This recipe is for a moisturizing and conditioning shampoo that will be great for dry hair. If you have oily hair then I have several recipes for oily hair in my DIY Shampoo Recipes Book. Seaweed extract helps to boost hair's shine and softness; it also cleans the scalp ensuring an optimal environment for hair growth.
Heated phase (50%)
10% sodium cocoyl isethionate, 10g
Cool-down phase (12%)
Options once completely cool:
Method (using a liquid thickener, e.g. crothix)
Note: you cannot use xanthan gum in this recipe. For an alternative recipe that allows for xanthan gum please get the Shampoo Course book or Ingredients List.
Application
Storage: The shelf life is about 12 months
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like:
I'm sure at some point you may have asked yourself this question: what's the difference between my body wash and my shampoo?
The question becomes even more important if you've decided to make some or all of your own body products. Why should you bother formulating one thing to clean your hair and another thing to clean your body? Firstly, it's worthwhile remembering that hair is dead matter and the skin is living. Way back in the day when most people still bathed with soap they found that when hair was also cleaned with soap it became rough and damaged. Enter, shampoo. These are some of shampoos unique attributes:
Body washes generally contain milder surfactants than shampoo because the vast majority of the shampoo industry is geared at greasy caucasian and asian hair. If you're a kinky-curly-coily like me you need to reduce the surfactants because you probably have dry hair not greasy hair. In fact, it follows from my final point that if you can't find a sulfate free shampoo, wash your hair with body wash - IT IS MILDER! Your body wash will probably also be formulated with sulfates but will have a much lower concentration of them.
Importantly note that soap and liquid soap are completely different products to shampoo and body wash: they have an alkaline pH above 7; they are not acidic like body washes and shampoos.
Healthy skin and hair is mildly acidic so I prefer to use body washes and shampoos rather than soaps and shampoo bars. Overall, soaps:
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: Comparatively Speaking: Shampoo vs. Body Wash Formulation (cosmeticsandtoiletries.com), Shower Gel (wikipedia).
There are a crazy number of surfactants on the market. They can be grouped into four main categories:
This is how each group differs from the next: Anionic surfactants, e.g. Sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI), are negatively charged. They foam or lather best in hard / alkaline water or in neutral aqueous solutions. They produce a lot of foam and have very good cleaning power but they can also be quite irritating to skin if used without being combined with other milder surfactants. Most commercial detergents contain anionic surfactants. Non-ionic surfactants, e.g. coco glucoside, decyl glucoside and lauryl glucoside are electrically neutral. Due to their mildness they are frequently used for products targeted towards babies. However, they don’t lather well. Non-ionic surfactants are not sensitive to the hardness of water. Cationic surfactants, e.g. honeyquat and polyquats, are positively charged. They are commonly used in hair care products because they have conditioning and anti-static properties. Cationic surfactants can be added to conditioners. Extra knowledge: due to their conditioning property cationic surfactants are also frequently found in detergents that claim to soften fabric. Amphoteric surfactants, e.g. cocamidopropyl betaine, can be negatively or positively charged depending on the pH of the solution they are in. Amphoteric surfactants are great for reducing skin irritation, boosting foam and improving the conditioning capability of a shampoo. They produce less foam than anionic surfactants. Besides being different in form, some are liquids, others are granular or needle-like and yet others are fine powders, they also vary in strength.
Which surfactant should you use?
A combination of two or more types of surfactant are usually used in one formulation because they have different properties. For instance, an anionic surfactant is an effective foam booster but it will tend to irritate skin. To counteract this an amphoteric surfactant is needed. To increase the conditioning property of a shampoo, a cationic surfactant is added. If you go to a shop and look at any shampoo bottle you will be able to confirm that there are always several surfactants in a shampoo. Primary vs. Secondary vs. Co Surfactants Primary surfactant can be used as the only surfactant in a shampoo. Secondary surfactants are added to boost a particular quality of the detergent, e.g. its conditioning properties or to create more lather or to reduce skin irritability. Co surfactants can be used on their own but benefit from being used in collaboration with other surfactants. How about sulfates? Sulfates are by far the most common surfactants used in shampoos. They are the strongest, i.e. most cleansing but also most irritating of all surfactants. As sulfates tend to dry out hair they are not recommended for products designed for drier kinky, curly or coily hair. They are okay for products targeting more greasy hair textures especially straight and wavy hair.
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: Buffalo (Chemistry of Shampoo), ChemistryViews.org (Shampoo Science), The Science of Black Hair by Audrey Davis Sivasothy, SwiftCraftMonkey (Surfactants A Short Guide), (Intro to surfactants), GreenPeople (ALS vs. SLS)
My love for Mrs Obama's dress sense and style has now got some solid competition in the form of Lupita Nyong'o. I watched the film 12 Years A Slave just this weekend and loved her acting so I decided to look her up.
There's a huge amount of discussion going on in the blogoshpere regarding her race, ethnicity etc. Apparently she is the daughter of a Kenyan politician but was born in Mexico in 1983 where her father was staying to avoid political persecution. She left Mexico when she was one but still has a right to the passport because she was born there. I love how when you do well everyone wants to claim you as theirs. It happens all the time in Britain too: one minute you are an unwanted immigrant, the next minute you win a prize and you're all of a sudden a prized "British darling"! Anyway...I digress...her nationality is not what is of interest to me, what is are her unique style of dress and of course, her kinky tresses! Lupita is not only really fit but she has her own unique style. She loves to use bright colours and they look fabulous on her. Her use of colour is most inspiring. In addition, many dark-skinned women complain about not being appreciated enough in mainstream media and Lupita is representing on that front with such grace and style. I am so loving her being in the lime light. I was never into Alek Wek because I felt she was just a pawn in the hands of modelling agencies that wanted to make money out of her. Lupita, on the other hand, seems to really be her own woman. Let's celebrate and enjoy her! Best Article In The Media So Far: Lupita Nyong'o won more than just an Oscar, she won hearts Pictures of Lupita Nyong'o At Various Red Carpet EventsGet your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: 15 Styles For Short Natural Hair A.K.A. A Teeny Weeny Afro
"Surfactant" is essentially a fancy word for detergent; it is short for "surface active agent". Surfactants are used very widely in cosmetic and household cleaning products. Basically, anything used for washing, for example:
A surfactant does two main things:
Greases, oils and fats are insoluble in water on its own. A surfactant has a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and lipophilic (oil-loving) or said differently, hydrophobic (water-hating or water-repelling) tail. This means one side of the surfactant attracts water whilst the other side attracts oil and in so doing the two bind together. Water on its own would fail to wash off greases and would thus be ineffective for washing oils and greases in hair. A wide range of surfactants are commercially available. In addition to cleaning, you might want a shampoo to have other qualities so you add surfactants or other ingredients such as: Foam boosters: increase the capacity of a product to produce foam, e.g. glycerin. Hydrotropes: enhance the water solubility of another surfactant. Solubilizing agents: help other ingredients dissolve in water when they would not otherwise do so. Thickeners: help your formulation thicken. Film formers: moisturizing and conditioning ingredients that make hair feel soft, e.g. hydrolyzed proteins (oat, wheat, etc.), crothix, glycol distearate, water soluble oils, fatty alcohols (e.g. cetyl alcohol) and silicones. Fragrance: makes your hair smell great. Slip-enhancers or silicones: to help detangle or keep hair tangle-free. Shine boosters: to make hair look shinier and healthier. Scalp soothers: to sooth an itchy scalp.
There is little point in adding certain humectants e.g. sodium lactate to shampoo because they just wash off without giving any benefit. I prefer to save those for my conditioners. Glycerin is a good humectant to add, however, because in addition to being a humectant it is a foam-booster and it helps to condition and moisturize the scalp.
Other properties to look out for in a surfactant:
In my DIY Homemade Shampoos you will find:
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: SwiftCraftMonkey (Shampoo Chemistry), About.com (How Shampoo Works), Buffalo (Chemistry of Shampoo), ChemistryViews.org (Shampoo Science)
Firstly, what is a shampoo?
For fear of stating the obvious, a shampoo is an acidic product (pH 4 to 6) designed to clean hair by removing dirt, oils, grease and other product build-up. Traditionally, shampoos have foamed up but with the recent uptick in people wanting milder and milder shampoos there are some shampoos in the market that are so mild they barely foam at all. I hate those! I think my hate is buried in the fact that the very first non-foaming shampoo I bought (Honeysuckle Rose by Aubrey Organics) was so watery it was basically just a fragranced water IMHO! I felt I had been duped, ripped off, bamboozled! Had it been thick, creamy and non-foaming I may well have had a different opinion. Importantly, note that foam has nothing to do with cleaning power - foaming is a purely cosmetic factor that was added to shampoos because it appealed to people so much - it's part of the marketing. You can have a non-foaming shampoo that's way stronger than one that foams. Anyway, at a base level a shampoo has:
These are the different shampoos you can buy or even make at home:
DAILY USE SHAMPOO
Has a very low concentration of surfactants (typically 8 to 15%) - this makes it very mild and hence suitable for daily use. However, us kinky haired girls don't need to wash our hair daily. My husband has straight greasy hair so I make him his own custom daily use shampoos. CONDITIONING SHAMPOO OR 2-IN-1 SHAMPOO This contains conditioning (cationic) ingredients or silicones that give hair a conditioned/ silky/ detangled feel. It does not necessarily contain moisturizing ingredients. MOISTURIZING SHAMPOO Contain ingredients that soften hair, these are called emollients. They include things like oils and butters. A moisturizing shampoo is normally creamy. It does not have to contain conditioning ingredients. CLARIFYING SHAMPOOS Strong shampoos with no conditioning (cationic) ingredients. Clarifying shampoos are designed to obliterate product build-up, personally, I find them too strong. It is generally recommened that you don't clarify your hair more than once every 4 to 6 weeks. ANTI-DANDRUFF SHAMPOO Anti-dandruff shampoos need to have ingredients that are scientifically known to fight dandruff. This takes them into the realm of "medical". You can't make an anti-dandruff shampoo at home because it is essentially a drug and would therefore have to come from an FDA approved lab in the US or whatever the equivalent is in your country. BABY SHAMPOO Designed to be much more "eye-friendly" so they don't hurt if they get into your baby's eyes. In addition, they are much weaker than adult shampoos. What about shampoo bars? Although they clean hair they are not shampoos at all because they are alkaline. Healthy hair is mildly acidic so I personally prefer not use these alkaline shampoo bars and instead prefer to just use proper shampoos. In summary, whether you are buying or making a shampoo, first, decide what type of shampoo you are going for. Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: Buffalo (Chemistry of Shampoo), ChemistryViews.org (Shampoo Science)
As you may have guessed by some of my posts I do not agree with no-poo/ co-wash only regimens. In my opinion, co-washing is great for a mid-week cleanse but a shampoo is very necessary every 7 to 10 days.
What are shampoo designed to do anyway? Shampoos are designed to clean your hair and scalp. Dirt that could be sitting in your hair includes pollution and particles from the environment, old/rancid sebum, sweat, smoke from restaurants and clubs, flakes of old/dry skin (eww!), greases/oils from products and dirt from the things your head touches. Why can't a conditioner do the same job as a shampoo? The surfactants (cleaning agents) that can be included in a conditioner without destabilising it are not capable of clearing all this dirt out. Why are clean hair and a clean scalp necessary? Clean hair is necessary because it’s more aesthetically pleasing and is easier to style. A clean, pliable scalp is necessary for healthy hair growth. How do ingredients in shampoos work differently to conditioners? Shampoo works by lifting dirt off your hair and scalp long enough for it to be rinsed out by water. On the other hand a conditioner contains lots of "cationic" ingredients - these are ingredients that are strongly attracted to hair and stick to it. Ingredients in a conditioner are designed to stick to hair even after it has been rinsed so that they continue to condition the hair long after. You simply cannot wash dirt out using a product that is designed to stick to it. I always compare washing your hair with conditioner to having a bath with lotion - you could do it, yes but a fair amount of dirt and oils would remain on your skin. The stickiest ingredient on my body tends to be my roll-on; it is sometimes so stuck on that I have to rinse my armpits twice with body wash to get it off fully - trust me, washing my pits with lotion would not get the job done! (Okay, I'm sharing too much info already, let's move on…) So, what's the bottom line on the whole no-poo thing? Overall, if you go “no-poo” you need to be clear that some of the ingredients in both rinse-off and leave-in conditioners, even the “natural” ones, can only be washed off with the surfactants in shampoo so they will build up on hair. This will lead to all the problems associated with build-up like breakage, increased dryness and lack of moisture, difficulty in product take-up and so on. If you feel that commercial shampoos simply aren't working for you then perhaps you should work on learning how to make your own shampoos using one of my DIY Shampoo Recipes so that you have the perfect shampoo for you. Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: SwiftCraftMonkey (Shampoo Chemistry), About.com (How Shampoo Works), Buffalo (Chemistry of Shampoo), ChemistryViews.org (Shampoo Science)
When I first started researching hair oils and butters I started going nuts looking for the fatty acid composition of kukui butter because I wanted to decide whether to use it for sealing or pre-poo treatments.
The numbers I found suggested it should be liquid at room temperature (it was very high in polyunsaturated fats) but it was being touted as a solid butter on many of the sites where I buy ingredients. Then I learnt about hydrogenation. Basically, an oil that is liquid at room temperature can be hydrogenated so that it's solid at room temperature instead. How Does Hydrogenation Work? The polyunsaturated fats in a liquid oil are brought into contact with hydrogen to convert them to saturated fats. Hydrogenation not only makes the liquid solid, it increases its shelf life! Examples of hydrogenated butters:
Aloe butter is actually different. The aloe vera plant doesn't actually have very much fat in it so aloe vera is blended with another oil/butter such as coconut oil to make aloe butter. Are hydrogenated butters good for natural hair? Yep, you get the same benefits as though they were a liquid oil but it allows you to use them in more ways, e.g. to make a DIY Whipped Butter. Are hydrogenated butters healthy to eat? Wrong site! I might sidetrack into skin benefits once in a while but health is really not NenoNatural.com's realm. Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair. You might also like: Ref: wikipedia.org/Candlenut oil, naturallythinking/Aloe Butter, |
I now blog about wealth creation - so if you have any money questions meet me there, you can do all sorts of cool things like leave me a voicemail.
By Heather Katsonga-Woodward
I was a natural hair blogger and mixtress living between London & Chicago from 2012 to 2017. I always thought I was 4C but some say 4B; images below - you decide! Heather xx Categories
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