Shampoo bars are becoming increasingly popular among people who want to care for their hair naturally. I’m one of those people and have created a hot process palm-free shampoo bar using fresh banana puree and organic coconut milk. This palm-free shampoo bar is inspired by the nourishing fresh banana and egg yolks hair mask, and it is now available at my Etsy store: NourishBodyCare. I called this palm-free shampoo bar: Banana Coconut Milk Shampoo Bar.

Unlike many store-bought liquid shampoo, an all natural shampoo bar is made without any toxic chemicals that are harmful (or at least possibly harmful) to your health. According to The Guardian‘s reporting, store-bought shampoo is loaded with:

• Paraben – a synthetic preservative that is shown to be potentially carcinogenic. Paraben is any ingredient ending in “-paraben,” including propylparaben, butylparaben, and isopropylparaben.
• Sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), aka, sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) – a detergent and foaming agent that might contain the carcinogen dioxane. SLES (SLS) is also a skin and eye irritant.
• Phthalates – a plastic softener and fragrance extender, often listed as part of “fragrance,” is an endocrine disruptor and a human carcinogen. This chemical has also been linked to a number of illnesses, such as “autism, low IQ, asthma, obesity, type-II diabetes, and breast cancer.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want any of that stuff coming anywhere near me or my family. Instead, my family has been using this hot process palm-free shampoo bar to care for our hair. And because this palm-free shampoo bar is formulated to be gentle and has a lower ph-level, we also have been using it as an all-over, full-body bar.

If you have never used a shampoo bar, such as this palm-free shampoo bar, your hair might go through an adjustment/transitional period. Store-bought shampoo strips away natural oil and leaves residue in your hair. To compensate for this loss, your body/scalp has been working overtime to crank up oil production. As this all natural palm-free shampoo bar will not strip your natural oil, when you first begin using the shampoo bar, you might notice that your hair appears more oily and greasy. Give yourself and your hair at least a week to get rid of the store-bought shampoo residue and to adjust to the shampoo bar. After this adjustment/transitional period, you will wonder why the heck you used chemical filled store-bought shampoo for as long as you did.

Some people like to use an apple cider vinegar rinse after shampooing their hair with an all natural shampoo bar, like this palm-free shampoo bar. I never felt it was necessary for my hair, but everyone’s hair is different. To make your own apple cider vinegar rinse, mix 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into 1 cup of warm filtered tap water. Use it to rinse your hair after shampooing. So, do you want to know how I created this hot process palm-free shampoo bar?? Read on!

Hot Process Palm-Free Shampoo Bar, with Fresh Banana Puree and Organic Coconut Milk

Prep Time: 2 hours, including approximately 1 hour of cooking time
Yields: about 35 oz of palm-free shampoo bar, about 8 bars
Dry (Cure) Time: around 1 week, because it’s a hot process soap

Ingredients for Palm-Free Shampoo Bar

includes affiliate links

1. Coconut Oil – 12 oz. I use Trader Joe’s Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Amazon also offers other brands, such as Viva Labs Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.
2. Olive Oil – 7 oz. I use Trader Joe’s Imported Olive Oil. Amazon offers Zoe Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Bragg Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
3. Castor Oil – 4.2 oz. I use NOW Solutions Castor Oil. You might be able to get castor oil at your local natural food and health store. I remember seeing it at my neighborhood Mom’s Organic Market.
4. Shea Butter – 3 oz. I use Unrefined Ivory Shea Butter. My neighborhood Whole Foods sells shea butter in its natural soap and bath product section. Yours might as well.
5. Cocoa Butter – 2.9 oz. I get my cocoa butter from Amazon, which has Certified Organic Cocoa Butter, Raw Cocoa Butter.
6. Coconut Milk – 7 oz. I use Whole Foods 365 Organic Coconut Milk. You can also get 100% Coconut Milk on Amazon.
7. Lye – 3.8 oz. I use Food Grade Lye, which I get from Amazon.
8. Egg yolks – 2. Get it from your local market.
9. Banana puree – 1.5 oz. You will need 1/3 of a very ripe banana. Get it from your local market.
10. Citric Acid – 1 tablespoon. I use Food Grade Citric Acid.
11. Silicone Soap Mold. I use a loaf mold. You can also use an individual soap mold, such as a 6-cavity silicone mold, an 8-cavity oval silicone mold or a 12-cavity mini silicone mold. I’ve found that it’s difficult to get hot process soap into individual soap molds, because the soap becomes very thick after going through gel phase during cooking.

Step-by-Step Instruction on How to Create Palm-Free Shampoo Bar with Fresh Banana Puree and Organic Coconut Milk

PLEASE be sure to take all necessary safety measures when you are making soap. When you make soap, you work with lye, which is an extremely caustic ingredient. At a minimum, you should wear protective gear to protect your eyes, arms, legs and feet, and you should make sure that no kids or pets are around. You might want to have vinegar around, which can be used to neutralize lye or lye solution spills. If you are a pretty new soaper, please learn more about soap making safety precautions here, here and here.

1. Make lye solution by slowly adding lye to frozen coconut milk. Make sure your coconut milk is frozen solid. Otherwise, the lye might burn the milk. Read more about how to make lye solution using milk, including coconut milk, here.

2. Melt all your oil and butter in a double-boiler on a stovetop. You can create a double-boiler by placing a large glass measuring cup inside a pot that’s filled with about 2 inches of water. It takes about 10 minutes to melt everything.

3. Use a stick blender to mix the egg yolks, ripe banana and citric acid. You have to mix everything very well, and make sure that there’s no banana chunks or pieces left. Set this mixture aside for later use.

4. Slowly and carefully add the coconut milk lye solution to the completely melted oil and butter.

5. Gently and slowly mix the coconut milk lye solution and the melted oil and butter. Be careful. You don’t want any of the lye solution on you. It will burn.

6. Use a stick blender to mix the coconut milk lye solution and melted oil and butter. Blend until the mixture reaches thin trace (milk shake consistency).

7. Add the banana egg yolk mixture to your soap mixture. Mix everything very well. You want a smooth consistency, without any chunks or pieces.

8. Place the soap into a crockpot, cover the crockpot, and cook the soap for about an hour at low heat. During this cooking process, you will notice the soap going through gel phase. When the cooked soap has the consistency of Vaseline, it’s ready to be pour into a mold. You can see pictures of hot process soap going through gel phase here and here.

9. Allow the soap to remain in the mold for about a day before unmolding and cutting it.

That’s it! That’s how you make a hot process palm-free shampoo bar, using fresh banana puree and organic coconut milk. What do you think? Will you be giving this palm-free shampoo bar recipe a try? You should, because it creates gentle bars that are great for cleansing your hair and your body. BUT . . . if you want to skip making this palm-free shampoo bar yourself, you can now get it from my Etsy store! If you like this palm-free shampoo bar recipe, or the shampoo bar that I listed on Etsy, be sure to share it or pin it. Happy soaping!