❧ First shampoo bar experience! ❧

[PixxieStix]

Well, I finally gave into my curiosity and decided to try out a shampoo bar. Why do you ask, when oil shampoo has been working so well for me? Well, I couldn't help but notice that a few of the shampoo bars seemed to be almost entirely oil based, and that's pretty darn close to what I've been using anyway so I wanted to give it a go. The appeal of course is that there is no bottle to throw away/recycle, no preservatives (in the one I purchased anyway), and my hair care routine could get even more natural, which to me is a good thing as long as my hair likes it.

Doing some research, I found that you need to do an AVC rinse afterwards, which for me is no big deal since I do one after every wash anyway. I watched several youtube videos showing various methods of using them, and set out to find my first shampoo bar.

Now, I was looking for one that was SLS free. I live a 15 minute drive away from a Lush store, and as desperately as I want to try their products because they smell amazing, not a single one of their shampoo bars is SLS free, and I'm currently SLS, parabean, and silicone free and my hair is happy. Bummer. Where to go for handmade products then? Well, Etsy of course! I was looking for all organic too, but gave me a super short list, so I settled for partly organic. After a couple days of searching Etsy and a few other websites, I stumbled across Lavender Blue Herbals. Now, the store only had two options for shampoo bars, but the ingredients list fit the bill, and I rather like Rosemary, so I opted to purchase one of the Rosemary Shampoo bars. Something told me this was going to be the bar for me, so despite the hefty shipping cost and longer wait time because the shop only ships one day a week, I clicked the "purchase" button and waited.

My package arrived within the promised time frame, and on opening I discovered not only the shampoo bar I had ordered, but an extra little gift as well and an incredibly cute hand written thank you card expressing the owner's gratitude that despite the cost of shipping, I was willing to try Laurel's products. Let me tell you, I am certainly happy that I did!

I was so excited to try my shampoo bar that I went ahead and washed on day 3 instead of 4 because I couldn't wait any longer! I got my hair wet and the shampoo bar, and started to try and get enough on my hands for my hair, that was going nowhere fast, so I switched to rubbing it lightly on my hair, alas, because of its thickness I needed to section it several times to get it all over the scalp area, but once I was done I put the bar down and massaged through the scalp, and low and behold, it was lathering! I haven't had lather in my hair in... a long time. So that was kinda cool, but when I rinsed my hair out I have to say thank goodness I did my reading beforehand otherwise the waxy clump that my scalp hair felt like would have had me freaking out! But, I did not panic! I finished my shower, did my normal ACV rinse followed by my cold water rinse, which left me with an immediate improvement, allowed it to air dry and put my usual few drops of coconut oil on the ends once it was just damp.

I think I'm going to like this! My hair was so shiny and bouncy and I usually have a good amount of body on wash day, but boy this was a little more than I'm used to. My hair felt clean and soft and wonderful. I couldn't smell any rosemary in my hair and my fiance didn't say anything (he doesn't like the smell much), so I don't think it scents your hair well if at all. Good for people who don't like the scent, bad for those who do.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes on my next wash day, because I plan on doing either a deep EVOO treatment or coconut milk with mashed avocado, and I am curious to see how well the shampoo bar gets that out of my hair. Will be reporting back on that next week!

So, for anyone who wants to take a look, this store is located in B.C. Canada, and for someone who has never used a shampoo bar before, I'd feel comfortable recommending them. Links:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LavenderBlueHerbals

And a direct link to the shampoo bar I used:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87844910/rosemary-shampoo-bar-herbal-silk-shampoo

Obviously I don't know how this will work for me long term, but I hope it works as well as my oil shampoo because I'll just order these bars in bulk and be a super happy camper! Anyone else purchased from this store before?

[swearnsue]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I've been thinking about trying a bar also because I can get less chemicals and less packaging. I'll subscribe to this thread and see if you update how your hair is after a couple of weeks!

[Natalia]

im following as well. want to try poo bars but it just isnt in the cards for now.

[Littlewing13]

Thanks for posting :) Been thinking about trying them.

[julierockhead]

I have a free sample argan oil shampoo bar from Henna Sook I have been using on my face with nice results, think I will give it a go on my head...anyone have advice on how to do a vinegar rinse? I know it is supposed to be amazing but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. I have ACV.

[PixxieStix]

I dump 1/4 cup vinegar in 2 to 3 cups water, mix it up and pour some on my head with my head tilted back, and then flip upside down and pour the rest on. Leave for a minute or so, then rinse the ends with cold water. :)

[SeaLamb]

just tryed my first poo bar wash, but unlike PixxieStix i didn't do much research or anything :o. i had originally bought it for my DBF and then decided tonight to try it and figured, "how hard could it be? it's just like soap." well i was wrong lol. apparently you need to lather multiple times and do an ACV rinse after.

i got a little bit of a lather and tried to get it to all of my scalp, but i don't think i did (i never realized how hard it would be to spread something over my head that wasn't foamy and slippery like regular shampoo :shrug:). after i rinsed with water my hair did feel a bit waxy, but i just continued with conditioner.

after my shower my hair by my scalp had a kinda icky feeling. hopefully it'll be better by the time it all dries *crosses fingers*

i wish i would have researched before using the shampoo bar so i would have known to lather more than once and then do an ACV rinse after. i'm sure it'll go better next time though :)...hopefully.

[PixxieStix]

OH yeah, there was no significant spreading of the lather, which is why I ended up sectioning my hair and rubbing the bar all over as much scalp area as possible! Let me know how your scalp hair felt once dry, and if you use it again, if you do the ACV rinse, did it make a big difference for you?

[Wildcat Diva]

Hope you like the shampoo bar experience. I love my Chagrin Valley bars. They are the first ones I have tried. I first tried them about a month or two ago, after I learned that the baking soda no poo thing was not the best to use every wash. I like lathering twice, and using a catnip soak or ACV rinse after.

[Amber_Maiden]

good review! I'm looking into shampoo bars right now- not from the shop you tried- but still very good info!

[SeaLamb]

OH yeah, there was no significant spreading of the lather, which is why I ended up sectioning my hair and rubbing the bar all over as much scalp area as possible! Let me know how your scalp hair felt once dry, and if you use it again, if you do the ACV rinse, did it make a big difference for you?

i kinda sectioned my hair... i really just got the top, sides, and back of my head, but not everywhere in between. (my arms started hurting from having them up so long trying to spread it around lol.)

my scalp hair felt much better today; it wasn't oily or greasy feeling or looking at all and it was so soft! :D

i'll letcha know the difference with the ACV rinse next wash :).

[PixxieStix]

Sweet, I'll be very interested on how that goes for you SeaLamb!

Okay, so I've washed my hair twice since my original post, the 17th (I had washed a day or two before posting my review, wedding planning, you know how that goes (maybe)) and today, and the last time my ends were left feeling kinda dry which is not normal for me, so today I switched up my routine a little and instead of doing the diluted ACV rinse, leaving it in for a minute and then rinsing with cold water I decided to try and just do a cold water ACV rinse and leave it in, and added a little Shea butter to my coconut oil for my ends, and I have to say my hair turned out MUCH nicer!

Now, the reason for my more frequent washing is not because of the shampoo bar (that I know of), but because I've been doing daily scalp massages with rosemary oil diluted with jojoba oil, and even just using a little, eeek is my hair yucky! I'm trying to stimulate faster growth on the top of my head because I am SOOOOO sick of how long it is taking for my crown hair to fill in (for those that don't know, I'm a trichotillomaniac and had pulled out nearly all my crown hair on and off for 14 years and just started being able to grow my hair out a couple years ago). So, unfortunately, I can't give a good review on how my scalp is reacting to the shampoo bar and likely won't for a couple months, but just from how my scalp feels from today even after a workout and prior to my scalp massage (I'll be doing that in the next hour or so), I'd say it's the same as when I was using my oil shampoo, which is good because my scalp was happy enough that I could go 4-5 days between washes.

That's it for now, as promised, next week I'll review how well the shampoo bar was able to remove my deep oil treatment (I'll be doing an overnight olive oil treatment).

[SeaLamb]

what do you mean by cold ACV rince? do you have the cold water running on your hair as your pouring the ACV on? also, do you still dilute the ACV?

yikes about pulling out your hair; it's good that it's growing back now though :).

[PixxieStix]

Alright, yesterday morning after soaking my hair overnight I got up to wash it with my shampoo bar. I got the scalp area fully covered and lathered by sectioning again , but I only lathered once since I wanted a good idea of how well it would do with only one lather.

It was okay. My scalp hair is free of any residual oil treatment, but the length is another story. I did not lather the length as much as I did the scalp hair, which probably accounts for the discrepancy between the two areas. I did a cold water ACV rinse (ACV in cold water dumped over my head) and left to hair dry. Hair was completely presentable in an up-do, but not so much down, it looked greasy on the ends. Next time I know to use either a lot more lather first thing or to wash twice to get a deep treatment out. My hair still looks a bit greasy on the length today as well, so I'll just wear it up like I normally do and will wash again either Friday or Saturday to get the rest out.

For my ACV rinse, I was using 1/4 cup in 2 cups water (turns out the smell lingers if the ACV is that strong!), so I've switched it up to 3 capfuls (the cap on my ACV bottle) in 2.5 cups of water. I'm experimenting with using it in my cold water rinse instead of doing a warm diluted ACV and then a cold water rinse afterwards.

[Littlewing13]

I just got one on ebay (sample) yesterday. Lavender, peppermint, tea-tree from Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations. Tried it out this morning.

Much easier to lather in hands than on scalp for me. I lathered & rinsed twice. Hair felt waxy for some reason. Maybe next time I will only lather once. ACV rinse helped, about 1 dash (maybe 3ish capfuls) to 1L water. I used a squirt bottle. Rinsed. Kind of harder to detangle, tiny bit more shedding but still acceptable. Hair is still wet but feels soft. Scalp feels great! Roots feel clean but ends moisturised. Cant wait till it dries! Keep u posted.

[Littlewing13]

Yep, I'm getting waxies. 2nd wash was worse. Not sure if it is the bar thats too conditioning, or if its my water or need to use more vinegar in my rinse?

Why does there have to be so many variables?

How's yours going PixxieStix?

[PixxieStix]

Well, it took 3 washings to get all of the oil from my deep treatment out of my hair. I'm thinking my first wash was a fluke, because my hair is definitely not as happy as it was with the oil shampoo. I've been needing to wash with the shampoo bar ever 2 to 3 days because if I go longer, the ends of my hair start looking all stringy and greasy, which is really weird since I have been using even less coconut oil on the ends after showering than usual since it's so humid here now. My shampoo bar might end up as an every 3-4 washes kind of a thing once my hair reaches saturation level with the oil shampoo. The only other thing I can think of to try is distilled water in my ACV rinses, but that just seems like a royal pain to have to go buy that on a regular basis. I want easy!

[ratgirldjh]

Just and FYI:

my hair always feels weird after washing with a poo bar even after the ACV rinse until it dries. So don't decide if you like it or not til after it dries!

I've made the mistake in the past of thinking a bar sucked only to have my hair once completely dry be transformed!!! :D

[PixxieStix]

I've been using the bar for a month or so, and even after drying, my hair really just isn't all that happy. I'm quite happy to hear they work so well for you though. :)

[patienceneeded]

I like my shampoo bars but can't use them for more than 2 or 3 washes in a row. After that, I need to use a regular (no sls) shampoo once or twice. I always follow a poo bar with an ACV rinse, then condition after the ACV. I get bored easily, so mixing up the shower routine works for me.

[partlycloudy]

It's really interesting to read everyone's experiences.

I've just bought my very first poo bar, from sweetsnthings on Etsy. Hope it works for me! I wanted to use HennaSooq's bars but international shipping is just too expensive (about the same price as the order.) Still, fingers crossed!

[dollyfish]

I also just tried a shampoo bar, and my experience was very similar. Though I found that in fact, lathering up suds in my hands and then massaging the foam into my scalp (with head flipped upside down) was much better than trying to rub the bar on my hair. Greater control of application too.

[SeaLamb]

so, i washed my hair again with the poo bar a few days ago and it went well; much better than the first time.

the lather was much better (i guess because the bar wasn't brand new anymore :shrug:). it seemed that wetting the poo bar a little before rubbing it on my scalp worked best to get a good lather. also, my scalp hair didn't feel waxy at all when i rinsed. it just very clean :).

i continued with my conditioner and then after, i ACV rinsed with 6 tsp. in 2 cups of cold water (i didn't realize that the water would still be so cold after sitting for so long while i showered and let me just say it was such a surprise; i was freeezzinnggg after that lol). i let the ACV sit for about 30 seconds or so and then rinsed with coldish water.

when my hair was dried it looked and felt a little better than the first time, but not by too much. the length of my hair was still oily because i had been oiling my hair everyday for about two weeks, but the wash got a good amount of it out. lastly, my hair didn't reek of ACV. according to DBF, it was barely noticeable. :D

[KylieAnne]

I love solid shampoo, I like lush but like mentioned it has SLS.

I have extremely hard water however and most shampoo bars only work with soft water, does anyone know of any that work with hard water too?

btw if anyone has soft water I HIGHLY recommend Apple Valley Natural Soap, she has so many amazing shampoos as well as soaps and other good things. http://www.applevalleynaturalsoap.com/
she also has an etsy store.