About a week ago, I wrote about my first experience making soap and included instructions. I was curious if it was more economical to use the homemade soap. I went ahead and figured out the entire cost of the batch. Here goes…
- 3oz Canola Oil……….. $0.263
- 12oz Castor Oil……… $8.288
- 14oz Coconut Oil…… $2.604
- 2oz Hempseed Oil…. $2.500
- 2oz Jojoba Oil………. $6.020
- 11oz Olive Oil……….. $2.463
- 16oz liquid…………… $0.133 (for the tea bag)
- 6oz lye……………….. $0.879
- .8oz eo……………….. $11.75 (Oh my gosh! That’s a LOT of eo!)
GRAND TOTAL equals $34.90 for about 4 pounds of soap. I didn’t cut it evenly, but it’s about 20 bars. (Yes, an accomplished soap maker will frown at me, but hey it’s my first attempt!) 1/2 of a circular bar lasted me about 1 month. Considering I go through a lot of shampoo due to my extremely long hair, this is a bargain! In the past I bought Nature’s Gate at the grocer which costs $4. So in 9 months my shampoo will have paid off, but it should last me a few years! This kind of surprises me. Looking at the numbers and doing the math, I about freaked out when I saw that I used almost $12 worth of essential oils! Just imagine how cheap it could be if I made the old-fashioned animal fat and lye soap.
My Opinion
The first time I tried the new soap, my hair came out oily. I ran online to look up an excuse for this and found it. Basically our head secretes oils. By using regular shampoos, you strip all the good stuff off of your hair… yuck!
(As a side note, this “stripping” is why many people have to use conditioner. Funny how that works – you buy shampoo, it strips your hair and makes it feel funny, leading you to purchase conditioner to make it feel soft again!)
Anyways, by stripping the natural, good oils from your hair, your body compensates for this by overproducing the oils. This is why people like me have to wash their hair every day to every other day, otherwise we look like grease-balls. So you’re wondering what does this have to do with the homemade shampoo? When you switch to a shampoo that simply washes and doesn’t strip your hair, the follicles are still overproducing the oils. It may take any where from a few days to a few months for your hair to stop over-producing oil. To help with this, you can sprinkle baking soda on your hair while in the shower to help absorb some of the oil. If you feel the need for “conditioner”, apple cider vinegar does the trick.
I’m now able to go about three days without my hair feeling greasy. My hair looks really good too! I have to go through the extra step of baking soda for now but it’s worth it. The soap is cheaper, more spa-like, and natural (no parabens or sodium laurel sulfates here), which is just the way I like it!
This is so cool! I want to make my own soap. someday.
Comment by Taryn — July 29, 2009 @ 9:43 AM
Thanks! You should definitely give it a try… it was a lot easier and much less scarier than I thought
Comment by K — July 29, 2009 @ 12:39 PM
Wow, that is awesome! I make soap and I made shampoo bars, and they did make my hair feel oily so I stopped using them. How long did it take for your hair to adujst?
Comment by Mrs. Money — August 4, 2009 @ 10:01 AM
I’ve been using the bars about one month now but have been using baking soda as well to absorb the extra oil. A few days ago I washed without the soda and the majority of my hair was fine. Instead of the awful feeling all over my head, it’s just at one spot. Will keep using the soap since my oil glands seemed to have started to slow down
Comment by K — August 6, 2009 @ 2:06 AM
This would have cost about 1/3 to 1/4 as much if you purchased your supplies from a soapmaking supplier like Majestic Mountain Sage, thesage.com. Google “soapmaking supplies” and you might find someone close enough so you can pick it up, since shipping adds a lot to the cost of oils.
You might want to re-check your math on the canola oil. I can buy a quart for less than that at the supermarket. Maybe you meant to write $0.26?
Comment by Deborah — August 10, 2009 @ 1:55 PM
You might also just try a different recipe. I use my homemade soap for my face, body, and hair, and it works fine. I don’t need any additional moisturizers for my skin or conditioner for my hair. As K said, commercial stuff strips your skin of all moisture, so they can sell you these additional products.
Comment by Deborah — August 10, 2009 @ 1:57 PM
Yes, it was supposed to be $0.26, not $2. The math is updated now. Thanks for spotting that error. I live in a town of 10,000 with one extremely limited health food store. Since I wasn’t sure who the best online soap supply retailer was, I purchased the materials as I found them during road trips at bigger health food stores. The essential oils I used were organic and therefore more expensive. I did take a look at thesage.com. Looks like they have a lot of reasonably priced ingredients. I’ve bookmarked it for future use – thanks.
Comment by K — August 11, 2009 @ 1:45 PM
yeh right.. great post, Thank You
Comment by Wribliold — August 18, 2009 @ 4:51 PM
Poetically unprejudiced posting this expose to show that I visit your blog daily.
Comment by wp themes — September 24, 2009 @ 3:10 AM
Definitely try purchasing from a good online supplier. The cost is so much less. I make 4lbs of soap for about 10.00, that is including fragrance and the high amount of shea butter we put in our soaps. Makes it way more cost effective.
Comment by Rebecca — March 10, 2010 @ 4:07 PM
I started making shampoo bars last week and finally tested them out yesterday. I couldn’t understand why the top of my hair felt so greasy while the rest of my hair looked and felt amazing. I must have searched for hours before typing in the right words and finding this post.
I am so glad I did, I almost threw the whole batch out when before I intended to sell them.
Glad I read your post first!!!
Comment by Annie — November 9, 2010 @ 11:07 PM