My love affair for all things green tea began long before I ever moved to East Asia. Being in Japan last year really cemented it.

The rumors about Japan are true. They use matcha green tea for everything. In our hotel, the shampoo and conditioner were green tea. And they were phenomenal.

So since lockdown, when soap and other cosmetics suddenly vanished, I decided to start making my own cosmetics. I had planned to make a melt-and-pour shampoo bar before anything else, but I ended up making soaps successfully, first, and getting product safety tests done on my essential oil soaps. At the same time, my shampoo bars were not going so well.

I couldn’t understand it. Both my soaps and the shampoo bars were made using the correct bases (don’t use soap base for shampoo bars! I know a lot of bloggers say you can do it with soap base, but if you care about your hair, you need to use proper shampoo base) but my shampoo bars weren’t mixing properly and when I tested them on my hair, they left residue. Eeek!

Eventually, I found out where I was going wrong. The rubbing alcohol in this recipe is essential. Do not skip that step.

You will need (makes one 100 gram bar; scale up for more than one):

• A glass jug
• A saucepan of boiling water on a stove
• A spoon
• 85 grams Stephenson’s Solid Shampoo Base (this doesn’t seem to be available to buy on US Amazon but you can get it shipped to the US from the link above which is UK Amazon)
• 1/4 tsp Green tea powder
• 1 tsp Rubbing alcohol (I’ve linked to Amazon there in case you can’t get out to a store, but you can get cheap rubbing alcohol in the Dollar Tree so don’t spend more than you have to).
• 5 grams Avocado oil (substitute with another oil such as olive oil, jojoba or almond oil if you don’t have this)
  
  If you’re in the UK/Ireland you can get your green tea, rubbing alcohol and avocado oil on these links, instead.

How to make vegan green tea melt and pour shampoo bar:

1. Cut the melt and pour shampoo base into small squares and put it into the jug.
2. Place the jug inside the pan of boiling water (alternatively, use a microwave to melt the base).
3. Remove when the shampoo base has melted.
4. In a small cup, mix the green tea powder with the alcohol.
5. Once this is mixed, add it to the shampoo base.
6. Add the avocado oil.
7. Mix well.
8. Pour into your soap mould. Leave to harden for about an hour and a half, then wrap.

I am so happy with this recipe (finally)! Let me know what you think in the comments! If you have a microwave, you can melt the melt and pour shampoo base in your microwave, checking every 30 seconds to be sure not to scald it!

Want to know more about how to make your own cosmetics? Check out my complete guide to soap making.