How to Make Conditioner

Tired of overpriced hair conditioners? 

Hair conditioners are one of the most popular hair care products and because of this brands think they can charge the world for them! 

Not to mention the amount of chemicals they put in it! But we’ll talk more about that later.

You don’t need to use expensive conditioners just to nourish your hair, you can make it from the comfort of your own home!

Contents

• What are Hair Conditioners?
• Why Make Your Own Homemade Hair Conditioner?
• How to Make a Hair Conditioner
  

What are Hair Conditioners?

Hair conditioners are a hair care product used to nourish and add moisture to hair. 

Conditioners are generally made up of water, emulsifiers and conditioning agents. However, good conditioners also contain vitamins and proteins that benefit your hair.

Conditioners can be used by every hair type, including fine hair, frizzy hair, curly hair, thick hair and especially dry hair types.

They are used on the lengths and ends of hair to add moisture, soften the hair and repair damage.

Unlike leave-in conditioners or hair masks which are used occasionally, conditioners are used in every hair wash routine.

Why Make Your Own Homemade Hair Conditioner?

Homemade conditioners are not only more affordable, but they are also healthier for your hair.

Commercial conditioners contain so many ingredients, silicones and chemicals that could cause damaged hair!

Many of the ingredients in commercial conditioners cause dryness, irritation and breakage. Silicones are known to cause build up on the hair and scalp, causing irritation and sensitivity. Many of the chemicals can also be harmful for people with allergies.

When making a homemade hair conditioner, you get to choose what goes in it. So you can make sure the conditioner only contains ingredients that benefit your hair!

How to Make a Hair Conditioner?

Making a conditioner involves four key stages, the heated water phase, heated oil phase, cool down phase and pH testing. This is because some ingredients can only be added at certain times or temperatures, for example if an ingredient is sensitive to heat it cannot be added to the heated phases. 

In this homemade conditioner recipe, we have chosen to use natural argan oil as it is lightweight and extremely moisturising. Hydrolysed wheat protein leaves hair looking shiny and helps strengthen, moisturise and repair the hair.

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is BTMS 50. It is an emulsifier, thickener and conditioning agent. This ingredient is key to the success of a hair conditioner and also adds wonderful conditioning properties.

This recipe is not 100% natural as we are using a preservative, emulsifier and humectants. However, these ingredients are needed to ensure the end result is stable and to lock all of the nutrients in.

This recipe is technical and is not as simple as our hair mask recipes. However, it creates an amazing product that we think you'll love! 

So let’s get into the recipe…

Ingredients

Water phase

• Water 73g | 73ml
• Geogard Ultra 2g
• Vegetable Glycerin 5g | 3ml
• Panthenol 2g

Oil phase

• BTMS 50 5g
• Argan Oil 5g | 5ml
• Cetearyl Alcohol 3g

Cool down phase

• Polyquaternium 7 (PQ7) 1g
• Vitamin E Oil 2g | 2ml
• Hydrolysed Wheat Protein 2g

Method:

1. Heated water phase

• Measure the water, panthenol, geogard ultra and glycerin in a heatproof beaker.
• Place the beaker into a double boiler or a pan with heated water.

2. Heated oil phase

• Measure the BTMS 50, cetearyl alcohol and argan oil into a separate beaker.
• Place the beaker next to the other beaker in a pan with heated water.

3. Heat the mixtures

• Heat both of the beakers in the heated water for about 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make sure to consistently stir the mixtures so everything has been fully melted and combined.

4. Combine the mixtures

• Leave the mixtures to cool slightly.
• Pour the water mixture into the oil mixture.
• Using a stick blender, mix the ingredients together until fully combined.
• Once fully combined, it should create a creamy consistency.

5. Cool down phase

• Mix the PQ7, vitamin E oil and hydrolysed wheat protein together.
• Add these ingredients to the other mixture and combine.

6. Test the pH of the mixture

• Take 2g of the mixture and mix it in 18g of water until dissolved.
• Using a digital pH meter, test a small sample of the mixture.
• The pH of the conditioner should be in the range 4.5 - 5.5

7. If necessary, adjust the pH

• If the pH of your conditioner is too low, make a sodium hydroxide solution.
• Put on your gloves, mask and safety goggles. For more information about safety when using sodium hydroxide, click here.
• Weigh 10g of sodium hydroxide and 90g of water.
• Add the sodium hydroxide to the water and stir until dissolved.
• Add 0.5g of the solution into the diluted sample that you used for pH testing.
• Test the pH again, if the pH is still under 4.5, repeat the last steps until the pH is 4.5 - 5.5.
• Once the correct pH has been reached, record the amount of sodium hydroxide solution needed and add this to the remaining conditioner.
• If the pH of the conditioner was over 5.5, you can follow this process but use 10g citric acid diluted in 90g water.

8. Pour into containers

• Leave the mixture to cool and pour into a container of your choice.
• Now your homemade conditioner is ready to use! 

How to Use: After the hair has been shampooed, apply the conditioner to the lengths and ends of the damp hair (don't apply it too high as it may leave your looking oily, especially if you have naturally oily hair). Leave to sit for a few minutes. Rinse the conditioner off thoroughly until it is completely out of your hair.

TIP: The Soapery team have tested this recipe and we love it! The conditioner feels amazing and leaves the hair feeling super soft!

This homemade conditioner is suitable for all hair types and you can customise it to your specific hair needs if you need to. So, if you don't love argan oil you can try any of our other carrier oils. We also have a range of proteins to choose from including rice protein, keratin and more. If you want to add essential oils, be sure to check the IFRA documents for recommended usage rates.

We recommend testing the diy hair conditioner on a small section of your hair to ensure you are happy with the result and to check for any issues with the ingredients.

Continue Reading

Now you know how to make a conditioner, why not continue reading?

• Want to make your own shampoo bars? Check out our simple shampoo bar recipe!
• Interested in soap making? Try our hemp seed soap recipe!
• Learn about the purity of almond oil with our purity blog!

Let us know how you got on with our hair conditioner recipe in the comment below!