The Shampoo Bar Thread

**gabee** · March 13th, 2012, 04:12 PM

I think the biggest problem with damaged hair is that its more porous, and so soap scum builds up in all the little nooks and crannies, and an acidic rinse doesn't do much. I have found that adding a squirt of conditioner that contains disodium EDTA to my acidic rinse helps with the buildup a lot. EDTA is a chelating agent, as are citric acid and ascorbic acid.
Because of this I'm thinking of trying to make a rinse containing all of the above three, to experiment and see the results.
I ordered EDTA and L-ascorbic acid today, and I will be trying different recipes. I found a post about "Miracle Water" a few days ago, where you add about a quarter teaspoon of citric acid and a pinch of ascorbic acid to a quart of water, and use only this on your hair in the shower.
I was thinking of bringing this up a notch and also adding a pinch of EDTA to this, and hopefully this combination would help remove most metal ions in the water.
Of course this is irrelevant if your water is soft.
Ill post my results when I receive my order. Can't wait! I love experimenting

**sfgirl** · March 13th, 2012, 04:34 PM

Great advice gabee! I'm going to see if that is in my conditioner.

**gabee** · March 13th, 2012, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by sfgirl

Great advice gabee! I'm going to see if that is in my conditioner.

Out of the conditioners that I have its in Suave and V05.

**sfgirl** · March 14th, 2012, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by gabee

Out of the conditioners that I have its in Suave and V05.

I use v05, so that's probably why it's been working.

Seriously, before LHC I just brushed v05 off as one of those cheap things that are cheap because they don't work and probably dry your hair out (I have this problem with a lot of cheap soaps)
Boy was I wrong!

**Neya** · March 14th, 2012, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by sfgirl

I use v05, so that's probably why it's been working.

Seriously, before LHC I just brushed v05 off as one of those cheap things that are cheap because they don't work and probably dry your hair out (I have this problem with a lot of cheap soaps)
Boy was I wrong!

Me too, especially living around hair dressers/salon owners. Thanks to LHC I finally tried vo5, and now its my fave.

My vinegar rinse is a slurry - 30ml or so of vinegar, 12oz "fluid" which is water and various vo5 conditioners. Conditioner masks vinegar smell after rinsing. I add as I go, so I have no idea how many scents are in there.

**MinderMutsig** · March 14th, 2012, 09:58 AM

I gave up on trying to make the bars work. I loved the idea of shampoo bars but it just wasn't working for me. My hair was waxy and dry, fly-away and tangly and it snapped if I even though about brushing my hand through my hair. I tried everything. Different bars by different artisans, washing once, washing twice, highly diluted vinegar rinses, strong vinegar rinses, different kinds of vinegar, conditioner, well, let's say everything.

I did discover that my skin feels a lot better when washed with barsoap so I'm using up my shampoo bars by using them as body wash. I also discovered I love making soap so it's not all bad.

**zsepthenne** · March 15th, 2012, 02:24 AM

I gave up on the shampoo bars. I'm sad about it as I felt like I saw more growth going on. I had a problem with how stiff and waxy my hair would be when wet in the shower after using a bar. I had massive flyaways after a wash too. Didn't seem to matter if I lathered once or twice. Is this a hard water issue? I've tried a few different soaps. I have very fine hair. Any suggestions? Id like them to work.

**Guenever** · March 15th, 2012, 02:45 AM

Originally Posted by zsepthenne

I gave up on the shampoo bars. I'm sad about it as I felt like I saw more growth going on. I had a problem with how stiff and waxy my hair would be when wet in the shower after using a bar. I had massive flyaways after a wash too. Didn't seem to matter if I lathered once or twice. Is this a hard water issue? I've tried a few different soaps. I have very fine hair. Any suggestions? Id like them to work.

It's probably been mentioned hundreds of times here, but you've tried an ACV rinse after lathering, right?
I have pretty hard water, and my hair does tend to feel a little "waxy" in the shower... but ACV rinses is the miracle cure

super-soft hair when dry..

**zsepthenne** · March 15th, 2012, 03:14 AM

I did the ACV rinse but never found a ratio that worked for me. What's yours? I see you have fine hair also.
My poor hair was horribly tangled afterwards too. It be a little better if I used some conditioner. But I'd still have the flyaways. That could just be from not finding my sweet soap yet though heeher

**sfgirl** · March 15th, 2012, 04:20 AM

Originally Posted by zsepthenne

I did the ACV rinse but never found a ratio that worked for me. What's yours? I see you have fine hair also.
My poor hair was horribly tangled afterwards too. It be a little better if I used some conditioner. But I'd still have the flyaways. That could just be from not finding my sweet soap yet though heeher

I really don't use much of the bar on my length. I maybe run it down once or twice. But I really like them for my scalp, because CO makes my fine roots really limp.
Did you try CWC, than your rinse? I found that works well. Also, I like to lather up my scalp, and than remove the suds, and use the suds to wash my hair with.
I have really fine, damaged hair and I have noticed shampoo bars are improving it. My hair won't look or act like hair cleaned with sulphates and cones, but I can tell it's getting healthy.