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Shampoo bar formula
Hi, I am looking for some advice on my formula for my solid shampoo bars.
I am no professional, I’m new to making my own products so please advise me if I need to change anything. I want my bars to be as natural as possible and gentle. If I send my formula will you be able to guide me and tell me if I need to change anything? At the moment this recipe lathers really well but it’s as hard as I’d like it to be.Sodium cocoyl isethionate 50g
Cocamidopropyl betaine 14.5
shea butter 9g
cetearyl alcohol 8g
BTMS 25 6g
decyl glycoside 5g
kaolin clay 3g
jojaba oil 1g
vegetable glycerin 1g
panthenol 1g
essential oil 1g
eco preservative 0.5GKind regards
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24 Replies
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Sorry it’s not as solid as I would like it to be.
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NEVER put glycerine nor decyl glucoside in a shampoo bar. Even 2% decyl glucoside weakens bars. I do not know why, but I have witnessed it repeatedly in 7 different trials at different percentages.
Never use D-panthenol (liquid). It will snap your bar in half after 1-2 washes. You can use the racemic powdered version with no issue.
Don’t use cetearyl alcohol with BTMS-25, switch to Cetyl alcohol upwards of 5%. Add stearic acid, 2-3%
The clay is not going to help either.
Shea butter 9%, I am a little ashamed to say I laughed out loud when I read that because I also went down the same path as you. If you insist on using a large amount, your limit will be 2%. My personal recommendation - 0.1%
Add Sodium Lactate at no more than 2%. You can add it to the CAPB
You will need 70% or so total dry surfactant material. You can add Sodium Coco sulfate which is the best choice as it actually cleans, or you can add SLSa for a milder less fulfilling wash.
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Thankyou for your response.
So using 1g of powdered Panthenol is ok?Why can’t I use cetearyl alcohol with BTMS 25?
I will add stearic acid. I’m guessing this will have to be melted with the other hard ingredients?
I add the clay for colouring, is this still ok?
I have read so many formulas with a high percentage of Shea butter but I will try using less.
The sodium lactate, do I need to buy this is liquid or powder form? I have read about it and it sounds great! Will this be in place of glycerin and decyl glycoside?
I want my shampoo to be sulfate free, I have read a lot about sodium coco sulfate and I’m not keen on the sound of it.
What if I was to put 1% decyl
glucoside in the bar would that be ok? (I love the sound of this ingredient)How does this formula sound?SCI 50%
(need another dry surfactant?) 20%
CAPB 9.5%Cetearyl alcohol 4%BTMS - 25 4%
Stearic acid 3%Shea butter 2%
Sodium lactate 2%Kaolin clay 1%
Decyl glycoside 1%Jojoba oil 1%
Panthenol 1%Essential oil 1%Eco preservative 0.5%Thank you so much for your time and help with this! You might laugh out loud again when you read this formula but I’m learning so I’m not sure if this is right!
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Yasmin123 said:Thankyou for your response.So using 1g of powdered Panthenol is ok?
YesWhy can’t I use cetearyl alcohol with BTMS 25?
BTMS-25 already contains 75% cetearyl alcohol. Adding more would result in a draggy feel. Cetyl alcohol is a better choice in this case.
I will add stearic acid. I’m guessing this will have to be melted with the other hard ingredients?
Yes
I add the clay for colouring, is this still ok?
Not recommended
I have read so many formulas with a high percentage of Shea butter but I will try using less.
For a shampoo, the best is 0% Shea butter or any vegetable oil/butter. This is the most important thing I have learned from this forum.
The sodium lactate, do I need to buy this is liquid or powder form? I have read about it and it sounds great! Will this be in place of glycerin and decyl glycoside?
If you can find the powdered version, use 1.2% by weight. The liquid version is easier to find, use 2.0% by weight. It is a humectant like glycerin, however we are using it because it strengthens bars.
I want my shampoo to be sulfate free, I have read a lot about sodium coco sulfate and I’m not keen on the sound of it.
SLSa will work, but definitely not as well
What if I was to put 1% decyl glucoside in the bar would that be ok? (I love the sound of this ingredient)You are certainly free to test your formulation with 1% Decyl glucoside but I would not advise it based on what I have experienced.
How does this formula sound?SCI 50%
(need another dry surfactant?) 20%
CAPB 9.5%Cetearyl alcohol 4%BTMS - 25 4%
Stearic acid 3%Shea butter 2%
Sodium lactate 2%Kaolin clay 1%
Decyl glycoside 1%Jojoba oil 1%
Panthenol 1%Essential oil 1%Eco preservative 0.5%Getting better. You can raise the CAPB level to 10-11% with no issues. Keep the BTMS-25 at 6% like you had it. Keeps the bar strong and aids in compression.
Thank you so much for your time and help with this! You might laugh out loud again when you read this formula but I’m learning so I’m not sure if this is right!
I was only laughing at myself really ! I used to add 3% cacao butter and other oils to shampoo bars but when someone actually points it out to you, its completely backwards. Shampoo removes oils, that’s kind of the point of a surfactant system. Vegetables oils do not stay on hair after a wash. Perhaps some esters and other modified oils with higher log P values might, but that is out of the scope of natural shampoo bar formulations.
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I have decided to completely get rid of the Shea butter and kaolin clay!
This means at the moment my formula is:
SCI 50%
CAPB 11%BTMS 25 6%Cetyl alcohol 5%
Stearic acid 3%Sodium lactate 2%Panthenol 1%
Jojaba oil 1%Essential oil 1%Eco preservative 0.5%This totals to 80.5%. Do I need another surfactant to make it up to 100% as I know the limit with SCI is 50%. Can you suggest any other surfactants that are gentle apart from SLS and SLSA?Also would the PH balance of this recipe be good? I know I will probably have to test to find out.
Does the liquids to solids ratio sound about right?Thanks again for your time!
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I don’t think you will find better than SLSa for your requirements. You can use more than 50% SCI. Your pH should be acidic/near neutral with the use of this surfactant combination.
Also you have 11% CAPB which contains 7,7% water. The typical usage of water as a binder in syndet bars is 5-6 %. You can use some NaCl to lower the activity of some of that water. A good starting point would be 0.35% - 0.50%. Place it in the CAPB and heat it gently with slow stirring so it doesn’t foam too much. You don’t need much heat. Do a test ahead of time and see how much will dissolve in the CAPB. Make sure you allow it to reach room temp to see if crystals will fall out. Start with 0.35%. This will allow your bar to dry a little faster after use and will help in hardness.
SCI up to 53%
SLSa 17%CAPB 11%
NaCl 0.35 - 0.50%
Sodium Lactate 2%
Panthenol 1%BTMS 25 6%
Cetyl alcohol 4%
Stearic acid 3%
Jojaba oil 1%Essential oil 1%Eco preservative 0.5%What is your eco preservative? Ideally, your preservative would be something you can dissolve in the CAPB liquid phase as it will spread better.
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The sodium lactate is that the proper name for it? I’m struggling to find it online.
Thanks!
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Sodium Lactate (CAS#:72-17-3)
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“eco preservative”? Sure you need a preservative?
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Because it’s going to be in and out of water all the time i would need a preservative?
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Well, you cannot use anything with propylene glycol if you want your bar to stay strong. Even 0.3% is enough to render the bar structurally weak. Keep that in mind as many liquid preservatives use propylene glycol as a solvent.
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Yasmin123 said:Because it’s going to be in and out of water all the time i would need a preservative?
Not sure what this means. Will the bar be in standing water - as in soap dish - or allow water pooling on the bar? Neither of thise scenarios lends itself to effective preservation.
Any chance you know the water activity of the bar? Is there any incidental water in the product? -
Hi
The preservative I’m using is called Geogard ect preservative eco and it contains benzyl alcohol, salacylic acid, glycerin and sorbitol acid.
I am just comparing my formula to some professional shampoo bars I have found online. They seem to not have many ingredients especially the surfactants (the first two). I am aware I’m not sure the % of each ingredient. They also have glycerin?
This is one:
sodium cocoyl isethionate, hydrogenated vegetable oil, aqua, polyglyceryl-4 laurate, glycerin, linum usitatissimum (organic cold pressed flax seed oil), artisan beer, parfum (pomegranate and mint), tetrasodium glutamate diacetate.
This is another:
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Aqua (Water), Polyglyceryl-4 Laurate, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Argania Spinosa Oil, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Citronellol, Geraniol.
And another:
Sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) , Cocamidopropyl betaine(CAPB), Decyl glucoside, Cetearyl olivate ,Sorbitan olivate , Stearic acid , Simmondsia chinensis seed oil ( Jojoba Oil) , Coco-caprylate , Mentha piperita ( Peppermint Essential Oil) , Panthenol (Vitamin Pro B5) , Hydrolyzed wheat protein , Tocopherol (Vitamin E) , Charcoal powder , Camellia sinensis leaf water (Hydrolized Green Tea ) , Dehydroacetic acid ,Benzyl alcohol (Eco Preservative) , Aqua , Limonene* , Citronellal*, Eugenol*
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I don’t know the water activity inside the bar I’m afraid. Thanks for your help
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Shampoo bars are mostly terribly underperforming on the market. The most successful company uses decyl glucoside instead of CAPB and there are complaints that it goes to “mush” very quickly. I would never call them professional. Customers with the “zero waste” philosophy are willing to tolerate bad products as long as the marketing story is correct.
I have done over 100 separate/unique shampoo bars/Syndet bar formulations to arrive at the conclusions I have given you.
The main issue is that people formulating shampoo bars view them as shampoo bars as if it is a unique category. They follow the rules of syndet bars and compressed solid products. These guidelines have already been established decades ago.
All the commercial syndet bars and liquid shampoos on the market use multiple surfactants. The idea that SCI alone will clean your hair properly is laughable.
If you plan on adding an ingredient which is not traditionally found in classic syndet/combo bars and compressed solids (tablets), you need to add that ingredient to an established base formula and see how it goes and that includes something like a preservative.
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Thanks for all your help. So is that preservative that I use ok to use in my formula? I’m waiting for the ingredients to arrive to trial the formula. I will let you know how it goes!
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Start with a base formula without the preservative. Try it and see how it performs and how it dries and if it stays cohesive. Then introduce the preservative and do the same. My general feeling is it will weaken the bar because of the glycerin. I have tried preservatives with 0.1-0.3% Propylene Glycol and it was a complete failure in terms of bar structure. Let us know how it goes.
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“Eco preservative” is marketing hype and that system is pretty weak and not natural. How much incidental water is actually in the bar and, if wetted, what is the pH?
Likely you don’t need a preservtive but that is your risk to address. -
And 1% Panthenol is not going to do much in the formula either (except increase the cost of goods)
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How much panthenol would you suggest?
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Yasmin123 said:How much panthenol would you suggest?
Personally, I wouldn’t use any because it’s not beneficial in a shampoo or shampoo bar, because it’s water soluble and it will just go down the drain. Panthenol is better for leave on products.
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I tried this formula and its a disaster. Its too powdery and has no solidity to it. i dont know where i have gone wrong.
SCI 50g
SLSA 17g
CAPB 11g
Sodium Lactate 2g
BTMS 25 6g
Cetyl alcohol 4g
Stearic acid 3g
jojoba oil 1g
kaolin clay 1g
essential oil 1g -
Yasmin123 said:How much panthenol would you suggest?
It’s an ingredient for claims… 0.01% or leave it out.
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The formula you have listed will give you a solid product and not a powdery mess. Perhaps your technique needs review.
Are you using powdered SCI?
For the following test, keep the Kaolin Clay out of your formula. If you insist on using it, try it once you have succeeded and add it to the powdered surfactant phase. Also, keep the EO out of formula for now. Replace 1% of each ingredient with 1% SLSa and 1% Jojoba Oil.
Mix the SCI with the SLSa and add CAPB/Sodium Lactate. If you are doing this by hand, mix slowly and massage the mass until it starts forming a ball and slightly pasty. You have to allow the binder to actually bind the ingredients together. You must continually mix until this happens. IMO, this is most likely where the failure occurred.
I am assuming you do not have machines/mixers for this. So form a uniform ball and then break it apart into smaller pieces.
Heat the BTMS, stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, jojoba oil together and add it to your paste (broken down in smaller “chunks”) in portions, mixing and massaging the mass together. Make sure you can continually warm your oil phase before each addition.
I used this technique during initial testing phase, making 100g at a time using a glass bowl until I eventually moved on to large mixers and other equipment. If you feel like some of the BTMS phase cooled down on the glass bowl when it was incorporated in the mix, you can slightly warm the outside of the bowl very quickly with a double broiler and mix the paste some more.
Upon cooling, it will harden significantly
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