Shower gel recipes

You used to use soap in the bath and shower. For about forty years now we have been using a kind of liquid soap: shower gel. Why? Good question, maybe because a bar of soap looks less and less beautiful when you use it, or we find it more convenient to use. Shower gel can be used for washing the whole body, if you have very difficult hair (too dry , too long, too fragile) a shampoo may be a better option. Below are some recipes for shower gel. As for the perfuming: it is a suggestion, feel free to use a different mixture, another perfume oil or another essential oil. The same goes for the colour: feel free to use another HexaCol, or another mica.

Mild Shower gel with Aloe Vera

Mild shower gel with Aloe vera is mild and contains Aloe vera.

Shower gel is cosmetic. You use cosmetics to become more beautiful, but also because it is pleasant to use. That is why it often contains things that make you feel good about it. A popular product that gives many people a good feeling is Aloe vera. Not sure if it does anything useful, but it could. If you think it’s all nonsense, you can just leave it out.

Mild means that the product does not or hardly irritate the skin (and eyes). The disadvantage is that the cleaning of mild products is often less. Because many people use shower gel regularly, sometimes even daily, this is usually not a problem.

The formulation is for about 100 ml of mild shower gel Aloe vera.

Ingredients

55 g tap water (boiled and cooled again)
20 g Detergent (SLES) Hx
20 g Betaine (CAPB) Hx
2 g Hexaderm LSH
8 drops Lactic acid 90%
20 drops of Aloe Vera 1:10
20 drops of HexaCon 91
15 drops FO May bells
6 drops HexaCol yellow
Possibly a few grams of sodium chloride

Supplies

Weighing scale – up to a minimum of 220 g, with an accuracy of at least 1 gram
Beaker 250 ml
Plastic pipettes – 4 or more
Spoon or spatula for stirring
Funnel
Bottle, for example HENRI 100 ml with valve cap
Label

Procedure

Boil the tap water and let it cool. Mix one after the other in a measuring cup: Detergent (SLES) Hx, Betaine (CAPB) Hx, Hexaderm LSH, Lactic acid 90%, Aloe Vera 1:10, HexaCon 91, FO May bells and HexaCol yellow. Stir well, it will make a firm paste. Then add the water little by little, stir well.

Is the shower gel a bit too viscous at the end: you can add some water. Add two drops of HexaCon 91 for every 5 grams of water you add! If, on the other hand, the shower gel is too thin, you can add a little (quarter teaspoon) of sodium chloride. Stir until all sodium chloride is dissolved, the shower gel will then thicken. Repeat a few times if necessary.

Pour into the bottle with the funnel. Create a label stating what it is and when you made it. Shelf life is usually at least several weeks to months.

Mild shower gel with Aloe Vera

Detergent (SLES) Hx and Betaine (CAPB) Hx are cleansing agents, they also cause the shower gel to foam. Hexaderm LSH helps to thicken the shampoo and limit the drying of the skin. Lactic acid makes the shower gel a little acidic, which helps thicken with Hexaderm LSH. Moreover, because the skin is a bit acidic, acid shower gel is better for the skin. The low dose of cleaning agents, the dehydration-preventing Hexaderm LSH and the right acidity make it a mild shower gel.

Aloe Vera 1:10 is concentrated Aloe Vera: according to some it is good for the skin, especially for sensitive and damaged skin. HexaCon 91 is the preservative, don’t leave it out! An improperly preserved shower gel can start to mold after a day. Fungi, bacteria and yeasts can be harmful to health and skin. Fragrance oil and HexaCol provide fragrance and colour and the sodium chloride further thickens the shower gel. Too much sodium chloride also makes the shower gel thin again.

Shelf life

Shelf life is usually at least several weeks to months.

Organic Shower gel

A ‘natural’ recipe for an organic shower gel.

Ingredients

– 70 ml tap water (boiled and cooled again)
– 20 ml Cocoglucoside
– 10 ml Olive glutamate
– 2 g Xanthan gum
– 30 drops of HexaCon BADHA
– 45 drops Lactic acid 90%
– 15 drops of EO Ylang ylang III (org)
Think of a few pipettes for dosing!

Procedure:

Boil the water and let it cool. Mix one after the other in a measuring cup: Cocoglucoside, Olive glutamate, HexaCon BADHA and EO Ylang ylang III (org). Add the xanthan gum and mix it well, the better the fewer lumps. Stir in the tap water and finally the lactic acid 90%.
Put the solution in a bottle (see previous recipe). In addition to the ingredients, also provide pipettes, measuring cups, measuring spoons (our 2.5 ml plastic measuring spoon is useful for measuring Xanthan gum: a level spoon is about 1 gram) and, if desired, a funnel.

Organic shower gel

Cocoglucoside and Olive glutamate are the cleaning agents, synthetic, but made from vegetable substances. They ensure that grease and dirt adhering to grease come loose and can be washed away. Xanthan gum is made by certain micro-organisms, it thickens the shower gel, which makes it easier to work. HexaCon BADHA is a preservative that meets the requirements of ‘natural’ in the Cosmos standard. The disadvantage is that they are not the most mild and practical substances, but it does work. Essential Oil Ylang Ylang III (org) is a plant-based fragrance made from organically grown flowers. Finally, the lactic acid is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY because otherwise the preservative will not work. An acidic shower gel is not a problem for the skin (a little acid is even good).

Are there any downsides to a natural shower gel? Not too bad: the cleaning power is somewhat less. The preservation is somewhat less mild, which means that the shower gel can be more irritating to the eyes. It is also a bit more expensive. But if the thought of using a more natural product makes you feel better, it may be well worth it.

Shelf life: under normal circumstances at least several months.

Mild shower gel for daily use

Every shower gel, including this mild shower gel, consists for the most part of water. After water, the surfactants are the largest group of components. Soap is an example of a surfactant, it ensures that the water can reach the dirt better and that the dirt stays in the water and no longer ends up on skin or hair. We don’t use soap here, but other surfactants that work better, are less irritating and insensitive to ‘lime’ in the water.

Most store-bought shower gels contain table salt to “thicken”. It is an accidental property of some surfactants that they become ‘thicker’ together with sodium chloride (table salt). We use Hexaderm LSH to thicken the shower gel. Hexaderm LSH is much milder than table salt.

Ingredients

55 ml water (boiled and cooled drinking water)
10 ml Betaine (CAPB) Hx
30 ml Detergent (SLES) Hx
5 ml Hexaderm LSH
15 drops (0.75 ml) Lactic acid 90%
15 drops (0.75 ml) FO Green fig
2 drops HexaCol Green
15 drops of HexaCon 91

Think of a few pipettes for dosing and a bottle (for example the 100 ml HENRI bottle) and closure to mix and store the shower gel. A small measuring cup can be used to measure the surfactants.

Procedure

Measure the surfactants (Betaine (CAPB) Hx and Detergent (SLES) Hx) and the Hexaderm LSH and put them together in the bottle. Add the Lactic acid 90%, the FO Green fig, the HexaCol green and the HexaCon 91. Finally add the water. Put the cap on the bottle and shake everything well.

If the shower gel is not thick enough, you can add a few drops of lactic acid. But the shower gel becomes a bit thicker on its own in the first 24 hours. You can just mix everything at room temperature, heating is not necessary. The shower gel is immediately ready for use.

We recommend not to store homemade cosmetics for too long, at most 2-3 months.

Lactic acid is not only intended to thicken the Hexaderm LSH, but also to make the shower gel more skin-friendly. The skin is naturally a little acidic, which is not disturbed in this way.