Shampoo bar! (Recipe plus guide of sorts)

[cyens]

ETA: Most of the bad things you hear about lye are urban legends born from misunderstanding. When people talk about old fashion country soaps that "took your skin off," they were probably talking about old fashioned cleaning products that people made and called soap. My husband's grandmother's mother often made a soap-like concoction involving Comet & Borax. That WOULD take your skin off!

Well I think country folks did make soap that took they're skin off... father always talks about when he used to live in remote rural Brazil in the middle of nowhere in the 50's. I always here the story about the way people made soap using old random grease they found and lye, using no scale and just kinda mix it together. Apparently sometimes the soap was so greasy it didn't wash anything and some other times you'd loose your finger nails using it. On top of it they wouldn't wait 4 weeks to use it.... That's what my father used to think about my soap until he tried it... now he raves about it... anyways.

[RavingRosemary]

Wow, I'm glad this got dragged out of the depths--I've been wanting to make a shampoo bar for a while!  Are these particular oils really awesome for hair?  I don't have any mango butter, but if the recipe isn't too fussy, maybe I could substitute shea... what do you think?

[Nymeria]

Be sure to run through a lye calculator, but absolutely, substitute away! I've actually found I prefer to use avocado butter in place of the mango butter. But I'm a big fan of "use what you got."

[RavingRosemary]

Awesome!  I didn't know if those oils had particularly hair-friendly qualities.  Good to know subbing's all right--though I'll bet mango butter would smell lovely....

[SweetPetuniaa]

Cute!!! 

[Nymeria]

Awesome!  I didn't know if those oils had particularly hair-friendly qualities.  Good to know subbing's all right--though I'll bet mango butter would smell lovely....

I have been meaning to say that sadly, mango butter does not smell like mangoes. It just smells like, well, oil. It has a slightly "tropical" undertone to it, but it's mostly oily smelling.

If it did smell like mango, it's be the only oil I ever used! Mmmmm I looooove mango.

[RavingRosemary]

Aw, that's a bit disappointing.  But it's nice (and wallet-friendly) to know that I don't have to go get a new butter (though I do want to try more than just shea and cocoa--there are so many!).  I'm really psyched to try this recipe out.  Thanks for sharing!

[mrs.jackson]

Sorry, stupid question. I am new to soap making and have not yet started to superfat. When you guys say superfat, is it already calculated in the recipe? Or do I have to figure out what 8 % of those oils and do it from there? Also, Does it matter what oils are used to super fat?
Thank  you!

[Magnolia Blossom]

This recipe sounds great! 

At the risk of sounding like the total newbie that I am, where do you find is the best place to acquire avocado & jojoba oils and mango & cocoa butters? 

Also, does this weigh the hair down or can I still get some volume?

[MrZ]

I found this recipe to be a real winner, and recommend it strongly.  However, I modified the recipe with a minor twist that you might find helpful (and basically eliminates the patience requirement you commented on:  I cut the water content of the caustic so I was using a 50/50 (wt/wt) mix of NaOH and water.  I also warmed the oils to about 100 F to help the butters and solids to melt/dissolve in the liquids.  When I mixed the caustic into the oils there is a pretty rapid reaction with significant temperature increase.  The mixture traces in about 5 minutes, and at this point I added my essential oils.  I poured the mixture into a long log mold as quickly as possible after mixing in the EO.  The mixture is pretty thick at this point, so it takes a bit of effort to get the mixture out of the mixing bowl, but it moves well with a rubber spatula.  Be sure to level any added materials and tap the mold once or twice to remove air bubbles trapped between the any layers of mixture in the mold.  My mold is made of wood, coated with Thompson's water seal (R) and sprayed with silicone mold release (local hardware store), I have not used any liner film and to date have not seen any negative reactions on the wood surfaces.  The reacting mixture gets pretty hot in the wooden mold (probably around 170F).  I leave the molds in the oven over night with the light on to maintain a temperature of about 90F to help the reaction along.  By morning the molded mass is quite hard and ready for demolding and cutting.  I have had great success simply removing the end piece of the mold, and then prying the log out with a spatula.  The bar has more than enough strength to lift out as a single log, and then I hand cut into bars about 1" thick.  I age the bars 3-4 weeks at house temperature (68F) at which point the weight is quite stable.  The resulting bars have an exceptionally rich lather that my wife loves as a shampoo bar.  I love the recipe myself and have already repeated at the 6 lb scale.  This is going to be a very popular bar with me, my wife and our friends.  Hope you find this suggestion helpful.

      Mr Z.