DIY Tallow Shampoo Bar with a Great Lather

Have you heard of a Tallow Shampoo Bar? Of course you have, that’s why you’re here. Want to learn to make them? They follow the same basic cold process method of soap-making as my Tallow Soap Tutorial. The one big difference in this recipe is that it includes castor oil in the mix. Castor oil provides the shampooy (yes, I think I made that up) lather we all know and love. This tallow shampoo bar is a great second soap recipe for the beginner soap-maker.

What is a shampoo bar?

A solid form of shampoo instead of the liquid kind. Shampoo bars may be more concentrated than liquid shampoos because there is no water in them. They do a great job cleansing your hair and removing dirt. I find I only need to wash 1-2 times a week. The bars last a lot longer than a bottle of liquid, are easy to travel with, and don’t have any plastic to worry about.

Can I naturally scent my soap?

Of course! Essential oils are often used in soap-making instead of fragrance oils. Using essential oils to get a strong scent will be a little more costly than synthetic fragrances. Depending on the recipe, it usually takes about 1-2oz of oils. You can always leave your shampoo bars unscented as well, works just as great! I also sometimes infuse my tallow with herbs for a couple of days before I make the shampoo bars. The scent of essential oils will dissipate over time, but if you use it within a few months, it will be just fine.

What about conditioner?

It really does depend on your hair type. I tend to have oily hair, and I will (maybe a couple 1-2 times a month) use a little bottled conditioner if I feel like I need it, but it is not usually necessary. I have also used apple cider vinegar rinses every so often after shampooing. Experiment and find out what works best for you. It may take your hair and scalp a couple of weeks to get used to using a shampoo bar.

Someday, I will learn how to make a conditioner bar, just not today!

How do I use a tallow shampoo bar?

Get hair completely wet, don’t leave any dry areas. Rub the top of your head with the shampoo bar for a few seconds, until you start to feel a lather. Massage the suds into hair and scalp, rewetting hair as necessary to keep up the lather. Rinse and repeat if needed.

Rosemary Lavender Tallow Shampoo Bars

Supplies:

• Small Crockpot
• Stainless Steel Bowls
• Silicone Spatulas 
• Kitchen Scale
• Mesh Sieve
• Cheesecloth
• Lye
• Soap Mold (I prefer a round shape for my shampoo bar, but you could use a regular loaf mold and cut into bars)
• Cookie sheet
• Immersion Blender
• Infrared Thermometer 
• Protective Glasses and Gloves

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Ingredients:

• 10oz Tallow (rendered)
• 10oz Coconut Oil
• 10oz Olive Oil
• 2oz Castor Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Dried Rosemary (optional)
• 1 Tablespoon Lavender Buds (optional)
• 5.11oz Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
• 10.23oz Water 
• 1.13oz Essential Oil (optional) – I used .85oz Rosemary and .28oz Lavender

Instructions:

• 24-28 hours before making soap, weigh tallow needed and add to crock pot with dried herbs to infuse on the warm setting
• When ready to make shampoo, organize your workspace and gather supplies, making sure it’s clean and clear of obstructions
• Weigh coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil and add to crock pot with melted tallow
• Warm all fats and oils together in crockpot, until they reach around 120-130° (you may need to turn crockpot to low for a few minutes)
• Put on protective gear and weigh lye amount, being sure not to touch any crystals
• Weigh water (in a separate bowl) into a stainless-steel bowl
• Pour lye crystals into water (snow on a pond) in a well-ventilated area or outside, it will give off heat and fumes so keep your face away
• Stir well and leave lye water to dissolve for about 10-15 minutes
• Pour heated tallow and oils through a mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into another stainless-steel bowl to cool slightly for about 15 minutes
• Check temperature of lye and tallow continuously until they have both reached approx. 100° (it’s okay if lye is cooler than tallow), this can take 15-20 minutes
• Once lye and oils have cooled enough, pour lye mixture into oils
• Keeping the immersion blender submerged, pulse for about 15 seconds, then use stick to stir the mixture, switching between pulsing and stirring a couple times (we don’t want a lot of air bubbles)
• Check to see if the mixture is thickening and close to trace (see notes for what “trace” means) 
• Repeat previous 2 steps until you reach medium trace. 
• Add essential oils and stir in well with spatula
• Place molds on a cookie sheet
• Pour soup batter into mold, tapping cookie sheet on counter to remove bubbles
• Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap for 24-48 hours and if possible, wrap a cloth or towel around the mold to insulate
• After 24-48 hours, unmold or cut bars to desired size if using loaf mold
• Store to cure for 4-6 weeks so that all remaining water evaporates, and bar hardens

Notes:

• Always run a soap recipe through a lye calculator — I use SoapCalc.net. 
• Wear eye and hand protection, you do not want to be splashed with lye or unsaponified soap. Long sleeves, pants, and shoes are great too.
• Do not have children nearby while making soap.
• We always use weight when measuring, not volume.
• Do not use any melt-and-pour soaps (pre-bought soap ingredients often in craft stores) in this process.
• ALWAYS pour lye into water. NEVER pour water into the lye. A hard pocket of undissolved crystals can occur, and you could end up with undissolved lye in your soap, or lye could explode out of your bowl. Be safe!
• Trace is when the soap mixture has emulsified to the stage of looking like pudding. Let some of the soap drop off the blender or a spatula, and you should be able to see it kind of sitting on top of the rest of the mixture.
• Cure soap in a dark, dry area
• Soda ash is a white, ashy film that can sometimes show up on soap when you go to cut it. It happens when unsaponified lye reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. The quality of soap is not diminished, and the soap is safe to use. There are tricks to get rid of it like steaming.
• Brambleberry is a great resource for beginner soap-makers.
• Soap additives can include essential oils, clays, milks, honey, herbs, salt, coffee, etc.
• A trick I learned for retaining scents in soaps with essential oils is to put a couple of drops on a cotton ball near the soaps as they cure
• Shampoo bars are not for everyone, and that is okay!

Let’s Make A Tallow Shampoo Bar!

24-28 hours before making soap, weigh tallow needed and add to crock pot with dried herbs to infuse on the warm setting. When ready to make shampoo, organize your workspace and gather supplies, making sure it’s clean and clear of obstructions. Weigh coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil and add to crock pot with melted tallow. Warm all fats and oils together in crockpot, until they reach around 120-130° (you may need to turn crockpot to low for a few minutes)

Put on protective gear and weigh lye amount, being sure not to touch any crystals. Weigh water (in a separate bowl) into a stainless-steel bowl. Pour lye crystals into water (snow on a pond) in a well-ventilated area or outside, it will give off heat and fumes so keep your face away. Stir well and leave lye water to dissolve for about 10-15 minutes.

Pour heated tallow and oils through a mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into another stainless-steel bowl to cool slightly for about 15 minutes.

Check temperature of lye and tallow continuously until they have both reached approx. 100° (it’s okay if lye is cooler than tallow), this can take 15-20 minutes. Once lye and oils have cooled enough, pour lye mixture into oils.

Keeping the immersion blender submerged, pulse for about 15 seconds, then use stick to stir the mixture, switching between pulsing and stirring a couple times (we don’t want a lot of air bubbles). Check to see if the mixture is thickening and close to trace (see notes for what “trace” means). Repeat previous 2 steps until you reach medium trace. Add essential oils and stir in well with spatula.

Place molds on a cookie sheet. Pour soup batter into mold, tapping cookie sheet on counter to remove bubbles. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap for 24-48 hours and if possible, wrap a cloth or towel around the mold to insulate. After 24-48 hours, unmold or cut bars to desired size if using loaf mold

Store tallow shampoo bars to cure for 4-6 weeks so that all remaining water evaporates, and bar hardens.

Check out all of our tallow how-tos.