The oily hair formula on this site was the first bar I ever made, and it works well for my hair which is fine, genuinely oily, washing every second day. But not everyone’s hair needs that level of oil absorption, and a formula calibrated for oily hair used on normal hair can feel drying or stripped.

This is the normal hair version. Same six ingredients, same process, distinctly different balance. The clay percentage is lower, the jojoba percentage is higher, and the result is a gentler cleanse that leaves more of the scalp’s natural oil in place. It’s at the centre of the normal hair routine.

I’ve tested it. It works. Here’s everything you need to know. For a broader recommendation guide covering normal hair shampoo and conditioner in any format, retail or DIY, best shampoo and conditioner for normal hair covers what to look for and why a syndet bar combination gives you more flexibility than anything off the shelf.

If you’re new to making syndet bars and want to understand the full process before diving into a recipe, how to make shampoo bars at home covers everything from equipment to first-batch tips.

Who this formula is for

This bar is suited to normal hair which is hair that doesn’t feel greasy within hours of washing, doesn’t need daily washing to stay presentable, and responds badly to over-cleansing. If you currently wash every two to three days without issue and your hair feels balanced rather than persistently oily or dry, this is likely the right formula for you.

It’s also worth considering if you have oily hair but have been using the oily hair formula for several months and noticed your scalp settling. The scalp recalibration that happens during the shampoo bar transition period can result in genuinely lower oil production over time. My own experience is that after several months on the oily hair bar, my scalp feels more settled than it did when I started. The fine wispy hairs at my roots are less reminiscent of a startled baby bird, and I’m producing what feels like less oil overall than I was before switching. Whether that warrants a permanent move to the normal hair bar is something I’m still working out after two washes, but the direction is interesting.

For hair that is genuinely dry, damaged, or colour-treated, this formula is a starting point rather than the final answer. A bar designed for dry hair would typically reduce SCI further and increase conditioning ingredients beyond what this formula does. That’s a future recipe I’ll tackle.

Not sure what you are? Take the Batch and Bubble hair type quiz and find out:

How it differs from the oily hair formula

The two formulas use the same six ingredients in different proportions. Here’s the comparison:

Ingredient	Oily hair	Normal hair	What changed
SCI	65%	58%	Lower – less aggressive cleanse
CAPB	15%	20%	Higher – more mildness and lather support
Cetyl alcohol	10%	10%	Same – hardness and conditioning unchanged
Kaolin clay	6.6%	4%	Lower – less oil absorption
Jojoba oil	2.4%	6%	Higher – more conditioning
Glycerine	1%	1%	Same

The logic behind each change:

SCI down from 65% to 58%. SCI is the primary cleanser and the ingredient most responsible for oil removal. Reducing it by 7% produces a noticeably gentler cleanse without sacrificing lather quality entirely. It remains the dominant ingredient and the formula’s main driver of performance.

CAPB up from 15% to 20%. CAPB boosts lather and adds mildness. Increasing it partially compensates for the reduced SCI, maintaining a reasonable lather while contributing a gentler overall surfactant blend. The higher CAPB percentage also helps with the feel of the wash — slightly softer and less stripping than the oily hair bar.

Kaolin clay down from 6.6% to 4%. Clay’s primary role is oil absorption. For normal hair, 6.6% is more absorption than the scalp needs and can lead to dryness or the stripped feeling that makes people abandon bars. At 4% the clay still contributes its clarifying and slip properties without over-cleansing.

Jojoba oil up from 2.4% to 6%. Jojoba is the conditioning ingredient in this formula. More than doubling it significantly increases the moisturising quality of the wash without tipping the formula into one that leaves a heavy or oily residue. Jojoba’s wax ester structure means it absorbs readily rather than sitting on the hair surface.

Jojoba oil’s skin benefits, and the honest science behind the sebum similarity claim ,are covered in full in the jojoba oil for skin article.

If the oily hair routine is more up your alley, read the full article.

The recipe

Batch and Bubble Normal Hair Syndet Shampoo Bar Makes 5 bars at just shy of 100g each Best suited to: normal hair. Also worth considering for oily hair that has settled after a transition period.

Ingredient	Weight (531g batch)	Percentage
SCI (sodium cocoyl isethionate)	290g	58%
CAPB (cocamidopropyl betaine)	100g	20%
Cetyl alcohol	50g	10%
White kaolin clay	20g	4%
Jojoba oil	30g	6%
Glycerine	5g	1%
Total	495g	99%*

*The remaining 1% is reserved for fragrance or filler once testing with scent begins. For now the bar is unscented and the batch weight reflects the six ingredients above.

The method

The process is identical to the oily hair shampoo bar formula. and dry hair shampoo bar formula.

Step 1 – Prepare your moulds and workspace

Set your ice cube tray on a flat, stable surface near your stove. Have your spatula and secondary ingredient bowl ready before you start melting. Once the melt phase is ready it cools quickly, so having everything prepared in advance matters.

Prepare your equipment.

Step 2 – Melt the first phase

Fill your saucepan with a few centimetres of water and bring it to a gentle boil. Place your large glass bowl over the top to create a double boiler — the bowl should sit above the water, not touch it.

Add to the bowl in this order:

• CAPB
• Cetyl alcohol
• Glycerine

The glycerine goes in here, not with the second phase, because it helps the other ingredients melt more smoothly. I added it to the second phase on my first batch and noticed the difference when I corrected it.

Stir gently and consistently with your silicone spatula. Melt using visual cues rather than a set temperature: you’re looking for a fully homogeneous (all the same), smooth mixture with no visible lumps or unmelted pieces. You want a thick mashed potato feel. This takes patience. Don’t rush it by turning the heat up, SCI is sensitive to high heat and can degrade or become grainy if overheated.

The visual changes during the melt phase as the cetyl alcohol pellets soften and dissolve. The pellets become translucent as they melt, wait until no solid pieces remain before moving on.

Step 3 – Prepare your SCI

This is the step that catches most beginners, and it’s where I went wrong on my first batch.

SCI comes in chip form (small flakes) or powder form. If you’re using chips, which is common and totally fine, I’d strongly recommend grinding them in a coffee grinder before you start. Chips melt unevenly: the bottom of your bowl melts while the top layer cools and sets, leaving you with a lumpy, partially melted mass that’s difficult to work with. Grinding to a powder first eliminates this problem almost entirely. Use a dedicated coffee grinder that you don’t also use for coffee, or clean it thoroughly first.

Powder SCI can be used directly without grinding.

NOTE: SCI powder can irritate your lungs so wear a face mask when handling this ingredient until it is thoroughly wet.

SCI chips loaded into the grinder before processing. Three seconds later, this is a fine powder. Remember to put on your mask before you open the lid.

Step 4 – Add the SCI

After the Cetyl Alcohol is fully melted, add your SCI powder (or chips if you prefer) and continue stirring over heat for a few minutes. It will quickly become a thick, mashed-potato like texture. It’s important to keep stirring and mixing to fully incorporate the SCI.

The combined mixture just after the SCI is added. Thick, white, and cooling fast. This is the consistency you’re aiming for. Work quickly from here.

Step 5 – Prepare the second phase

Between stirs, combine in your small bowl:

• White kaolin clay
• Jojoba oil

Stir these together until the clay is fully dispersed in the oil and no dry clumps remain. This takes about a minute of stirring and ensures the clay distributes evenly through the finished bar rather than clumping.

Jojoba oil measured into a ramekin on the scale. Decanting first gives you far better control than pouring from the bottle directly, especially for small quantities like this.

Step 6 – Combine

Once the first phase is fully melted and smooth, and the SCI is properly incorporated, remove the bowl from the heat. Add the clay and jojoba mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Work quickly from this point. The mixture cools fast. It will hold its shape when scooped but still be pliable enough to press into moulds.

Once the jojoba oil and kaolin clay mix are incorporated, the mixture takes on a beige colour from the clay.

Step 7 – Fill the moulds

Fill each cavity as fully as possible. Once the mixture has cooled enough to handle comfortably – just a minute or two after removing from heat – use your fingers rather than the spatula to press it firmly into each cavity. Fingers are significantly better than a spatula at this stage: you can feel where the air pockets are, push the mixture into the corners and edges properly, and fold any mixture that has spilled over the edges back into the bar rather than losing it. The mixture at this point feels like warm, dense dough. It’s pliable enough to work with but cool enough to handle. Press firmly and evenly across the surface of each bar until it’s compact and level. The bars will have a slightly rustic, matte appearance and that’s part of the joy of a homemade shampoo bar product.

Two test bars in the mould. This was a trial batch at reduced quantities to test a new formula. The four empty cavities aren’t a mistake, just a smaller batch. Now the hardest part: waiting seven days.

What to expect from this bar

Lather: Present and functional but subtly less voluminous than the oily hair bar. The reduction in SCI and the lower clay percentage both contribute to this. It’s not a dramatic difference, you’d really only notice it if you were comparing the two directly, but it’s there. The lather is still more than adequate to distribute through the hair and do the job.

Cleansing feel: Noticeably gentler than the oily hair bar. Hair feels clean without feeling stripped. For normal hair this is the right result. For genuinely oily hair it may feel like the bar hasn’t quite done enough, which is why the oily hair formula exists.

Hair feel after drying: Softer than the oily hair bar, which is expected given the higher jojoba percentage. The additional conditioning quality is noticeable, particularly at the ends.

My results after two washes

Two washes is not enough to draw firm conclusions, and I want to be honest about that. What I can say is that the bar cleaned my hair effectively in both washes without leaving the stripped or dry feeling that an overcleansing formula would produce on a scalp that has now settled from its previous oil overproduction.

Whether my hair has genuinely shifted from oily to normal territory after months on the oily hair bar, or whether it’s in a temporarily settled state that will revert, is something I can only determine with more time on this formula. The jury is still out. I’ll update this article as I have more data.

I made two test bars in this batch and my friend with genuinely normal hair will let me know how it goes shortly. When I have that feedback, particularly on a different hair type, I’ll add it here.

What to know why I don’t sell the bars I make?

What my partner noticed

My partner also tried the bar. The feedback was a mild scalp itch the day after washing, which is worth noting transparently. At the time of testing, a new conditioner bar was also being trialled simultaneously, and the itch appeared on the scalp rather than the skin generally. Our current working theory is that the conditioner bar may be the cause rather than the shampoo bar, given that there’s nothing in the normal hair shampoo formula that isn’t already in the oily hair formula that has been used without issue. We’ll test the shampoo bar without the new conditioner on the next wash to isolate the variable.

This is a good general principle when making changes to your hair routine: change one thing at a time where possible, and when you can’t, test each variable separately before drawing conclusions. A reaction that appears when two new products are introduced simultaneously tells you something is wrong but not which thing.

Cost comparison

The normal hair bar costs marginally more per bar than the oily hair formula at starter ingredient quantities, primarily because the higher jojoba percentage is the main cost difference and jojoba is the second most expensive ingredient per gram in the formula.

Formula	Per bar	Per batch (5 bars)	Main cost driver
Oily hair	$3.32	$16.59	SCI at 65%
Normal hair	$3.37	$16.85	SCI at 58%, jojoba at 6%

The difference is 5 cents per bar which is overall negligible. Both formulas use the same six ingredients, so if you already have stock from making the oily hair bar, no new ingredients are needed for this one. You’re working from the same shelf.

The full cost breakdown including ingredient pack sizes, how long each ingredient lasts, and how homemade bars compare to commercial shampoo is here.

A note on the 1% gap

You’ll notice the formula totals 99% rather than 100%. The remaining 1% is a placeholder for fragrance or an additional filler ingredient once scent testing begins. For this unscented version, the batch weight is 495g rather than 531g, producing bars of approximately 99g each.

When a scented version of this formula is tested and published, the article will be updated with the fragrance percentage and adjusted weights.

Making a smaller trial batch

If you want to test this formula before committing to a full batch of five bars, the percentages scale directly. A two-bar trial batch like I did uses:

Ingredient	Weight
SCI	116g
CAPB	40g
Cetyl alcohol	20g
Kaolin clay	8g
Jojoba oil	12g
Glycerine	2g
Total	198g

Making two bars first is my new normal approach with any new formula. It’s enough to test properly without committing a full batch of ingredients or stockpiling something that isn’t quite right..

What’s coming

Scented versions of both formulas are in development as essential oil testing begins. A dry hair formula has now been created, which reduces SCI further and increases conditioning ingredients beyond what the normal hair bar does. There’s also a bentonite shampoo bar and a brazilian purple clay bar formula available.

For a fun combo, the blue indigo grapefruit shampoo bar and purple grapefruit conditioner bar were developed as a paired colour routine: different tones, same grapefruit thread, both tested on real hair.

When you’re ready to start experimenting, the purple clay normal hair shampoo bar and purple clay deeply nourishing conditioner bar pair shows how small formula adjustments produce a coordinated colour result without changing performance.

The Brazilian yellow clay and lemon myrtle shampoo bar is the first Australian native ingredient formula in the shampoo bar range – warm yellow colour, fresh botanical scent, citral sensitisation notes.

If you want to know when those are published, joining the Batch and Bubble list is the best way to stay across new recipes and the free troubleshooting guide is yours as soon as you do.

Made the oily hair bar and wondering if this one is for you? The oily hair formula is here for comparison, as well as the green clay and rosemary shampoo bar for oily hair. And if something isn’t working with either formula, the free troubleshooting guide covers the most common problems and exactly how to fix them. If your scalp is a little troublemaker, read the best shampoo for sensitive scalps.

Written by Neets at Batch and Bubble
DIY personal bathroom care recipes for real life.
www.batchandbubble.com