Shampoo bars are conditioning shampoo in a solid bar form. In the video above, I share my experience – the ups and the downs – after almost 3 weeks of transitioning to a package free ‘natural’ shampoo bar. I didn’t hear about them until recently when I got more interested in living a more zero waste lifestyle.
You can either watch the video here or if you prefer you can keep on reading…
I have also created a list of brands below that sell shampoo bars if you want to find the right one for you! 😊
If you have tried a shampoo bar that you love and I didn’t mention – please leave a comment down below and I will add it to the list!
This post contains affiliate links. This simply means that if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission without any extra charge for you.
My Shampoo Bar experience
Today I wanna share with you my journey of transitioning to a more natural shampoo. It’s been quite challenging and I think a lot of you can relate to that.
So what I’ve been using is this shampoo bar from the Rocky Mountain Soap Company, and it’s a rosemary bar – it smells really light and beautiful! ☺️
I haven’t had the smoothest journey using my shampoo bar. If you are in the zero waste natural beauty world you’ve probably heard a lot of people saying things like “I used a soap bar and it’s so great!” and it feels (at least to me) like nobody talks about the… less great stuff!
Therefore when I washed my hair with this shampoo bar for the first time (around three weeks ago) I was NOT happy with the result. It felt like I had a gooey disgusting helmet on my hair.
I really wanted to talk to you about this and share my journey because I feel like a shampoo bar can sound like such an easy solution if you want to reduce your waste and use less toxic products.
I think we really need to start to talk about the challenges you might face when you transition to a shampoo bar or a more ‘natural’ shampoo in general.
In the video above I shared my shampoo bar update 2,5 weeks into using a shampoo bar. About 10 days in I was about to give up.
“My hair was so yucky and a lot of residue in my hair didn’t get out, and my hair felt disgusting even the same day as I washed my hair.”
I was searching the internet for solutions to this problem. One of the suggestions I found was to do an apple cider vinegar rinse and so I did that. After the ACV rinse my hair felt actually clean and really beautiful in a way that it hadn’t felt in a very, very long time. As I got all the yuckiness out of my hair I decided to give the shampoo bar another chance.
As a result, I was super happy and the hair was clean for several days, and when I washed my hair again last Sunday my hair did yet again not feel fully clean and at times. I think that the ACV rinse created a reset for my hair.
Then in the video above I went to wash my hair again and my review at the time was: “At least for now it’s the cleanest since I transitioned to a shampoo bar – with the exception of the time when I used the apple cider vinegar rinse. Yeah… the only thing is that it feels a bit waxy still at some parts especially here in the back. I am pretty sure it isn’t because I haven’t rinsed my hair well or anything like that”
I always rinse my hair really really thoroughly to make sure there are no shampoo residue left at all. I also made sure this time to really, really try to massage in and lather all over my skull.
“But maybe it could also be that I missed those spots and we will see or it could also be that my hair is still detoxing and getting used to this natural shampoo bar.”
I will keep on updating you on how my transition is going. My main issues with transitioning to using this shampoo bar have been that it seems fine, although not hundred-per cent the first day, and then
the second day it just feels so gross.
Want to watch my follow-up shampoo bar videos?
- 1 year + update Shampoo bar review Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve & Ella Ganza
- THE BEST… Zero Waste Shampoo bar & Conditioner? No sticky Residue!
Why I choose using a Shampoo bar over ‘No Poo’
10-11 years ago I tried the no-poo method it did not work for me at the time, and also because I do dye my hair and as I do not want to stop dyeing my hair I feel going with a shampoo bar is probably one of the best solutions for me.
Some of benefits with using a shampoo bar is that as I have mentioned earlier:
- They don’t come to any plastic bottles! Yay!
- They are quite long-lasting – but this definitely depends on how often you wash your hair, how much hair you have and how big your bar is. But I have read that approximately 4-5 bottles could go into one of these bars.
- Another benefit with more natural shampoos is that it’s often sulfate and paraben-free.
Sulfates are used in a lot of shampoos to create beautiful lather and foam and can be a great help to create that very clean feel that we’re so used to in ‘conventional’ shampoos. But one downside with using sulfate is that it strips our hair and our skull from our natural oils and when you transition to a more natural shampoo it’s going to take some time for you to adjust. This is because the hair is more used to getting the natural oils stripped off and therefore need to produce more oils. This could be one reason why my hair is currently not feeling the greatest or looking it’s best.
Another thing as well is that a lot of the traditional shampoos, or more conventional shampoos if you so prefer, is that they often leave a bit of residue, and that’s also why you might that you need to switch your ‘conventional’ shampoos out after using it for a while. And when you switch up your shampoo again you will get that clean feel again.
How to use a shampoo bar?
At first, it can feel a bit intimidating to use a shampoo bar as we so so used to using liquid shampoos. But using soap bars on your hair is nothing new. They were actually something people used to use prior to the 1940s when we got introduced to the ‘conventiona’l shampoos as we know them today.
How to use a shampoo bar:
Step 1: Lather well!
Step 2: Rub the shampoo bar on your hair like using a comb!
Step 3: Gently rub and massage scalp!
Finally: Rinse, rinse!
Factors that can affect how well you transition:
Hair type
Another important factor to talk about when it comes to why a shampoo bar works for one person and might not work for another person is, of course, your hair type.
Personally, I have very fine hair and have a lot of it. So it’s not like I have thin hair it’s just that it’s very fine. I thought I had dry to normal hair, which my shampoo bar is made for, but it might be that actually have a way oilier scalp than I thought I had? If so, that could be one of the factors why it doesn’t seem to work really hundred-per cent. But I am just speculating freely right now!
Hard/soft water
It could also be a lot of factors other as well including if the water is soft or hard where you live. For example, where I live currently we have very hard water. I have also mainly lived in places where the water is is really hard. I used to live in London, which is also known for having very hard water, and I was grown up in Southern Sweden which also has very hard water. I remember as well as a child going to my grandparents who lived in another part of Sweden and washing my hair there and my hair felt so soft and shiny!
Here are two articles on how hard water can affect your hair:
- https://jrliggett.com/hardwater-shampoo-solutions/
- https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/how-your-water-affects-your-hair/
Climate
And another factor to bear in mind is the climate. In the winter here in Alberta, it can easily be up to – 30 C. In such cold temperatures the air become really dry and you will need to wear a lot of hats (or toques as Canadians calls it! 😝) The environment here both inside and outside in the winter is so different from the summer when it can be really hot and warm here. It’s still quite dry here even in the summer. It’s definitely different from living in a more humid and tropical climate, of course. Another thing that can affect your hair is of course if you bathe a lot in the sea and/or in swimming pools with chlorine water.
My final thoughts
As you can see there are so many different factors that can affect the quality of your hair and also how you respond to different shampoos.
There could many different factors to take into consideration when selecting the shampoo bar that is best for you.
Maybe this shampoo bar is not the best for me, or maybe it is? Or maybe I just need to sacrifice my hair in the short-term for the long-term benefits? As I mentioned earlier I will keep on updating you on how my transition is going!
Want to watch my follow-up shampoo bar videos?
- 1 year + update Shampoo bar review Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve & Ella Ganza
- THE BEST… Zero Waste Shampoo bar & Conditioner? No sticky Residue!
List of brands that sell shampoo bars:
I haven’t used all of these brands below but throughout my research, I have heard people talking very warmly about these brands’ shampoo bars. If you have tried any of them out please leave a comment below and let us know your experience! 😊
All shampoo bar brands marked with a 🌟 are the ones I have personally tried and warmly recommend. I have decided to mark my Rocky Mountain Soap Co shampoo bar with a 🙅🏼♀️ to show that I have tried it but I do NOT recommend it since after filming the video above and writing this blog post I have tried many others that I like better.
Aquarian Bath (US)
Bar none (NZ)
Bestowed Essentials (US)
Biconi (MY)
Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve (US) 🌟
Ethique (NZ)
Hi Bar
J.R.LIGGET (US)
Lush CA / Lush US / Lush UK 🌟
Meow Meow Tweet (US)
Mountain Sky Soap (CA)
O’Canada Soapworks (CA)
Rocky Mountain Soap Co (CA) 🙅🏼♀️
UNCONDITIONALCO (US)
Unwrapped Life (CA) 🌟
Etsy.com – search for sellers locally to you by searching for shampoo bars and select your location/country in the search options!
Feel free to leave a comment below if you know of any other brands that sell shampoo bars. I am looking to create a comprehensive list to help you find the right one for you!
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