How to Make Shampoo from Scratch: Step-by-Step Process and Equipment Guide

Wonder how to prepare (from the beginning) shampoo that will ultimately sell? Would you like to make your home-produced shampoo a brand? Fear of falling in the roadblocks majority of the entrepreneurs encounter when they employ the wrong type of equipment?

Now think of this as your final guide in Shampoo Production!

This article will teach you the fundamental ingredients of your shampoo manufacturers and the right equipment that can be used in the manufacture of your hair-care business.

What You Should Know About the Shampoo Manufacturing Industry

Today, hygiene product essentials like the shampoos enter an exceptionally high demand spurt because of the necessity to become clean in order not to become the COVID-19 recipients.

A survey conducted across the world shows that the shampoo market will grow to USD 1.48 Billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 9%.

Therefore, in case this is the making and sale of shampoo that is your niche, you will have a substantial leverage over the market in terms of the market. You only have to come up with the correct composition of the shampoos and place the appropriate machineries.

First, then, we will begin with the right shampoo formula.

Shampoo Ingredients List

You can find your local grocery aisle with an abundance of shampoo brands but the reality of the matter is that most of their ingredients tend to be the same series of ingredients.

According to Paula Begoun of Beautypedia, all shampoo is a detergent. She also adds that the effectiveness of the formula depends on the first five or six ingredients only.

And once you start comparing these shampoo ingredients, you can easily map a venn diagram of the 10 most similar ingredients.

The following are the most widely used ingredients in most of the commercial recipes of hair shampoo:

1. Deionized Water/Water

This is the most prevalent ingredient of shampoo that constitutes approximately 80% of the blend. In the absence of water or aqua as a solvent, the liquid to be lathered is not going to run out of the bottle.

2. Surfactants (Sodium Lauryl sulfates)

The dirt on the hair surface is removed by the surfactants and attracted towards the water as they get rinsed. They are soaps that render the hair squeaky. The primary component of soaps is also surfactants, which cause it to form bubbles when you lather it to your wet body.

3. Foaming Agent (Cocamidopropyl Betaine)

Cocamidoprolyl Betaine that is found in most shampoo formulations supplies the foaming or lathering effect. It also helps in the surfactant and viscously thickens the mixture. It also softens and conditions the hair using its mild cleansing properties which leaves the hair-bashing experience pleasing.

4. Conditioning Polymers (Polyquaternium)

This is commonly applied in most personal care industries. It also aids in creating a film protective layer on the hair and offers an antistatic quality on the hair to make it easier to handle.

5. Preservatives (Parabens)

You have encountered the presence of parabens in many beauty products and not only in shampoos. They are also common in preserving the cosmetic and personal care products to eliminate bacteria in the product. Nevertheless, certain types of parabens contain a lot of estrogen, and these may cause cancer. It is the reason why they are incorporated into the mixture in very low quantities to avoid causing side effects to people.

6. Opacifying Pearling Agents

When you see that shampoos are shiny and pearly in look, you have the pearling agent to thank. It does not only create a thickening effect, but also renders the shampoo less transparent and silky-white.

7. Conditioning Emollients (Dimethicone)

As an example, we would refer to Dimethicone because it is commonly included in most shampoo products in the form of conditioning emollient. It gives the shampoo moisture capacities, as well as conditions the hair, making it feel smoother.

8. PH Adjuster (Citric Acid)

The most prevalent pH adjuster is Citric Acid which is included in most of the shampoo constituents. In other labels, it is called as sodium citrate.

In essence, it maintains the right amount of acidity in your shampoo, generally 5.5 or less. The acid reacts with the negative charge of the hair that helps maintain a smooth surface on the cuticle or the surface of the hair.

9. Salt (Sodium Chloride)

You are probably asking yourself why salt or Sodium chloride is required in shampoo recipes. Sodium chloride softens the cuticle to allow the hair to appear thicker.

10. Fatty alcohols

You may now be asking yourself why alcohol primarily thought to have drying effects on the skin could be included in a shampoo formula. However, certain alcohols such as Fatty Alcohols act as a moisturising ingredient. In most cosmetic gels, creams and ointments, you can find Panthenol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol or Cetearyl Alcohol that in fact serves to bind water on the scalp or the skin. Panthenol is a vitamin B5-giving fatty alcohol.

Typical Shampoo Composition

The following haircare raw materials can usually be found and have ingredient substitutes/variations but are technically identical in purpose. On the right side of the table is the approximate amount of each shampoo component contained in one manufacturing batch.

Shampoo Production Equipment: Essential Machines for a Haircare Manufacturing Line

Is it possible to put ingredients of shampoo in a kitchen mixer?

Should I purchase the right mixer to prepare shampoos?

What is the price of a shampoo mixing equipment?

Do I have to purchase a shampoo filling and sealing machine?

Many of them would pose these questions before purchasing production equipment to make a shampoo, which YUANYANG suggests you should. A standard production line in the manufacturing of shampoos would comprise of the following equipment:

1. Mixing Equipment
2. Packaging Equipment

• Filling Equipment
• Totally automatic sealing equipment.
• Labeling Equipment

Shampoo Mixing Equipment

A Shampoo Mixer is a mixer where it mixes. It is an industry level blender capable of manufacturing stable quality emulsions that are essential in the manufacture of shampoos.

The most prevalent is the mixer workhead or a rotor-stator head, a low-speed stirring rotor, a disperser, a motor and a transmission mount. Certain design features are an automatic lifting system, a powder feeder and suction pump, load cells and a heating element.

The load cells can automatically detect precise additions of kilos/lbs of shampoo raw materials added in a particular batch. Therefore, you would not have to weigh up each of the components individually in a weigher.

Filling Equipment

Since large manufacturing facilities tend to produce haircare products, they tend to install automatic filling machines that automatically fill bottles with pre-determined amounts of the shampoos. Filling machines contain servo-motors and pneumatic apparatus that operate the pumping of the liquid to fill bottles.

Typically, Shampoo filling machines are highly demanded in midsize-large shampoo industry to fulfill hundreds to millions of inventories monthly. When purchase in manufactures in China it normally cost between $8,000 to $25,000.

Sealing Equipment

Most large scale manufacturers use Sealing Machines to automatically top off shampoo bottles. These are mechanical sealing machines that holds the bottle top together with the body. They average 40 to 100 bottles of shampoo per minute.

Parameters adjusted in a PLC program are the capping speed and changeover of bottle size, which a Capping machine operator adjusts. Moreover, capping machines are designed with roller heads adjustable to fit the various bottle cap diameter and height.

The price of a Shampoo Capping Machine is approximately 5,000 to 10,000 dollars in a set.

Labeling Machines

Good formulation and consistent mixtures are as important as labeling and branding of the shampoos. The label informs your customers what your shampoo recipe will offer to them. It can also lure them even though your product is worthy of purchase.

A labeler wraps the labels on the cap and the container automatically. It can work on more than a thousand inventories in a day. Use this kind of equipment only when you are already selling more products than you can handle to package yourself. It usually costs $5000 to $10,000 per set.

How to Test Your Shampoo Product?

It is safe to have it officially tested of quality whether you have hired a chemist to formulate your shampoo or you do it yourself. The formulations of shampoos ought to be safe to the consumer medically.

A majority of the manufacturers seek the assistance of third party testing facilities to test their products. Nevertheless, you can do your tests personally prior to taking the samples to external laboratories to conserve time and money.

You would never have to endure any potential legal suits when you pass the right tests of your product.

Stability Tests, Microbiological Tests and Packaging Stability Tests are generally conducted as in the case of a shampoo testing and any cosmetic testing.

What Testing Tools You Will Need?

In order to conduct some of these tests yourself / in-house, you would require the following materials:

• Digital Scale
• Incubator ( -10 o C to 50 C)
• Viscometer
• Microbial Test Kit- this can be purchased at Formulator Sample Shop at a cost of 32.

Stability Test

Stability test is done to test the product at different conditions and temperatures. In essence, you would be required to pass through three stages, which include chemical, physical and integrity tests. Tests under these conditions include color, viscosity, flow, fragrance, pH, texture and stability of emulsions.

You can perform Accelerated Stability Testing in the case of physical stability tests. This is to determine the shelf life of your product at controlled temperature and humidity. To do this you would have to purchase an Incubator. You would have to incubate your product samples at 37, 40 or 45°C up to 3 months.

Microbiological Test

Microbiological Tests, on the other hand, determine the level to which your product can inhibit microbial growth as it is used. It is easy to use microbial testing kits that can be found in the market. The sampling and assessment is easy and can be carried out without even training. All you have to do is to follow simple instructions.

Packaging Stability Test

Packaging stability test measures the influence of the product on the container. It also measures the impact of the external environment on the product after you unpack it out of the packaging.

To Sum Up

The process of formulating, getting your raw materials, the mixing process, packaging and testing is very long and painful on how to produce shampoo in the first place, and get it to sell. We hope that this guide made your selection of equipment that you require in making shampoos.

YUANYANG is a veteran manufacturer of shampoo mixer in China where you can purchase professional cosmetic production equipment. In case you are willing to begin your shampoo business today, feel free to share your ideas with us so that we can advise you on the mixer specification you should buy.