What’s in our Super Cool Shampoo?

This homemade shampoo will leave your hair soft and light

There’s a not-so-secret ingredient in Super Cool Shampoo, our latest solid shampoo recipe. Any guesses? The answer is hidden in its name! It’s SCS, sodium coco-sulfate. SCS is a surfactant that we just started carrying a couple weeks ago, and we thought it deserved a special spot on our blog! 

Derived from coconut oil, SCS is a strong foaming agent: it creates a beautiful, compact lather made up of fine, abundant bubbles. The resulting product is easy to work through your hair and cleans it gently. Thanks to the nettle leaves, ghassoul clay, and marshmallow root powder in this solid shampoo recipe, your hair will be soft, light, and shiny after using it.

All that to say, this Super Cool Shampoo sure lives up to its name!

How to make solid shampoo with SCS 

Before you begin

• If you haven’t tried solid shampoo before, keep in mind that it may take your hair some time to adapt. Solid and liquid shampoos are very different, so give yourself at least three weeks of regular use before reaching a final opinion of this product. That’s about how long it will take for your scalp to adjust to your homemade solid shampoo!
• SCS can irritate your respiratory tract in its solid form, and it can also irritate your skin while you’re heating it up. Handle it with caution. Work in a well-ventilated space—such as under your oven hood—or wear a dust mask, or both. You should also wear gloves and safety glasses.
• This shampoo recipe calls for you to melt SCS, which can take some time. To speed things up, you can reduce it to a powder with a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle before melting it. Alternatively, you can choose to not melt the SCS completely. When conducting our tests, we melted just two thirds of the SCS and that was more than enough. Keep in mind that the final product will appear less smooth if you don’t melt all the SCS, but that won’t alter its effectiveness! If you use your coffee grinder to reduce the SCS, we recommend reserving the grinder for cosmetic use from that point onward. 

Ingredients

• 12.5 g (12.5%) true lavender hydrosol
• 1 teaspoon nettle leaves
• 66 g (66%) SCS
• 13.5 g (13.5%) macadamia oil
• 1.5 g (1.5%) marshmallow root powder
• 6 g (6%) ghassoul clay
• 0.5 g (0.5%) lactic acid

Tools

• Three small stainless steel bowls
• Components to make a double boiler
• Small silicone spatula
• Scale, accurate to 0.1 g
• Pipette
• A few spoons
• Soap molds
• A dust mask or stove hood
• Personal protective gear
• Ramekin
• Coffee grinder or mortar and pestle (optional)
• Thermometer

Good to know!

• We advise against modifying the proportions in this recipe, as this may alter the final product—including its effectiveness.
• True lavender hydrosol is purifying; it cleanses and softens your hair.
• Macadamia oil is suitable for all hair types. It helps protect your hair from things like the cold and wind.You can replace it with another vegetable oil. To choose the right oil for your hair type, we recommend consulting our article on the topic.
• SCS is the cleansing agent in this recipe; it cannot be replaced by another ingredient. It also provides lather.
• Nettle is rich in vitamins and minerals. It cares for brittle hair and helps tone your scalp.
• Marshmallow root powder has many excellent properties for haircare. It detangles, nourishes, softens, and protects your hair, and sheathes the hair fibre. It also soothes sensitive scalps.
• Ghassoul clay makes for a softer wash and provides your hair with volume.
• Lactic acid is used to adjust the pH of this homemade shampoo. That’s because there’s lots of SCS in this recipe, which has a basic pH. It’s important to use the lactic acid to balance the pH of the shampoo so that it respects the natural pH of your hair and scalp. 
• You can choose to add essential oils to your homemade solid shampoo. They can make up to 2% of the recipe and should be added at step 7. You would then need to reduce the macadamia oil by the same percentage. Here are some essential oils that are particularly recommended for certain hair types:
  • Normal hair: ylang-ylang, true lavender
  • Oily hair: Atlas cedar, petitgrain
  • Hair loss: pink grapefruit
  • Dandruff: tea tree
  • Dry hair: ylang-ylang, true lavender, rose geranium

Steps to follow

1. Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
2. Weigh the hydrosol in a small bowl and heat on the double boiler until it reaches 70°C. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the nettle leaves. Allow them to infuse for five to ten minutes; you can grind them if you wish in a coffee grinder or using a mortar and pestle.
3. Weigh the SCS and macadamia oil in a small bowl. Heat on the double boiler.
4. Add the nettle infusion to the bowl containing the SCS. Melt the SCS, either completely or until just two thirds are melted (see “Before you begin”). Remove the bowl from the heat.
5. Weigh the ghassoul clay and marshmallow root powder in the third bowl.
6. Weigh the lactic acid in the ramekin.
7. Pour the clay and marshmallow root powder into the bowl containing the SCS and mix until homogeneous.
8. Add the lactic acid and mix gently. 
9. Using your hands, shape the shampoo paste into a ball, then place it in the mold and pack it down well. With the mold we chose, we were able to make two.
10. Leave the shampoo to dry until it has hardened enough to be unmolded, about two hours.

Use and conservation

This homemade solid shampoo is formulated for all hair types. However, it may not be right for you if your scalp is sensitive or reaction-prone. In that case, we recommend opting for a solid shampoo recipe with SCI, which is a gentler surfactant.

To use this shampoo, just wet it, rub it between your hands, and apply the lather to your hair. You can also directly rub your scalp with your solid shampoo bar.

When made in optimal sanitary conditions, it will keep for three to six months. It’s important to allow your DIY solid shampoo to dry out well between each use.