Meet your Hair Goals with this solid shampoo recipe!

Hooray for homemade shampoo bars!

So many of you have requested solid shampoo recipes. We get it: not only are they practical and simple to make, they’re also easy on the budget and environmentally friendly. We’ve previously offered a recipe for a solid shampoo made with nettle powder (which strengthens hair and helps combat hair loss). This time, we’ve created a new one that will also help you achieve your Hair Goals!

Rich in hydrating ingredients, this homemade solid shampoo washes your hair gently. You’re also free to personalize it with the essential oil of your choosing, so that it matches up with not only your tastes, but also your hair’s particular needs. Just watch out, you might not be able to do without your solid shampoo after you’ve tried it… that’s what has happened to all of our team members who have given it a go!

You’ll see, this shampoo recipe is truly solid!

How to make solid shampoo

Before you begin

• If you haven’t tried solid shampoo yet, keep in mind that your hair may need some time to adapt. Solid shampoos are very different from liquid ones. Give yourself at least three weeks before reaching a final opinion of this product! That’s about how long it will take for your scalp to adjust to this homemade solid shampoo recipe.
• As SCI can irritate the respiratory tract, it must be handled with care: make sure you work in a ventilated place and/or wear a dust mask.  
• These instructions for making solid shampoo ask you to melt the SCI; however, this product can take a long time to melt. You can reduce it to a powder before using (with the help of a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle) or only melt it partially. We recommend reserving your coffee grinder for cosmetic purposes if you use it to grind the SCI. In our trials, we melted two thirds of the SCI and found that to be sufficient. If you don’t melt it completely, your DIY solid shampoo will appear less smooth but that in no way alters the product’s effectiveness!

Ingredients

• 45 g (45%) SCI
• 15 g (15%) demineralized water
• 3 g (3%) organic honey
• 10 g (10%) ghassoul clay
• 15 g (15%) colloidal oatmeal
• 2.5 g (2.5%) kokum butter
• 2.5 g (2.5%) olive oil
• 5 g (5%) coconut oil
• 2 g (2%) essential oils or aromatic essences of your choosing

Tools

• 3 small stainless steel bowls
• Components to make two double boilers
• 1 mini silicone spatula
• 1 scale, accurate to 0.1 g
• A few pipettes
• A few ramekins
• A few spoons

• Individual molds of your choosing
• A dust mask

Good to know!

• We advise against modifying the proportions of the ingredients as this may affect the final product and/or its effectiveness.
• It is possible to swap the oils and butters in this recipe, so long as you substitute a butter for a butter and an oil for an oil.
• The honey and colloidal oatmeal help maintain your hair’s hydration.
• You can replace the honey with 1.5 g of aloe vera gel. If you wish to do so, it should be added in step 5; indeed, you must avoid heating the aloe vera gel or it will lose its wonderful properties.
• The SCI is the cleansing agent in the shampoo and therefore cannot be replaced.
• Here are a few suggested essential oils for different 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

Video of the recipe

Steps to follow

1. Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
2. In a small bowl, weigh the SCI, the honey, and the demineralized water. Place on a double boiler and melt (either completely or until two thirds of the SCI has melted; see “Before you begin” for more information). Remove from heat and set aside.
3. While the SCI is melting, weigh the kokum butter and the olive and coconut oils in a second bowl. Melt on the second double boiler and mix together. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In the third bowl, weigh the ghassoul clay and the colloidal oatmeal and mix together. Add to the bowl containing the SCI and mix well again.
5. Weigh the essential oil or aromatic essence in a ramekin. Add to the melted oils and mix together.
6. Add the oil mixture to the bowl containing the SCI. Mix well.
7. When the mixture has formed a paste, add to the molds, tamping the paste down well.
8. Let your solid shampoo dry until it is hard enough to unmold.

Use and conservation

It’s very easy to use your homemade shampoo bar! Just moisten the bar, rub it between your hands, then apply the product to your hair. You can also scrub your scalp directly with the shampoo bar.

This recipe is formulated for all hair types.

Made in optimal sanitary conditions, your DIY shampoo will keep for 3 to 6 months.