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Sharing my awesome DIY shampoo bar without lye AND melt and pour recipe that you are bound to love!
I’ve used Castille soap melt and pour soap base, olive oil, castor oil, black molasses and a blend of essential oils.
Since I’m using a soap base, there is no need to handle lye and this is a very easy recipe to create! This recipe is great if you have dark, brown, dry, thick and coarse hair. If you have oily hair, you can skip the castor oil.
Plus, you can make at least a dozen of them in the price of 2 of the most expensive spa bars you will find in your nearest supermarket.
Why Make Your Own Shampoo Bar?
It may have never occurred to you that you could easily make soaps at home without lye. Life in this big modern world molds you that way, but the need for a stress-free weekend under a budget might force you to think out of the box. This recipe requires the least amount of effort and is super fun to create!
The recipe may intrigue you to customize your own shampoo bar, but it may take you a while to master it, and if so, do not be disappointed. Nevertheless, it is simple and will only require an hour of your time to have enough soap for months to come. Other benefits of a DIY shampoo bar melt and pour include:
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It is Cheap!
As mentioned earlier, you can make a dozen or even more in the price of 2 luxury massage soaps. For example, two lush shampoo bars may cost you over $20, but why buy an expensive soap when you can buy ingredients worth $20 and make a batch that will last for months.
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It is Customizable!
DIY shampoo bars are also customizable, so you can even add your favorite ingredient like ground coffee beans to make the soap more fragrant. You can even settle them in a different shape, so if you want a triangular shampoo bar, all you need is a silicone mold.
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It is Fun!
I cannot stress enough how fun this activity can be, not to mention a bonding opportunity for the family. Just slip on your gloves, get a spatula, nice looking silicon molds and start experimenting!
How to make DIY Shampoo Bar without lye
You can follow my recipe below but feel free to customize it based on your hair type by following my recommendations below.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Castille soap melt and pour
- 1 tsp Olive oil
- 1 /2 tsp Castor oil optional if you have oily hair - good for dry hair!
- 1/2 tsp black molasses
- 15 drops vanilla essential oil
- 15 drops Patchouli essential oil
- 10 drops Rosemary essential oil
- 1 soap mold
Instructions
- Cut the melt and pour soap base into small cubes so they melt faster.
- Add them to your double boiler (basically an aluminum bowl in a pan half filled with warm water) on low to medium heat.
- Your water should be simmering but not boiling.
- Continue steering until the soap base is melted.
- Once melted, add the oils and black molasses, then mix well.
- Once everything is melted, take the bowl off the heat, wait a few minutes until is slightly cools off then add essential oils if desired, mix well. If you add the essential oils when the base is too warm, they will evaporate and you can say goodbye to the amazing scents….
- Spray pure alcohol on top of the soap to get rid of the bubbles if any.
- This makes about 3 small soaps. Let dry for 24h hours before un-molding and cutting. Voila, now you know how to make your own shampoo bar!
Ingredients DIY Shampoo Bar
It is a liquid soap base that was originally made with olive oil, tracing its origin back to Aleppo. Today’s inflation has made soap makers shift towards vegetable oil.
Hair Benefits: It provides gentle cleaning and a smooth lather, cleansing the scalp of excess product build-up and sebum.
Originated from Greece, olive oil has since been used widely for its amazing lubricating properties.
Hair Benefits: It helps grow thicker and longer hair, and repairs damaged strands. Olive oil also helps prevent fungus, dandruff as well as dry and flaky skin.
Extracted from the seeds of the Ricinus Communis plant, castor oil is native to the tropical areas of Asia and Africa.
Hair Benefits: It beautifully complements the scalp with the help of omega-6 fatty acids and ricinoleic acid to enrich the scalp. It also improves blood circulation, contributing to long and beautiful hair.
This is a thick dark syrup, emerging after the third boil of molasses syrup that is a product of refined sugar beets or sugarcane.
Hair Benefits: With a dense nutrient composition like Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese, it helps improve hair growth and deeply conditions the scalp and hair.
Originating from Mexico, vanilla essential oil is extracted from the Vanilla planifolia, also referred to as common vanilla.
Hair Benefits: Not just as a carrier oil, but as the main ingredient too, vanilla essential oil helps promote hair growth and leaves hair silky and smooth.
Made popular by the indigenous practice of Indians and being used for centuries, it was widely recognized by Europe in the 1840s for its unique aroma.
Hair Benefits: It is widely used to straighten out tangled hair, reduce dryness and dullness, leaving them soft, shiny and flawless. It also helps reduce problems like oily scalp and dandruff.
Derived from Rosmarinus Officinalis, a plant that belongs to the mint family, it is often identified by its distinct fragrance that is an energizing, citrus-like scent.
Hair Benefits: It strengthens blood circulation in the scalp, stimulating hair growth and preventing dandruff, dry or itchy scalp. It also helps reduce premature graying.
How to Use my DIY Shampoo Bar Without Lye?
You will have noticed above that the ingredient list does not include lye (Sodium Hydroxide – Caustic Alkali). Without lye, you cannot make soap, however it is the ratio in the recipe that matters. The melt-and-pour recipe above includes a pre-saponified mixture so you would not have to handle the lye, or worry about handling it.
Anyways, getting back to the point, just like you shampoo your hair, you will have to:
- Wet your hair
- Create a lather by directly rubbing on to your scalp and hair, or rub it in your hands and massage the lather onto your scalp.
- Enjoy your spa-like bath and rejuvenate your senses
- At the end, use a rinsing product that has apple cider vinegar or rinse with your preferred organic conditioner.
Customize Your Shampoo Bar Based on Your Hair Type
You do not need to follow this DIY Shampoo Bar recipe strictly. Here is how you can customize it according to your hair:
Blond Hair
- Chamomile Essential Oil – Maintains your natural or colored blond locks, keeping them shiny and moisturized.
- Jojoba Oil – Whether your hair is bleached or naturally blond, Jojoba oil moisturizes and softens hair, leaving them silky and manageable.
Black / Brown Hair
- Coconut Oil – A great base for natural hair, leaving them darker and shinier
- Sage Essential Oil – Helps darken hair, minimizes graying, and relieves you of an itchy scalp.
- Rosemary Essential Oil – Helps bring an amazing shine to your natural hair, giving thicker locks and eliminating dandruff
Thick Hair
- Castor Oil – One of the best remedies for faster hair growth with more volume.
- Olive Oil – Thick hair need extra care. Olive oil penetrates deep into the scalp and is absorbed readily, leaving hair thick, healthy and swaying.
Thin Hair
- Grapeseed Oil – Rich in Vitamins, emollients, and antioxidants, grapeseed oil helps thicken hair and prevent hair loss.
- Argan Oil – Keeps your hair straight and shiny, adding extra volume to your thinning hair. It also cuts down on the frizz, leaving your hair straight, shiny and manageable.
Dandruff & Itchy Scalp
- Tea Tree Essential Oil – Clearing blockages and pores in the scalp, all you need to do is to gently massage the oil into your scalp for 10-15 minutes, and your dandruff and dryness will vanish.
- Rosemary Essential Oil – Offers a complete dandruff treatment, leaving your hair shiny and itch-free.
Hair Loss
- Castor Oil – Speeds up hair growth and volume, and reduces dryness and hair loss.
- Lavender Essential Oil – With antimicrobial properties, it helps combat fungal disorders and other bacteria, leaving your hair strong, shiny, and voluminous.
Just keep in mind that it may take a week or two for your hair to adjust to using your homemade DIY shampoo bar without lye.
Give it a fair try before deciding whether you like it. If you don’t like it, the bar can still be used as a general all-purpose body or hand soap – so it’s a win-win situation!
I hope you have enjoyed my recipe, please share the love and rate ***** in the comments below!
I’m Eve, a DIY organic skincare recipe creator since 2010 that loves to make a big mess in the kitchen!
I’ve embarked on a journey to empower women to ditch all the chemical-filled commercial beauty products and to share how to make your own organic beauty recipes at home towards a healthier lifestyle.
Homemade face & body creams, body butter, lips balms, face masks, shampoos, and all-natural perfume will have no more secret for you!
I am self-taught, read many books, and spend many hours in the kitchen creating brand new homemade beauty recipes. All my recipes are unique and are tested on humans!
In 2016, I studied Aromatherapy and became certified by the School of Natural Health Sciences.
Is it possible to substitute shea butter melt for the Castile soap melt?
Except that castille soap base you linked to contains lye, soooo……
All pour base soap contains lye.
She did mention this when explaining what melt and pour soap actually is.
Why won’t ny Castille soap melt?
Hello!
What can you use in place of molasses?
thanks so much!
I hope you’re doing well. I am going to make a shampoo bar for the first time with this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
I have been using these bars for about 3 to 4 weeks now and my hair still seems to have the “waxies” or almost like a film that makes it dull and heavy. Has anyone else experienced this? If so what did you do to combat it or how long did it last?
Eve:
I do note that this shampoo bar says it is safe for colored hair however I have repeatedly read that using a melt and pour soap base DOES pull the the color from the hair shaft. Eve can you please verify which statement is correct.
Thank you as I am looking to get away from commercial shampoos and conditioners.
Love your recipes and this site. Thank you so much for all the time you spend researching each post.
Yvonne
My Castile soap base is not melting.. can you guide me on what I’m doing wrong ?
This contains lye how do you think they make melt and pour. Don’t try to mislead people.
I don’t think she’s trying to mislead people. I personally want to make soap, but because of small kids in the home, look for recipes that don’t require me handling lye directly. Most people who make soap know that lye is required for saponification, but melt and pour bases help you bypass direct contact with it for those who are nervous are DONT have the proper set up to use it.
The recipe sounds great, can’t wait to try it!!
Author
if you would have read the post, you would have seen the following: “Since I’m using a soap base, there is no need to handle lye and this is a very easy recipe to create!”
I don’t try to mislead people as you say…
“ DIY Shampoo Bar Without Lye”
Looks misleading to me.
As a melt and pour, the situation with using lye has already been taken care of for you. This is what is meant by this recipe. It isn’t that the soup is “lye-free”, it’s that you don’t have to handle any lye yourself when making it. I have made soap and mixing the lye with water is no big deal as long as you know how to do it – which of course is very specific. You have misunderstood what the meaning of the article is about. She hasn’t misled you in any way. There is a difference between “lye-free” and not having to handle the lye yourself.
I understand a ph level of 5-7 is required in making a shampoo bar. Is this listed?
That would apply when making soap from scratch using lye, which all soap is made with. It saponifies the fats. But since this is a melt and pour recipe, you won’t have to worry about that as the soap itself is already made. You’re just melting it down, and mixing it wither additional ingredients, pouring it in molds, and walah! Easy peezy soap.
I’m excited to try this recipe. While the beneficial ingredients of the black strap are something I probably really need, I have silver gray hair and am wondering if you think it will darken it? I really don’t want to darken my gray…I would rather make it brilliant, shiny and even more silvery! Do you have any alternative or advice or maybe you don’t think the molasses will darken it? Commercial products for silver hair usually are purple, so I am wondering if you know of anything to maybe substitute? I can just see the wheels in your head moving now! Thanking you in advance…Gayla
Fantastic. The simplest and easiest recipe I have found. Great that you can customize to suit your needs. Thank you. I will be trying this recipe as soon as I can. We all want to be greener and making our own shampoo bars means less plastic bottles in our bathrooms. What’s not to like!
I accidentally bought the liquid for of Castile soap base. Is it necessary to have the melt and pour type?
Thank you.
Author
Yes, for this recipe you would need the melt and pour soap base!