Teach Soap

I made my first batch of shampoo bars about 2 1/2 weeks ago and am letting them cure. I used the "Invigorating Shampoo Bar" recipe from the Teach Soap website. I sure hope it works better than the shampoo bars I bought.

I have tried multiple different shampoo bars (bought them on Etsy) with not-so-great results. I gave it a full 3 months of letting my hair "adjust", but it never did. I have tried everything - acv rinse, no rinse, washing every day, washing every other day or every 3 days - nothing works. I have skin on the oily side, but nothing too crazy. It was finally so greasy and flat I just had to give up and go back to shampoo.

I was hoping to be able to sell shampoo bars when I get my businesss up and running, but until I find something that actually works, I couldn't see selling it to people and claiming that they work because, so far, in my experience, they really don't. Anyone else have similar issues with shampoo bars?

Are you talking about CP shampoo bars? Or Syndet Shampoo bars?

I had problems with CP shampoo bars for a long time. They'd dry out my hair so bad & my hair got crunchy and straw-like. So I stuck to buying Syndet Shampoo bars & using those. But about a month ago, another soaper made the comment "Think conditioning, not cleansing" when making up a recipe for shampoo bars. So that's what I did. I dropped the coconut oil & upped the avocado oil and tweaked my recipe a little more. I've been using mine since a few days after making them & so far I have not had the dry, crunchiness that I usually get with using CP on my hair. I haven't had to do an ACV rinse, but I think that also has a lot to do with the hardness of your water and we do not have hard water at all. In another week or so I'll be giving some of the shampoo bars out to some of my testers, so I'm excited to see what they're responses will be.

If you want to try the recipe I use, just pm me & I'll get it for you.

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Genny

Genny, they were CP shampoo bars. It's weird - I guess I'm having the opposite problem as you were with them. They were leaving my hair feeling like there was still a layer of grease on my scalp. My hair was very, very soft because of all the oil that stayed on my hair instead of getting washed off like shampoo. In fact, a little too soft - it started turning greasy and I just couldn't seem to get it to feel clean. That's why I tried the ACV rinse. I don't have hard water, but I thought maybe it would help cleanse my scalp or something. Not so much. Haha.

I'm pm you for your recipe once I figure out how to do that I appreciate you offering that.

What are sydnet bars? I've never heard of that.

I hope I can find something that works. Of course, I'll need testers for whatever bar I do decide to sell. I have a feeling any business I would like to get going is going to be a ways off in the future since I have to figure out which recipes I will be using and really tweak things. Oh yeah, not to mention the whole business side of things.

I can't use CP shampoo bars. They make my hair feel like straw, no matter what else I use with them. I now only use syndet shampoo bars. Here is Susan's blog on syndet shampoo bars. http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/s ... ampoo+bars

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I sent you a pm with the recipe.

Syndet shampoo bars are shampoos that contain synthetic surfactants. Nothing wrong with them at all, I just know that some people are opposed to using synthetic surfactants. Susan over at Point of Interest has a lot of info on them and some very nice recipes http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2 ... o-bar.html

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Genny

Whoops, didn't see Irena's post LOL

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Genny

Ohhhhhhh syndet. I think I did hear that once. Thanks for the info. I'll check it out!

I tend to want to stick to natural ingredients, but I'm always willing to investigate because I am finding that natural just doesn't always work out for me. I'm actually interested in trying fragrance oils. I've only used EO's.

Anyhow, thanks a bunch for the website references!

p.s. It's a pleasure to post on this site and read what others have to say, because everyone is just so nice and helpful. When my daughter was born, I looked at some new mom forums and it was like sitting back and watching all these women just tear into each other and be very judgmental. I'm glad this is far more friendly

ACV rinse? Sorry I am not up to all the abbreviations, what is that?

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Genny

Ahhh, thanks.

Just to confuse things....

All hair is not created equal. The Boyfriend has used almost every bar I've made as shampoo (his idea, not mine - they were not made to be shampoo bars) and he RAVES about them....especially the 100% coconut oil!

But - he's half Japanese and has that very, VERY thick, coarse hair Asians are often blessed/cursed with (depending on your view). He has to use tons of gel to keep it under any kind of control. That, combined with how coarse his hair is - coconut oil soap is perfect as his hair is tough and crapped up with gel every day! He says it cleans it wonderfully without drying.

Thus - a guy with coarse hair and using lots of gel might not like a conditioning shampoo bar.

I always use my regular CP soap bars to wash my hair and my hair feels just as nice as with regular shampoo. My husband would rather use shampoo because he hates the way his hair feels if he washed it with CP soap. Good thing opposites attract, right?

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I made the one from the Lovin soap site too . It is a very good Shampoo bar. The only thing I don't like is the Strong tea tree oil smelll. I am going to try adding a stronger FO because just the TTO smellls like dog shampoo to me.

i have used my own CP bars and they worked fine too. I have very hard water. I am not young so my hair tends to run on the dry side. I don't use any rinses. My hair is half silver color now too.

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JULIE

The Lord is my Shepard

Lol, Bama. Dog shampoo. No, I wouldn't want to smell like that, either.

I have also used other CP soaps I have made as shampoo bars. Maybe I should try a coconut oil one for my hair because I apparently don't need the conditioning.