Amla Power – DIY Spicy Shampoo

Hello there! 🙂

Instead of applying my brain into formulating some miraculous anti-gravity cream or the final self-styling hair product…  I simply decided to formulate MY NEW SHAMPOO!

Oh Yes!

And let me say: even though the MASSIVE CHRISTMAS FORMULATING still has to be done (and there is little time!!! ajajaj)… I am terribly satisfied with this new shampoo! 😀

This shampoo was formulated thinking of the little increasing in hair loss which occurs during autumn time (at least for me). I didn’t add any high-tech-hair-growth-stimulating-ingredient (I am not even too sure effective such ingredients even exist) on the contrary, I opted for a very easy “trick”: I decided to use the property of some essential oils in stimulating blood circulation once applied to the scalp! 😀
This is all!

There is still one PRINCE INGREDIENT in this Shampoo: I have added AMLA POWDER! 😀
I had bought this amla powder in India, but I believe it is also easily found online.
In India Amla is believed to have an extreme number of properties: apparently it improves hair growth, strengthens the hair follicles, keeps the dandruff away and straightens your hair too! Oh wait! It should also prevent split ends, hair loss, graying of the hair and it should nourish the hair as well!
PHEWWW!
I wrote it all! 😀

*sip of water*

Ok! If you know me a little bit… you might have guessed that I don’t actually blindly believe AMLA will do all the things listed above, at least not in a miraculous way, but since the history of the ingredient is good and a little promising I thought I should give it a try 🙂

One note though on the formulation issues for adding powders to a formulation like a shampoo: unless the viscosity of the shampoo is extremely high, the powders will deposit to the bottom of it (maybe in a day or a week or few weeks, but they will eventually!). Adding powders to a formulation is hazardous to its stability, also it would be adviseable to use the higher percentage of your preserving system as well as adding some antioxidant.
The formulation that follows is fine for a relatively small batch (1 or 2 Kg to use at home) but it would never pass a stability test.

Enough words now, let’s get to the recipe! 😀

AMLA POWER – SPICY SHAMPOO RECIPE: 

Phase A: 
Water to 100 (explanation HERE)
Amla Powder 0.2
Glycerin 3 
Inulin 1 
Hydrolized Silk Proteins 2.5 
Water-Soluble-Preservative (at the % needed for the one you have. If you own an oil-soluble preservative then you will have to add it at the end of  Phase C)

Phase B:
SLES (sodium laureth sulphate) 25
Coco Glucoside / Glyceryl Oleate 2.5
Decyl Glucoside 2.5 (you could substitute it with Lauryl Glucoside if you don’t have Decyl Glucoside)

Phase C: (to be added one by one in Phase B)
Polyquaternium 7 – 2 (Polyquaternium 7, this is the name, so the quantity is 2. This is a conditioner for the hair. If you don’t have it you can omit it)
EO of cinnamon 10 drops (EO = essential oil)
EO of cardamom 5 drops 
EO of sweet orange 5 drops
(you would add your oil-soluble preservative here in case you have one instead of the water-soluble one)

Phase D: 
Cocamidopropyl Betaine 10 (this is a key ingredient together with SLES)

pH check – adjust to 4.5 with Citric Acid if needed

How to:

1) Measure Phase A

As you can see the Amla powder is not dispersed in the water properly.

2) so you mix with an immersion mixer:

3) Measure the Phase B:

As you can see there are the different surfactants and they are still separated (I had not mixed yet)

4) Mix them.

In this picture you can see the density of the surfactants once mixed together.

5) You add the Phase C one by one (you don’t mix the ingredients of Phase C together and add them: you add one ingredient at a time to Phase B). This should be the result:

Yes I am not very good and patient at mixing without making any bubble 😀 the thing is that if you don’t make bubbles that’s very good but you don’t have to worry too much cause all the bubbles will be gone after some hours 😉

6) Now it is time to pour Phase A into Phase B, a little at a time!
I have no picture of this.
What I did: I took a much much bigger Becher and poured the Phase B inside. Then little by little I poured the Phase A inside.
The result was very liquid (and it is fine like that! Because the shampoo is not finished yet 😉 ).

7) Now you measure the Cocamidopropyl Betaine and Pour it in the big Becher 😀

Here I had just started pouring so you can see how liquid was still the Phase B + Phase A.
Once you pour the Cocamidopropyl Betaine, however, it all becomes very dense (you should know this! If you just had studied THIS 😀 😀 😀 )

So here it is… your AMLA POWER SPICY SHAMPOO!!! 😀
Let me know what you think and if you try making it! 😉

I almost forgot!
I had to tell you why in the previous recipe (the Winter Delight – Lip Repair Balm) we didn’t need to add the preservative even though we added water soluble ingredients 😉
It is very simple: even though there are water soluble ingredients, there is no “free water” for the bacteria to live! 😉
Easily explained: honey has a very high percentage of sugar.
Sugar itself can be a preservative because in the presence of water it doesn’t allow the growth of bacteria (of course we are talking only of high percentages! If you have a liter of water and a little spoon of sugar in it… you can be sure that water is more tasty to bacteria than simple water… But if you have a syrup… then no! It’s as if bacteria get a diabetes :D).
Glycerine instead has a highly highly hygroscopic nature which, in simple words, would mean that glycerin attracts water but it also “occupies” it in some way. This “occupying” results in the leaving no “free water” for the bacteria to grow (once again: this works only if there is A LOT of glycerin and a little bit of water 😉 but in the recipe there was no extra water at all!).

For more recipes click HERE 
To learn how to formulate cosmetics click HERE
For a list of online cosmetic ingredients suppliers click HERE 

Was this clear enough? 😀

Actually, now that I think of it, I have made some good bath gels preserved with fructose 😀
Maybe it’s an idea for a future recipe 🙂

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.