How to Make Shampoo and Soap Slime
Learn how to formulate sensory slime using household shampoo, liquid soap, and salt chilled to a thick pliable consistency without glue or borax.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Small mixing bowl
- ✓ Stirring spoon or craft stick
- ✓ Measuring spoons
- ✓ Airtight storage container
- ✓ Kitchen freezer
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Thick gel shampoo (2 tbsp)
- ✓ Thick liquid hand soap or body wash (1 tbsp)
- ✓ Fine table salt (1 pinch)
- ✓ Food coloring (optional, 1 drop)
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Keep shampoo and soap away from eyes; flush immediately with clean water if contact occurs.
- • Do not ingest ingredients or finished slime product.
- • Wash hands thoroughly after handling the soap mixture.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Measure and Pour Shampoo Base
Pour 2 tablespoons of thick, opaque or pearlized shampoo into the center of your mixing bowl. Ensure you use a high-viscosity formula rather than a watery shampoo. Scrape the measuring spoon clean so the entire volume transfers into the bowl.
- • A dense, round puddle of shampoo resting in the bottom of the bowl without spreading thin.
- • Using a thin or clarifying watery shampoo that lacks sufficient surfactant thickness.
Add Soap and Colorant
Add 1 tablespoon of thick liquid hand soap or body wash directly on top of the shampoo. Add one drop of food coloring if desired. Keep the ratio roughly 2 parts shampoo to 1 part soap.
- • Two distinct layers of viscous soap visible in the bowl with a single concentrated drop of color.
- • Adding too much food dye, which adds excess moisture and thins the mixture.
Blend Surfactants Together
Stir the shampoo and soap in gentle circular motions using a craft stick or spoon for 60 seconds. Blend until the color is completely uniform and tiny air bubbles make the gel look frothy and cohesive. Avoid whipping too vigorously to prevent turning it entirely into foam.
- • A single, uniform colored gel with even micro-bubbles throughout.
- • Whipping too fast, creating airy lather instead of maintaining a dense gel.
Incorporate Micro-Pinch of Salt
Take a tiny pinch of fine table salt between your thumb and forefinger (literally 5-10 grains) and sprinkle it across the surface. Immediately stir the mixture for 30 seconds. Watch for the mixture to suddenly pull away from the bowl edges and clump around the stick.
- • The gel pulls cleanly off the sides of the bowl as you stir, forming a loose, jelly-like mass.
- • Adding too much salt, which breaks the surfactant bonds and turns the gel completely liquid.
Chill to Set Structure
Place the mixing bowl uncovered onto a flat shelf in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Set a timer so you do not freeze the mixture solid. Chilling causes the soap polymers to lock into a firm, moldable consistency.
- • Top surface looks glossy and firm with no active liquid movement when the bowl is gently tilted.
- • Leaving the mixture in the freezer longer than 20 minutes until it freezes into ice crystals.
Test Consistency and Store
Remove the bowl from the freezer and touch the surface with a dry finger; it should feel cold and bounce back without sticking to your skin. Scoop it up and play with it on a clean, non-porous surface. When finished, transfer the slime into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator between play sessions.
- • Finger lifts cleanly off the slime dome with little to no wet residue clinging to the skin.
- • Playing on carpet or fabric, which causes soap slime to melt into the fibers.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by It’Sarah 💜 — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Liquid hand soap? Liquid dishwashing soap (thick formula)
- No Craft stick? Metal butter knife or plastic spoon