Black clay shampoo bar

Shampoo and shower bars are quite popular these days. One reason is that you can avoid unwanted and unnecessary plastic packaging and the other reason is that you can avoid preservatives (because although we use water in the formulation, the water activity of the final product is lower than the critical limit for the growth of nasties)

In this tutorial, we're going to make showe/shampoo bars with the Brazilian black clay that has antioxidant and anti-pollution/detox properties. You can use these bars for both body and hair and avoid placing several products in the shower (specially avoiding carrying several products in your luggage when you're on the go).

Formulation

1- Weight all phases in separate beakers. You can easily blend phase D with a magnetic stirrer at room temperature. It is not necessary but it makes your life much easier.

2- SCI does not dissolve in water, you need to heat it at high temperature to make it swell in water (you'll need heat-proof gloves)

This step takes a long time. Have patience

Heat phase A in a water bath at 90 ^oC. Blend the contents during heating. You may need a broad spatula or a hand mini-whisk for this step.

3- Heat your wax phase in another bath at 70-75 ^oC.

4- When both phase A and B are ready (your beakers are still in the water bath) slowly add phase B to phase A and blend gently (you want to avoid excessive foam). Keep the beaker in the bath but stop heating

5- Now add phase C. Keep the beaker still in the water bath

6- Add phase D and blend. The blend might clump at first but don't worry, continue stirring till you reach a pourable consistency. You can use your kai blendia for this step.

7- Prepare a 10% dilution in distilled water and measure the pH

In our case the pH was 5,23 (we used 1,2% lactic acid)

Note the pH for your next batch. In ideal case, it should be between 5-5,5. If it is too acidic use less lactic acid for your next batch. If it is higher than 5,5 use slightly more lactic acid for your next batch.

8- Now pour the blend into your mould cavities. You can use all the moulds you use for M&P soap.

9- The top of the mould (which is the bottom of  the shampoo bar) might have some air bubbles. Tap your mould on the counter to bring all bubbles to the surface.

10- Put the mould in the fridge (we let it rest overnight)

11- Remove your bars from the mould

Enjoy the lush foam and the luxurious skin and hair feel of the shampoo/shower bar.

BeHappy and have fun