I had been looking to make a solid conditioner bar for a while. I thought it would last longer than a traditional bottle and allow me to control what I put on my hair.
I have very fine flyayway hair and the silicones in commercial conditioner weigh it down, make it look dull and no matter how many times I wash it, I always look like I have greasy hair within a few hours. I wanted something that would still condition my hair adequately and stop it from looking frizzy, but without weighing it down and looking greasy.
I did a lot of reading and found Susan at swift craft monkey to be extremely helpful. I used her post on solid conditioner bars to develop my own version, using ingredients I had available to me.
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/conditioners-solid-conditioner-bars.html
I only made 200g as a trial batch as one of the main ingredients BTMS is pretty expensive.
Ingredients
Heated Phase
BTMS Conditioning Emulsifier 120g
Cetyl Alcohol 20g
Cocoa Butter 10g
Shea Butter 10g
Avocado Oil 10g
Hydrolised Oat Protein 4g
Cool Down Phase
Honeyquat 8g
Panthenol 6g
Fragrance 4g (2g Lime EO and 2g Cypress EO)
Plantaserve E (preservative) 2g
Directions
Melt the heated phase in a double boiler until it has only just all dissolved, (you don’t want it too hot or all your fragrance will boil off as soon as you add it). Then add the cool down phase and stir thoroughly.
I left them for 24hrs to dry out as Susan suggests and I was really pleased with the result. You only need to drag it over your hair a couple of times, then comb it through to the ends while you are in the shower. The bars last for much longer than a traditional cream conditioner too so even though the BTMS is quite expensive, it still makes the bars fairly cost effective. I find they work really well when combined with my cold process shampoo bar and a citric acid hair rinse.
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I love this recipe! I started using my own cold process shampoo bars a few months ago and would really love a little conditioning aside from the ACV rinse I have been using. I need to get a few more ingredients but I am going to give this recipe a go! Thank you!!
I hope it works for you too. My hair is very fine and the acid rinse didn't detangle enough for me. I felt like I was ruining my hair when I brushed it through. This really helps. I run a brush through it with the conditioner in while in the shower and it detangles beautifully. Then I rinse it out and do a citric acid rinse afterwards. Leaves my hair feeling really shiny and healthy.
any alternative for btms 50
There isn't much else that would work to be honest. Most other waxes and oils will just leave a nasty residue behind on your hair.
This looks lovely; just what I’ve been looking for. Any significance to the essential oil blend you chose?
No significance, I just like those two scents combined. I hope you enjoy making some bars 🙂
Hey 🙂 is there an alternative to honeyquat you can suggest?
Thanks!
Any other quaternary conditioning agent can be used. https://www.makingcosmetics.com/Quaternary-Cationic-Conditioners_c_170.html
Do you find the bars have a sink hole on the other side? Im experimenting with BTMS conditioner bars love your recipe but hate that they keep getting a sink hole..
No I don’t have any sink holes. I get that when I pour lip balm too hot though as it contracts as it cools so you may need to wait longer for it to cool before moulding.
Could I use silk protein instead of the oat protein?
yes that would work
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I’m interested in making the conrtioner bar. Is any reason why the preservative is added as I don’t see any water in this recipe? Thank you.
While the ingredients are anhydrous, the bar will sit in a wet bathroom, likely in a pool of water in a soap dish so will have the potential to grow mould and bacteria, this is why I chose to add a preservative. Especially since the ingredients don’t have a really high pH like a bar of cold process soap would.
Hi! Do you know what kind of essential oil or natural fragrance i can use to give it a stronger scent?
Because i have previously used regular essential oils but the smell tends to fade away so quickly…
Essential oils are the most concentrated natural fragrances, so unfortunately there isn’t really an alternative unless you use an artificial fragrance oil as some of those can have stronger fragrances.
Hello,
I plan on trying this recipe. I have ordered the ingredients and will make it when they arrive. I noticed that you wrote it was a 200g recipe but the ingredients only add up to 194g. Was there a typo in one of the numbers, or is an ingredient missing?
Thank you!
There is no ingredient missing, I worked out my totals based upon percentages of the total and rounded down to the nearest whole number which caused it to be short by a few grams. You can just add more BTMS if you want it to be exactly 200g. It won’t affect the final product.
Hello
Please can you tell me the scientific name for Honeyquat I am in the UK and nothing comes up for Honeyquat
Thank you
https://www.gracefruit.com/item/746/Gracefruit/Quaternized-Honey-SA.html
Could regular honey be used? I am in the US and cannot find honeyquat.
Hi Patty, unfortunately regular honey isn’t suitable as it doesn’t have the same properties. If you look at a soapmaking supplier in the USA they should have it or something similar.
This recipe is amazing. I have also tried to melt and pour into molds, but I find the bars are wrinkling while hardening and I cant figure out why.