In this post I’ll be teaching you how to make three different emulsified, rinse-out Super Simple Creamy Hair Conditioner formulations using BTMS-25. All three formulations are really easy to make, and they build on one another. The first one is the simplest with just three ingredients; the second one adds two ingredients; and the third one adds two more. If you’ve never made hair conditioner before, or you’re looking to learn how to start customizing your own conditioner formulations, this is a great place to start!
Want to watch this project instead of reading it?
The partner video for this project is focussed a lot more on technique and showing you the consistencies of the finished conditioners, while this post will focus more on the ingredients and formulation.
Post Overview
What is hair conditioner?
Making (and appearance)-wise, creamy, emulsified hair conditioners have a lot in common with lotion (click here to learn how to make a Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion).
Creamy hair conditioners are primarily comprised of water and have some fatty things (and usually other goodies) emulsified into that water to create a creamy finished product that looks a lot like a lotion or cream. We apply rinse-out conditioners to our hair for a few minutes (mine stays in for as long as it takes me to shave) and then rinse them out. They leave our hair smooth, slippery, and easy to comb through.
The biggest difference between your average hand lotion and a hair conditioner is the charge of the formulation; hair conditioners are positively charged (cationic), while hand/body lotions can be positively charged (cationic), negatively charged (anionic), or have no charge (non-ionic). Learn more about the components of hair conditioner and how they work with this article from Lab Muffin.
That positive charge is what makes hair conditioners feel special—conditioning. Our hair and skin are negatively charged, and since opposites attract, formulations that contain positively charged (cationic) ingredients are rather special. That attraction means cationic products cling to and stay on our skin and hair far longer than anionic or non-ionic products, resisting wash-off and wear. Learn more with this very helpful article from SpecialChem!
The wash-off resistant coating that cationic ingredients create on our skin and hair is very, very thin, but it’s also very noticeable! It’s hard to describe, but think about your hair before and after you apply conditioner in the shower. That slippy, rich, smooth feeling is thanks to the cationic ingredients in your hair conditioner. Don’t worry about this wash-off resistant coating functioning as some sort of semi-permanent varnish, though! Cationic ingredients wash out with shampooing, and in skincare products I find I notice them for perhaps a couple hours longer than I might notice an anionic or non-ionic formulation. They’re wear resistant compared to a not-cationic cosmetic, not compared to nail polish!
You can make a hair “conditioner” that uses a non-ionic emulsifier, but the feel is very different and the performance is nowhere near as fantastic.
As with skincare products, we want our haircare products to be mildly acidic. Basic formulations can cause the hair to swell (the characteristics of your hair really comes into play here), leading to the cuticle raising and leaving your hair feeling rough and being extra tangle-prone. If you’ve ever washed your hair with soap and skipped the acidic rinse, you’ve likely experienced this! The Science-y Hair Blog has a fabulous post all about hair and pH; I highly recommend reading through it. Be sure to read the comments as well—there’s some great discussion down there!
When it comes to actives, hair conditioners will be formulated with ingredients that are beneficial for the hair; ingredients like panthenol (Vitamin B5), hydrolyzed proteins, humectants, oils, fatty alcohols, and more. Different hair types thrive with different ingredients, so research your ingredients and get to know your hair!
Version 1
This ultra-simple, very lightweight version requires just three ingredients, with the BTMS-25 doing the heavy lifting! If you’d like a thicker, richer formulation simply increase the BTMS-25 and decrease the distilled water to make room for it. I wouldn’t go higher than 10% BTMS-25 as that gets quite hard to blend up.
The ingredients
BTMS-25
BTMS-25 is the clear star of this simple formulation; it is our emulsifier, conditioner, emollient, and thickener! It is made of 25% behentrimonium methosulfate and 75% cetearyl alcohol. Behentrimonium methosulfate is the cationic (positively charged / conditioning) part of the ingredient while cetearyl alcohol contributes thickening and emollience.
I find BTMS-25 is a royal pain in the behind to melt, so I have started to powder it in my DIY-only coffee grinder and that makes a huge difference! I highly recommend doing this. All three formulations are made with powdered BTMS-25; you can use pellet-y BTMS-25, but it’ll be slower to melt.
Distilled water
This is our diluent and solvent. Without water we’d be trying to rub solid pellets of BTMS-25 into our hair, and that wouldn’t work very well 😆 Water lowers the melting point of the BTMS-25 and softens it so it’s a usable thing. It also dilutes the BTMS-25; it’s effective at low concentrations, so even if we could use straight pellets in our hair, there’s no need to.
Liquid Germall™ Plus
Liquid Germall™ Plus (INCI: Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate) is our broad spectrum preservative; it keeps the hair conditioner from going mouldy and getting disgusting! You could use a different preservative, you’d just need to be sure it’s compatible with cationics and that you meet its needs (pH being a big one!). Learn more about that here.
The Formulation
Super Simple Hair Conditioner #1
Heated water phase
95.5g | 95.50% hot (nearly boiling) distilled waterHeated oil phase
4g | 4% powdered BTMS-25 (USA / Canada / UK)Cool down phase
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)You’ll need three heat-resistant containers for this formulation, though you’ll only need to wash one when you’re done!
Weigh the heated oil phase in one and melt it. I recommend doing this over direct heat or using the microwave. Be careful—there’s not much there and you could burn it in the microwave.
Fill one with water and get it nice and hot. I placed a beaker on my lab hot plate, but you could microwave it. We’re aiming for close to boiling.
Once the oil phase has melted and you’ve got some hot water, weigh out the required amount of hot water into the third beaker, and then pour it into the oil phase. Blend the mixture with your immersion blender for around thirty seconds before switching to hand stirring. This formulation will thicken up quite quickly.
Stir until the mixture has gained some viscosity. Once the mixture is barely warm to the touch, add the preservative. That’s it!
Package in some sort of squeeze or pump bottle—something you can store in the shower without contaminating it with a bunch of extra water. Use as you’d use any rinse-out cream conditioner. Enjoy!
Want to watch this project instead of reading it?
Version 2
This version incorporates some oil for extra richness and some fragrance (or essential oil). The amount of water is reduced to make room for these new ingredients. As with version one, if you’d like to make this more conditioning you can increase the percentage of the BTMS-25, reducing the water to make room for it.
The extra ingredients
Liquid oil
In version two (and three) we are harnessing BTMS-25’s emulsifying abilities and including 8% oil to boost the richness, viscosity, and emollience of the hair conditioner. This is not the limit of BTMS-25’s emulsifying abilities; you could include up to ~19% oil with 4% BTMS-25 if you wanted to. I’ve included more BTMS-25 than is required to create a stable emulsion for the conditioning goodness.
From a formulation success point of view you can choose any oil (or blend of oils) that you like. BTMS-25 is also good at emulsifying silicones, so you could include some dimethicone if you wanted to.
From a haircare point of view, you may wish to intentionally choose oils that soak into the hair (to soften it and add water-repellency), oils that coat it (for shine and gloss), or a blend. Learn more about that from the Science-y Hair Blog here.
Fragrance
Just a wee bit of something that smells nice so the conditioner (and your hair) smells nice. You could use an essential oil instead, just be sure whatever you use is allowed at 0.5% in rinse-off hair formulations.
The Formulation
Super Simple Hair Conditioner #2
Heated water phase
87g | 87% hot (nearly boiling) distilled waterHeated oil phase
4g | 4% powdered BTMS-25 (USA / Canada / UK)
8g | 8% oil of choiceCool down phase
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.5% fragrance or essential oil of choiceYou’ll need three heat-resistant containers for this formulation, though you’ll only need to wash one when you’re done!
Weigh the heated oil phase in one and melt it. I recommend doing this over direct heat or using the microwave. Be careful not to burn it in the microwave. The extra oil in this formulation makes the oil phase a bit slower to solidify as it cools, which is nice.
Fill one with water and get it nice and hot. I placed a beaker on my lab hot plate, but you could microwave it. We’re aiming for close to boiling.
Once the oil phase has melted and you’ve got some hot water, weigh out the required amount of hot water into the third beaker, and then pour it into the oil phase. Blend the mixture with your immersion blender for around thirty seconds before switching to hand stirring. This formulation (and formulation #3) will thicken much more slowly than formulation #1.
Stir until the mixture has gained some viscosity. Once the mixture is barely warm to the touch, add the cool down phase. That’s it!
Package in some sort of squeeze or pump bottle—something you can store in the shower without contaminating it with a bunch of extra water. Use as you’d use any rinse-out cream conditioner. Enjoy!
Version 3
This version of the formulation starts to introduce some good-for-hair ingredients to really boost the performance of the hair conditioner.
The extra ingredients
Panthenol (Vitamin B5)
Half a percent of vitamin B5 helps boost shine and moisturize the hair. Panthenol is one of the key ingredients in Pantene ProV; the V is 5 in Roman numerals!
To keep the making process the same I’ve put the powdered panthenol in the cool down phase even though it’s heat stable.
Hydrolyzed protein
Our last ingredient is 2% hydrolyzed protein of choice. There are quite a few to choose from, and they all have different benefits ranging from protecting the hair to volumizing to moisturizing! Learn more here:
- Hydrolyzed Oat Protein
- Hydrolyzed Baobab Protein
- Hydrolyzed Quinoa Protein
- Hydrolyzed Rice Protein
- Hydrolyzed Silk
If you don’t have a hydrolyzed protein you could use a humectant like Vegetable Glycerin or Propanediol 1,3 instead!
The Formulation
Super Simple Hair Conditioner #3
Heated water phase
84.5g | 84.5% hot (nearly boiling) distilled waterHeated oil phase
4g | 4% powdered BTMS-25 (USA / Canada / UK)
8g | 8% oil of choiceCool down phase
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.5% fragrance or essential oil of choice
0.5g | 0.5% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
2g | 2% hydrolyzed protein of choiceYou’ll need three heat-resistant containers for this formulation, though you’ll only need to wash one when you’re done!
Weigh the heated oil phase in one and melt it. I recommend doing this over direct heat or using the microwave. Be careful not to burn it in the microwave. The extra oil in this formulation makes the oil phase a bit slower to solidify as it cools, which is nice.
Fill one with water and get it nice and hot. I placed a beaker on my lab hot plate, but you could microwave it. We’re aiming for close to boiling.
Once the oil phase has melted and you’ve got some hot water, weigh out the required amount of hot water into the third beaker, and then pour it into the oil phase. Blend the mixture with your immersion blender for around thirty seconds before switching to hand stirring.
Stir until the mixture has gained some viscosity. Once the mixture is barely warm to the touch, add the cool down phase. That’s it!
Package in some sort of squeeze or pump bottle—something you can store in the shower without contaminating it with a bunch of extra water. Use as you’d use any rinse-out cream conditioner. Enjoy!
Other Questions
Can I use BTMS-50 instead of BTMS-25?
Yes, but you’ll want to make some adjustments. BTMS-50 contains twice as much behentrimonium methosulfate as BTMS-25 does, so I would use 2% BTMS-50 and 2% cetearyl alcohol instead of 4% BTMS-25.
Alternatively, you could make a 1:1 substitution for a more conditioning (and slightly thinner) formulation.
Are there natural alternatives for BTMS-25?
There are natural cationic emulsifiers, but every single one I’ve tried has been, at best, meh. I don’t hate Varisoft® EQ 65 (Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol). It will work, but nowhere near as well as BTMS-25 does. Do not waste your money on Emulsense HC.
What’s the difference between a rinse-out and a leave-in conditioner?
Often it’s just how rich the conditioner is (aka how much oil and conditioning goodness it contains), though this can vary a lot with different hair types. What makes a good rinse-out conditioner for my not-tolerant-of-oil hair might make a good leave-in conditioner for somebody else’s oil-loving hair.
Something else to consider when formulating for rinse-off vs. leave-in is maximum ingredient usage levels. Ingredients like fragrances and surfactants can have higher allowable usage levels if the product is designed to be rinsed off rather than left on, so if you’re planning on making a formulation that could be used for both purposes, make sure you’re sticking with the lower allowable usage rate where applicable.
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Gifting Disclosure
The BTMS-25 and hydrolyzed rice protein gifted by YellowBee.
Links to Amazon are affiliate links.
Great Marie, thank you 🙂
❤️
Thanks for this!! As a beginner (and pretty minimalist-ish), it’s so very helpful to have recipes like these spelling out which are the really essential components that’ll get the job done. If you’d only shared the third recipe, I probably wouldn’t have tried it, but I will definitely try version #1 or #2.
It would be amazing if you could eventually do something similar for a shampoo, too–but no pressure, of course. One thing at a time! Thank you so much.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this, Rachel! And thanks for the suggestion; I’ll keep it in mind 🙂
This was amazing, Marie! As one who has never “had the time” to learn the how and why of specific components (“ohhh, that’s what ‘cationic’ means”), I just learned so much in 5 minutes! Question…can BTMS 25 be used to make a liquid, sprayable emulsion? Constantly on a quest for the perfect leave-in…
Maybe I could do your Featherweight Leave-In and sub 2% BTMS for 1% BTMC and 1% cetearyl alcohol? I have a polyquat to add more conditioning if necessary
You could definitely try it, though it won’t be as conditioning—though some added polyquat should help with that 🙂 I am not sure that would be spray-able, but it would be light.
Hooray! Sprayable Q answered as a reply to your next comment.
As usual brilliant information and so helpful to have the additional links to other sites like SpecialChem etc to followup and learn more about ingredients like the types of emulsifiers in great detail. I have made a conditioner previously using 5% BTMS 25 and found it a little thick so interested to use 4% to see the difference. Also Marie do you think it could be made with a combination of BTMS-25 and BTMS-50 for a thinner blend? Thanks for showing how you use a grinder to reduce the pellets to grain-size and I intend to try this when I do my next batch. Many thanks for everything you do. Cheers Sandra
As usual brilliant information and so helpful to have the additional links to other sites like SpecialChem etc to followup and learn more about ingredients like the types of emulsifiers in great detail. I have made a conditioner previously using 5% BTMS 25 and found it a little thick so interested to use 4% to see the difference. Also Marie do you think it could be made with a combination of BTMS-25 and BTMS-50 for a thinner blend? Thanks for showing how you use a grinder to reduce the pellets to grain-size and I intend to try this when I do my next batch. Many thanks for everything you do. Cheers Sandra
I’m so glad you enjoyed this, Sandra! There’s really no need to blend BTMS-25 and 50; I’d simply use the required amount of BTMS-50 and then thicken (if required) with independent cetearyl alcohol or cetyl alcohol 🙂 Happy making!
Could you use oat amino acids instead of hydrolyzed oat protein? Is there a bug difference between the two?
Go ahead—as long as your amino acids have been hydrolyzed (and they likely have—they should be water soluble) that’s a-ok.
Marie, this is great. I wonder what your thoughts are about using a hair conditioner on a beard? Androgenic hair (beard hair) is certainly more coarse and stiff than scalp hair. Do you feel there should be differences in product formulation towards androgenic hair? I’ve been thinking of adding conditioner to my beard care routine.
I think it’s a great idea! I’ve made a couple conditioning beard balms that have gotten great reviews from testers and readers 🙂
This is awesom – thank you so much! I learnt a lot. I made these with btms50 and a combination of cetyl alcohol and stearic acid. I think these are fantastic reference formulations and exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’m loving the fact that I discovered simple formulations that still perform very well. Also, I’ve got great feedback from my whole family!
Hi Marie.
I made version 2 as soon as you released the blog and video. My hair has never felt so soft. No more trialling hundreds of shop bought products for me again.
Thank you so much for your formulating and expertise
I am so thrilled to hear it! ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie,
I tried version 3 and it turned out perfect. Used btms 50 and cetearyl alcohol as suggested. Super soft silky hair.
Thank you very much.
Marie, tried version #3 and I can’t stop touching my hair – so soft and manageable! Definitely the best conditioner I ever tried. Thanks so much!
I’m so thrilled to hear it! ❤️
Wow! Thank you for this!! I had never made “liquid” conditioner before, and figured this looked simple enough to try it. I made the 3rd recipe, and used the conditioner this morning. My hair is light and thin, and gets weighed down VERY easily, so conditioner, although necessary, can be too heavy for me. This was PERFECT! And my hair is so soft and silky feeling now!!
Also, I appreciate you sharing about *how*conditioner works. I had never understood (nor researched) how it could stay on your hair after you rinse. Learning that it’s about positive and negative charges was fascinating.
Thank you for sharing everything you share. I appreciate it!
(Next up is to finally try some of the makeup formulas from your book…which has been sitting around waiting for me to try them.)
Hi Marie! Many many thanks for these bundles of recepies in one topic- I much, much appreciate your practical explanations, comparisons and quick dives that expand with precision by peeking into the related links!
I had noticed with my earlier conditioner that it felt so soothing on the dry skin as well – thanks for explaining about the polarity in play there; that formula had BTMS 50
Today I made the version #3 using BTMS 25 and my favorite, Babassu, hydrolyzed silk peptides and Panthenol. I had just finished cooking flaxseed gel, and experimented your recepie by doing
a double patch where the second water phase was replaced by flaxseed gel….WOW this is AWESOME! My fine hair and dry skin feel so soft and soothed.
I’m so thrilled you’ve created something you loved and learned a bunch along the way ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
I’ve actually been on the hunt for a simple way to make an in-shower lotion but it’s been tough to find recipes for (though I have seen yours!). It suddenly dawned on me this evening, “Why can’t I just find a simple conditioner recipe to start? Conditioners and lotions are pretty similar right?” and lo and behold, one of the first comments you made here about conditioners is that they have a lot in common with lotions.
Maybe it’s nuts but I think I may just try this…
Update: I did go ahead and try this recipe for an in-shower lotion and so far, so good! It’s a little thin compared to the product I’m used to using, but the skin feel is fantastic! One question I have: how do I know if I’ve burnt the BTMS-25? I saw your note about being careful not to burn it but I wasn’t exactly sure what to look for. Just the usual presence of brown/black, smokiness, etc.? Does it gel up? Something else? Sorry if this is a silly question!
The encyclopedia says that the melting point of BTMS-25 is 140F. A few other resources online say this as well.
However, I used a sous vide water bath, and I was unable to get 4 grams melted until around 165F-170F. My sous vide device is accurate and I confirmed the temperature of the water bath with a separate thermometer.
Does this mean I purchased a inferior/diluted/different product? I went ahead and mixed it with hot water and anti bacterial and the result feels like hair conditioner.
I am a bit concerned about trying it out on my hair in the event that the vendor sent me something other than BTMS-25. What do you think?
Hi June! As I say in the post, BTMS is just a pain in the backside to melt. It’s almost certainly a perfectly fine product, it’s just very stubborn. You are not alone! I share my top tips for melting it in this post—give it a read if you haven’t already ❤️
Thank you, Marie! This was so fun to make. I made your #3 formulation with vegetable glycerin. It’s so nice! I have a lot of hair, so I think next time, I will quadruple the recipe.
I’m thrilled to hear it! ❤️
Hey Marie!
I have been making this conditioner and my customers love it, So thank you for the formula. As I run out of BTMS 25 im wondering if there would be any benefit to changing to BTMS 50? Is it better? I am not sure if it is better enough to justify having to buy another ingredient to mix (ceteryl Alcohol). Would you just suggest staying with 25 since it works as well as 50?
i’m also curious of which one i should use and what other thickening options there are. does xanthen gum work in conditoners and lotions?
hi marie, thank you for the recipes, i feel blessed to have all this wonderful information. i have a question about the conditioner, you mentioned in the video you can use it as a lotion as well, i am going to be making the version 2 of the conditioner. i also have watched many of your lotion videos and i notice a difference in ingredients. i am currently figuring out which ingredients to buy and want to make sure i get the right amount, i was hoping to kill 2 birds with one stone by buying the ingredients for version 2 of the conditioner and using that as a lotion. what would be the shelf life of it as a lotion? i will be making a lot, like 200 bottles. do you recommend any other things i should get to add for a lotion? maybe a humectant? also do you think i should get btms 25 or 50 to use for conditioner and lotion? i was thinking 50 and i can always thicken them if needed. please let me know. <3
hi marie, i have decided on using btms 50 and i will be using a different lotion recipe.
i still have a question though, what phase would i add the cetyl alcohol in the v2 conditioner? thanks