Waxy Film in Hair Using Shampoo Bar

[Hargrovegeneralgoods]

Hi All!

I have been working on switching over to using just shampoo bars on our family. We have run into an issue where we are having a really sticky nasty waxy film on our hair after we wash. I'm not sure if its something in our formulation or what. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Here is an example recipe. I was thinking maybe its the castor oil??

Shampoo Bar 10% SF	g
Master Batch Lye	963.79
Tallow	1080
Avocado Oil	900
Coconut Oil	720
Shea Butter	360
Argan Oil	180
Jojoba	180
Castor	180
Citric Acid	36
Kaolin	30
Sugar	20
Bentonite	39.5

 

[Yooper]

One of the things that can help is using apple cider vinegar as a rinse, to remove that film from soap.

You have a lot of stuff in the soap, including bentonite and jojoba. If you recall, jojoba is not an oil, it’s actually a wax- so maybe that’s it?

My husband uses my coconut oil salt bars for his shampoo bar, and loves it so I really don’t have any great advice on what may work for you but I’d look at the ingredients one by one and try to figure out why you’re adding it I guess.

 

[Hargrovegeneralgoods]

One of the things that can help is using apple cider vinegar as a rinse, to remove that film from soap.

You have a lot of stuff in the soap, including bentonite and jojoba. If you recall, jojoba is not an oil, it’s actually a wax- so maybe that’s it?

My husband uses my coconut oil salt bars for his shampoo bar, and loves it so I really don’t have any great advice on what may work for you but I’d look at the ingredients one by one and try to figure out why you’re adding it I guess.

Hi!

Thanks for your response! My husband uses all the soaps i make, some are even more simple. I rarely use jojoba. I think I was trying to do a recipe I saw on soapandclay for this one. I really want to get this dialed in, I'm sick of store bought shampoo. Would you share your sea salt coconut oil recipe?

 

[Yooper]

Hi!

Thanks for your response! My husband uses all the soaps i make, some are even more simple. I rarely use jojoba. I think I was trying to do a recipe I saw on soapandclay for this one. I really want to get this dialed in, I'm sick of store bought shampoo. Would you share your sea salt coconut oil recipe?

My salt bars are the ones I call 'spa bars', and I use them on my face and body, but my husband loves them for his hair. It's really simple- 100% coconut oil, 20% superfat, and 1/2 the amount of oil in fine sea salt at trace. That's it! I really like using coconut milk for 1/2 the liquid if I have it on hand, so I would add the lye to the water and then add the coconut milk if I"m using it.

It's easy, and my skin loves the coconut oil/superfat at 20% combination. So, if you're using, say, 25 ounces of coconut oil, my recipe looks like this:

25 ounces of coconut oil
12.5 ounces sea salt at trace
20% superfat
Lye 4.35 ounces
Liquid/water/milk: 8.7 ounces
cut when firm, usually just a couple of hours.

Just make sure you're using fine sea salt, otherwise it will be rough to the touch and feel.

 

[Hargrovegeneralgoods]

Have you ever tried to desolve the salt in the lye water?

 

[Yooper]

For certain soaps, yes, but not that much salt (it wouldn't dissolve). You can make a soleseife with salt in the lye water.

 

[Hargrovegeneralgoods]

For certain soaps, yes, but not that much salt (it wouldn't dissolve). You can make a soleseife with salt in the lye water.

Cool, sounds good. Does that bar last with all that salt?

 

[Yooper]

Yes, they last a very long time. I like them because they are great for my, um, mature skin, and have a ton of rich lather.

 

[Hargrovegeneralgoods]

Wonderful! I will try it out! Do they take long to cure with the 20% super fat?

 

[Yooper]

I typically cure most of my soaps from 4 to 6 weeks.