These homemade shampoo bars will naturally nourish and strengthen your hair! Most salon or store-bought shampoos are expensive and full of chemicals. Try this easy and affordable shampoo recipe that is perfect for travel and so much fun to make!

Our skin is our largest organ, and it will absorb what we put on it. There are many toxins that we can’t control, so it’s important to limit the ones we can.
Most of the shampoos and soaps on the supermarket shelf are full of chemicals. They may make your hair sparkle and shine, but what is the long term effect of those chemicals on our bodies?
I don’t want to take the risk to find out, so I decided to make homemade shampoo bars. I love using them because they are:
- Nourishing. Aloe vera oil, jojoba oil, and castor oil are excellent for keeping your hair silky and soft with enough moisture to keep it from drying out.
- Hair strengthening. Herbs such as rosemary, sage, nettles, and arnica are really good for hair growth and strength.
- Made using a hot process soap-making method. I prefer it over the cold process, since you can use the bars right away. Cold process soap has to cure for about 4 weeks to reach neutrality.

Here’s What You Need for Shampoo Bars
- Dry herbs (rosemary, sage, nettles, arnica, etc.)
- Water
- Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
- Coconut Oil
- Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil
- Castor Oil
- Aloe Vera Oil
- Jojoba Oil
- Coconut milk
- Essential oil of your choice** (optional, I like to mix orange and peppermint, rosemary and lavender, or single oils like eucalyptus, cedarwood, and lemon). I use Young Living oils and HERE is why. However if Young Living is out of your reach, I’ve heard great things about Plant Therapy on Amazon.
- Kitchen scale (optional, but very helpful)
- Protective eyewear (glasses or light shade sunglasses work great)
- Rubber kitchen gloves
- Crock-pot (there is almost always one at a thrift store)
Note on Ingredients
- Lye. Lye is a caustic substance and needs to be handled carefully. Wear protective eye wear and long sleeves and gloves while making these homemade shampoo bars. Always make sure to pour the lye into the water and not the other way around. It could cause a small explosion! As long as you are careful with handling it you shouldn’t have any problems. This part of soap making is definitely something to do while the kids are otherwise occupied.
Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1. Plan ahead by a couple of hours because you need to infuse your water with herbs. Heat your water just to boiling and pour into a glass jar. Add in your choice of herbs and screw on the lid. Let rest for at least two hours so the water will pull out the nutrients and scent from the herbs.
Step 2. Once the water is infused, re-measure it into a large heat proof bowl and add more water if necessary.
Step 3. Wearing gloves and eye protection, measure your lye into a separate dish. Take your water and lye outdoors to mix; they throw off some strong fumes! Add your lye into the water stirring as you pour.
Step 4. Leave the lye mixture outside to cool slightly while you start on the next step.
Step 5. Place the dish that contains the lye into the sink and fill with soap and water and let it soak. You will want to make sure and wash it wearing your gloves.
Step 6. Measure your oils (minus the essential oil if using) into a crock pot and heat on low. Be sure to get accurate measurements to ensure proper neutralization through the saponification process. (This step may take a while depending on the temperature of your home. Soap making is much quicker in summer when the coconut oil is already soft, but you can easily step away for a minute if you need to while the oils melt.)
Step 7. Once the oils are melted, it’s time to add in the water/lye mixture. Wearing your gloves and eye protection again, stir the water/lye into the oils. Place your large bowl in the sink with the other lye dishes to wash when you are done.

Step 8. You need to mix the oils and water/lye mixture to “trace.” This is where the shampoo starts to saponify (making the soap into soap!). The best way to mix it to trace is to use an immersion blender, otherwise you will be stirring by hand for quite some time. However, you CAN use either method, and you should stir or blend until the shampoo looks like pudding.
Step 9. Stir in the coconut milk. This adds a really nice texture to the homemade shampoo bars and nourishes the scalp.
Step 10. Cover the crock pot and let cook for about an hour for the shampoo to cook and reach neutrality. If you let it go a little longer, it’s okay. You can use a pH testing strip to make sure it’s at a pH between 6 and 8 if you’re concerned about the caustic ingredients. I typically don’t and haven’t had any issues.

Using essential oils for scent and hair benefits in homemade shampoo bars
Ps…Add them in after your shampoo has cooked to neutrality. How much you add will depend on your scent preference and the strength of the oil. Keep in mind that it will smell very strong at this point, but once the soap cools the scent will dissipate some. I tend to go on the heavier side so I get a good strong scent.
Step 11. Now it’s time to put your shampoo into a mold! I use a loaf mold. You can easily use a loaf pan, mini-loaf pan, rectangle box, or even a large shallow baking dish (you will cut it differently for this shape mold). Line your mold with parchment paper or plastic wrap and scoop in your shampoo. It will be hot, so be careful. For an extra touch of pretty, sprinkle dried herbs on top.
Step 12. Next, gently wrap the mold in a towel and place in a cardboard box or warm cabinet. If it cools too quickly the shampoo bars may split on the top. Let it set for 24 hours.
Step 13. Once it has set, gently remove from the mold. Cut your shampoo into your desired size bar, but approximately one inch thick is my goal.
Using the hot-process method, the bar is at neutrality by this point so you can go ahead and use it now!

Homemade Shampoo Bar Recipe Tips
- For the rest of the homemade shampoo bars, place in a cardboard box with some space in between each for some air flow. The bars will continue to harden as time goes on. Because this recipe uses a lot of coconut and olive oil it will turn out fairly soft. You should store unused bars in a cool place.
- It is very important to have accurate measurements in soap making, as inaccuracy could cause your shampoo to be too caustic and burn the skin.
- Always add the lye to the water and not the water to the lye, which causes a very bad reaction!
- After using this homemade shampoo bar, I always follow up with a 1:3 mix of apple cider vinegar to water as a conditioner. Spray it on right before jumping out of the shower (and don’t rinse) to soften hair and give it some shine. The vinegar scent dissipates quickly.
FAQs
What can I use instead of shampoo?
I would suggest reading my article on how to wash your hair without shampoo here.
What substitutes would you recommend for coconut milk?
You can use water as an alternative for coconut milk.
Is homemade shampoo better for your hair?
This homemade shampoo bar is beneficial to your scalp and your locks will feel and look healthier!
More DIY Beauty Recipes
- Homemade powdered foundation
- DIY clay-based toothpaste (just like Earthpaste)
- Natural Makeup Remover
- Homemade facial cleanser
DIY: Homemade Herbal Shampoo Bar
These homemade shampoo bars will naturally nourish and strengthen your hair! Most salon or store-bought shampoos are expensive and full of chemicals. Try this easy and affordable shampoo recipe that is perfect for travel and so much fun to make!
Ingredients
- 1–2 Tbsp dry herbs (Rosemary, sage, nettles, arnica, etc.)
- 7 oz water
- 4.4 oz lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
- 10 oz coconut oil
- 9 oz olive oil
- 6 oz avocado Oil
- 3 oz Castor oil
- 3 oz aloe vera oil
- 1 oz jojoba oil
- 3.5 oz coconut milk
- .5-1 oz essential oil of your choice** (optional, I like to mix orange and peppermint, rosemary and lavender, or single oils like eucalyptus, cedarwood, and lemon)
- Kitchen scale (optional, but very helpful
- Protective eye wear (glasses or ligh shade sunglasses work great)
- Rubber kitchen gloves
- 4 qt crock-pot
Instructions
- Plan ahead by a couple of hours because you need to infuse your water with herbs. Heat your water just to boiling and pour into a glass jar. Add in your choice of herbs and screw on the lid. Let rest for at least two hours so the water will pull out the nutrients and scent from the herbs.
- Once the water is infused, re-measure it into a large heat proof bowl and add more water if necessary.
- Wearing gloves and eye protection, measure your lye into a separate dish. Take your water and lye outdoors to mix; they throw off some strong fumes! Add your lye into the water, stirring as you pour. Leave the lye mixture outside to cool slightly while you start on the next step.
- Place the dish that contains the lye into the sink and fill with soap and water and let it soak. You will want to make sure and wash it wearing your gloves.
- Measure your oils (minus the essential oil if using) into a crock pot and heat on low. Be sure to get accurate measurements to ensure proper neutralization through the saponification process. (This step may take a while depending on the temperature of your home. Soap making is much quicker in summer when the coconut oil is already soft, but you can easily step away for a minute if you need to while the oils melt.)
- Once the oils are melted, it’s time to add in the water/lye mixture. Wearing your gloves and eye protection again, stir the water/lye into the oils. Place your large bowl in the sink with the other lye dishes to wash when you are done.
- You need to mix the oils and water/lye mixture to “trace.” This is where the shampoo starts to saponify (making the soap into soap!). The best way to mix it to trace is to use an immersion blender, otherwise you will be stirring by hand for quite some time. However, you CAN use either method, and you should stir or blend until the shampoo looks like pudding.
- Stir in the coconut milk. This adds a really nice texture to the shampoo bars and nourishes the scalp.
- Cover the crock pot and let cook for about an hour for the shampoo to cook and reach neutrality. If you let it go a little longer, it’s okay. You can use a pH testing strip to make sure it’s at a pH between 6 and 8 if you’re concerned about the caustic ingredients. I typically don’t and haven’t had any issues. If you are using essential oils for scent and hair benefits, add them in after your shampoo has cooked to neutrality. How much you add will depend on your scent preference and the strength of the oil. Keep in mind that it will smell very strong at this point, but once the soap cools the scent will dissipate some. I tend to go on the heavier side so I get a good strong scent.
- Now it’s time to put your shampoo into a mold! I use a loaf mold. You can easily use a loaf pan, mini-loaf pan, rectangle box, or even a large shallow baking dish (you will cut it differently for this shape mold).Line your mold with parchment paper or plastic wrap and scoop in your shampoo. It will be hot, so be careful. For an extra touch of pretty, sprinkle dried herbs on top.
- Gently wrap the mold in a towel and place in a cardboard box or warm cabinet. If it cools too quickly it may split on the top. Let it set for 24 hours.
- Once it has set, gently remove from the mold. Cut your shampoo into your desired size bar, but approximately one inch thick is my goal.
- Using the hot-process method, the bar is at neutrality by this point so you can go ahead and use it now!For the rest of the bars, place in a cardboard box with some space in between each for some air flow. The bars will continue to harden as time goes on. Because this recipe uses a lot of coconut and olive oil it will turn out fairly soft. You should store unused bars in a cool place.
Notes
- It is very important to have accurate measurements in soap making. Inaccuracy could cause your shampoo to be too caustic and burn the skin.
- Always add the lye to the water and not the water to the lye. That could cause a very bad reaction!
- After using this homemade shampoo bar, I always follow up with a 1:3 mix of apple cider vinegar to water as a conditioner. Spray it on right before jumping out of the shower (and don’t rinse) to soften hair and give it some shine. The vinegar scent dissipates quickly.

I love the combination and percentages of oils in this recipe a lot I think I might try it! With maybe subbing the olive oil for something else- I’m really starting to hate olive oil. It just never hardens for me, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. My mostly olive oil Castile soap is about a year old and it is still mush, and in recipes even in low percentages it seems to inhibit lather and not really add much conditioning to the bar. Also – this is a hot process soap recipe, so there is no reason to add lye to infused oils. I always add infused oils after the cook as a superfat. The nutrients are so delicate in infusions that adding lye to them destroys the scent and most of the benefits. I’d also add the jojoba at the end as well: it is full of unsaponifiables but it’s so damn expensive that I’d rather it be in it’s purest form. It’s the only oil exactly the same ph as hair so I kinda go crazy with it in shampoo bars (8% last time, and with 25% shea they came out like foaming lotion lol.) I haven’t worked with aloe yet but I heard it’s amazing for hair. You can also do coffee infusions – I can confirm those are great for highlights. Also, adding 2% (2% of whatever oils added before the cook) of citric acid mixed in a little water after the cook lowers the ph and helps with soap scum supposedly. Adding it to cold process is a little pointless though just because it’ll neutralize the lye a bit and screw with your percentages.
I’m new to soap making and was wondering if I used potassium hydroxide instead, could I then use it as a liquid shampoo?
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep very long on the shelf?
This looks great! I love to make this sort of thing as a gift!
When my current bottle of shampoo is gone I’m going for the shampoo bar method! I’m not a fan of working with lye myself so I looked on Pinterest (of course) several different bloggers recommended an organic melt and pour base that has coconut oil and goat milk in it- then you can customize your bar yourself. I’m also trying some of the Bend Soap & Lotion- we have sensitive skin over here too! I have aquagenic puritis (allergic to water in a very weird way- worse in the hotter months) and an all natural sponge and soap seem to help somewhat. Thanks for all the suggestions and tips and motivation to be healthier inside and out!
You’re very welcome Kristi! I hope you like Bend Soap – we STILL love their bars and keep plenty on hand!
I used the aloe juice that you can find at some pharmacies and mixed it with coconut oil (1:1). That seems to work well.
I can’t find aloe vera oil in my area, is there any other oil I can substitute for this?
Hi Heather,
Can I cook the soap without the 3.5oz coconut milk and add it stirring very well when the soap is finished cooking?
So it can stay fluid when I mold it?
I’ve been using this bar for almost a week. Does your hair lose the waxy/slightly greasy feel after more time or did I do something wrong?
Hi! I have 2 questions. When you say aloe vera oil, is that an infused oil? I found some that said it was made from the flowers and others had a carrier oil and others didn’t say.
do you think it would be ok to use refined coconut oil instead?
I’m having difficulty finding aloe vera oil. Can I substitute a larger amount of one of the other oils?
Thanks for sharing! I love how you made the top pretty! I didn’t know how to do that.
I was thinking of switching out lye for glycerin. How much glycerin do you think I’d need for the 4.4 oz of lye?
Total newbie question here. When the measurements say oz is that weight? or volume? I thought it would be weight, but was just confused because it said the scale was optional, but then how would you measure out weight without a scale?
This would be weight, but you can skirt around it. 1 oz = 2 Tbsp. It won’t be “exact,” but it should be close enough!
Hi,
I was wondering about aloe vera oil. I did find it for puchase but there is no aloe vera oil listed in soapcalc. How do you calculate the recipe without this oil being listed there to get the accurate measurements and quality properties? I also would like to recalculate this recipe to about a pound. What superfat % are you using in this recipe: 5 or 6? Thanks
Hi, I really want to try this recipe but I don’t have a crock-pot and I can’t find a cheap one, would I be okay to substitute an ordinary pot instead?
I was wondering that too..
Thank you.. this looks wonderful.. (I will have to half the recipe tho.. don’t want to make too much of a new one 🙂 )
what substitutes would you recommend for the coconut milk ?
Lisa, you can substitute water for the coconut milk.
is it coconut milk from a can or a carton like the one you drink?
Hi. I was curious what is the superfat % for this recipe?