Because I have very dry hair as do the majority of people that read my blog all my shampoos had dry hair in mind. 

That said, the "Soothe Me" shampoo which contains no oils is great for slightly oily hair or hair that has build up. The "Adore Me" shampoo also doesn't have oil but is a little more moisturising or less cleansing than the "Soothe Me" shampoo. 

Anyhow, after you have made the shampoo as I prescribe, if you find that it doesn't work for your oilier hair type these are adjustments you can make:

• Use a stronger surfactant such as SMC Taurate or Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLeS)

• Use the form of the surfactant, Sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) that does not contain stearic acid, the type with stearic acid is better for drier hair types
• Increase the concentration of surfactants, I use a maximum of 30% in my DIY Hair Shampoos but you can go as high as 40% or even 50%, this has the added benefit of making the shampoo thicker
  
• Reduce the amount of glycerin to 2-3%, rather than the 5% that I use
  
• Substitute the cationic polymers, honeyquat and poyquat with water, this will have the additional benefit of allowing you to use xanthan gum as a thickening agent
  
• Remove dimethicone and add more water
  
• Use higher weight proteins like oat protein rather than silk
  
• Remove PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate as it increases the oiliness of the shampoo

You do not have to do all these things to make one of my shampoos more ideal for oily hair. In fact, if you do all of them I am sure the shampoo will be far too drying. Personally, I would just use a higher concentration of surfactant or a stronger one and see how that works for your hair. That is a good starting point.


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This recipe is for a moisturizing and conditioning shampoo that will be great for dry hair that comes with a dry and itchy scalp. If you have oily hair then I have several recipes for oily hair in my DIY Shampoo Recipes Book. That said, if your hair is slightly greasy or has lots of product build-up this is the best option in this DIY shampoo series because it does not contain any oil.

This recipe has peppermint essential oil as the only essential oil to really juice up that soothing feeling. 

Heated phase (63%)

• 25% surfactants, 25g
  
• 10% cocamidopropyl betaine, 10g
  
• 8% decyl glucoside, 8g
  
• 7% lauryl glucoside, 7g
  
• 3% PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, 3g
  
• 5% glycerin
  
• 30% aloe vera
  
• 0% hydrolyzed proteins
  
• Distilled Water to get it to 100%, 24.5g
  

Cool-down phase (12.5%)

• 2% Dimethicone, 2g
  
• 3% polyquat-7, 3g
  
• 2% panthenol, 2g
  
• 0.5% citric acid, 0.5g
  
• 3% infusion/extract, 3g
  
• Marshmallow (oil-based), or comfrey (oil-based) or chamomile (glycol based);
  
• Dilute in polysorbate-80 if the infusion is oil-based; use a ratio of 1:1.
  
• 1% fragrance or essential oil, 1g
  
• 1% optiphen preservative, 1g
  

Options once completely cool:

• Citric acid (for pH 5.5-6.0)
  
• Thickener: 1-2% crothix (to use xanthan gum remove polyquat-7 from recipe & add more water) 
  

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.

1. Put all the heated phase ingredients into a bain marie (you can heat the water in a microwave and add it already hot to accelerate the process)
   
2. As everything dissolves stir to mix.
   
3. Heat ingredients up then leave on the heat for about 20 minutes. 
   
4. Remove the heated-phase ingredients from the heat and allow to cool.
   
5. When the mixture cools down to slightly more than hand-hot (i.e. very warm to touch) add all the cool-down phase ingredients.
   
6. Let the mixture cool down completely then check the pH and the consistency. 
   
7. If the mixture is too thin thicken it with your liquid thickener, 0.5g (0.5%) at a time. 
   
8. If the pH is higher than 5.5, reduce to 5.5 using citric acid, 0.5g (0.5%)at a time.

Application

• Weekly use on dry hair is enough. It’s best to shampoo dry hair after either using a hot oil treatment or a pre-shampoo detangler
  
• Shampoo as normal. If you have tangle-prone kinky-curly medium-to-long hair (like I do) wash it in twists to minimize tangling.

​Storage: The shelf life is about 12 months.


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Now that you know "What Ingredients Go Into Making A Shampoo?" You probably want the formula for making one:

You'll be creating two bain maries (aka double boilers) so you need two glass bowls or pyrex dishes.

Method:

My recipes will always give you the ingredients in two lists "Heated Phase" and "Cool-Down Phase".

1. Put all the heated phase ingredients into a bain marie (you can heat the water in a microwave and add it already hot to accelerate the process)
2. When everything has dissolved stir to mix
3. Leave on the heat for about 2 minutes then remove and allow to cool
4. When the mixture cools down to slightly more than hand-hot (i.e. very warm to touch) add all the cool-down phase ingredients
5. Let the mixture cool down completely then check the pH and the consistency. If the mixture is too thin, thicken it with crothix liquid. If the pH is higher than 5.5, reduce to 5.5 using citric acid. If you want to thicken with Xanthan Gel there is an adjusted recipe in the Shampoo Ingredients List and The Shampoo Course Book.
   

You can't currently find crothix liquid in the in the UK so I import it from the US. Xanthan gum can get very annoying to work with so I decided to just get crothix. There are other ingredients that can help to thicken a shampoo, e.g. glycol distearate and PEG150; if you can get hold of them then you can try those as your thickeners - be sure to keep to the usage limits.

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• Neno Natural's Free DIY Shampoo Recipes

Ref:

• Thickening Agents For Surfactant Systems (evonik.com)
• Shampoo Making Instructions (SwiftCraftMonkey.com)
• Surfactants & Fragrances: Viscosity (SwiftCraftMonkey.com)

The latest edition of Naturally Happy Hair is out. Below is the article I wrote for this edition. If you have any issues subscribing please contact Naturally Happy Hair directly. I contribute towards the magazine's content but I have no insight into their daily operations.

Note: this is not a sponsored promotion. I like the magazine and what it's about.

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• Neno Natural's Free DIY Hair Recipes

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. 

This recipe has a very high dose of glycerin to really juice up the moisture factor. Of all my shampoos in the tutorial series, this is my favourite; it works very well on my hair. Note that I would not have this much glycerin in a leave-in product.

Heated phase (66%)

• 25% surfactants, 25g
  

9% cocamidopropyl betaine, 9g
8% sodium cocoyl isethionate, 8g
8% decyl glucoside, 8g

• 3% PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, 3g
  
• 10% glycerin, 10g
  
• 20% aloe vera, 20g
  
• 2% hydrolyzed silk protein, 2g
  
• 3% fractionated coconut oil (3g) + 3% polysorbate-80 (3g)
  
• Distilled Water to get it to 100%, 24g
  

Cool-down phase (10%)

• 2% Dimethicone, 2g
  
• 3% honeyquat, 3g
  
• 3% panthenol, 3g
  
• 0% herbs and extracts
  
• 1% fragrance or essential oil, 1g
  
• 1% optiphen preservative, 1g
  

Options once completely cool:

• Citric acid (for pH 5.5-6.0)
  
• Thickener: 1-2% crothix (to use xanthan gum remove honeyquat from recipe & add more water) 
  

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.

1. Put all the heated phase ingredients into a bain marie (you can heat the water in a microwave and add it already hot to accelerate the process)
   
2. As everything dissolves stir to mix.
   
3. Heat ingredients up then leave on the heat for about 20 minutes. 
   
4. Remove the heated-phase ingredients from the heat and allow to cool.
   
5. When the mixture cools down to slightly more than hand-hot (i.e. very warm to touch) add all the cool-down phase ingredients.
   
6. Let the mixture cool down completely then check the pH and the consistency. 
   
7. If the mixture is too thin thicken it with your liquid thickener, 0.5g (0.5%) at a time. 
   
8. If the pH is higher than 5.5, reduce to 5.5 using citric acid, 0.5g (0.5%)at a time.

Application

• Weekly use on dry hair is enough. It’s best to shampoo dry hair after either using a hot oil treatment or a pre-shampoo detangler
  
• Shampoo as normal. If you have tangle-prone kinky-curly medium-to-long hair (like I do) wash it in twists to minimize tangling.

​Storage: The shelf life is about 12 months    

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• Neno Natural's Free DIY Shampoo Recipes

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. Hibiscus extract helps to boost hair's strength, softness and shine; in addition, hibiscus contains mucilage (a slippery plant extract) which soothes rashes, dry skin/scalp and detangles hair too

Heated phase (55%)

• 30% surfactants, 30g
  

10% cocamidopropyl betaine, 10g
10% decyl glucoside, 10g
10% coco glucoside, 10g

• 3% PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, 3g
  
• 5% glycerin, 5g
  
• 10% aloe vera, 10g
  
• 2% hydrolyzed silk protein, 2g
  
• 2.5% jojoba (2.5g) diluted in 
  
• 2.5% polysorbate-80 (2.5g)
  
• Distilled Water to get it to 100%, 31.5g
  

Cool-down phase (13.5%)

• 2% Dimethicone, 2g
  
• 3% polyquat-7, 3g
  
• 3% panthenol, 3g
  
• 3% infusion/extract, 3g
  
• Hibiscus (water-based) or goji berry (oil-based)
  
• 0.5% citric acid, 0.5g
  
• 1% fragrance or essential oil, 1g
  
• 1% optiphen preservative, 1g
  

Options once completely cool:

• Citric acid (for pH 5.5-6.0)
  
• Thickener: 1-2% crothix (to use xanthan gum remove honeyquat from recipe & add more water)

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.

1. Put all the heated phase ingredients into a bain marie (you can heat the water in a microwave and add it already hot to accelerate the process)
   
2. As everything dissolves stir to mix.
   
3. Heat ingredients up then leave on the heat for about 20 minutes. 
   
4. Remove the heated-phase ingredients from the heat and allow to cool.
   
5. When the mixture cools down to slightly more than hand-hot (i.e. very warm to touch) add all the cool-down phase ingredients.
   
6. Let the mixture cool down completely then check the pH and the consistency. 
   
7. If the mixture is too thin thicken it with your liquid thickener, 0.5g (0.5%) at a time. 
   
8. If the pH is higher than 5.5, reduce to 5.5 using citric acid, 0.5g (0.5%)at a time.

Application

• Weekly use on dry hair is enough. It’s best to shampoo dry hair after either using a hot oil treatment or a pre-shampoo detangler
  
• Shampoo as normal. If you have tangle-prone kinky-curly medium-to-long hair (like I do) wash it in twists to minimize tangling.

​Storage: The shelf life is about 12 months    


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Ref: Hibiscus for beautiful skin & hair

All the shampoo recipes are designed for our dry kinky and curly hair. As such, they are for weekly use and are designed to be both moisturising and very conditioning. 

The formula will be:

Heated phase

• 15-25% surfactant (they do the cleaning; I will use cocamidopropyl betaine plus one or two other surfactants)
  
• The other surfactants I will be using are decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside, coco glucoside and sodium cocoyl isethionate.
  
• 3-5% PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate - Technically this is a surfactant but it doesn't foam up. I am adding it as more of a moisturising, conditioning and mildness enhancing ingredient.
• 5-10% glycerin (for a more moisturising effect)
  
• 0-10% aloe vera
  
• 0-2% hydrolyzed proteins
  

Cool-down phase

• 5% oil diluted in a mix which is 1-part polysorbate-80 and 1-part oil (i.e. 2.5 grams of each)
  
• 2% Dimethicone (this is a silicone; it boosts shine and improves combability; if you don't want to use it replace with more water)
  
• 3-5% honeyquat or polyquat (for a more conditioned feel; boosts shine and improves combability)
• 2-3% panthenol (for easier detangling, more moisture and shine)
• 1% fragrance oil or essential oil. You can use up to 2% essential oil for adult-only shampoos.
• 1% optiphen preservative
• 0% to 1% herbs and extracts - I would rather use these in conditioners and moisturizers
• Distilled (a.k.a. deionized) Water to get it to 100%
  

pH: To get the pH to about 5.5, I use citric acid.
Consistency: To thicken, I use 1-2% xanthan gum or crothix liquid.

A very basic shampoo would just have water, surfactants and a preservative but that concoction would be no good for dry hair AT ALL! 

I have been wanting to try out glycol distearate but I couldn't get a hold of it. I've been told it's great on dry hair so if you can find it then add it at a concentration of 1.5% to 3% and reduce the concentration of water by the same amount.

How To Measure Ingredients

For accuracy use weight in grams rather ml. Imperial units (i.e. pounds and ounces) will result in a total mess up, they are too inaccurate, don't use them. I have a scale that measures as little as 0.1g (that's 0.00353 oz) so it's super super accurate.

Notes on the ingredients:

Water - Use distilled or deionized water

The best water to use to ensure no contamination is distilled water – not tap water or bottled water, they are all different. Distilled water and deionized water are the same thing.

Sulfates

I am not using sulfates, sulfosuccinates and alkane sulfonates because those are not good for dry hair types. If you are an oily haired girl then you can substitute those in to see how well they work for your hair.

Cocamidopropyl betaine is a good surfactant to have because it increases the mildness of a shampoo and it helps to thicken it too.

When you are shopping around for sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) note that you might find two types, one with stearic acid and one without it. If you have dry hair like 'moi', you want the one with stearic acid.

Remember:

Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) - is a very mild anionic surfactant
Decyl Glucoside - is a very mild non-ionic surfactant

Cocamidopropyl Betaine - is a mild amphoteric surfactant
Coco Glucoside - is a mild non-ionic surfactant
Lauryl Glucoside - is a mild non-ionic surfactant

Oil and Polysorbate-80

As you well know water and oil don't mix. In order to add an oil to a shampoo (a water-based product) it needs to be diluted in polysorbate-80 or another emulsifier otherwise it will just float about on top.

Hydrolyzed Protein

I don't leave shampoo on my hair for long so I think it's a waste to have yummy stuff like hydrolysed proteins in my shampoo, I would rather leave them for the conditioner. Feel free to add them to yours at 1-2%.

Fragrance Oils

Fragrance oils can change the thickness of your shampoo. Apparently vanilla thins a mixture whilst lavender and citrus oils thicken it.

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Ref:
swiftcraftmonkey: Formulating a regular shampoo, Esters - thickeners (part 1), Instructions for making shampoo!, How To Make Shampoos (diycosmetics.com), Shampoo Formulation (specialchem4cosmetics.com), How To Make Hair Shampoos (makingcosmetics.com), Shampoo Ingredients (sci-toys.com)

Liquid surfactants are the easiest to work with followed by powder ones. If you’re using a solid or granular surfactant you can crush it to a powder first to make it easier to dissolve but you don't have to - it will dissolve eventually. If you’re using a needle-like surfactant you can leave it as-is because it normally dissolves easily..

When you’re putting any powders or solids into a liquid do so carefully and with continual gentle stirring to avoid lumps foaming, frothing and unwanted bubbles in your formulation.

All surfactants are irritating to skin by nature. 

To make your shampoo milder i.e. both less irritating to skin and drying to hair, decrease the amount of surfactants and compensate by adding more water so that your recipe ingredients still sum to 100%. 

If you are making up your own recipe and you are using an anionic surfactant, you can make it milder by just adding an amphoteric surfactant (e.g. cocamidopropyl betaine) or a non-ionic surfactant (e.g. decyl glucoside)

Always use a combination of two or more surfactants to make your own shampoo because this increases mildness, reduces tendency to irritate skin and creates a more stable shampoo.

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The first consideration in creating a shampoo is how effective a cleanser you want your shampoo to be. This will depend on the type, combination and concentration of surfactants. Surfactants can make up to 50% of a shampoo. 

I think 50% is way too much even for straight hair, I have made shampoos with 25% mild surfactants (i.e. with no sulfates) and found them too cleansing.

If you’re designing a daily use shampoo then you need fewer surfactants (8% to 15%) than if you are creating one for weekly or twice-weekly use (15% to 50%). For kinky or curly hair care you’ll probably want to design a shampoo that will be used once or twice a week at the most.

Foam Power

This is going to surprise you: More foam doesn’t mean higher cleaning power so you can increase the foaming ability of a shampoo – which people like, without making it any stronger.

What are the most crucial ingredients in a shampoo?

• Water to dilute the surfactant
  
• The surfactant (cleaning agent)
  
• Preservative
  
• A thickener
  

EVERYTHING ELSE is optional so if you don’t like or don’t want certain ingredients you can swap them out or remove them but if you do remove them make sure you add more water to maintain the surfactant usage rate.

Importantly don’t just swap out 1% of one preservative with 1% of another as they may have different usage rates – check the usage rate and make necessary changes elsewhere in the recipe.

Secondary properties

Other ingredients in your shampoo will target all the other characteristics you want your shampoo to have:

• Smell
  
• Color
  
• Detangling capability
  
• Softening properties
  
• Thickness or viscosity
  

Achieving your ideal viscosity (Advanced Shampoo Recipes)

Different blends of surfactant produce varying degrees of runniness or viscosity. To thicken my shampoos I started of by using a gel formed using xanthan gum. However, I decided it was too much work so I imported liquid crothix from the US as I had heard good things about it. It is indeed much less stress.

If you do use gel you would need to mix 1 to 3% of the gelling agent with water. If 1% isn’t enough bring it up to 2% then 3%. Too little is better than too much.

Note that in addition to thickening a shampoo with gel you can thicken by:

Increasing the concentration of surfactants – but this could make your shampoo more irritating and probably more drying to hair.

Adding salts – but this may make your formulation cloudy; in addition, too much salt makes the mixture runny again so you really need to know what you’re doing. I would rather not use salt for fear it may hurt my eyes.

Adding fatty material, e.g. liquid Crothix, PEG-150 distearate or thickening esters – but again, some fatty materials could make your formulation cloudy and they may interact with your fragrance to change the viscosity so you need to manage that balance.

Adding color to a shampoo (Advanced Shampoo Recipes)

If you want to change the color of one of the advanced recipes try mica pigment powder. It is skin safe and it also doesn’t stain skin.

Mica is used in mineral makeup, soaps, lotions, lip balms and even nail polish to mention a few uses. In shampoo, mica sometimes becomes unstable and it may fade over time.

How do you use mica to color a shampoo?

If you want your shampoo to be a specific color do it at the end of your formulation. When you are finished add 1 or 2 drops of mica for every 150 ml of product. Color your product before you bottle it.

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Ref:

• How To Make Hair Shampoos (makingcosmetics.com)
• Shampoo Formulation (specialchem4cosmetics.com)

Yes, it appears you can wash your hair with body wash with no harm, in fact, it could be milder than shampooing with a a sulfate-based shampoo. 

Shower gels are formulated to have milder surfactants than shampoos. Therefore, if you have a shower gel that makes your skin feels soft and conditioned rather than squeaky clean, you can absolutely use it as a shampoo. It is quite similar to using a 2-in-1 shampoo.

Should you  do it?

I haven't tried it yet but next time I am on holiday and can't find a sulfate-free shampoo I might just got for it!

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• Shampoo Vs. Body Wash / Shower Gel What Is The Difference?