Argan &Citrus Deep Hair Conditioner

I formulated this hair conditioner to be a luxurious, deeply nourishing treatment for any type of hair. You can even use it as a mask or as a hand &body cream. What a bonus! I'm using it as a rinse-off conditioner after washing my hair and once per week as a hair mask.

The recipe I'm sharing today requires quite a few ingredients and I understand that it could be quite overwhelming if you're a beginner so I am going to give you a beginner-friendly version too. As always feel free to be creative, change the recipe to your liking. Remember, you can always use a different oil, fragrance, hydrosol. The only thing that I don't recommend changing is the emulsifier BTMS-50 (INCI: Behentrimonium Methosulfate (and) Cetyl Alcohol (and) Butylene Glycol).

BTMS-50 is a cationic emulsifier meaning that it is positively charged and is a great conditioning agent for our hair and body. It is known to be a very mild emulsifying wax so you can use it for leave-on and rinse-off products. You can use it in multiple products such as lotions, lotion bars, hair serums, hair masks and conditioners, detanglers, body butters, shampoo bars, conditioner bars, body bars, and more. As you can see it's a very versatile ingredient and if you're interested in making some of the products mentioned above, especially hair care, I definitely recommend purchasing at least 100g of BTMS-50. The recommended usage rate is 0.1 - 10%.

BTMS-50 is available at multiple suppliers all over the world so you shouldn't have issued finding it, but if you do, let me know. Maybe I could help.

I used grapefruit hydrosol but you can use a different hydrosol if you want. Some good options are rose, lavender, chamomile, calendula, etc.

You need an immersion blender or stick blender to make this recipe. I have this fancy one which comes with 3 attachments (made in Switzerland) and I love it but it's quite expensive so I would recommend it to someone who is very serious about making bath and body products.

Esge Unold G 200 Gastro Immersion blender - https://amzn.to/36IgExB

RECIPE (make 200g )

BASIC RECIPE

INSTRUCTIONS

Clean and sanitize your working surface, tools, and equipment. Put your gloves on, hairnet, and a mask to cover your mouth. If you make this product in small batches and you only make it for yourself you should still be careful but if you want to sell lotions, creams, hair conditioners, and masks then make sure everything is super clean, sanitized, and sterilized.

2. Weigh your oil phase into a heatproof measuring glass or a beaker and place it in a water bath to melt through.

3. Weigh your water phase in a heatproof measuring glass or a beaker. Now weigh your glass with your water-soluble ingredients in it and make a note somewhere of the weight. Some of the water will evaporate and you will need to add some more distilled water later to bring the weight up to what it was before heating. Place the beaker in a water bath to heat up.

4. Leave both of the glasses in a water bath for about 20-30 minutes or until both phases reach the temperature of 80 C.

5. Once both of the phases have been thoroughly melted and heated through remove them from the heat, weigh your water phase, add more water as needed (about 3-5g). Now pour the water phase into the oil phase, stir with a spatula first and then mix with a stick blender for about 1 minute.

I had a bad experience once when I mixed my hair conditioner for too long, apparently, BTMS-50 doesn't like too much blending, learn from my mistakes.

6. Now your lovely conditioner has to cool down enough to add our heat-sensitive ingredients. In the meanwhile, you can weigh your cool-down phase. Stir your emulsion every 5-10 minutes with a spatula. Your product is going to get thicker and thicker as it cools.