Let's Make Shampoo Bars!

I'll take you through the entire process of making your own luscious, effective shampoo bars -- from "what is a shampoo bar?" to packaging it for sale. Jump ahead to 16:30 on the timer, to see the actual making of the bars.
Recipe for Shampoo Bars:
10 oz. olive oil
10 oz. coconut oil
10 oz. premium lard
6 oz. castor oil
(Melt these together in a stainless steel pot.)
12 oz. distilled water
5 oz. granulated lye
(Gently pour lye into water in a glass container and mix well. Wear protective equipment to protect eyes, hands, and exposed skin. USE CAUTION.)
All both mixtures to cool to below 100 degrees F.
Pour lye mixture into oils and blend gently, stirring or with a stick blender, until it comes to trace. Pour into molds. Cover well. Allow to cool. Cut bars when firm and allow to cure for 4 weeks.
Thanks to Wellness Mama for this recipe: wellnessmama.c...
Music: "Lullaby" by JVNA in KZbin library

[@wickedcoolchick]

This might sound weird but thank you. You treat your viewers like they are your children and you genuinely want them to succeed. Thank you truly xxx

[@artsymamanana]

I knit tiny bags with cotton yarn, and I make I-cord for them, I use my soaps in them. They just hang up! I wash them when I do towels, It is great!

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Love that!

[@Deborah-vv5cq]

I love your little soap pouches

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Thank you!

[@tammyvincent8876]

I loved this video! #1 I get to see you! #2 - very informative! #3 - you aren't cheap - you are frugal and that is an admirable trait! I might have to order me a shampoo bar for my gray! I'm looking like Cruella with my streaks! Love you and love the video! You are great!

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Hi, Tammy! Thank you so much!! :) Love you too!

[@artsymamanana]

Finally, usually the shampoo bars have crazy chemicals in it, even from soap makers. I just want soap that won't make my hair greasy, but leaves a little moisture in my hair without ingredients that would kill me if I ate them.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

I've had such great responses from my customers on these bars, and they are all natural. Enjoy!

[@artsymamanana]

@@myownlittlehouse471 I just found you, and I am so happy I did. You do all the things I do, and it feels like home! Lol! I paint, knit, spin, weave, raise chickens, garden, and make soap.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

@@artsymamanana , that's wonderful! It's so fun to find "like minds" in the world!

[@brigidlaffey7343]

@artsy…. Yes - you’re right! I’m astounded at how the majority of YT Soapmakers use neurotoxic ingredients - defeating the whole purpose of making one’s own 😮. That’s why I started making soap - to avoid all of those nasty chemicals and synthetic ingredients- when I discovered that I’d been paying a fortune for beautifully packaged foreign soap that had none of the ingredients as purported by that selfsame packaging and names. No Wild Iris, or Pansy, no Rose, or enticing Pomegranate but instead a raft of irritating, synthetic (toxic) fragrance oils, Titanium dioxide, synthetic micas etc etc. // Over washing of hair stimulates the sebaceous glands to produce more oil - as do those oil-stripping commercial shampoos. But one can train the hair not to do so by gradually reducing the frequency of hair washing. 😊

[@maythompson8548]

Oh my, I enjoyed watching this so much, you are very personable. I will try this recipe next time I make shampoo bars. I would love to be able to grow loofah, I live in Australia so that would be interesting.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Thanks so much for visiting, Mary! I want to grow loofah again, maybe next year.

[@brigidlaffey7343]

I was interested to hear that you grew your own Loofahs. I watched a YT member post her experience of same…which caused me to want to grow some.😊 It was all quite a revelation. Amazingly a not too distant neighbour was selling packets of her seeds for $2- not many - but how many does a girl need 😉😉. They had to be started indoors on a sunny windowsill in order to be able to plant and reep within the short window of opportunity. It ended up running rampant in the kitchen, climbing up and entwining itself irretrievably through the roller blind 😮 before I could plant it! 😄. It did flower and produce some babies but as it was still in its little plant pot there wasn’t too much chance of them coming to fruition, despite my seaweed fertiliser efforts. 😊. Hadn’t thought as far as the processing, and from what you say, it’s quite a rigmarole. All part of the adventure. Albeit I have to say that I was rather startled to hear you say that “you have to bleach them”. 😮😮 Thankfully all the Loofahs I’ve had throughout my years, have all remained ‘unbleached’ - just as I would expect. I love their natural colour and wouldn’t want them any other way. So if you wish to save yourself an arduous task, you could skip that part 😊 The End

[@brandyaney3422]

Thank you for your videos I want to try always a little nervous.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

You should try it - it's really fun and very creative!

[@dorothydorgans8022]

Can these bars be used on colored hair? I'd like to give these away for Christmas gifts. I read somewhere that the bars aren't good for colored hair. I'm at loss with it. Your video is amazing, I love it. Thank you so much for your hard work.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

I have sold these bars to hundreds of people now. No complaints from the colored hair people :) They are so gentle though -- I would think that commercial detergent shampoos would be much harsher on colored hair. There isn't an ingredient in these that would harm the coloring, I don't think. It is basically a soap bar, made with slightly different oils that are good for hair/scalp. I hope you can find out :) This website (after a quick google search) gives a positive answer: www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/can-i-use-a-shampoo-bar-with-color-treated-hair/#:~:text=Most%20people%20find%20that%20shampoo,longer%20before%20recoloring%20her%20hair.

[@dr.w.octaviamalveauxdent1315]

love your voice and humor. What is premium lard? Is premium a brand name or speaks to the quality?

[@myownlittlehouse471]

It just defines the quality. I try to find that if I can. But all the grocery store lard is good quality, and none of it smells awful, like lard in the old days did.

[@keyonna]

I could listen to you talk all day. You make me feel like you're talking to me 😅 And not a camera

[@mayyoke6101]

Thank you very much for the tutorial! I enjoy your sense of humour a lot😁😁 Love your video very much! ❤❤😍😍😁😁🙏🙏🙏

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@lyndaivy6741]

Quick question how do you store the leftover shampoo bars or in what do you store them in

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Because I want them to continue to cure, I don't seal them in plastic or a plastic bag. I usually leave them on a wire rack to cure for a couple of weeks, and then I put them in a shoe box or other cardboard box, with a piece of tissue paper around them. For selling them, I have a paper package (really more like a pouch) that I put them in, with a label. I also store the packaged bars in a cardboard box.

[@Angelwool]

After trying your amazing shampoo bars I decided to try and make my own. I do have a question though. Is it OK to use them sooner than the cure time? I'm down to just a sliver of my current shampoo bar and I know it's not going to last me much longer. Eeek!

[@myownlittlehouse471]

Angela, it is safe to start using the shampoo bar early, but it will not last as long. The curing process makes the soap (or shampoo bar) last longer, once you start using it. To speed up the curing time, I would have a fan blowing on the bare soap bars -- a small table fan. That will speed up the dehydration (curing) of the bars. I hope this helps!

[@Angelwool]

@@myownlittlehouse471 Ty❤️

[@myrthogabriel1637]

Word of advice: make sure you melt lard & Shea individually & weigh them in liquid form. Not like I did & weighed them in a dry form. Disaster! My bars an oily mess since the lye was not enough for the abundance of oil. Practice makes perfect. Correction, I meant lard & coconut. Still overwhelmed by the unsuccessful hard work

[@myownlittlehouse471]

I have never had a problem weighing them in solid form. I would think the weight would be the same -- you are not measuring volume, but weight. So sorry you had this problem!

[@brigidlaffey7343]

@@myownlittlehouse471Exactly, 400grams of Shea, Coconut, or Cocoa Butter in solid form, would still be 400 grams in its liquid form. Stands to reason 😊

[@armpitfuzz]

I want a shampoo bar on a ribbon, I don't want it sitting in a tray rotting away.

[@myownlittlehouse471]

That's a great idea! My husband also keeps him on a soap-saver pad -- plastic, but it looks like a round loofah. It's great for keeping the soap dry and not "rotting." :)