My tallow shampoo bar recipe is one that I absolutely love.
Tallow shampoo bar recipe
It took me a long time to come up with a truly natural hair washing solution. Believe me, I tried everything. There was the no poo method (yikes!), various homemade liquid shampoos, and different rinses. NOTHING got my hair reliably clean. And some of these things, like the no poo method, were harsh on my hair.
I also tried plenty of store bought options. However, no purchased shampoo met my strict criteria of being completely natural. They all contained ingredients that I didn’t love, like fragrances, hair coating compounds, and other things I wasn’t comfortable with.
What I really wanted was something I could make myself. I wanted have total control over the ingredients, so that I could ensure that they were completely safe and natural.
It had to be something that worked beautifully, not poorly, and not even just okay. I wanted clean hair, once and for all, with every washing. Lastly, I wanted something affordable.
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The bar saves the day
In my quest to test out various store bought options, I eventually stumbled upon some shampoo bars at my local health food store. I loved how they left my hair! Finally, it was clean, shiny, and manageable. However, the ones I had found were small, pricey, and didn’t last very long. They seemed to really melt away quickly with use.
Since I had already been making my own soap bars for a while, I decided to see if I could come up with my own tallow shampoo bar recipe. After lots of research and recipe testing, I finally nailed it.
I am still so enamored with these shampoo bars. They are literally everything I ever wanted in a hair washing solution.
What makes them so amazing
A shampoo bar is a wonderful way to wash hair. It is truly a mild soap, but that’s okay, and I’ll explain why in a second. They wash away oil and dirt, leaving hair completely clean, soft, and manageable.
Also, they leave behind just the right amount of conditioning, so hair doesn’t get dried out. They are a very gentle and completely natural hair washing solution.
Anyone who is ready to ditch toxic, commercial shampoos (but still wants gorgeous hair!) will fall in love with shampoo bars.
The ingredients
In my tallow shampoo bar recipe, I used a blend of oils and fats that are good for both cleansing and conditioning hair.
Coconut oil helps to provide lots of luxurious lather. A good lather while washing my hair was something I really missed during those times of using the no poo method and other homemade hair washes. I was so glad to have it back! Coconut oil is also great for cleansing.
Olive oil helps a bit with cleansing, but also provides wonderful moisturizing properties.
Castor oil is well known as a fabulous ingredient for hair. It contains ricinoleic acid and omega-6 fatty acids, which help to strengthen and nourish hair.
Grass fed tallow is another great fat for hair. It is gently cleansing and deeply moisturizing. Also, tallow gives soap and shampoo bars hardness, which makes them last longer and not melt away in the shower. This is why my health food store shampoo bars didn’t last very long: they contained only plant based oils, and therefore were prone to melting away and a short lifespan. For more info on all the reasons why I love to add tallow to my shampoo bars and other soap recipes, check out this post on why add tallow to soap here.
A variety of different essential oils can be used in this tallow shampoo bar recipe. My personal favorite is peppermint. I love how zesty and invigorating it is while washing my hair, and I like that peppermint has scalp and hair benefits.
Things to know
If you’re switching to shampoo bars from commercial shampoos and hair products, your hair is going to need to go through a detox process. You’ll definitely want to check out this post here on how to detox your hair with a DIY hair mask.
I mention before how shampoo bars are actually a mild soap designed for hair. One thing to be aware of is that hair needs a slightly more acidic ph than soap or shampoo bars can give. If your hair is really short, you probably won’t notice anything, and don’t need to do anything about this. Just wash, rinse, and you’ll be good to go.
But, if your hair is medium length or longer, you’ll want to do a ph balancing and shine boosting rinse after washing your hair with shampoo bars. It’s really easy. Just fill a 2 cup container with about 1/4 cup of lemon juice or vinegar (white or apple cider will both work) and fill the container the rest of the way with water.
After washing and rinsing your hair, simply pour the shine boosting rinse over your hair in the shower. You can immediately rinse it out. This resets the ph of your hair back to its happy place, which will leave it smooth, shiny, and beautiful.
Note: depending on your water type, you might have to adjust the amount of vinegar. I’ve noticed I’ve had to adjust this a little whenever I’ve moved or traveled. If your hair is seeming limp and dull, try reducing the vinegar. If your hair seems frizzy and rough, increase the vinegar.
The process
If you’ve made cold process soap bars before, it’s like that. If you’re new to the soap making process, I recommend checking out this post first, just so you’re comfortable with everything involved.
Ready to make some shampoo bars? Let’s get started!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Get my full disclosure here.
Tallow shampoo bar recipe directions
Ingredients:
- 10 oz. grass fed tallow
- 10 oz. refined coconut oil
- 10 oz. olive oil
- 6 oz. castor oil
- 13.68 oz. water
- 5.11 oz. lye
- 2 tbsp essential oil (click the link to get my favorite essential oils)
Instructions:
- Weigh tallow, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil, and put into a crockpot on high, or a pot on the stove on low heat.
- Weigh the water in a heat safe container or sturdy plastic bucket, and weigh lye separately.
- Once oils are melted, check the temperature. You want the oils to be 100 degrees F. Let oils cool if necessary.
- Once oils are at 100 degrees F, take the lye and water outdoors. Wearing gloves and safety goggles, carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Stir gently.
- Once the lye water has turned from cloudy to clear, leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour the lye water into the oil mixture.
- Use an immersion blender to mix the shampoo bar mixture. After a few minutes, it will grow creamy, and start to thicken. Mix until it has reached “trace,” the light pudding consistency.
- Add the essential oils and blend again to incorporate.
- Pour shampoo bar mixture into molds, top with wax paper, and wrap molds in towels.
- After 24 hours, remove soap from mold and slice into bars. Let cure in an area with good air flow for 4 weeks.
Tallow shampoo bar recipe video
More tallow recipes
How to Render Tallow with the Easy Crockpot Method
Tallow Lip Balm Recipe with Honey
Have you been looking for a truly all natural hair washing solution?
What all have you tried? Anything crazy? Let me know in the comments!
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Tallow Shampoo Bars
My tallow shampoo bar recipe is one that I absolutely love.
Ingredients
- 10 oz. grass fed tallow
- 10 oz. olive oil
- 10 oz. refined coconut oil
- 6 oz. castor oil
- 13.68 oz. water
- 5.11 oz. lye
- 2 tbsp essential oil
Instructions
- Weigh tallow, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil, and put into a crockpot on high, or a pot on the stove on low heat.
- Weigh the water in a heat safe container or sturdy plastic bucket, and weigh lye separately.
- Once oils are melted, check the temperature. You want the oils to be 100 degrees F. Let oils cool if necessary.
- Once oils are at 100 degrees F, take the lye and water outdoors. Wearing gloves and safety goggles, carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Stir gently.
- Once the lye water has turned from cloudy to clear, leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour the lye water into the oil mixture.
- Use an immersion blender to mix the shampoo bar mixture. After a few minutes, it will grow creamy, and start to thicken. Mix until it has reached “trace,” the light pudding consistency.
- Add the essential oils and blend again to incorporate.
- Pour shampoo bar mixture into molds, top with wax paper, and wrap molds in towels.
- After 24 hours, remove soap from mold and slice into bars. Let cure in an area with good air flow for 4 weeks.
Do you have to use an immersion blender for this or will a hand mixer work as well? Thanks!
Hi there, I’ve been using syndet shampoo bars for a year now. I started to make them about a month ago now, but my scalp isn’t happy with any of them. I’m wondering if my hair health will benifit from a soap based recipe? I have made your shampoo bar recipe but with lard today.
Kind Regards
Abbey
Thank you for the recipe. Do you sell your shampoo bars? The first time I read your post I thought I saw a place where I could buy some but now I’m not finding it.
Here you go! https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/shop/
Thank you for the recipe and if I need help could you help me . I’m new at this
I was mixing mine for over 20 minutes and still couldn’t get it to come to trace. Any idea why that would be?
Temperature the warmer the water and lye/ oils the faster the trace
Do you have any recipes that DON’T have coconut oil? Is there something that can substitute for the coconut oil? My mother has a severe allergy and can’t use otc products any more.
Hi Marisa, thank you so much for all your lovely recipes! I’m trying to make them all! I wanted to ask you, is there a way to follow your shampoo tallow bar recipe and have a ph value of around 5-5,5 (without having to use the rinse with apple vinegar every time to restore the ph leven of your scalp/hair)? I have read about surfactants ‘tensio activos ’ like SCI / SCS (derived from coconut) in powder.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you!!
Can I use raw goat milk in this recipe? Or would it be best to make it with water since it’s a shampoo bar?
Hi Marisa,
Please can you tell me how to adjust a recipe if you’re short on something last minute? I bought what I thought was a 10 oz jar of tallow, but when I started making the bars, the tallow weighed in at 9.7 oz instead. I wasnt sure how to adjust the lye and water and the other oils to compensate. I put in 9.7 oz of olive and coconut oils, but had to blindly guess with the castor oil, water and lye. I went to soap calc to see if it can do the adjustments for you but no luck there either.
I would so appreciate an entire video on recipes: how do you create one? How do you know what ratios for each ingredient? How do you know which ingredients to combine? How do you adjust recipes?
Many thanks for your help.
You can adjust the oils by going to soapcalc.net, then click on Recipe Calculator at the top menu. There are lots of instructional videos on YouTube. I just watched Muddy Mint’s SoapCalc Tutorial and learned quite a bit as I’m a newbie to soap making.
I’ve tried this recipe and it came out very beautifully, but was far too dry for my 2c curly hair. Others with straight hair have used it without a problem. I just use it as a soap bar, it’s a squeaky clean.
Hi! Excited to try this recipe! Do you think I could substitute goats milk for the water? I’ve got lots of goat milk and love using it in my soap and lotion but wasn’t sure if the substitution would work?! Thank you!
Hey, I’ve made this soap twice and each time it had come out crumbly. I’m following your measurements exactly and using a scale.
Over mixing can cause it to be crumbly. Mix just until trace.
Hi, I’m wondering is lard is interchangeable with tallow in shampoo bars as in cold process soap?
I enjoy
Your posts very much
H
Hi wondering how many bars this recipe makes? Sorry if I missed it! Also , have you tried using rice protein water with this recipe?
I use salt in my cold process soap so it cures quickly. What do you think about doing it with this recipe?
Hi there
Thanks a lot
is there any vegan substitute for tallow?
Hi, I was wondering if you could add Apple Cider Vinegar to the recipe to avoid the rinse. If you can do you just use convert some of the water to ACV? Thanks
Any thought of using jojoba oil instead of olive oil?
What is the substitute if you’re allergic to coconut oil?
I am also allergic to coconut oil- I did oil pulling with it, and my lips swelled up! I don’t know if it would affect my scalp, but did you get a reply on this?
I’m just getting into making my own soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. Will this strip color from color treated hair?
No, I’ve heard of it working very well for color treated hair, no issues with stripping 🙂
What about a conditioner bar? Do you use one with this? Is there a recipe?
Hi! She have a videos that’s explained is hair routine, you can look on her YouTube Channel and search with HAIR.
She give a recipe whit coconut cream to use as a conditioner!
Hello I really want to make the tallow shampoo bar but I would really like to try it first. I’m a single mom of three kids and can’t afford waste so I need to be sure that it works for me. Do you sell these?
How often do you use the shampoo bars? With commercial products, I only shampooed my curly hair 2-3x/week. It seems I need to do it daily with the shampoo bar but perhaps that’s just the detox process leaving my hair oily.
Hi I just made my first batch and can’t wait for the 4 weeks so we can try it out. I love your site! I was wanting to make another batch and was wondering if I can add tobacco leaves to make a soap batch for my husband. Do you think it would work? And if so when should I add it?
Hello, I’d like to try your recipe. In your video you make 3 batches. Is the recipe set out above for 1 batch or 3 batches of soap?
Thank you for your help.
All the best
Gemma
Scotland
Thank you for this recipe. This is the first bar I made and I greatly like it. Those that are trying it, is causing dandruff. Would you have any tips on what I could do to reduce the cause of dandruff?
I just started watching your tallow videos and I’m looking forward to trying many of your recipes. Thank you for caring enough to share your wisdom! Have a wonderful weekend.
What is an ideal substitute for tallow ? Cocoa butter / palm kernel oil ?
Thank you .
I make veg soaps so the question
Just wondering if it’s ok to use unrefined coconut oil in this recipe as that’s what I have on hand.
Thank you!
Yes, unrefined actually works better for soap/shampoo bars, and it’s what I use 🙂
Thank you for this question, as I was also wondering this myself. I had already measured out my tallow and got to the coconut oil and put everything away because I thought I had to go out and specifically buy REFINED coconut oil when I have organic unrefined on hand. Maybe the directions shouldn’t say refined as it confuses people.
Refined coconut oil works best, and that’s why I include it in the recipe, but either will work.
Thanks for the recipe!! Do you think that using rice water in place of the water would work? Just wondering, as rice water has beneficial properties for hair. Thanks for any insight.
What is the superfat % in this recipe?
5% 🙂
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I do want to note for those who are wanting to switch oils, different oils require different amounts of lye. You cannot just use more olive oil instead of coconut oil, for instance, or use sweet almond oil instead of castor oil (lard and tallow are an exception; they use the same amount of lye to become soap).
If you substitute oils without recalculating the correct amount of lye, you risk creating a lye-heavy soap that will burn your skin or eyes, or an oil-heavy soap that won’t clean well and will create lots of soap scum. That’s why it’s important to use a soap calculator to figure the correct amount of lye for the specific oils (and the amounts of those oils) in the final recipe. My favorite lye calculator is SoapmakingFriend.com.
Good tips, thank you for sharing!
Do you sell the tallow shampoo bar?
Here you go! https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/shop/
Hi I tried your beef tallow cp soap and your creams you not have me hooked. I want to try a beef tallow and goatsmilk soap and just want to know if it will work. I am pretty new at making cp soaps but am quite adventurous.
Thank you, I’m glad! I have been wanting to try goat’s milk also, just need to find a source for the milk 🙂 Let me know if you try it!
Hey! I have been watching and reading a bunch of your content, its great!
I have been searching everywhere, and am wondering if you can use a melt and pour base for this recipe instead of the lye mixture?
Thank you so much! I don’t have any experience with melt and pour soaps/shampoo bars.
Love your posts, recipes, videos, informative comments, and everything you have put out. I grew up on a grass only fed farm. Had no idea there were so many uses for the fat that got thrown away. Now that I’ve been playing with making your products, we no longer waste this precious resource.
First time making this recipe and I must’ve added to much oil. Didn’t come to trace like usual. When it finally did come to trace, it was soft and oily! I poured it into the mold thinking it would be ok.
After a quick Google search I ended up throwing it back in the pot and remelting it. Then slowly adding a little more lye to the failed batch, until it was to the right constancy.
Turned out like a hot processed bar and seems to work great. Thought my mishap could help the next person who made the same mistake.
Also did basil spearmint instead of peppermint. In theory, it helps control dandruff.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this. I will try basil spearmint for dandruff control. Did it help yours?
We have an abundance of lard, but not tallow (yet). Our lard is really pure with no piggy smell. (Made soap with no fragrance and it has no smell)
Do you see a problem with substituting lard for tallow?
Not at all, they are both wonderful and interchangeable in soap making 🙂
Hi, love your soap recipes, they have been super easy to follow along with your videos! Thank you!
I was wondering if I can swap the castor oil with a different oil? Almond, grapeseed, etc. I also randomly have food grade vegetable glycerin on hand.
(I think I may be an idiot because whenever I try to do one of the lye calculations I have no idea what to fill in.)
Thank you so much! Yes, you can substitute the castor oil for another one, but the properties of the finished bar will be different. Castor oil has great hair benefits, which is why I include it. But you can research other oils and see what properties they would provide. Hope that helps!
Hi Marissa, I know this is an older post (still a great recipe, by the way!) but I have a question. How do you travel with an apple cider vinegar rinse? I love the convenience of traveling with a shampoo bar… no small travel bottles, no liquids to worry about, etc. But what about a vinegar rinse? Just wondering what you have done when you have traveled. Thank you!
Thank you! Great question. I usually just find a grocery type store and buy a small bottle of vinegar once I arrive at my destination 🙂
Hi!!! I’m very grateful for you GREAT récipé! But Sorry for asking, what would you use Vinager for?
I just started using the Peppermint shampoo bar and I love it! The amount of hair it used to fall before every time was exaggerated, It’s been a week and I haven’t lost even half of the hair that used to fall before!! Love it!
I’m so glad! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I just made my first batch of soap with this recipe and I’m so nervous! I didn’t have enough coconut oil so I had to use some babassu oil as well. I also infused my water with peppermint and lavender and so my shampoo bars are a Scarlett color (orangish red) instead of a yellow! I hope they come out ok!
Wow, that sounds lovely, thanks for sharing! I’ve done little substations like that before, and they’ve still come out well 🙂
Do we have to heat the water and the lye separately and then mix the two and add
Or can we use lye and water at room temperature and mix the two ?
How many soap bars can we make with the measurements you have given
How many head showers with one soap bar can we take ?
Is there an expiry period for these shampoo bars ?
Why should we keep the shampoo bars for 4 weeks ?
You should use room temperature or tap water for the lye water, and add the lye to the water. Don’t heat the water, because the lye will do that when you add it. This recipe fills a 2 lb. soap mold and makes 8 bars. One bar lasts me quite a long time, about 4 – 5 months with 2 hair washing sessions per week. They don’t expire. The bars need to cure for 4-6 weeks so the lye can finish converting the oils in the saponification process. Hope that helps!
I’ve actually got a batch of this currently curing however, I would like to know if you’ve had any good/decent luck in a conditioner bar. So that I wouldn’t have to do the vinegar rinse. Thanks for an awesome recipe I’m excited to try it out.
Great, hope you enjoy!! I’m not sure that a conditioner bar would take the place of a vinegar rinse, just because you need to reset the PH of hair. But I will do some research and find out!
Hi, I have just ordered grass fed and finished tallow and Lard. I am wanting to make my daughter a natural soap that will be great for her skin, as she has had lifelong issues with allergies, rashes, dryness and eczema. I have been making soaps using vegetable based oils and they have been pretty good, but after reading the many benefits of animal fats, I would like to make a soap based on these and hopefully help my daughter in a greater way. I would like to get rid of shampoo and conditioner completely, as only a small number of them do not hurt her skin, but they are so expensive. So, what I would like to know is;
1. Can your Tallow Shampoo Bar not only shampoo hair, but be used for the whole body?
2. Does your Shampoo Bar leave your hair feeling like straw or leave it feeling heavy and greasy a day or so later?
3. How does the Tallow Shampoo Bar leave your hair feeling?
4. Is it easy to brush?
If my daughter uses the vegetable oil soap we make for her on her hair, it makes her hair squeaky clean, but very difficult to brush afterwards.
5. Will my daughter still have to condition afterwards?
My daughter is unable to use vinegar, lemon juice or any of those other acidic liquids that most people recommend for conditioner like properties, as it would be too stingy for her. Through trial and many errors, my daughter has had to endure so many products that made her skin worse. Thank you. Regards, Mary
Thanks for reaching out! I’m sorry to hear about the eczema. Yes! We use the shampoo bar for both hair and body and it works great for both. My shampoo bar leaves hair feeling soft and clean and easy to comb and brush. I recommend a diluted vinegar rinse: 1/4 cup of ACV in a pint of water is a good place to start. If hair feels straw like, increase the vinegar a bit. If it feels greasy, decrease the vinegar. The amount of ACV in a pint of water is very individual and depends on your hair type and your water hardness/softness. If you’re switching to a shampoo bar from commercial hair products, your hair will need to go through a detox process. I recommend a homemade mask to speed up the process here: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/how-to-detox-your-hair-hair-mask-diy/ I don’t usually condition, but some people like to. I have a leave in conditioner recipe here: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/leave-in-conditioner-spray-diy/ Once in a while I will put a tiny bit of tallow balm in the ends of my hair before washing and that works great for a deep conditioning treatment. If she can’t use vinegar or lemon juice, I would try dissolving citric acid in some water. Another idea is to just wash her hair with a spray attachment so the vinegar rinse doesn’t go anywhere except her hair. Hope that helps!
Oh nuts, I just lost my comment :(. Okay, Hi there again :). Thank you for your detailed advice, in response to my enquiry about making your Tallow Soap. As soon as the Lard and Tallow arrives I will make the soap and your Whipped Lotion. I am hoping your Lotion will be even more moisturising and nourishing for my daughter’s skin than what she is currently using. I just had a couple more questions regarding your Tallow Soap Recipe;
1. Could I add powdered Colloidal Oats (in the form of fine milled Oat Flour) and powdered Aloe Vera, as these two ingredients in particular help my daughters skin immensely?
2. If yes, is there some sort of mathematical formula, ratio or percentage that I need to use; in order to quantify the maximum amount that will benefit my daughter and not unduly affect your recipe?
3. Is there a limit to the total combined amounts of different powders that can be added to a soap recipe?
4. Do I need to alter the quantity of Lye or Distilled Water or the Fats to cater for the addition of dry powdered ingredients?
I wont add any Fragrant Oils, as they are too irritating to my daughter’s skin. Also, If the powders will adversely affect your recipe, I will make it as is.
I have been using a written recipe, to make my daughter vegetable oil based soaps, so I really do not know how to add things in. So, I looked at some of the lye calculators on line, but they are a bit of a mystery to me, as I do not understand most of their terminology, abbreviations or some of the information they contain. I feel like it is a whole new language that I am not familiar with. Anyway, thank you for being so generous in sharing your knowledge, expertise and advise so willingly. I am so very appreciative. Thank you. Regards, Mary
You’re very welcome! I haven’t tried adding any powders to my soap recipe, so I’m not sure what adjustments would need to be made. I recommend trying the recipe as is. Hope that helps!
Hi, so sorry. I keep getting a message that I have sent a duplicate comment. I am confused. Just let me know if my second comment came through. regards, Mary
With a lot of research you shouldn’t have lye water in a shampoo bar as this is a alkaline soap between 7-9 which damages your hair, head cuticles etc
I’ve been using it for years with amazing results 🙂 To reset the PH of my hair and scalp, I do a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse, and that solves all of those issues 🙂
I love every recipe of yours I have tried. This one i have been a little leary about though primarily because of the lye. Could that be substituted out with castille soap?
I understand; it’s not scary when you follow the correct safety measures: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/soap-making-basics-and-safety/ You do need to use lye to convert the oils to soap/shampoo. Castile soap won’t do that. Hope that helps!
First I want to say how thankful I am for your videos!! I rendered my tallow following your wet method and it turned out great! I want to make shampoo bars and tallow balm but have a couple questions. Do I need to separate the tallow from the water for these recipes or can I use the chunks i cut and put in the refrigerator? Also what type of lye do you use? I clicked on ‘lye’ in your ingredient list but the page on amazon didn’t show up?
Thank you so much! You should be able to just use your tallow chunks, but I would scrape any impurities off 🙂 Sorry about the link, I’d better go update that! Here is lye I recommend: https://amzn.to/3foPyyE
I reached a pudding consistency, but when I added the essential oils the consistency changed to more of a curdled consistency. What might have gone wrong?
Some essential oils cause the mixture to seize up. I’ve seen this, and just continue putting the mixture in molds, and it turns out fine 🙂
Hi. Thank you for sharing your recipes. I was wondering what I could substitute for the coconut oil? I’m allergic to both palm and coconut oils. Does it have to be an oil with the same density, or any oil?
Thank you 🙂
Great question! Coconut oil provides some cleansing and lathering properties. To get a similar effect, I’d probably try substituting the coconut oil for half more olive oil and half more tallow. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know for sure how it would turn out, but that’s what I would try. Hope that helps!
Babassu is a great coconut replacement.
Thanks for sharing, I’ll have to look into that!
Hi, I have experienced some hair shedding when I switched to this. I’m only 1 week in but otherwise my hair feels soft. I still have to wash daily due to oily fine hair. We have soft water & I’ve been doing the apple cider rinse also. I assume this is temporary & I am ok with it. Just curious if you have heard of this happening & what might remedy it. I absolutely LOVE your channel & blog! You are so kind to share your recipes.
Do you know where u can buy a soap bar? I looked on Etsy and couldn’t find it. I really want to try it before I make it myself! Thanks so much!!
Hello, yes I have a shop page here: https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/shop/
Does the temperature of the lye/water mixture make a difference? It’s currently winter, so it will cool a lot more now than in the summer.
It doesn’t make a huge difference in my expereince. You want the lye water and the oils around 100ºF when you combine them, so you can shorten the cooling time if the temperature is quite cold outside. Hope that helps!
I had another shampoo bar I previously made from a different recipe, not containing tallow. It was definitely a great shampoo bar, and it got me completely turned off from using commercial shampoos.
However, after having found your blog and this recipe containing tallow, I went ahead and got the ingredients to make a batch. I’ve been using these bars now for about 1.5 months, and I absolutely love them!!
I love how the tallow makes the bar harder, and it keeps much better!
I’ve made bigger batches now and started sharing them with friends.
Thank you so much for providing this recipe! I just made and tried out the whipped tallow balm as well. That is probably the most luxurious thing I’ve ever put in my hair!!
Are you ok with me possibly selling some of the bars I made, even tho they are based on your recipe?
Thank you so much, I’m so glad to hear this! Yes, that’s fine with me if you sell some 🙂 Thanks for asking!
Hello! I’m new to this, but have been busy reading & learning. My understanding is that it’s important to get the measurements exact. If I don’t want to include the essential oils for the first test batch, can I just leave them out? Or would I need to compensate by adding a little more of another oil?
Thanks.
Great question! With the main ingredients, you do have to be careful to be precise, but with the essential oils, you can leave them out with no issues. Hope that helps!
Hi, I was wondering if you know what the Ph level of this shampoo bar is?
Great question. I haven’t tested the finished bars with ph strips, but that would be a way to know. I do know that most people’s hair does well with an acidic rinse afterwards. I dilute about 1/4 cup of AVC in a pint of water, pour that over my hair, and rinse it out. Some people have to adjust the amount of vinegar depending on their hair and water type. Hope that helps!
I went out and got some ph level strips and tested them. They seem to be around 8ish on the ph level scale. Still a bit high, but that’s just how it is making soap using lye.
But as you said, the ACV rinse is great. I use it all the time myself as well 🙂
This is great to know, thanks for sharing!
Have you tried the lard and sweet almond oil? I use a lot of lard an branching out to sweet almond oil for this with coconut oil allergies. Would love to hear your input. Thanks
Sweet almond oil is a great choice. I haven’t used it in soap or shampoo bars, but I’ve used it in other skincare. I think you could substitute it just fine in the shampoo bar, but it may impact the amount of suds. Coconut oil produces a lot of lather. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Hi Marisa,
Thank you for all your work. I have a special love for tallow and started making my own stuff following your recipes. I have a few questions about the tallow soap. I recently bought a 100% unscented tallow soap bar. It seems nice but when I tested it with washing my face, it burned my eyes if the soap got in them. Am I supposed to use tallow soap for face washing? And is the burning normal? And can you tell if the soap has not been cured properly (4 wks)?
TIA for your help!
Kimmy
Thank you so much! Even the purest soap will usually irritate the eyes if it gets into them. When I use it, I just make sure to not get it in my eyes. I think it’s because our tears have a different ph than soap does. If the soap isn’t cured long enough it will be soft and irritate your skin. Hope that helps!
Could you use activated charcoal in it with out hurting the recipe?
That’s a great idea! I haven’t tried it, but I am guessing it would work!
Hi there,
I am getting together the materials to make this. I was wondering the volume of the batch. I need to buy soap molds but not sure how many I need. Also any recommendations on bucket?
This recipe will make 2 lb. of soap, which will fit in one of the molds that I have linked in the blog post. I use a 1 gallon bucket for mixing lye water. Hope that helps!
Hi! We have a regenerative/permaculture/no-til farm in Ontario, Canada! I’ve been loving reading about how to use more of our animals than just the sought after muscle meats! Really appreciate you sharing so much!
one question though, if tallow is only good for a shelf life of 6 months, then what about the lip chap, or facial whips… are they longer or the same? Always 6 months?
Thanks 🙂
Wonderful, I’m so glad! I find that skincare made with properly rendered tallow (balm, etc.) is good for a year or more. Technically, pure tallow is very shelf stable also, but sometimes the shelf life is said to be 6 months just to be on the safe side, often when it is being used for food, for example. Hope that helps!
I was wondering if you have to wait the 4 weeks prior to using the shampoo bar? It looked like from the comments you could use it it just got harder over time?
Thanks!
You really should wait; some of the lye often still has to finish converting the oils to soap. It could be irritating if you use it before 4 weeks. Hope that helps!
Yes, thank you! Just anxious to start trying the shampoo bar method 🙂
Thank you for your recipes! I want to try this with rosehip / argan instead of castor oil. Would the amount of lye have to be different or can measurements stay the same? And if I wanted to make a half batch could I just halve everything?
Thank you Marisa😄
You’re welcome! I’m not sure about substituting the oils; the castor oil has specific hair benefits so that’s why I like to use it. Yes, if you want to make a half batch, you can divide all the ingredients in half 🙂
Do you have a suggestion for a good replacement for the coconut oil? I’m allergic to coconut and almost every recipe I find has coconut oil in it… I was excited when I saw it had tallow in it and was soooo hoping there was no coconut. Thanks!
Yes! I would substitute more olive oil in the place of coconut oil. It might have slightly different lather, but it should still be very nice and work well. Hope that helps!
Thank you!
Hiya, I love the idea of using tallow on my hair. I’ve been researching and am getting conflicting information about soap affecting the PH balance of my hair. Are there variances in this recipe compared to soap for skin?
Good question! So this shampoo bar is made the same way as soap, which does leave hair with a more alkaline ph. In order to reset the ph of your hair, you’ll want to follow with a shine boosting rinse. After shampooing and rinsing, dilute about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in about 2 cups of water, pour it over your hair, and then rinse it out. That will reset your hair to the proper ph, as well as smooth hair and boost shine. Hope that helps!
Hi, when you do the vinegar rinse, do you pour it on the scalp as well or just the mids and ends of your hair?
After trying shampoo bars I’m hooked but most are pretty expensive. I just tried your recepy with pure lard from the grocery store since I could not find any tallow in my area and shipping cost more than the tallow itself. The recipe was a success, I added jasmin and ginger essential for my personal preference. It has a rich lather and grateful for your post and youtube video, thank you. These will make a great biodegradable option to take camping.
Wonderful, I’m so glad! Those sound amazing for scent. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Marisa:) Thanks for the recipe, I am looking forward to try it out. What is the superfat % and water discount %? I normally make soap bar with a superfat 5-8%for body. Should the shampoo bar have a lower than 5% superfat?
This recipe has 5% superfat. I find that works well for shampoo bars. For body soap, I like 8%. Hope that helps!
Hi Marisa, I am new to all this and have had a couple of recipes have crumbled. I am going to try your recipe and noticed you only mention the oil has to be 100 degrees. Does the lye mix also need to come down in temperature or is it just the oils. Thank you.
I’m happy to help! If the soap turns out crumbly, it probably has too much lye in it. The lye mixture should cool enough in about 10 minutes to be the right temperature. Hope that helps!
Hi Marisa – thank you so so so much for sharing this guide! I never thought I’d ever make my own soap/shampoo bars, but I decided to just try your recipe and I am so glad I did. I made both your soap and shampoo bars, but then I wondered, would it be possible to just use the shampoo bar for both hair and body? From what I understand, the shampoo bar is essentially just a higher superfat soap bar, correct? So it is pretty much just a more moisturizing soap bar? Just curious since I like to keep everything as minimalist as possible and it would be awesome to have one bar for everything 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed making them! Yes, you can absolutely use the shampoo bar for both hair and body. We do that all the time, and it works great!
I’ve been perusing the internet for shampoo recipes and I find I’m a little frustrated by how many oils are in each of them… why is this? Why can’t I just use tallow and coconut and essential? Why are there 5+ oils in each shampoo bar recipe I see? I want natural and nourishing, and have really bad dandruff… but I also just want simple, limited ingredients.
You could definitely try designing your own with the oils you want to use. You can use soapcalc.net to create a recipe 🙂
Hi, I am studying your shampoo soap and will soon be making my first batch. As “research”, I very recently purchased one of your shampoo bars. Thanks for the quick shipping. The shampoo bar is very soft – a slight pressure with a finger leaves an impression. The shampoo bar sits upright on a draining base, so it isn’t soggy from sitting in water. Is the softness of the bar characteristic? How would one alter the recipe to make a harder bar, or is is possibly a function of aging the soap before use?
Hello, Thanks for the question, and for trying a shampoo bar! The tallow helps the bar be harder, but this happens more over time. I ship the bars out as soon as they’re done curing, but another two weeks or so of curing will make them even harder. The ingredients (especially the tallow) are already designed to make a harder bar. Shampoo bars made of only plant based oils (no tallow) are significantly softer, even after a long curing time. Hope that helps! Have fun making them 🙂
Hi, I live in a very small family and am putting together what I need to make the shampoo bars and other tallow soap for the first time.. Could you reduce your shampoo bar recipe so it would fit in only one 10 x 3 x 3 soap mold? Also, curious, how much tallow, in weight, is one quart jar of tallow?
Hello! The recipe I have here is for one of the soap molds I link to. I’m making three molds in the video, but I triple the recipe to do that. So you should end up with 8 bars if you follow my recipe and use the mold I linked 😊 I don’t remember off the top of my head about the weight of tallow… I think 1 quart should be more than enough for this recipe, if I’m remembering correctly.
Great information. Thanks for providing us such a useful information. Keep up the good work and continue providing us more quality information from time to time.
Thanks so much for posting the recipe. It’s nice to take when traveling! Then you don’t have to worry about liquids for carry on. I have made soap before and got out of it but your recipe is inspiring to me to jump back in. Thanks for all the lovely stuff you make. Your website is awesome.
Thank you so much for the kind words! That is one of the nicest comments I’ve gotten. I’m so glad you’re here. Happy soap/shampoo bar making! 🙂
Hi Marissa, would you share how you make your circle labels for soap? I would like to sell shampoo bars at the farmers market where I sell my grass fed lamb and tallow balm.
Thanks, Susie
Yes, that would be great! I think I will do a blog post and video on how I do my labels. I would also like to include some printable templates that my readers can download and use. I’ll do that soon! Hopefully in a week or two.
Just making sure you saw the post and video I have up on how I make my labels 😊
Yes, thanks for posting! I’m not sure I have the skills to do this, though
You’re welcome! I was a bit intimidated at first, but soap/shampoo bar making is not that hard, and really fun once you get started! 🙂
Hi Marissa!
I made some tallow soap. My first soap making experience. Really wonderful soap. I may try the shampoo bar recipe soon.
Question:
The top recipe says use 6 oz tallow. The bottom printable 10 oz. Which is correct?
Thanks.
Thanks for catching that! The 10 oz. in the printable is correct – it should be 10 oz. of all the oils except 6 oz. of castor oil. I’ve fixed it now 🙂 I’m really glad the soap turned out well for you!
Thank you!
I finally made your shampoo bar recipe last night, my first attempt at soap making! I think it turned out good. I did notice when I cut the bars(crooked) that there were a few holes or pockets along the edges. It also had a vaguely layered look. Do you have any suggestions on how to avoid these problems? Should I pack the soap in firmly? I just kind of let it settle into the mold.
Thanks
Good for you! The air holes and layered look shouldn’t affect how the bars work. When I pour the soap into the molds, I do like to knock it down onto the table firmly a few times to get rid of any air pockets, and that seems to work for me. The layers might be due to the mixture not be quite blended enough. Do you use an immersion blender? Maybe just try to make sure that it is well mixed next time. I hope that helps!