The Shampoo Bar Thread

[bgarrison]

i've been using the coco-free from plh for a few days. since i'd been co for a while, and had clarified before that, i didn't bother for right now. maybe later. i've been rinsing w/ acv and finishing with a tiny bit of coconut oil when wet. so far, so good. my hair feels a little waxy while drying, but very full and fluffy after drying. the second day it's much smoother and softer, almost too much, but still nice. my scalp seems less itchy so far, too.

[EmpressRi]

I'm still waiting for my t-shirt for going through this entire thread lol. I did see that some ladies use citric acid for a rinse, and lo and behold I actually have a huge baggie of the stuff in my supply closet. So err, how do you use this? And does it sting if it gets near your eyes? The word "acid" sort of daunted me when the citric acid was given to me so I haven't used it. Then again...I didn't really know what to do with it!

Oh, and I wanted to share that I alternate between black soap and the CV bars on my body and face, BUT I tried the bar of black soap on my hair last weekend and wow!!! My hair is soooo silky. I even oiled my hair a bit last night and the slip and silky feeling intensified. Conventional shampoos just do not do it for me.

I received my second bar of Anita Grant's ylang and kelp shampoo bar, and that goes in the stash. That soap is GREAT also but I hardly use it because it's expensive and it only comes from the UK.

[Calista]

Lawyermom, I hadn´t realised you didn´t shampoo your length. Yes, you need to really lather up a lot and massage your entire hair. It feels scary when all one is used to are commercial shampoos, doesn´t it?

I think very few bar users get away without lathering up the length.

[Melian]

Thanks Calista for your answers.
And about lathering the length I find that the most difficult....

[Darya]

Melian, I hate lathering the length too but if I don't I end up with sticky weird hair. What I've been doing with some success is lathering my scalp well (sometimes twice) and then sectioning my hair and working the lather on down my length one section at a time, supplementing as needed from the bar as I work my way down. I usually need to repeat the process, sometimes twice, but I only wash every 5-6 days. I've also been using a stronger acidic rinse on my length that seems to be really helping without the scalp irritation I get if I use the same rinse for scalp and length.
Hope that helps and is somewhat coherent...

[lawyermom]

That was exactly what I did wrong the first time, Calista, definitely. When I lathered down the "length" (hard to call it "length" when it isn't past my ears yet ) it made a huge difference.

I used Giovanni 50/50 today and my hair doesn't feel half as nice. (It's still a HUGE improvement over what I used to use but it definitely isn't as nice as the shampoo bars.)

I have a question though - right now I pretty much need to wash every day. I am patiently awaiting when my hair gets long enough that I can put it up and I envision easily being able to stretch out the shampooing then. But right now, when it's so short, if I don't shampoo it really doesn't look very nice.

So my question - can I use a shampoo bar every day or is it better to rotate the bar with a (non-sulfate) liquid shampoo? And if I can use it every day, can I/should I use an ACV rinse or is that not really necessary?

(Someone did ask the same question about ACV rinses here but I don't see an answer yet)

[Angellen]

I'm the opposite of Darya, it seems. I lather my scalp, work it down my length (not lathering the length specifically), and then later my scalp again only and rinse. I've been using shampoo bars for about 8 months and lathering primarily scalp-only for a little over a month, now. I find that when I lather the length, my hair feels overly dry and even crunchy, but when I do a scalp only, it's much lusher and more manageable. Also, my scalp needs more washing than my length, so...

I don't use conditioner, just a good deal of coconut oil on dry hair. I've just put about 6 or 7 drops on, and my hair feels AMAZING.

[Calanthe]

It took my two days to read through this thread . Loads of new information about shampoo bars for me.

OK, I started washing hair with soap a while back. We live in a soft water area so switching from organic shampoo to soap wasn't a huge problem.

Thanks for the tip of using a few drops of oil with the vinegar rinse (somewhere in the beginning of this thread). Will try this next wash day. I hate the vinegar smell so I always finish off with a good splash of cold water to get rid of the smell.

I only lather my scalp, never the entire length. So far, this seems to work fine. My hair seems a tiny bit thicker and is much softer and with less frizz.

And there's more space in the bathroom, too, after getting rid of bottles and bottles of stuff.

[Cricket98]

Angellen - Some time ago, I bought coconut oil for my hair, but it's a solid consistency, in a jar, you have to melt it in your hands. I keep reading here about using x-number of drops - is there a form of coconut oil available that's liquid at room temp? If so, where or where do you get it?

Still loving CV bars, no itchies this 2nd night & feel fresh enuf to wait at least another day to shampoo - amazing!

[Angellen]

Angellen - Some time ago, I bought coconut oil for my hair, but it's a solid consistency, in a jar, you have to melt it in your hands. I keep reading here about using x-number of drops - is there a form of coconut oil available that's liquid at room temp? If so, where or where do you get it?

Still loving CV bars, no itchies this 2nd night & feel fresh enuf to wait at least another day to shampoo - amazing!

Well, I live in a very temperate area (9:30pm, and it's still 80 degrees) so unless I keep it refrigerated all the time, my coconut oil is frequently liquid. I use Spectrum Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil (443ml). I got it at our local organic grocery. HTH!

ETA: When I first got the coconut oil it wasn't really liquid. I found that the easiest way (for me) to do this was to touch the solid oil with a clean, dry finger. It melts very quickly and leaves a nice 'puddle' in which one can get liquid coconut oil.