Natural Shampoo Bar Recipe for Healthy Hair

If you’re travelling, heading out camping, or simply trying to avoid commercial shampoos loaded with chemicals, this natural shampoo bar recipe is a great option to try. I’ve made these bars many times over the years, and they create a rich, bubbly lather while still leaving your hair feeling clean and refreshed.

One of the things I like most about homemade shampoo bars is how versatile they are. Even though this recipe is designed for hair, these bars also work perfectly as a regular body soap. They produce lots of fluffy lather thanks to the coconut oil and castor oil combination, making them especially nice for people who enjoy a bubbly bar.

If you’re new to cold process soap making, I highly recommend reading How to Make Cold Process Soap at Home Step-by-Step before starting. It walks through the full soap-making process, including mixing lye safely, tracing, molding, and curing.

You should also read What to Do If Lye Touches Skin before handling sodium hydroxide for the first time.

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Why These Oils Work Well in a Shampoo Bar

Each oil in this recipe brings something useful to the final bar:

• Coconut Oil helps create cleansing power and lots of bubbles
• Olive Oil adds conditioning qualities and a gentler feel
• Palm Oil helps harden the bar and stabilize lather
• Grapeseed Oil gives a lighter feel that works nicely in hair soap
• Neem Oil is often used in natural hair and scalp products
• Castor Oil boosts creamy lather and helps improve foam

If you’d like to learn more about the oils used in soap making, read:

• Coconut Oil for Soap Making
• Best Oils and Butters for Cold Process Soap
• Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils in Soap Making

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Shampoo Bar Recipe

This recipe makes approximately 12 bars depending on the mold you use and how large you cut your bars.

Oils

• 378 grams Coconut Oil
• 402 grams Olive Oil
• 260 grams Palm Oil
• 100 grams Grapeseed Oil
• 100 grams Neem Oil
• 268 grams Castor Oil

Lye / Water

• 210 grams lye (sodium hydroxide)
• 2 1/4 cups water

You can scent this soap however you like. I personally enjoy using essential oils that are commonly used in hair care products such as rosemary, lavender, peppermint, cedarwood, or tea tree essential oil.

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Helpful Soap Making Supplies

A few tools that make shampoo bar recipes much easier:

• Digital Scale for Soap Making — accurate measurements are extremely important when working with lye
• Silicone Soap Mold — makes unmolding easy and gives nice clean bars
• Stick Blender — speeds up trace dramatically
• Safety Goggles and Chemical Resistant Gloves — essential for working safely with lye
• Soap Cutter — helps create even-looking shampoo bars

You can also run this recipe through a lye calculator if you want to better understand oil percentages and superfat levels:

• How To Use a Soap Lye Calculator Safely

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Step-by-Step Instructions

For full step-by-step soap making instructions with pictures, visit:

How to Make Soap at Home Step-by-Step

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Shampoo Bar Tips

• Allow the bars to cure for 4–6 weeks before using
• Keep bars dry between uses to help them last longer
• Some people transitioning from commercial shampoo may go through an adjustment period while their scalp adapts
• If you have hard water, you may prefer using a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse after washing

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Disclaimer

This recipe is for educational purposes only. Always follow proper lye safety procedures when making cold process soap. Test products carefully for personal use, especially if you have sensitive skin or scalp conditions.

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