Shampoo Bar and Hair Conditioner

I don't know why it took me so long to make a shampoo bar and hair conditioner.  All I can say is that I can't stop running my hands through my hair!  My hair has never felt so silky and soft.  I made my first batch of hair conditioner two weeks ago and added essential oils of rosemary, peppermint and lavender to help with my itchy and dry scalp.  After a few days, I noticed a difference not only in the softness of my hair but also the itch relief on my scalp.

Yesterday I decided to make a shampoo bar and another batch of hair conditioner.  I selected the hot process method (crock pot) for the shampoo bar because I wanted to be able to use it right away and also to make sure the essential oils I chose retained their potency.  In this case, I selected rose geranium EO.  I separated the three pound batch, adding the rose geranium EO and madder root powder to one pound and leaving the remaining two pounds unscented and free of colorants.

For the hair conditioner, I also added the rose geranium EO and madder root powder.  I read somewhere that madder root powder brings out a bit of red in brunettes and being a brunette I thought I'd try it.

The shampoo bar and conditioner smell wonderful and the shade of pink reminds me of rose quartz.   The fragrance of the rose geranium oil did linger in my hair.  My husband mentioned that shampoo bars would be great for traveling and camping so I'm trying to figure out how to make one that has more conditioning properties as well.

For the first batch, I used jojoba and sweet almond oil and in the second batch I just used sweet almond oil.  Both conditioners feel the same.  I may just stick with sweet almond oil.  My motto : less is more and in this case, the more I can cut out of the ingredient list, the better!

Lavender Infused Oils

I have one small French lavender plant in my garden and picked the flowers last week when the flowers were in bloom to make lavender infused oils for soaps.

I made two infusions: one with pomace olive oil and one with soybean oil (below is a picture of the soybean oil with the freshly picked lavender):

This is a 2lb loaf I made yesterday using the lavender infused olive oil and local lavender essential oil...

...the soap smells wonderful!   I can't wait to try a bar after it's cured in a few weeks. 

Right now I have one loaf of olive oil and one loaf of soybean oil without added lavender essential oils in the saponification process and can't wait to unmold tomorrow evening after I get home from work.  I'm eager to see how much of the infused lavender fragrance remains.

July 22, 2012

The infused soaps have a tiny hint of lavender fragrance.  I also noticed that the bits of lavender that didn't strain remain in the soap - makes the soap seem more handmade and rustic. 

Tube Mold

I purchased a tube mold (from Goplanetearth - great resource for soap supplies) and decided to make a one pound cold process soap. Image below is the store's stock image that I'm including to show what the tube looks like since I ruined the one I used.  

I didn't follow the instruction to oil the inside and no matter what I did (I even stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes), I couldn't push the soap out and in my frustration, just threw it away.

My husband rescued the soap saying there had to be way to get it out.  I decided to cut the tube and successfully removed the soap.  I stared at the tube and thought about how I could reuse it.  If I taped the exterior and trace until the soap is thick, I should be able to use the tube again.

The soap created was colored with an ultramarine violet oxide pigment and scented with violet fragrance oil

I took a close up picture because there are brown spots where the fragrance oil sped up trace and hardened the soap.

 I'll post when I try the tube again, taped up!

July 22, 2012

I tried the mold again with hot processed soap and it worked okay, but I think this mold is best used for melt and pour soaps.  I'm going to look into flat silicone round molds instead.  

P.S. I tried inserting parchment paper into the tube but it kept curling.  Just not meant to be for me!

Shot Glass Swirls

I read about creating swirls by pouring over an object inside a mold so I thought why not try it with two shot glasses?  First, I forgot about the suction once the loaf pan was filled and had to use my bartender spoon to scoop out the glasses. Below are the first couple of layers.  I added one tablespoon of alkanet root powder (mixed with castor oil) to two cups of the mixture; and 2 tablespoons of lavender essential oil to the entire batch (smells lovely but too strong - hopefully the scent will soften during the curing process).

29 hours later I unwrapped the loaf of soap and eagerly sliced a piece.  I used a vegetable slicer to clean up the top as there was a thin layer of ash as I didn't cover it completely.  Ash isn't a big deal as once you use the soap in water, it washes off.  I really like the layers of gray-purple lines.  You can see the round spot on the side where I scooped the shot glass.

Here's a picture taken outside in daylight for better view of the colors. 

If you look closely at this piece, you can see specks of the alkanet powder.  I personally like it but next time I'll strain it to see just how much smoother I can get the color.

The layers remind me of seashells - here's a picture I found online for a comparison - so pretty! 

Here are the bars of soap all lined up.  Again, you can see the places where the soap got sucked into the shot glasses as I removed them from the mold.

One note I made during this process is to let the soap trace a little thicker so it pours slower to prevent blending.  I had a lot of fun with this experiment and can't wait to make another batch with three layers : plain, alkanet and madder root.  Don't know what scent I'll use - maybe a combination of lavender and geranium rose.

Alkanet Root Powder

I received my order of soap supplies which included Alkanet root powder - a natural colorant to create shades of purple to blue.  As you'll see below, I'm not sure what color to expect!

I started off positive that I was on the right path to purple. The color of the oil appeared to be a deep burgundy.

When I reached trace, the mixture turned into a nice dark purple - feeling pretty good about now.

Whoa! What happened?   I read that the soap could turn gray before cooling down and returning to purple, but this wasn't gray, this was charcoal, almost pewter.  Hey, I like pewter, might not be a bad thing....

Since I had no idea what color this soap would become, I didn't use any fragrance but I did decide to play around with embedding the soap with swirls from the madder root soap I made earlier and then used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make little hearts.

Doesn't look very pretty now but I am HOPING the soap does indeed morph into at least a dark purple.

The Next Day:

I removed the hearts after I posted this yesterday ... couldn't really see them clearly anyway.  So the soap remained a dark almost black purple which in some cases, would be nice but it runs dark purple when you use the soap.  I know some people won't mind that but I think it's too much.  

I cut them into bars and the embedded swirls didn't work out as the hot process soap can't really flow into them as with cold process.  Looks cute but I will rebatch using a combination of 3/4 of the madder root soap and 1/4 alkanet for hopefully a better shade of purple.

Natural Colorant : Madder Root Powder

I finally purchased Madder Root Powder after reading that the powder creates colors that range from pink to mauve. The powder actually seems more like a dark coppery orange so I was surprised to read that it turns pink.  

I decided not to infuse the oils first as I wanted to see what the soap would like like with the specks.  At around the 20 minute mark, the solution began to create the waves.  The solution at this point is a light pink, and I wonder if that's what the color of the final product.

I then stirred the solution, slowly, until it became a porridge like consistency, covered and left it alone. 

 When I use the hot process method, I hover.  I once had a mixture bubble over so quickly that it got all over the kitchen counter (luckily not onto the floor) before I could move the crock pot into the sink.  I have a dog and a cat and even though my dog is fairly well behaved and stays out of the kitchen when I tell him, the cat is a bit more independent.  The thought of either of them getting scalded by the caustic solution horrifies me.

I stirred the solution three more times - this process usually takes an hour - before reaching the final stage - soap!  I know when it's ready if after I stir the solution the surface turns solid and white.  I then proceed with the tongue test and usually there's no zap.

If you compare the first picture and the last picture, the soap is darker at the end of the soap making process.  My hope is that once it's cooled down, it'll turn back into the original light shade of pink.

And here's the proof of soap when I fill the crock pot with water, and I see the wonderful soapy bubbles.

THE NEXT DAY

The soap did indeed turn into the lovely pale shade of pink!  I used the soap last night and boy, what lather!  And, my skin felt nice and soft.  I used a mix of soy oil, olive oil, coconut oil, palm kernel flakes, sunflower oil and castor oil.

I prefer to use less than five base ingredients but in this case, I was experimenting with what I had available and it turned out to be a pretty good combination (always write down what you use so you can repeat it if it turns out better than you expected).

Since I didn't scent this soap, I plan on rebatching half and adding 1/4 tsp madder root powder (to see if it'll turn a darker pink or mauve) and geranium rose fragrance oil.