublishedService Though water soluble shea butter they don't have.

I'm so exited to get started! I bought a small scale with high precision (0.01g) to weigh my ingredients with. I have actually had a need for such a scale for a long time now. Finally I'm getting one :)

[In2wishin]

That's interesting, thank you for your recipe and all the links!

I was thinking about using EO oils in my conditioners for scent, but perhaps I will purchase some fragrance as well. They are quite cheap and non-allergen, I was thinking about sandalwood or perhaps white tea.
There is one really neat online shop here in Finland that I can get all my ingredients from: http://pieni.tuoksukauppa.net/PublishedService Though water soluble shea butter they don't have.

I'm so exited to get started! I bought a small scale with high precision (0.01g) to weigh my ingredients with. I have actually had a need for such a scale for a long time now. Finally I'm getting one :)

I have been making my own conditioner for years. My suggestion to new formulators is to make up a batch with just the emulsifier and water. I always suggest starting with 7% emulsifyer. Each time you wash your hair, take the amount you need for just that one wash and add an ingredient (oil, protein, humectant, etc) and see what it does. This way you can get a good idea of what works for your hair and what doesn't.

Water soluble shea butter isn't necessary if you are using an emulsifier like BTMS. It will put all oils and water into suspension.

If you can get them, buy some disposable transfer pipettes. They are really great for measuring small amounts, especially your EO's or FO's. Eyedroppers are handy too but sometimes difficult to clean properly.

I melt all of my oils and waxes in the microwave, then add boiling water as I mix (I prefer using an immersion blender). Make sure you let it cool to lukewarm before adding EO or FO.

[Fethenwen]

^ That's really a great idea! That I will definitely do, first make a small batch of just water and emulsifier and go from there.

What kind of benefits do you get btw from making your own conditioner? Do you prefer your own conditioner a lot compared to store bought?

[In2wishin]

^ That's really a great idea! That I will definitely do, first make a small batch of just water and emulsifier and go from there.

What kind of benefits do you get btw from making your own conditioner? Do you prefer your own conditioner a lot compared to store bought?

You might want to consider making a big batch (like about a liter) of the water/emulsifier base and do small batches of different mixes from that.

I won't ever buy commercial conditioner again. For me, the main benefits are:

light/no scent
I can control the amount of protein
I can use oils I know my hair likes
I can avoid humectants
I can avoid preservatives
It is so much cheaper

[karli]

I still make and use the same conditioner as I've done the last years.. Recipy here somewhere..
For me with my sensitive scalp and moisture loving hair, it works great :)

* Few ingredients - easier to see what I can tolerate or not..
* I can use good oils.. It does make a big difference for me what kind of oils I use..
* Change it after season - more glycerin during summer..
* Scent by choice - seems as if I have low tolerance for scents

[Fethenwen]

Awesome :)
--
I was also thinking about not using any preservatives, I'm fine with storing my conditioner in the fridge.

[In2wishin]

Awesome :)
--
I was also thinking about not using any preservatives, I'm fine with storing my conditioner in the fridge.

I make about 2 months worth at a time. If you follow standard sanitation methods (pre-wash everything in hot water, use boiling water (even if you use distilled), etc.) you will not need refrigeration for that amount of time, only for long-term storage.

[Fethenwen]

^ Ok, that's pretty neat!

[Fethenwen]

Now, I have been using my own home-made conditioner long enough to talk about the results.

My first batch 100g of condish was ok, it was very basic. Thick and quite nice, but nothing super conditioning. Consisting only of emulsifier, water and a tiny bit of panthenol.

My second batch which I made today was more complex, 100g with emulsifier, rosewater, jojoba oil, glycerin, panthenol, vitamin E and citric acid. I used it today, and it felt amazing on my hair in the shower. Now that my hair has dried, I noticed that this might actually be the best conditioner I've used in a very long time. The shine, and softness is amazing. It also feels light, I don't think that this should build up easily as it doesn't have that much extra in it which could cause build-up.
I also had a scale, so that I could measure more precisely. Making this was such great fun! This could become a new hobby.

[In2wishin]

Now, I have been using my own home-made conditioner long enough to talk about the results.

My first batch 100g of condish was ok, it was very basic. Thick and quite nice, but nothing super conditioning. Consisting only of emulsifier, water and a tiny bit of panthenol.

My second batch which I made today was more complex, 100g with emulsifier, rosewater, jojoba oil, glycerin, panthenol, vitamin E and citric acid. I used it today, and it felt amazing on my hair in the shower. Now that my hair has dried, I noticed that this might actually be the best conditioner I've used in a very long time. The shine, and softness is amazing. It also feels light, I don't think that this should build up easily as it doesn't have that much extra in it which could cause build-up.
I also had a scale, so that I could measure more precisely. Making this was such great fun! This could become a new hobby.

:twisted: Gru may be a super enabler but I can be a stealthy one :twisted:

I am glad you found something that works! I also suspect that you will be doing even more experimenting as it is rather addicting :D

[DarleneH]

I've been wanting to try this, and the only reason I haven't is I was hoping to catch it on sale:

Elements Bath and Body Conditioner Flakes

http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/Natural-Hair-Conditioner-Flakes-pr-1591.html

You make it into a thinner consistency or thicker for heavier conditioning.