I am on a constant quest of that perfect 100% Organic Shampoo for my hair. Tried every type of liquid Shampoos and Shampoo bars. But are these shampoo bars effective?
I do make my shampoo - Recipe Here; but I like to keep one ready to use with me on days when I’m in a hurry. I have invested in many shampoo bars from Soulflower, Neemly Naturls etc. and guess what? NONE has suited me! I had such high hopes with soul flower because its undoubtedly my go to brand for essential oils; but all the shampoo bars have left my hair feeling ‘coated’, frizzy and dry. Even after I conditioned my hair the soapy coated feeling just did not go away. Have you also experienced this?
What are Shampoo Bars & what are they made of?
Shampoo bars are basically cleansers, only in a hard form. They are hard soap based shampoo that are generally made without SLS/SLES or any other harmful chemicals and are all natural. A combination of oils are used to make soap bars. Even though ‘Lye‘ is used to make solid bars which is termed as harmful for your skin/hair, the process in which these bars are made; kill the negative effects of Lye and leave a good natural product behind 🙂
So what makes Shampoo Bars ineffective?
Shampoo bars are ineffective when used in hard water, because of the reaction that takes place. So if you do live at a place where you have hard water available, this might not work for you. But even though I get normal water, it just doesn’t work and leaves my hair ‘coated’ with a soapy feel to it. The same also happened with Aroma Essentials hair cleanser! I disliked it SO much. (it’s still lying around in my stash, doing nothing!) When I asked the owner, she did mention they use castile soap! (Wish I had known this earlier). Anyway, the reason you get this coated soapy feel is because the soap, which is saponified oils and an alkali, reacts with water when you use it and this forms soap scum, which eventually leads to build up! It is also, said that, to avoid the soapy scum, one must rinse their hair with Apple Cider, I of course tried that but the results? NOPE! Doesn’t work :-/
Usually these solid shampoo’s are a hit for curly hair community since they kind of define curls. But my experience with these bars have been unpleasant; to an extent that I think I am done with them. Considering the pro’s of these bars like free from chemicals, all natural, easy to carry, defines curls, lathers well etc. I still would prefer liquid shampoo’s only because of the soapy feel I get in my hair.
Have you used shampoo bars till now? How was your experience?