The Shampoo Bar Thread

**Suldrun** · October 4th, 2008, 02:35 PM

desdamona and calista, thank you for the for the information.

I cheched out the site and it looks like i have soft water. This may explain why when I used to use the BS and Vinegar rinse my hair was very greasy untill I cut way way back on the vinegar?

Update. My hair is still lightly damp. I decided not to re rinse it untill I felt it dry. It feels very soft and detangled very easily first with fingers and then with a comb. I had no shedding or breakage which I usually do with damp detangling so maybe all the extra shedding in the shower was not really extra at all it was just my normal amount but all at once.

It is still damp so i cannot tell if it looks greasy or not. I am going to put it up and run some errands and it shold be dry by the time i get back.

Thanks everyone for your help

**Desdemona** · October 4th, 2008, 03:02 PM

I hope you have soft water, that would be great! But just to be sure you should call your water company or get the test kit. For instance, my area shows as "Moderately Hard" on the map but a test showed it was "Hard."

With shampoo bars, I tend to shed more in the shower than I did with detergents but my shedding the rest of the time is practically nil so overall I shed a lot less.

I don't think your water hardness or softness had much to do with your baking soda/vinegar results. It is likely the vinegar rinse was too strong. I have found that when I use anything too acidic on my scalp that my hair gets greasy very quickly. I think it's pretty much the same thing as the scalp crud we were talking about a few pages back (which is really just hardened sebum), it's my scalp trying to protect itself from damage.

**avraea** · October 4th, 2008, 06:01 PM

I've been trying to hold out against all this raving over dairy whip because I love cv bars and really can't afford to get into yet another new product. I've tried all but a small handful of Ida's bars and I'm quite attached to them.

Except after hearing all these wonderful things about dairy whip for a while now, I'm really tempted to try, but my problem is that I have insanely dry hair. In fact, I rarely use any of the cv shampoo bars but use the most moisturizing soap bars all the time. I've never had a problem with buildup and I've been using cv bars for a long time.

So I'm just wondering if anyone has hair similar to mine who's had success with dairy whip? It sounds so lovely that I'm really tempted to try it out.

Another thing is, I'm thinking of using conditioner again. I stopped using conditioner a year ago, but for several months now my ends seem to be dryer than I'd like, and since the weather's starting to get cooler here, I'm worried about even dryer ends for the winter. I slather my hair in oil, in shea butter, all sorts of home-made hair butter recipes, but they don't seem to enough. I think I might go out and get some Aubrey Organics conditioner to try out since I've always heard good things about them.

**Suldrun** · October 4th, 2008, 06:52 PM

OK I just took my hair down and it's completly dry. I fingercombed it and then combed it. Still no breakage or shedding. It feels soft and had no tangles. It looks clean and shiney with no greasinessat all.

I guess I should call the water company.

**Dolly** · October 4th, 2008, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by Calista

Suldrun, I think I shed more when I started using shampoo bars. Now my shedding is back to normal - in fact, I don´t shed much anymore at all.

Also, I know you said your hair was on the dry side, but most people have to start with the more "cleansing" bars such as Chamomile Citrus. Babassu Marshmallow is a very moisturizing bar, and if your hair can´t take it yet, it may well be that you have to give it a second try some weeks from now. It really is a great bar.

I also had the same experience with the shedding.....I was shedding a lot at first, but after about a week, the shedding is less.....even less than BEFORE I started using the bars, in fact.

I started out with one of the more cleansing bars, too....the Sumer Sunshine bar, and then "graduated" to the Olive Babassu.....worked like a charm....no yucky hair.....I had been CO washing for about a year prior.

**healingsolitude** · October 4th, 2008, 07:51 PM

Suldrun - I've been using the shampoo bars for a few months and have noticed an increase in shedding when I wash my hair and a slight decrease in my comb. However, my hair has gained in volume since I started using the bars. Odd, huh? I figured it was a little alarming until I noticed that my pony tail width had actually almost made me completely cross over into the ii category instead of my usual i. My shedding is starting to significantly decrease now. I'm not sure if it has something to do with the bar I'm using now or if that heavier shedding stage is simply over. My thought is that maybe the increased shedding was due to getting rid of the damaged hair in order to make room for the healthier hair.

Healingsolutude( I love that name by the way

) Thanks for the advice onthe bars. My skin and hair both like honey so if the bars work for me I will try what you suggest. I am a horrible experimenter , even if something is working fine i have to try new stuff

Thank you! I just took two words the shamans use to describe the bear and put them together.

You're very welcome, btw! I think you are going to find that you will be doing plenty of experimenting with these bars. I didn't consider myself big on experimenting until I made the switch to the bars and other natural stuff. Now I'm wondering where my self-control slipped off to.

My hair still smells lightly of the soap mhhh i like it but does that mean I did not rinse enough?

Don't worry about the scent staying behing on your hair. Nettle and Cafe Moreno both leave a scent on my hair and I've never had a residue problem with either of those. Chamomile & Citrus is the only one I've tried that hasn't left a scent. I've heard reviews on the Chagrin website stating that the Babassu & Marshmallow does leave a scent behind. I think the only one you bought that doesn't leave a scent is the Olive Babassu. The Honey bars have also been said to not leave a scent if you get either of those in the future.

I'm not sure how cleansing Summer Sunshine is since I didn't react too well to that one. Lathering only once works just fine for me when it comes to the cleansing Chamomile & Citrus bar. However, lathering just once with the cleansing Nettle bar has not worked quite as well since that one doesn't lather up as well as the C&C. It takes a second lather before I feel satisfied that the suds reached my scalp. Just goes to show that none of the bars are alike and you can react differently to each one in the same cleansing category. You really just have to experiment a lot with these bars in order to find out what works best for you.

I cheched out the site and it looks like i have soft water. This may explain why when I used to use the BS and Vinegar rinse my hair was very greasy untill I cut way way back on the vinegar?

My area straddles the line between soft and moderately hard water. I don't use any vinegar rinses with the bars I use now, except for when I do a baking soda clarifying rinse every few weeks. That is only because I worry about how drying the baking soda is, while ACV is moisturizing on my hair in case I overdid it with the baking soda. Quite honestly, I've noticed that my hair is softer when I don't use the ACV with my bars. The shine of my hair is the same with or without. ACV mainly just seems to help with tangles, though I don't have hair that is tangly enough to make me use the ACV just for that. I don't think it really has anything to do with the lack of an acidic rinse since my fine hair has always been a mess of tangles after I shampoo it. My tangles now are not nearly as bad as they were when I used detergent shampoo.

OK I just took my hair down and it's completly dry. I fingercombed it and then combed it. Still no breakage or shedding. It feels soft and had no tangles. It looks clean and shiney with no greasinessat all.

Congrats on what sounds like beautiful results! You are pleased with the results?

Neoma - My hair is also baby fine. Unfortunately, I'm at the same stage as you with the dairy whip. I'm going to figure out which EO's I want in my blends and then I'm going to order. We'll probably end up trying them at around the same time. Hopefully they'll work for our hair!

avraea - I'm sorry I can't answer your question about the dairy whip. I'm also one of those who was pulled in by the good reviews. Hopefully I'll be able to try it out next week. Maybe try posting your question at the dairy whip thread if no one here knows how moisturizing it is? I saw where chloeishere was over on that thread. She has very good results with the dairy whip from what I've read. I'm fairly sure I read somewhere where she has dry scalp and/or hair, though I could be wrong. Otherwise, the only advice I could offer you would be to look into essential oils for which ones help dry hair and ask for one to three of those to be added to a custom blend. I'm going to do the same for my oily/dandruffy scalp as soon as I make up my mind about which EO combos I want. Here is the help article by SusieQ that tells you which EO's are best for your scalp, hair and skin: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...e&articleid=25

Good luck!

**Neoma** · October 4th, 2008, 07:55 PM

Neoma - My hair is also baby fine. Unfortunately, I'm at the same stage as you with the dairy whip. I'm going to figure out which EO's I want in my blends and then I'm going to order. We'll probably end up trying them at around the same time. Hopefully they'll work for our hair!

Keep us posted, please, healingsolitude.

Of course, you know that if I get them (OK, probably when, since I'm such a product junkie), I'll let everyone know what I think.

**healingsolitude** · October 4th, 2008, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Neoma

Keep us posted, please, healingsolitude.

Of course, you know that if I get them (OK, probably when, since I'm such a product junkie), I'll let everyone know what I think.

I'll be sure to post when I get them and try them. I've been having success with three of the CV bars so far, but I would like to compare the bars with the dairy whip results. Figured it can't hurt to look for something that could be better or at least provide a backup in case I go through a stage where the bars don't work as well as they used to.

I can't wait to hear your results!

**Suldrun** · October 4th, 2008, 08:50 PM

healingsolitude, I am glad to hear about your hair thickness.

Yes, I am pleased with the results so far. I was really surprised at how easy mine detangled, of course I did detangle it very well with oil before I washed.