- Aromatherapy and Soap Making Supplies, Soapmaking Supplies, handmade soap, soap making products THE PONTE VEDRA SOAP SHOPPE

Shampoo Base Recipe:

Makes approx. 8 ozs. (weighed)
     2 ozs shampoo concentrate
     6 ozs distilled water
     1/2 teaspoon fragrance
     1/2 teaspoon table salt premixed
     and dissolved in small amount of water
     Small amount of Citric Acid if need to
     adjust the pH between 6.5 to 7.5

Use more shampoo if you like a thicker consistency.

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Lov'en Lemon

**For terrific shine and rejuvenation.

Base recipe, plus

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

2 teaspoons sweet almond oil

1/4 teaspoon. lemon essential oil or fragrance oil

yellow dye (optional)

Use the distilled water from the base recipe and bring to a boil. Add the dried rosemary and steep until fragrant. Strain the leaves from the rosemary infused water and let cool. Mix all the ingredients and then add the water and stir well. Pour into shampoo bottle.

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Mint Jubilation

**Revitalizes and stimulates, wakes up your head!

Base recipe, plus

2 teaspoons jojoba oil

1/8 teaspoon peppermint essential oil
1/8 teaspoon tea tree essential oil

green dye or mica powder (optional)

Mix all ingredients and then add the water. Pour into shampoo bottle.

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Coconut-Vanilla Twist

**Restores luster and smells darn good.

Base recipe, plus

1 tablespoon sodium lauryl sulfate (optional)

2 teaspoon jojoba oil

10 drops vanilla fragrance oil

10 drops coconut fragrance oil

Mix all ingredients and then add the water. Pour into shampoo bottle.

A note about shampoo concentrate - see below

A note about using shampoo concentrates:
Our shampoo base a concentrated blend of surfactants often used by major formulators of hair and body shampoos, hand cleaners and bubble baths. The key to these concentrates is for you to test various formulations to reach your desired product.

Viscosity (or thickness) of the blend can be adjusted with the use of sodium chloride (salt) at low levels. This can range from 0.5% to 4%-5%. Viscosity can also be adjusted by the concentration of blend in the finished product.

Although the pH of the final product is often fine without any adjustment, a favorable pH level is 6.5 to 7.5. Factors like water quality can effect the final pH. As an added note, we like to use soft or distilled water although this is not a must. The pH can be checked with a simple litmus or pH paper. Most often when pH must be adjusted, pH has to adjusted downward. We most commonly use Citric Acid in this case in very low levels, 0.1% ( that's one tenth of 1 percent).

When adding essential oils, use them at them at 0.1% ( that's one tenth of 1 percent). This is not a hard and fast rule and you can adjust this to your own requirements. Add the EO to the concentrate prior to adding it to the water. This helps solubalize the oil into the water.

Preservatives are a must if you anticipate long term storage. They are required often because of the additional products that you are adding or because of possible contamination during the mixing procedure. If you are using these products within 3 to 4 weeks of making them, preservatives may not be required. As with many products the selection of preservative is often up to the individual and what they feel safe with. Germaben II or Parabans are just some of the preservatives that can be used as well as grapefruit seed extract at levels ranging from 0.1-0.5%.

If you intend to market your products, always shelf test your product, that is, allow it to sit several months in a warm area to check on its stability. All ingredients must be listed on the label.