Did you know that you can make coconut shampoo bars on your own with very little crafting experience?
Seriously, you won’t believe how easy it is!
I’m sharing my favorite recipe below, along with easy steps for you to follow.
Let’s jump in!
How to Make Coconut Shampoo Bars
While this DIY will take you a little longer to make than, say, a homemade Kaolin hair mask, it’s pretty straightforward and easy, I promise!
Supplies/Ingredients:
While some of the supplies below can be found in your grocery store, you may have better luck buying in bulk on Amazon, especially if you plan to make coconut shampoo bars as gifts.
FYI, we used affiliate links to recommend some supplies. If you buy through these links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
- 1 lb goat’s milk soap base
- 2 tsp castor oil
- 1 tsp African shea butter
- 25 drops coconut fragrance oil*
- Oval soap mold
- 4 cup microwave-safe measuring cup with a spout
- Rubbing alcohol (optional)
*If you want to keep it 100% natural, omit the fragrance oil. It’s only there to add scent, it doesn’t serve any vital function.
Directions:
1. Cut the soap base into 1” x 1” cubes and place it into a measuring cup
2. Heat soap base in the microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir very well. Heat in 30-second increments, stirring well between each heating session, until fully melted.
3. Add shea butter and heat for an additional 15-30 seconds. Stir well until shea butter is fully melted.
4. Add castor oil, stir well.
5. Let cool slightly, but make sure it remains in liquid form, and add the fragrance oil. Stir well.
6. Pour into molds
7. Let it set for about 1-2 hours, or until bars are solid.
Once your coconut shampoo bars cool down, you’re ready to use them (or package them up to give as gifts). Easy, right?
Check this video tutorial too:
3 Reasons to Switch to a Shampoo Bar
Now that you know how to make them, let’s quickly talk about why you’d want to go through the trouble of making it in the first place.
1. Your entire head of hair gets equally cleansed
This is my favorite benefit, so bear with me, as I get a bit wordy about it!
First, shampoo bars are just awesome in general, especially for someone with psychotically thick hair like mine (and trust me, thick hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be). Let me explain why.
When I use regular shampoo, I basically squeeze a giant dollop (because a dime-sized one just won’t cut it) into my palm.
Then, I slap that dollop on top of my head and start working it into my hair. As you can image, the top of my hair gets SUPER clean, since it’s getting the biggest “dose” of shampoo.
I have less and less as I work it through to the bottom and the underside. So, I grab another dollop, flip my head upside down and start over.
Not only is this time-consuming, but I feel like I end up with one patch of hair that’s never quite as clean as the rest.
So, how does a shampoo bar fix this? Think about body wash vs. bar soap when you’re washing your body.
With body wash, the process is the same as shampoo in thick hair. One spot gets the big blob of body wash while the rest gets the “leftovers.”
With soap, on the other hand, every part of your body gets an equal amount of cleanser. The same basic principle applies to your hair.
2. Shampoo bars last longer than the bottled stuff
A bottle of shampoo lasts me about two months, give or take depending on the size (and, honestly, how often I wash my hair).
The average shampoo bar lasts me at least twice as long if you store it the right way.
That means either taking it out of the shower when you’re done and keeping it in a paper towel or drying it off and storing it in a plastic tub that closes.
Basically, don’t just leave it sitting on the ledge of your tub. Otherwise, it’ll get all slimy and gross.
Friends with thinner hair tell me their shampoo bar lasts about three times as long as a bottle of shampoo. Your mileage will vary depending on the length and volume of your hair, of course.
3. More natural ingredients means less damage to your locks
Even the most natural store-bought shampoo has preservatives and other “not essential to actually cleaning your hair” ingredients.
Chances are you know about sulfates– the non-essential stuff that makes shampoo all foamy. Even if you go sulfate-free, though, I can almost guarantee you that your shampoo contains at least one ingredient that you really don’t need.
On the other hand, a shampoo bar- especially one that you make yourself- is more natural.
The only ingredient in our coconut shampoo bar recipe that isn’t natural is the fragrance oil, and you can totally go without (or swap in an essential oil if you want something scented).
All of the other natural ingredients serve a purpose, either to clean your hair or leave it feeling soft.
So yes, it’s absolutely worth the time and energy to make your own. Plus, if you follow our recipe above, you can make a bunch of bars at once.
If you don’t plan to give them away as gifts, you’ll have a year’s supply of shampoo bars in one day! Pretty nifty, right?
So, what do you think? Will you try our coconut shampoo bar recipe? Share below!
