Homemade DIY shampoo bar recipe with lavender and clay. This is my favorite soap that gets my hair clean and shiny. Are you ready to switch to a no-poo method and try to make your own shampoo bar at home? Parts of this blog are sponsored by “Your Arbor”, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
DIY Shampoo Bar Recipe
This homemade shampoo bar with lavender and clay was one of the first soap recipes I ever made. The recipe was created by me with wonderful organic oils, soothing clay, and the most beautiful smelling lavender and rosemary essential oils. Read here why I am using homemade beauty products. This shampoo bar recipe contains the following ingredients:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Shea butter
- Castor oil
- Lavender essential oil
- Rosemary essential oil
- Water
- Fullers earth clay
- *Sodium Hydroxide
*Used during the saponification process to turn oil into soap. No sodium hydroxide remains in the finished product.
These oils, essential oils, and clay will nourish the hair shaft, encourage strong, healthy, and furthermore shiny hair.
Homemade shampoo bars are superfatted, which means that 4-10% of oils (depending on the recipe) will remain in the finished soap to make your hair shiny and your skin feel soft. Mine is superfatted with 4%.
Using your own homemade shampoo bar is amazing since you know exactly what is inside. All my soaps are free of harmful ingredients. They are furthermore vegan and were not tested on animals, only tested on my own and on my boyfriend’s hair, haha.
Check out Your Arbor to find ethical and sustainable products like essential oils.
How To Wash Your Hair With A Shampoo Bar?
Washing your hair with a shampoo bar is easy and also a lot of fun! At first, you wet your hair thoroughly, then rub the shampoo bar directly onto your hair from scalp to ends. Work up the lather with your hands, add more water if needed. Make sure that your complete hair has enough thick and rich lather, this step is very important!
If you don’t lather up well your hair might end up looking greasy. So lather, lather, lather, and then rinse your hair with lots and lots of water to get out all the shampoo.
I am using a light vinegar rinse afterward (just 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice in two cups of water) which will restore the PH value of the hair and make it shiny.
Your Hair Needs To Get Familiar To No-Poo
If you have been using regular shampoo (especially shampoo with silicone) for a long time your hair will need some weeks to get familiar with “no-poo shampoo bars” as there might be a build-up from other products in your hair. It can take weeks or even months, but I can only recommend it to stop using a store-bought shampoo. Don’t be afraid and start experimenting with your own DIY shampoo bar.
Homemade Shampoo Bar Recipe
Ingredients
OILS & FATS
- 90 g olive oil
- 78 g coconut oil
- 36 g shea butter
- 36 g castor oil
LYE SOLUTION
- 70 g cold water
- 34.27 g sodium hydroxide
ESSENTIAL OILS
- 4.1 g rosemary oil
- 6.2 g lavender oil
ADDITIVES
- 2 tsp clay + a little water
EQUIPMENT
- 1 stainless steel pot to melt the fats
- 1 medium-sized plastic cup for weighing the sodium hydroxide, empty and clean
- 1 heat-resistant plastic container for mixing the lye liquid
- 1 mg-accurate scale for weighing the sodium hydroxide
- 1 normal kitchen scale for weighing the fats/oils
- 2 mixing spoons made of plastic
- 1 food thermometer
- 1 rubber spatula
- 1 hand blender without aluminium parts
- 1 pair of rubber gloves
- 1 protective goggles important!
- work clothes e.g. apron, long sleeves, and trousers
- newspaper for covering the working surface
- 1 kitchen roll
- 1 mold for the soap silicone molds work best
Instructions
- Cover the work surface with newspaper and provide ventilation in the room.
- In a small bowl, mix the clay with a tiny bit of water (as little as possible) and let it sit.
- Wear rubber gloves, put on protective goggles.
- Weigh the sodium hydroxide in a heat-resistant cup, use the mg-accurate scale.
- Weigh the water in a separate cup.
- Now, carefully and slowly pour the weighed sodium hydroxide into the cold water (preferably near a window) and stir gently until the sodium hydroxide has completely dissolved.IMPORTANT: Always put the sodium hydroxide in the water, never the other way around! Do not inhale the resulting vapors. The liquid quickly becomes very hot and the cup should be placed in a cold water bath in the sink, to cool the lye solution.
- Meanwhile, weigh the fats (coconut oil and shea butter) and melt them in a warm water bath (or in a double boiler). Weigh the other two oils (olive oil, castor oil) and add them to the fats.
- Wait until both the cup of the lye solution and the pot of the fats/ oils are hand warm and have about the same temperature (30-45 degrees C).
- Carefully pour the lye solution into the fats/ oils (you should still wear your goggles and gloves) and mix carefully with a hand blender (immersion blender).
- The mixture becomes a little cloudy after a short time and starts to thicken. Turn the hand blender off after one minute and add the essential oils and the clay to the mixture.
- Continue stirring until the liquid soap has the consistency of pudding. This can happen after one minute or only after 5 minutes. Do not stir too long though, otherwise, the mixture becomes quickly too thick.
- Pour the liquid soap into the mold, tap the mold onto your work surface to remove any air bubbles.
- Cover the mold with a plastic foil and gently wrap a towel around the mold so that the soap comes into the "gel stage" (this accelerates the saponification process).
- You can get rid of your goggles now and start making the dishes (keep wearing your gloves though).
- The soap can be cut and shaped after 24 hours.
- Patience is required now because the soap has to "mature" and dry in an airy place for at least 4-6 weeks, only then it can be used! The longer the soap sits/ dries, the milder it becomes. Also, a well-"ripened" soap will be used up more slowly than a young soap. So be patient!
Notes
- Wear protective clothing (long sleeves and trousers)
- Put on gloves
- Wear protective goggles when working with the lye
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Grace
I am a soap maker and this shampoo is my favourite recipe! I add also 10 grams of jojoba oil to make it special and reduce the castor oil. Absolutely amazing! Thanks ❤️
Ela
Aww, that’s awesome, Grace! I am so glad you like my recipe. 🙂
Bouthaina
Hi Grace. Did you have to adjust the quantity of lye when you used jojoba oil instead of caster oilor it stayed the same quantity. Thank you
Ela
Hi, you definitely have to. Always use a calculator to adjust the quantity, since every oil has a different SAP. I use this calculator: http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
Bouthaina
Thanks Ela for answering my question. I will be making this soap for the first time tomorrow. I hope everything goes well.
Ela
You are welcome! And I hope so too. 🙂
Bouthaina
Hi Ela sorry to bother you but I am in the middle of trying to make the soap but my mixer didn’t go thick at all I have been mixing it for 10 minutes but no change. The only different thing I did is I used liquid lye. Do you think this can make a difference. How can I fix it.
Thanks
Ela
You cannot use liquid lye. It’s about 50% less concentrated and can’t be used at all in soap making.
Bouthaina
I found out that I used sodium lactate instead of sodium hydroxide. I don’t know if I can fix it or not. I really loved the smell. I hope Ela can answer my comment and help me to fix my mistake. I ordered lye will be here in 2 days. I wonder if I can add the lye to the mixer or shall I start all over again.
Rumana
Hi Ela, is this recipe good for post menopause woman who had had a dry skin and hair all her life???? if not please post one recipe. Also I’ve got some black seed out that I’d like to use in to make a shampoo bar.
Ela
Hello, I am not sure. It’s superfatted by 4% which is fine for normal or slightly dry hair. If you have very dry hair you can superfat it by 6%.
Ranga
I made a few deviations to this and I am very pleased with this. I skipped the Olive Oil and used Argan and Jojoba Oils. I also used a blend of Rosemary / Lavender and Tea Tree Oils. My wife loves marjoram, so for exfoliation, I used a mix of sugar and powder of marjoram leaves from our garden and finally indigo powder for some color.
Needless, like I said very pleased with the results.
Ela
Sounds wonderful! I am glad it turned out amazing. 🙂
veronica
i would really love to make this. can i make it using Vitamix?
Ela
Hi Veronica, I would really recommend using an immersion blender. It might work in a blender but I never tried it and have no experience whatsoever.
Linda
Can bentonite clay or French green clay be used as a substitute for fullers clay?
Ela
That should be fine! 🙂
Paula
I’m a little confused on the measurements. For the sodium Hyd. The measurements say 34.27 g, the measurement is in grams not milligrams, is the mg scale still necessary?
Ela
Hi Paula, you should use a kitchen scale that also shows milligrams. It’s important to work precisely when it comes to sodium hydroxide. If you make a larger batch it’s not that important but for a small batch, it really is important.
courtney
can this be used as a regular face/body soap? i’m looking for an all in one. thanks.
Ela
Yes, you can use this soap also for the body and face. 🙂
Raina
What superfatting level do you recommend for shampoo bars?
Ela
Hey! I recommend 4%.
Carolyn Grimson
Hi, I was reading your safety methods and noticed you said you can take off your safety goggles now after making soap. I have made only 1 batch of soap and took my goggles off when I finished. I then put all my utensils in laundry tub to clean them. I dropped a fork (accidently) in the water and it splashed up and a drop hit my eye. I had my normal glasses on at this time otherwise it would’ve been worse. Only 1 drop, but it burned. I rinsed straight away then got in shower and held my eyelids opened so it could be flushed, then I got dressed and went to hospital. The redness on my eye was scary. I was very lucky, there is no lasting damage. My recommendation is, do not remove goggles until everything is clean. It will still burn even though it’s mostly water while washing utensils. I recommend using vinegar in cleaning up water. I was in process of doing that when I dropped fork. I hope this saves people from same mistake I made. I loved making soap and this hasnt stopped me from making more.
Carolyn.
Ela
Thanks so much for sharing, Carolyn! 🙂
Mia
Hi, if this recipe can make a serving of 4 soaps? How many grams does each soap has? I mean how many grams of soap mixture can this recipe made?
Ela
Hi, it’s about 350 grams of soap mixture, a rather small batch. You can double it for a larger batch!
Ro
Can you do the soap without coconut oil? I’m allergic to it, will it change anything?
Ela
Hi Ro, you can use babassu oil instead of coconut oil. However, you will need a different amount of lye because babassu oil has a different NAOH SAP than coconut oil. You can calculate it yourself on “Soapcalc”
PS: I just calculated it and it would be 33.63 g lye if you use babassu oil. But it’s better if you recheck it yourself. 🙂
Josh
Hey, thanks for all the info. Do you know if it would be possible without a hand blender? We have a blender but not a hand one? Thanks
Ela
Hey Josh, it’s really important to use an immersion blender (hand blender) otherwise it will take way too long to get a trace. 🙂
Josh
Thank you!
Iga
Hi Ela!
I just made an attempt to make your recipe and something bizarre happened.
I followed the instructions except changing the proportion of castor oil (I had only 30 grams). To replace it, I added 6 gams more of olive oil.
Everything went smoothly and I got a nice quite thick trace. After adding the clay and essentials I literally turned the blender on for less than 1 second and the mixture got really thick and crumble-ish instantly and was impossible to mix further. I don’t really know why this happened.
I made 5 batches of soap from a different recipe before, so it was not my first time. The temperature was surely correct. The clay had a consistency of a pudding. I didn’t put more water in it since in one of my previous batches I used more water for clay and it watered down the mix a bit too much. Do you have any idea why this could happen? In my first batch I also had problems with thickness but back then I didn’t know I should mix the clay with water so I just added it directly to the trace, and moreover, I added too much, so that was the reason. Still, even then it was not as thick and dry as quickly and I still could mix it.
I’ve tried to warm your recipe batch a bit and managed to mix it a bit more, but it was still very dry. The mixture on my blender was solid after 10 minutes since I took it out from the trace. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Ela
Hi Iga, that’s really weird and it never happened to me. Not sure if it might be because you changed the proportion of castor oil. Did you use the same essential oils? Which kind of clay did you use (I used Fullers Earth Clay)? Sorry if I can’t give you any better advice.
Iga
Hi Ela!
Thanks for your answer! I guess I’ll try once more, this time not using the blender at all after adding essential oils and clay, but mixing them in manually, as I did in all other recipes. I don’t think castor oil or essentials have anything to do with that – the proportions between oils and lye solution was kept.
We’ll see next time 🙂
Ela
Good idea, Ida! Please report back if you try it out a second time. 🙂
Leigh-Ann Draheim
Each oil saponifies at a different rate – you cannot simply sub one oil out for another and expect the same results. The amount of water and/or lye needs to be adjusted too. Olive oil needs more lye than castor, so if you used more olive oil and less castor there would be too much lye in the overall recipe making it crumbly AND making it much more harsh to use. If you ever adjust a recipe run it through a soaping calculator to see how much lye and water to use.
Vanessa
Hi Ela,
Thanks very much for sharing this recipe!
I have been using an amazing shampoo bar that I picked up in New Zealand (its lasted 4 months!) but it’s about to run out and as I live in the UK I don’t want to Create such an unessarily large carbon footprint!
How easy is it to source these materials. I am a first time soap maker so completely in the dark about buying he ingredients!
Thanks!
Ela
Hi Vanessa! Please ask your local pharmacy, they should have the sodium hydroxide in stock or they can order it within a day or so. 🙂
Alex
Hello Ela,
Can this recipe be duplicated without the clay? Will the absence of clay change the chemistry of the soap?
-Alex
Ela
Yes that’s possible and no it won’t change the chemistry of the soap 🙂
Raquel
I hope you’re well. I’m going to make soap for the first time with this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Do you have a recipe for cream soap? Nor solid nor liquid. Thank you!
Ela
Hello Raquel, good luck for your first soap. I remember I was so excited when I made my first soap. I never made a cream soap yet, so I don’t have a recipe for that. Please report back how your first soap turned out. 🙂
Tatiana Carvajal
Ela… I never miss a single recipe !! I love everything you do !!
I send you great love and blessings from Colombia! We really need more people who are aware and brave like you !! Thank you !
Ela
Hello Tatiana, that’s so nice of you to say. Thank you very much for your compliment, it means so much to me 🙂
Gabriela
Why just a recipe?
Ela
Sorry but I don’t understand your question?
Madeline
Maybe Gabriela was suggesting that you could sell your beautiful soap here, too?
Geraldine/eatwithfingers
Danke Ela
Ela
Sehr gerne liebe Geraldine 🙂
Nisha / @rainbowplantlife
I love that you’re including these home goods on your blog! So interesting and creative 🙂
Ela
Thank you, I need to try out more recipes soon. Glad you like them 🙂