Teach Soap

I've been wanting to make my own shampoo; I've done a bunch of searches here, and on the web in general. I just can't seem to find much information on it! I have soap maker 3 for the formulation I'm just not sure where to go from there. I know I have to cook it in the crockpot for 3-4 hours, then thin it with distilled water. Not sure when to add things like colloidal oatmeal and FO though. Wanting to make a nice moisturizing oatmeal shampoo for my mom who has bad eczema on her upper back, shampoo REALLY agitates it! Wanting to keep it sulfate free. Could you guys and gals who know more about this post some credible links for me please? Thanks folks!!!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Have you checked out: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/
She has some really great stuff on her blog.

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

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

Thanks ladies! I will have a look at that!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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

Hrm, those recipes use a lot of the chemicals I want to avoid. Looking to do a shampoo that is more like a bar of my soap only liquid form. Most of what I have found uses ivory soap and guar gum! I did order a book that is about liquid soaps, maybe it will have what I want Its the same as the one from BB, just from a place in Canada because the border makes S&H way too high. Silly invisible line!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Hi there.
Unless your water is completely soft (unlikely) then it's not a good idea to make a shampoo out of actual soap, liquid or otherwise. This is because the metal ions in tap water react to cause scum which then remains after rinsing, stuck to the hair, which becomes dull and with build-up.
You don't HAVE to formulate your own - most surfactant wholesalers stock pre-blended shampoo. Here, a pre-blended baby shampoo costs about $4 per kilo and usage could be say, 10% giving a pretty strong, thick product. You'll need to adjust thickness using ammonium or sodium chloride using the salt curve.

I'm just starting out to design my own shampoos using a blend of anionic and amphoteric surfactants.
My first uses ammonium lauryl sulfate, sodium cocoamphoacetate, and MEA, pretty close to what's in Victoria's Secret Bath and Shower Cream. Because it is a cream and not a clear liquid product I have shea butter and jojoba oil in it too. Add some specialised ingredients for antitangle and hair repair, such as quaternium-60 and Glossamer L-6600 and there you go, a real shampoo.

Heather, I just made my first liquid soap with shampoo in mind--a moisturizing shampoo! (Two threads on the CP page.) There is a local largish soap maker who makes an olive oil shampoo that a friend really likes for her daughter's curly hair, so that was my starting point. I did a 90/10 olive/castor, with 1 ounce of honey added during the cooking phase. For oatmeal, you want the proteins in there, so you could try using a percentage of oat milk for water in the lye phase so that you don't have chunks of oatmeal in your liquid soap. I've read that oat milk + lye can = glop, so keep the percentage down in the beginning, maybe?

Which book did you order? The one I have is obsessed with clarity, and has you use too much lye, and then neutralize later. No thanks! It's clear enough for me at 3% superfat, and I won't have to worry about neutralizing.

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

http://www.brambleberry.com/Making-Natu ... P3729.aspx this is the book I ordered.

@Barquentine: I want to avoid the chemicals in the bases and the recipes on the linked site as the person I am making the shampoo for has skin that is irritated by them. And I am allergic to preservatives, so I can't use those either. The stuff I looked at at work is a castille based liquid shampoo that lists only olive oil, a small amount of castor (for bubbles), KOH, water, oatmeal, and lavender EO. I also don't want to add salt as it is extremely drying and makes her skin crack open. We have tried every type of store bought shampoo and it all leaves her back looking like hamburger!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

That's the book I have, too! She describes the process pretty thoroughly, which I liked, and gives some recipes. I found watching videos helpful, too, to get a sense of what things ought to look like. And I would ignore her extra lye + neutralizers, since I assume you don't care about the soap being super clear.

The process (which I've done all of once!) is not that complicated. Like most things in life, when you actually do it, it's just a series of steps, so don't let it intimidate you. I'll let you know how the olive/castor mix works over the long run. So far, it's really nice as a shampoo and as a foaming handwash. I may do a second batch with some coconut for lather (because, of course, it's olive oil, and has very little). Or an all-coconut as a laundry or dish soap. Hmm.

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Thanks Mellifera! And nope, don't care if its clear or not! Just that it works and doesn't rip my Mom's skin off!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

It isn't drying, and it makes my hair and my daughter's super soft, so--so far, so good.

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I use a CP soap bar to wash my hair. LOVE IT! Not only does it clean my hair perfectly, it smells totally awesome after wards and isn't drying at all. Heather I'm very limited in what hair care products I can use because my back blisters breaks out in a horrible itchy rash with most commercial products. I've always had to take my own shampoo going to the hair dresser (previously formulated by a naturepath) and the other week took in my shampoo soap to show her. She thought it was great!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

What % superfat did you guys use for your shampoo? I was thinking maybe a 3%, just enough to not worry about being lye heavy, but not so much that it would leave our hair greasy.

Coolah, my fiance gets blisters like that, especially if my conditioner gets on him! Hoping my soap and shampoo will be nice for him too.

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Heather, I use my CP on my hair too and I SF at 7%. The only soap I don't care for as shampoo is my 100% olive oil - It makes my hair feel gunky. Otherwise I just use whatever is in the shower.

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