Shampoo bars have evolved from a niche alternative to traditional bottled shampoo into an exciting category for makers looking to expand their haircare lines. But creating a professional-quality solid shampoo bar requires more than simply turning a liquid cleanser into a solid product. From choosing the right surfactants and conditioning agents to balancing ingredients for different hair types, thoughtful formulation matters.
For this educator spotlight, we sat down with Kristina, certified haircare formulator, educator, and founder of Wild Ona. Kristina launched Wild Ona in Scotland in 2020 with her own collection of shampoo and conditioner bars before turning her attention to education in 2022.
We talked with Kristina about her journey from maker to educator, why more consumers are embracing solid shampoo bars, the ingredients behind successful formulations, and her advice for makers ready to add professional haircare products to their businesses.
Meet Kristina: Can You Tell Us About Wild Ona and Your Work as a Haircare Formulator?
I’m Kristina, a certified haircare formulator and founder of Wild Ona. I started Wild Ona in Scotland in 2020 with my own range of shampoo and conditioner bars, and in 2022 I also began teaching. Today I’m based in Southern Spain and focus fully on education, helping makers around the world create a range of professional shampoo and conditioner bars.
How Did You Get Started in Haircare and Shampoo Bar Formulation?
My journey into haircare formulation started very personally. I’ve always had sensitive skin and scalp, and by 2020 my scalp had flared up badly. I tried everything I could find, from pharmacy shampoos to natural soaps and Ayurvedic washes, but either my scalp didn’t tolerate them or I wasn’t happy with how my hair felt. I had been gifted a shampoo bar that I quite liked, but I still wanted to change things about it, so I decided to learn how to formulate one myself. It became an obsession to solve my own problem. I wanted to create a bar that my scalp was happy with and that also left my hair feeling beautiful. I was so pleased with the results that I started developing more formulas, and that’s when the idea of turning them into a product range began. By the end of 2020, I had developed my own range of shampoo and conditioner bars and launched Wild Ona as a product brand.
What inspired you to make the shift from being a maker/formulator to becoming an educator?
When I was making and selling my shampoo and conditioner bars, I started getting a lot of interest from other makers, especially soap makers who already had beautiful product lines and wanted to add shampoo bars. Some asked if I could make the bars for them as private label, but I didn’t want to become a manufacturer. Others wanted to stock my bars overseas, but international shipping and different cosmetic regulations made that much more complicated than I wanted to take on. At the same time, I couldn’t stop creating. I had already launched my range, but I kept developing new formulas and filling files with notes and recipes. I remember standing in my workshop one day thinking, “Why am I still creating all of these formulas? Are they just going to live on my computer?” That was the moment I connected the dots. I didn’t want to manufacture for other brands or deal with supplying my bars internationally, but I could teach other makers how to create their own. So in 2022 I sat down and created my first shampoo bar recipe ebook, which eventually grew into the course I teach today.
What do you love most about teaching other people how to formulate their own haircare products?
One of the things I love most is how international my community is. I now have students in over 50 countries, and although I thought my geography knowledge was pretty good, I’ve definitely had to look up a few places on the map! Although my recipes can be taken and launched as they are, I encourage students to make them their own. I love seeing how they customise the formulas, whether that means using ingredients that are local to their region, matching a shampoo bar range to an existing soap collection, or choosing ingredients that have a personal meaning for their brand. I’m often stunned by what they create, and that is absolutely my favourite part of teaching.
We’ve seen growing interest in solid shampoo bars as an alternative to traditional liquid shampoo. What do you think is driving that shift?
From what I saw with my own customers, and now with my students, I think there are two main reasons. One is that people are becoming much more thoughtful about what they put on their hair and scalp. They want gentler products, more natural ingredients and a better understanding of what they’re actually using. The second is sustainability. A traditional shampoo bottle contains a lot of water and usually comes in plastic packaging. A shampoo bar is concentrated and water-free, so it naturally reduces packaging and waste. I think that combination of better ingredients and less waste is what makes solid shampoo so appealing.
What are some of the benefits of formulating solid shampoo bars for the maker, the customer, or both?
From a maker’s perspective, I think shampoo bars are much more exciting than liquid shampoo. The process is incredibly creative. I love working with botanical powders, natural clays and different plant ingredients; it allows me to create something that performs well but also looks beautiful. For the customer, they’re long-lasting, travel-friendly and require much less packaging. They also help simplify the bathroom a little, replacing another plastic bottle with one compact product that lasts.
What are some of the key ingredients or ingredient categories that make a great shampoo bar possible, and what role does each play in the finished product?
A great shampoo bar is built around three groups of ingredients: cleansing ingredients, conditioning ingredients and supporting ingredients. The cleansing ingredients are surfactants, and the goal is always to balance effective cleansing with gentleness. My favourite combination is Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate with Cocamidopropyl Betaine, because together they create a balanced cleanse and a rich, creamy lather. Then come the conditioning ingredients. BTMS is one of my favourites because it helps soften the hair, improve detangling and give the finished bar a smoother feel. I usually pair it with cetyl alcohol, which is a fatty alcohol rather than a drying alcohol. Together, these ingredients also improve the structure of the bar, making it more mouldable and less prone to crumbling. The final group is where the formula really comes to life: oils, butters, botanical powders, panthenol, proteins and essential oils. These ingredients bring additional benefits to the hair and scalp, while also shaping the colour, scent and overall feel of the finished bar.
When developing a shampoo bar formula, what factors do you consider for different hair types or needs?
Broadly, I look at the balance between cleansing and conditioning first. For dry or curly hair types, or for a sensitive scalp, the formula needs to be lower in surfactants and richer in conditioning and emollient ingredients. For oilier hair, or a clarifying or volumising bar, that balance shifts toward stronger cleansing and a lighter emollient load. Then I look at the supporting ingredients. Different oils and butters have different fatty acid profiles, levels of richness and spreadability, so some are better suited to dry or coarse hair while others work better in lighter formulas for finer or oilier hair. Ingredients such as clays can also help with purification and volume. So the final formula is built by adjusting both the base structure of the bar and the ingredients layered into it.
What are some of the biggest challenges you and your business face?
One of the biggest challenges came when my family relocated from Scotland to Spain last year. I initially thought I could simply reopen the product side of Wild Ona here, but moving a cosmetics business internationally is much more complicated than that. Spain is in the EU and the UK no longer is, so I would have had to rebuild the product business almost from scratch, from regulatory approvals and logistics to rebuilding a customer base in a new market. In the end, I decided to close the physical product side and focus fully on education. It was a big change, because half of the business effectively disappeared overnight, but it also gave me the space to focus much more deeply on my students and the teaching side of Wild Ona.
Tell us about your Shampoo Bar Masterclass. What can students expect to learn, and who did you create the course for?
The Shampoo Bar Masterclass is designed to be very practical and easy to follow, even for complete beginners. One of my strengths is taking complicated information and breaking it down into clear, simple steps that are easy to understand and put into practice. Although anyone can join, I created it with soap makers in mind, especially those who already have a product range and want to add shampoo and conditioner bars as the next step. It’s a skills-based course rather than a theory-heavy one. Students get professionally developed formulas they can use as they are, plus the full process from small test batches through to larger-scale production. The goal is simple: to help someone go from wanting to launch a shampoo bar range to having one ready to launch within a few months.
For someone who's interested in formulating shampoo bars but feels intimidated by the process, what's the one piece of advice you'd give them?
If you can follow a recipe, you can make a shampoo bar. The ingredient names can look intimidating at first, and I still remember weighing out tiny amounts for my first batches with slightly shaky hands! But you get the hang of it very quickly. My advice would be to choose one formula and follow it carefully. If it doesn’t turn out exactly as expected the first time, make it again. Most likely, the second time you’ll get it just right.
What is your favorite part of the creative process? Least favorite?
My favourite part is the planning. When I decide to create a shampoo bar I haven’t made before, I love building the whole concept around it: choosing the ingredients, thinking about the benefits I want, the colour, the scent profile and how everything will work together. I can easily spend hours browsing ingredient websites and taking notes. Some people love shopping for clothes, for me, it’s ingredients. I keep an Excel sheet with all my formulas and notes, so that planning stage is probably the most exciting part for me. I’ve made thousands of bars by now, so the actual making process feels almost automatic. My least favourite part is definitely the cleaning up. Once the bar is made, I want to move on to the fun part, which is photographing it, not washing all the equipment!
Do you have any words of wisdom to offer any aspiring makers?
I often say, “Makers have to make.” If you feel drawn to making something, don’t overthink it. The first product I ever made was a simple lavender salve. It took me a long time to order the few ingredients I needed and the amber glass jars because I kept overthinking it. There’s always some fear and resistance around doing something new. I’m glad that one day I just went for it. I still remember infusing sweet almond oil with dried French lavender and breathing in the scent. I fell in love with the whole process there and then. That was really the beginning of my journey as a maker. So my advice is simple: just start. Don’t wait for perfection. You never know where making that first thing might lead you.
What are your must-have tools and products to have on hand?
One thing I really can’t live without is my shampoo bar mold. I’ve used the same style for years, and when we moved to Spain we came with just a few suitcases, so I had to leave mine behind. I recently managed to order the same one again and it’s on its way to Spain now, which I’m ridiculously excited about!
As an educator what do you feel is the best place to start when opening a business selling homemade products?
There are so many ways to start selling. You might begin with a simple website, sell at local markets, approach independent shops, or use a platform like Etsy. You can also take pre-orders, sell through social media, or start with local events and pop-ups. I think the best place to start is with the route that feels most natural to you and that you’re most likely to enjoy. Once that is working, you can expand from there. I’d also start with a small range. Even three products is enough. It’s much easier to put a small collection out into the world, get feedback and learn what people respond to, than spend months trying to build a huge range before you’ve sold anything.
Before we go, can you share with us how others can best check out more of you and your work?
The best place to connect with me is on Instagram at @wild_ona, and you can find my courses and resources at wild-ona.com.
Ready to Start Formulating?
Whether you’re experimenting with your first solid shampoo bar or looking to expand an established soap and body care business into haircare, having the right ingredients is an important place to start.
Explore Bulk Apothecary’s selection of haircare formulation ingredients, including surfactants, conditioning emulsifiers, carrier oils, butters, essential oils, botanical ingredients, and more to bring your next formulation to life.
Read More on our blog with recipes like; All-Natural, Homemade Shampoo Bar
All product photos were taken by Jutta Klee Photography. @yutakleephotography
