Natural Hair Care Products Recipes and Guide

My latest Hair Oil

Just a quick post tonight, I have been pulling all the information I have gathered over the past few months to create a new E Book "DIY Guide to Making your own Natural Hair Care Products".

The guide is multinational (not in lingo though!) and relevant to people with Afro, European, Asian or Latin hair, who would like to make their own natural hair care products.

Basically I start by covering some Basic Health and Safety relating to making your own natural hair care products, how to use Essential oils safely and in the correct dilution.

Then I go on to discuss the properties of a whole range of mostly natural ingredients that can be used in making your hair products such as herbs, flowers, oils, butters, hydrolysed proteins, vitamins, ayurvedic herbal powders, surfactants for shampoos, emulsifiers & thickeners, water based ingredients, humectants, essential oils for hair types and conditions.

Lastly, I provide a list of Natural Hare Cair Product Recipes: Herbal Hair Oils, Hair Growth Oils, Pre Shampoo Oils, Wash Out Conditioners, Deep Conditioners, Leave in Conditioners, Daily Moisture Spray, Curl Cream, Ayurvedic Herbal Treatment Masks, Natural Colourants such as Henna and Indigo, Henna glosses, Natural Colourant Rinses, General Hair Rinses using natural ingredients, Styling and Protective Hair Balms, Aloe Gel, Flax Gel and Aloe/Shea Whipped Balm.

Mmmmmmm...hair food.

So if you would like a copy, please visit my website it costs £3.50, is 28 pages long and is sent to you in PDF format, with text and photos to help you in your creations.

Until next time x

Liquid Soap Making

I'm rather chuffed (again...he he!) at my first attempt at making Liquid Soap from scratch, using a recipe of Coconut, Extra Virgin Olive, Avocado, Hempseed and Castor Oils, Potassium Hydroxide and Water. Apologies, blogger is not accepting photobucket html, so here is the link to slideshow


OK, if you have not made Liquid Soap before, I really recommend that you do some reading and info digesting beforehand. The information out there is a little conflicting and confusing, particularly regarding the % use of Lye and also the amount of water to add in after you have cooked the Soap Base. So, as with all things, I think its best to absorb some info and then go play and experiment.

For the one I made, I used a recipe which said to add 40 oz of boiling water at the end of the cook, I erred on the side of caution and did not add the full amount and the end result was still a little thin. However, once I had neutralized with a Borax Solution and added some Glycerine, it did thicken up a little. I have also read that if you leave the finished Liquid Soap for a couple of weeks, it will also thicken up more.

Anyway, the basic process was as follows:

1) Weighed all ingredients

2) Added the Potassium Hyrdroxide (lye) to the Water, waited until clear. Heated the Oils in a double boiler and then added to the Crock Pot. For anyone who has not worked with either Lye (Potassium or Sodium Hydroxide) before in liquid or bar soapmaking, please research your health and safety basics - these are highly caustic and are not to be messed with

3) Added the lye solution to the oils in a crock pot on low heat. Stirred with a spoon, then stick blended until consistency of thick custard. It takes a lot longer to reach trace when making Liquid Soap than Cold or Hot Process Bar Soap. I presume this is because Potassium Hydroxide takes longer to trace than when using Sodium Hydroxide in bar soap.

4) Then pop the lid on the crock pot, still on a low heat, cook for 3-4 hrs, sitrring every 20 mins or so, or just turning when it goes through the tough "taffy" stage.

5) Once it starts to turn a little like vaseline and you think it may be ready, take out 1oz of the cooked soap, put it in a measuring jug with 2oz of boiling water. Stir and stir until the soap dissolves, if the water stays clear, you are good to go...if it turns cloudy, cook some more.

6) Once fully cooked, switch off the heat on the Crock Pot and add your additional water. Depending on the size of your batch and amount of additional water, you may want to transfer to a larger Stainless Steel Pot. Stir and wait, stir and wait until the soap paste has fully dissolved. I did this for a while and then just left overnight.

7) Then I neutralised with a solution of 66% water and 33% Borax (available from Boots in the UK) and added some glycerine.

OK, here are some good resources to get you started:

Making Natural Liquid Soap by C Failor book, which is regularly quoted in resources for Liquid Soap Making

Lye Calculator with option for Potassium Hydroxide used in Liquid Soap Making

Candle and Soap Forum fab threads...take some time with this one!

Another Great Liquid Soap Making Link which also has a Lye Calculator and some interesting information on making transparent soap and cream soap (yet to be conquered!)

Fab Tutorial includes photos of step by step process

Make Your Own Leave in Conditioner or Daily Hair Moisturiser Pt 4