Making Good Scents - Summer 98: The newsletter of homemade cosmetics, perfumes, and soaps

By Ololade Franklin

Enjoy soap making, making cosmetics, and perfumery with the Winter 98 issue of Making Good Scents. Inside you will find the following articles: Shampoos and Shower Gels: Make your own natural shampoos and shower gels with the recipes in this article. Herbal Soaps: Herbs make wonderful additions to handmade soaps. Enjoy herbs in your soaps with these four recipes. Recipes From The Grocery Store: Make a Milk-enriched bath soak and a cornmeal face scrub. Fragrance Recipes: Scent your bath and body care products with these three recipes for fragrances. Make A Net Sponge: Simple instructions for making a net sponge to go with your shower gels. Making Labels With A Home Computer: Tips for making attractive computer labels for your products. Also contains resource and supplier listings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387892518

Book preview

Shampoos and Shower Gels

Shampoos are cosmetic preparations that are used to cleanse the hair. Shower gels are cosmetic preparations that are used to cleanse the skin. Most commercially available shampoos and shower gels are made from synthetically produced detergents, which can be quite drying to the skin. However, the shampoos and shower gels in this article are made with natural vegetable oils and sodium hydroxide - the same ingredients used to make many cold-processed soaps.

To make your own natural shampoos and shower gels, first begin by making the recipe for a soap base below. After making the soap base, you can turn it into shower gels and shampoos by adding water, essential oils and fragrance oils, and other ingredients.

Equipment needed

Electric mixer (such as a Kitchen-Aid®),a blender, or a mixing bowl.

A scale (to weigh the lye (or sodium hydroxide))

A set of measuring cups

A 32 oz. plastic Tupperware® or similar container to hold your soap base in. -A plastic spatula

Soap Base

This recipe makes a tan colored gel which is easy to customize as a shampoo or shower gel. You will need:

1/4 cup castor oil

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup corn oil

1 tsp. wheatgerm oil •1.6 oz. lye

6 oz. of distilled water

Step1: Prepare your lye solution

The temperature of your lye solution will heat to almost boiling as you do this.

(a) Put the distilled water into a heat resistant container.

(b) Place a plastic or stainless steel measuring cup on your scale. Reset your scale to zero. Pour the lye into your measuring cup until you have measured out 1.6 oz. of lye. c)Slowly add the lye to the water in your measuring cup. Stir with a plastic spatula or plastic measuring spoon until your water turns