A wonderful aloe vera solid shampoo bar recipe for normal hair, with aloe vera gel directly collected from leaves, rosemary-infused water and argan oil. Using two very mild surfactants, SCI and cocamidopropyl betaine. A very balanced recipe to keep your normal hair healthy and your scalp oil-balanced.
Table of Contents
- How Do You Make Solid Bar Shampoo?
- Can You Make Shampoo With Aloe Vera?
- What Oils Are Good For Shampoo Bars?
- What Are The Ingredients Of Aloe Vera Shampoo?
- Find Where to Buy Natural Shampoo Bars
- How Do You Use a Solid Shampoo Bar
- Related Posts
- Watch This Video Tutorial Before Starting Your Recipe
How Do You Make Solid Bar Shampoo?
The surfactants, SCI and cocamidopropyl betaine, are synthetic ingredients. But, as explained in Solid Shampoo Bar Recipe With SCI they are among the mildest surfactants, very often used in baby shampoos. They have a pH of 5.5, respecting your hair and scalp natural pH. They are the base of this shampoo bar.
Since SCI is in solid form at room temperature, its the main ingredient to make a solid shampoo bar. In this recipe, it’s actually the only ingredientIt provides the right consistency and structure to bind all ingredients into a solid product. Otherwise, we would
Can You Make Shampoo With Aloe Vera?
In this recipe, you add aloe vera gel instead of water. The aloe vera gel I use in this recipe is collected directly from an aaloe vera plant I have at home. Here’s the procedure to colect aloe vera gel directly from the plant leaves. The gel is then used instead of the water content to make the syndet batter along with melted SCI and the other ingredients. Temperatures must not be above 50ºC to minimize the effect of temperature over the various plant compounds.
Aloe vera is perhaps one of the most widely used herbal remedies for topical skin conditions. The aloe vera plant is a succulent that stores water in its leaves in the form of a gel. This gel is highly moisturizing and great for sunburns, bug bites, minor cuts or wounds. It also has anti-microbial properties.
For hair care, aloe vera helps with itching scalp, dandruff, and as a very light moisturizer adequate for acne-prone or oily skin, it’s also good for greasy hair/greasy scalp.
What Oils Are Good For Shampoo Bars?
Best oils for shampoo bars are argan oil and jojoba oil, because they are very moisturizing and light at same time. They are less prone to weight on your hair and very mild as moisturizers, in the sense that they are very similar to sebum, the natural human skin fat.
They will help keep your scalp balanced, as excess or lack of moisturizing nutrients on your scalp can trigger excess sebum production, contributing to an oily scalp.
Coconut oil is also another oils very commonly used in natural shampoos and haircare. Coconut oil became in the latest years more common and therefore cheaper. It has very good moisturizing and cleansing properties.
My advice is always to give it a try and see how your hair behaves after being washed. Give it at least one month to change formula, as the hair needs some time to adjust to new products. I prefer to use argan oil or jojoba oil in my homemade shampoo bars, because it doesn’t weight on my hair, but I had decent results with coconut oil as well.
Perhaps changing the oil in your shampoos is the best option of all, as you will be rotating different sort and quantity of nutrients.
What Are The Ingredients Of Aloe Vera Shampoo?
Along with the surfactants, the oils and the main natural ingredient of this shampoo bar, – aloe vera – to complete our shampoo recipe, this recipe also uses rosemary-infused water, as I love to use this ingredient in all my haircare recipes. You don’t ahve to: you can use plain distilled water or replace the water content totally with aloe vera.
As other addictives, the recipe uses a cosmetic preservative,1 or 2 teaspoons of clay, and lovely essential oils for hair: rosemary, peppermint and tea tree.
This recipe is formulated for normal hair, with a balance between ingredients. However, its ingredients may have some effect on hair conditions like thinning hair, itchy or dry scalp, as rosemary and aloe vera may help with those conditions. Still, check out the following recipes for particular hair types:
- Syndet Shampoo Bar Recipe for Oily Hair
- Syndet Shampoo Bar Recipe For Dry Hair – No Lye
- Rosemary Solid Shampoo Bar With SCI: Stimulating Shampoo
You might need to go to a cosmetic supplies store to purchase the surfactants and the cosmetic preservative, but mmost of these ingredients (you may use the links for most ingredients down in the recipe, to purchase them online). But if you care for your hair and are looking for more natural, milder products, try to make this rosemary shampoo bar at home. If it doesn’t work first time, you can slightly change the ingredients to adjust to your hair needs.
Enjoy making your shampoo bars at home!!
Find Where to Buy Natural Shampoo Bars
Willing to try or use regularly natural shampoo, but you’re not really into DIY? Want to go zero-waste crazy with shampoo bars? Find where to buy natural haircare shampoo bars, listed by main ingredients and hair type:
- Rosemary and Mint Shampoo Bar (Etsy)
- Aloe Vera Shampoo Bar – for dry hair and sensitive scalp (Etsy)
- Jojoba Oil And Nettle Shampoo Bar for Volume and Shine (Etsy)
- Calendula and Chamomile Shampoo Bar for Itchy Scalp (Etsy)
- Oat Solid Shampoo Bar For Sensitive Scalp (Etsy)
If you love shampoo bars and have no issues in using them, find some at the following links:
- Apple Valley Shampoo Soap Bars (don’t forget the Hair Rinses)
Here’s a choice of natural liquid shampoos if you prefer the liquid stuff:
- Dry Hair Shampoo (Just Nutritive)
- Oily Hair Shampoo (Just Nutritive)
- Grow New Hair Shampoo (Just Nutritive)
- Restorative Shampoo For Dry Hair (100% Pure)
- Pure Glossing Shampoo (100% Pure)100% Pure Glossing Shampoo
How Do You Use a Solid Shampoo Bar
Wash your hands and wet your hair in the shower or bath. Make a lather first with the shampoo bar, water and your own hands, then spread the lather in your hair.
Once the shampoo bar is making a lot of foam, you can also apply the bar directly on your hair. Make sure you follow the direction of your strands to avoid knotting or tangling your hair. Apply mostly in your scalp, avoid the ends. Massage your scalp with your fingertips for a few minutes. Avoid using your nails at all costs. Rinse and repeat until you feel your hair and scalp well washed.
The shampoo bar might not create a lot of lather the first time it’s used – I have no idea why, but it’s something I have observed. Be patient and create a lather with your hands for a little longer. The shampoo bar should create as much foam as a liquid shampoo. If not, probably your scalp just needs another wash.
A neat trick is to use your shampoo bar in the shower inside a saver bag. It helps create more lather.
Related Posts
- Vegetable Oils: Natural Oils For Skin
- Essential Oils: Essential Oils For Haircare Recipes
- Syndet Bar Tutorial: How Do You Make a Syndet Bar?
- Shampoo Bar Recipes: Haircare Recipes
Watch This Video Tutorial Before Starting Your Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Solid Ingredients
Liquid Ingredients
- 15 g cocamidopropyl betaine or more SCI
- 15 g rosemary-infused water or aloe vera gel
- 10 g aloe vera gel or juice
- 10 g argan oil or jojoba oil
Cooling Phase Ingredients
- 1 ml essential oil rosemary 20 drops
- 0.5 ml essential oil tea tree 10 drops
- 0.5 ml essential oil peppermint 10 drops
- 0,5 g Liquid Germall Plus check quantities as per manufacturer instructions (using 50% of maximum dose)
Instructions
Preparations and Good Practices
- Learn how to make a syndet bar in How Do You Make a Syndet Bar? or watch the video above. They don't have a recipe but explain in general the steps and ingredients to produce a syndet bar.
- Disinfect all your equipment before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or the lotion containers)
- Measure all ingredients and prepare your workstation. Wear a mask as the SCI releases an irritant dust cloud
- For this recipe, I have used natural aloe vera gel, collected directly from a aloe vera leaf
Liquid Phase
- Put a pan with water into the stove (any water as this is for bagne-marie)
- Add the liquid ingredients (betaine, argan oil, rosemary-infused water and aloe vera gel) into the double boiler or a metal jug. Let it heat in low heat. do not heat aobve 50ºC – 122ºF
Solid Phase
- Mix all solid ingredients: SCI (wear a mask), and green clay.
- Without removing the double boiler from heat, add the solid ingredients, roughly 1/3 at a time. You can eye ball it, as this is only to ease mixing and melting the solid ingredients. Mix well with a spoon or whisker each time you add a portion of solid ingredients, until you have an homogeneous paste.
- Mix and heat the mixture in low heat until it has the consistency of homogeneous mush or porridge. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of distilled water if the mixture is too thick. You will have to be patient as this step takes time.
- Remove the double boiler or jug from heat. Mix a bit to cool down the mixture.
Make Your Bars
- At around 40ºC-50ºC (104ºF-122ºF), add the cooling phase ingredients: essential oils, and preservative. Mix well.
- Take a small spoon of the mixture (1/8 tsp) and rub some water in it. Use a pH strap to measure pH. Should be 5-6.
- If pH is too high add a teaspoon of lemon juice or citric acid dissolved in water. If pH is too low, add one teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water. Mix very well and measure the pH again.
- When pH is corrected (should be 5.5, or at least between 5 and 6), pour the mixture into soap molds. After unmolding let them dry for 2 or 3 days.
- This wonderful shampoo bar is ready to use!
