Shampoo For You (and me)

Since we began butchering our bull calves, we get lots of tallow that we render and freeze.  Other than cooking with it, we make soap.  But up to this point we've never made shampoo.  Growing up, I used Head and Shoulders and a shampoo called Apple Pectin that smelled so good.  For the last 20 something years, we've used Suave Shampoo and Conditioner.  Store bought soaps and shampoos rob your skin and hair of natural oils that are good for you.  Read a label of the bottle of shampoo in your shower.  Lots of words on there you can't pronounce.  Chemicals.  We've been making a concerted effort to get away from all that.

So Tricia did a little research and wrote down a recipe for Shampoo Bars that she wanted to try.  Here is the recipe that she finally settled on:  Notice that you can pronounce every word:

She got the oils listed above going on the stovetop.

I came in the kitchen and my wife, the mad scientist, had safety glasses on.  When I asked her what was going on, she explained, "There's lye in that jar right there."  I see she has a note on her jar that says, "Vinegar neutralizes lye."

The oils go in the half gallon jar...

And then the lye and distilled water get poured in with the oils.  Tricia used a stick blender to begin mixing it all up.  The shampoo started to trace (emulsification of the oils & lye) too quickly, so she added some water to slow it down.

The shampoo was poured and spooned into a soap mold.  It really hardened too fast, but that's okay.

Voila!  Our first ever shampoo bars are poured!

We'll let the shampoo bars cure and harden for six weeks.  At the end of that time, we'll pop the shampoo out of the mold and cut up into individual shampoo bars.  We'll say adios to Suave.  Maybe we should try out the shampoo bars and give a review in 6 weeks, shall we?