DIY Soothing, Nourishing and Moisturizing Solid Shampoo Bar for Hair Growth

If there’s one thing that makes packing a chore, especially when you’re packing for a trip overseas, it’s packing liquids. From shampoo to conditioner, moisturizers to sunblock and lotions, perfume or cologne, and so on, so forth, we use a variety of products in liquid form on a daily basis. Skipping one or the other may help, but we’re also creatures of habit and deviating from what we’re already used to is something some of us can’t be bothered with.

With that said, shampoo bars are amazing products. They don’t take up as much space as liquid shampoo and you don’t have to worry about them possibly leaking or bursting out from their packaging due to pressure as well. Waste is also minimal when you’re using shampoo bars!

Before we start go ahead with the tutorial, let’s talk a little about Stephenson Personal Care’s Crystal Solid Shampoo Melt and Pour Soap Base, which you can buy from our store here.

According to Stephenson Personal Care, their Crystal Solid Shampoo is a…

Vegetable based melt and pour soap base, free from the surfactant Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Made with Soothing Aloe Vera and containing Conditioning Additives this soap base is used for the manufacture of opaque Solid Shampoo bars.

This soap base provides excellent lather and also has brilliant moisturizing properties due to the high glycerin content. It’s neutral odor (though, not one some will like) also provides excellent fragrance lift.

For full details of their ingredients list and such, do check out their website over here!

Now, time to move on to the tutorial! Here’s what you need before you get to the DIY-ing:

1. Stephenson Personal Care’s Crystal Solid Shampoo Soap Base
2. 100% Argan Oil
   Some known benefits  makes hair softer, silkier and shinier. Can also help to treat split ends and tame frizzy hair.
3. Peppermint Essential Oil 
   Some known benefits  has antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, antispasmodic and carminative properties. Also helps to increase circulation which can  improve hair growth and prevent some hair loss.
4. Rosemary Essential Oil
   Some known benefits  stimulates hair growth, slows down premature hair loss and graying of the hair.
5. Silicone Mold   We used this super cute rabbit one that makes perfect travel-sized bars!
6. Soap Cutter   We used this straight one with a wooden handle.
7. Beaker
8. Double Boiler
9. Stirrer
10. Oven Mitts or a Thick Cloth (to pick up the hot beaker)
11. Measuring Spoon

Instructions

1. Cut up 250g (although the mold we use can only hold up to 240g of product in total, we cut up an extra 10g in case of spillages and such) of Crystal Solid Shampoo soap base. The smaller the better as this will help speed up the melting process.
2. Put the cut-up soap base into a beaker (or beakers) and then, place it in a double boiler. We recommend covering it so that the soap base doesn’t dry out faster.
   
   Note: We strongly advise to use a double boiler/bain maire instead of the microwave. Although microwaving reduces the time taken for the soap base to melt, it increases the air bubbles in the base which can be difficult to completely removed and thus, compromises the stability of the soap.
3. Once the soap base has completely melted, turn off the heat but don’t remove the melted soap base yet.
4. Measure out 1ml of 100% Argan Oil, 10 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil and 10 Drops of Peppermint Essential Oil. Pour them into the melted soap base and stir well.
   Note: Our essential oils are 100% pure, so if you have sensitive skin, we recommend reducing the total amount of essential oil added.Also, make sure not to put too much oils, whether carrier oil or essential/fragrance oil or else you’ll end up with an oily bar of soap!
5. Remove the melted soap base from the double boiler and pour it into the silicone mold. If you’re using our rabbit mold, make sure to pour all the way to the top so that the bunny will look complete!
6. Set aside to harden.
7. Once it has hardened, the solid shampoo bars are ready to be wrapped up (to prevent soap sweat; we normally use cling wrap) or used immediately.

Note:

According to some articles, the harshness of a shampoo to your hair depends on it’s pH level. So the higher the pH level, the harsher it is. The best pH level for shampoo is between 5 and 7. For this soap we made, we tested it with litmus paper and we found it to be of pH7 (of course, this isn’t entirely accurate because the water used can affect this reading). Just to be safe, you can lower the pH level of the soap by adding in a little citric acid (not too much, though. Or else, the pH might be too low!)

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!

DIY Charcoal Masks

Charcoal masks are one of many darlings of the beauty and skincare world thanks to their cleansing abilities. However, commercial charcoal masks can be pretty pricey, so why not make your own (and be sure of what’s actually in your product)?

Join Belinda Carli, Director of the Institute of Personal Care Science and Cosmetic Formulator, as she shares her knowledge on what kind of charcoal is used to make charcoal masks, the benefits of charcoal to the skin, and how to create a charcoal mask formulation and finished product. Get dirty to get clean skin! Watch now 

Ingredients you’ll need:

1. Distilled Water
2. Xanthan Gum
3. Refined Glycerin USP 99.5%
4. Emulsifying Wax
5. Lipid (a.k.a. unsaturated fats, such as butters [eg: shea butter] or carrier oils [eg: coconut oil])
6. Activated Charcoal
7. Preservatives (such as Liquid Germall Plus or Ecocert Tea Tree Extract)

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Thank you Belinda Carli from Personal Care Formulations for sharing this video with us!

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!

DIY Sweet and Flowery Gel Wax Candle + Bloopers, Tips and Tricks!

Gel wax candles are gorgeous, especially if you’re looking to make candles that appear like water and have flowers suspended in them. However, gel wax is incredibly tricky to work with and we learned the hard way about some things you should and shouldn’t do when making gel wax candles.

But before we share all the do’s and don’t’s, here’s what you need to make your very own dreamy, Sweet and Flowery Gel Wax Candle:

1. Clear Gel Wax  We used this High Density Clear Gel Wax – 500g !
2. Zinc Wick  We used this Eco-6 Candle Wick – 8 Inches instead, BUT you might not want to as well, find out why at the [*Notes] section for Step 2 of Method 1.
3. A Glass Jar  We used this 350ml Clear Round Glass Jar with Black Cap.
4. Honey Fragrance Oil
5. Flower Water Fragrance Oil
6. Dried Rose Bud  We used this here.
7. Dried Amaranth Globe Flower  We used this here.
8. Glass Thermometer – 200°C
9. Glass Rod
10. Scissors
11. Popsicle sticks
12. Elastic Band
13. Double Boiler (for Method 1 only)
14. Stove
15. Heat Gun (for Method 2 only)  We used a 2000w Ryobi Heat Gun
16. Thick Cloth/Mittens (this is especially needed if you’re doing what we did at [Method 2].)
17. Powder Free Latex Gloves (for those who hate washing their hands multiple times when handling gel wax)

Instructions

Method 1 – The Double Boiler (the BEST method)

1. Gel wax melts at 80+°C. For those who are impatient, make sure to break the gel wax into multiple smaller pieces to help speed up the melting process (do not stir while melting as this may introduce air bubbles into the gel wax!). The first time we did this, we broke them into three palm-sized pieces and that took more than an hour to melt.

2. While the gel wax is melting, secure a wick to your container. We recommend not using super glue, glue dots or hot glue as they may melt and cause your wick to float when you’re pouring in the melted gel wax. Instead, you can secure your wick as shown below:

*NOTES: Don’t use a wick that’s pre-coated with wax of any kind. A wax-covered wick will cause a cloud in the gel and it will not have a clear finish.

3. The gel wax is ready to be poured when it reaches around 94-104°C. Turn off the heat and add in your choice of fragrance oil. Here, we added 10 drops of flower water fragrance oil and 5 drops of honey fragrance oil for our 350g gel wax candle and the scent was strong.

*NOTES: 
a) The colour of your fragrance oil can affect the colour of the gel wax.
b) Adding fragrance oil to wax above the flashpoint will not cause it to combust.

4. Stir well but gently with the glass rod so that the fragrance oil is evenly dispersed in the melted gel wax.

5. Pour a little gel wax into the container, place some dried flowers on it, and pour another layer of gel wax. Do this until you’ve reached near the top of your container.

*NOTE: We don’t recommend pouring all the melted gel wax in first and then, pushing the dried flowers in to submerge them. This is because more fine bubbles will form and the flowers are more likely to float back up to the surface as well. (A picture showing the difference between layering and submerging the flowers can be found down below).

6. Snip your wick about 1cm taller than the gel wax. Then, let the candle cool and cure at one side for 1 to 2 days.

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On the left: Result of Method 1. We used a wax-coated wick which resulted in cloudiness, and we also pushed the flowers in to submerge them which resulted in lots of fine bubbles.

On the Right: Result of Method 2. We don’t recommend this method to those who are making candles to be used and not just for decorative purposes. Our wick burnt and there are a lot of huge bubbles, though they do provide a nice visual.

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Method 2 – The Heat Gun (quicker but not the best way, lots of bloopers!)

1. Like in Method 1, break the gel wax into small pieces. Make sure your wick is secured to your jar before filling the bottom of the container like so:

*NOTE: Make sure your jar can withstand high temperatures for this method!!

2. Melt the first layer of gel wax using a heat gun. Ours is of industrial strength and this was not a good thing because our wax-covered wick ended up burning. We’re not sure if a weaker heat gun would result in the same thing, though.

3. Add a drop of honey fragrance oil and flower water fragrance oil into the melted layer of gel wax. Gently stir to evenly distribute the fragrance oils.

4. Place some dried flowers on the melted layer of gel wax before placing a layer of un-melted gel wax on top of them. Ensure that the un-melted gel wax completely covers the dried flowers in order to avoid burning or darkening.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve reached near the top of the jar.

6. Let the (non-)candle cool and cure at one side for 1 to 2 days.

*NOTE: We tried to pierce through the gel wax to insert a wick before we did step 6 but it just didn’t work out well.

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This tutorial is honestly a mess but we couldn’t not share what we’ve learnt through our trials and errors with you. We’ll do an upgraded tutorial on the Sweet and Flowery Gel Wax Candle using Method 1 only, so please keep an eye out for that! 

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!

Herbal Extracts and How to Make Them

Herbal extracts are brilliant for those who love using products that are as close to natural as possible. These extracts are very concentrated liquids in which a solvent is used to extract the herbal properties out of plant material.

Watch the video below to join Belinda Carli, Director of the Institute of Personal Care Science and Cosmetic Formulator, as she shares her knowledge on how to create home-crafted and self-preserving herbal extracts for use in personal care using a hot and cold process method!

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Thank you Belinda Carli from Personal Care Formulations for sharing this video with us!

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!

Get to Know: Cold Process Soap

Cold process soap is known as ‘natural soap’. It is made by combining oils and sodium hydroxide, through the cold process. This cold process denotes the lacking presence of heat when making soap.

The mixture of sodium hydroxide with a type of liquid (henceforth known as ‘lye’, as it is defined that ‘lye’ is an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) is required for making soap. It is not possible to make soap without lye as lye is required to react with the oils to change them into soap. Without lye, you will only have a bunch of oils floating around in water.

*Melt and Pour soap has already been pre-saponified. The difference between a melt and pour soap and a cold process soap is that for cold process soap, one can customize all ingredients. Also, Melt and Pour soaps are usually made from a detergent formulated, cleansing cosmetic base and thus, have few SLS-free and all-natural options.

*Sodium hydroxide is used to makes bar soap. It forms a solid, opaque bar soap. Potassium hydroxide makes liquid soap, which is flowing, clear, or translucent. To read more about lye and how to handle it with proper care, check out this post by Soap Queen!

*There are also many kinds of oil. Soft oil (like rice bran oil and olive oil) will cause a soap to be mushy/soft. Hard oil (like palm oil and coconut oil) will harden it. Making soap requires a good balance of oils!

The process of lye reacting with oils and thus, resulting in soap, is a chemical reaction called saponification. Glycerin is also produced during this process and if you’ve super-fatted the soap, you will have unsaponified oil too. Saponification usually takes 24-48 hours to occur. However, it should be noted that saponification can be affected by surrounding temperature.

*Sodium hydroxide/potassium hydroxide should slowly and gradually be added into liquid and NOT the other way around!

Heat quickens saponification. So, if the lye is extremely hot, it can cause the saponification process to speed up dramatically. This is problematic if the soap design involves a lot of layers, swirls and such. If the lye solution is too cold, it can solidify the oils and butters upon contact. It should be noted, however, that soaping temperature is based entirely on personal preference and will vary according to recipe. Thermometers are used based on the recipe/method/situation in cold process soap.

*The mixture of lye and oils can only be poured into mold when trace is present. Trace is the point when the oils and lye water are emulsified. At thin trace, there will be no streaks of oil and the soap will be the consistency of thin cake batter. Thus, oils separation cannot occur.

Bringing back the fact that saponification can be affected by surrounding temperate, the time during which saponification occurs is a crucial moment. Soap created with average or cool soaping temperatures can become quite hot if left in a warm or hot room after pouring into the mold. Hot room temperatures can cause soap to go through the gel phase or even overheat. Soaps also sweat due to high humidity environments and overheating. It is normal and will accumulate on the soap. On the other hand, when soap is on the cooler side, soda ash can form due to the natural process of unsaponified lye reacting with carbon dioxide.

After the saponification process is the curing process. Leaving the soap to cure allows the excess moisture to evaporate. It also results in a harder and milder bar of soap which also lasts longer. A cold process soap is at its best after at least a month of curing, and if you can leave it to cure for even longer, then it’ll be even better.

We hope this helps you understand Cold Process Soap better 

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References:

1. Coss, Melinda, Gourmet Soaps Made Easy (Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light Books, 2001).
2. “Back To Basics: Lye Safety Guide – Soap Queen”, Soap Queen, 2015 <https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/back-to-basics-lye-safety-guide/&gt; [Accessed 14 April 2019].

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!

How to Reduce White Rub-In Time in Emulsions

So, you know how you get that white rub-in when you’re applying creams or emulsions onto your skin? Like, when you’ve only just squeezed out a small blob of hand cream and it’s so little so you think it shouldn’t have that much white rub-in while you’re trying to get it absorbed into your skin?

Join Belinda Carli, Director of the Institute of Personal Care Science and Cosmetic Formulator, as she shows you how to overcome the formulation issue of excess rub-in time in natural and organic cosmetic emulsions, while still building plenty of luxurious viscosity and elegant skin feel in the finished product. Solve those cosmetic formulating issues with Belinda now, and enjoy your elegant emulsions so much faster, and easier, with the right know-how!

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Thank you Belinda Carli from Personal Care Formulations for sharing this video with us!

Pssst, we're also available at Craftiviti.com!