Shampoo Bars Rock! (Episode 1)

Disclaimer: none of this is paid advertising. This is just me going fangirl (if I’d said fanwoman you wouldn’t have known what I was talking about, but it’s the better word, so everybody start using it!) on an obsession: shampoo bars!

Why am I gaga over a lump of glycerin?

1. Little to no packaging (depending who you buy from, but generally at the very least, plastic-free packaging).
2. Many eco-friendly options with ingredients that don’t harm the environment.
3. Less weight means smaller packages and a smaller carbon footprint for shipping, or, better yet, find them locally – your food coop may carry them and sometimes local soap-makers at farmer’s markets.
4. My hair gets cleaner. Seriously, with the right bar I get a better clean than I’ve ever gotten from bottled shampoo.
5. Washes last longer. I’ve found I can go longer between showers on bar shampoos.
6. They last a long time. Most of the bars I’ve used outlast a bottle significantly, sometimes up to two or three times as long.

Ready to try it out for yourself? Here are reviews of a sampling of products that I’ve tried. More to come (but it may be months while I wait for my latest bar to get used up!)

J. R. Liggett’s: This was the first bar I tried, picked up at the food co-op in Albany, NY for a nice wallet-friendly $6. At first I was frustrated, because it really didn’t kick up any lather at all, but once I got used to the sudlessness and figured out how to get down to my roots, it was like a religious conversion. Holy cow! So this was what clean hair felt like! My hair had never been so shiny and weightless. I’d never realized how much gunk got deposited on my locks by bottle shampoos. Moreover, the bar lasted for about 6 months. Then we moved, and I had to find a source in Laramie, WY.

Wild Beauty: Enter the local farmer’s market. After some disappointment that the local co-op in Laramie didn’t carry shampoo bars, I happened on a booth in the park one Saturday for Wild Beauty and Elemental Man. Turns out this local soap and lotion maker (scents to die for!) also made shampoo bars. The first bar I bought was a miracle, even better than the Liggett’s, with a lovely sudsy lather that made getting to my roots much easier, though it didn’t last quite as long (about 4 months). I think the first bar might have been unscented, because the next bar I bought left a little more residue in my hair. It stills works nicely, and you can’t beat the price, but I was missing that weightless clean feeling I’d gotten initially. I loved buying from her locally since I could pick up the bars without packaging, but when I ran out in the winter, she shipped them in plastic wrap.

Ethique: For such an expensive bar and with all its hype, this one was a bit of a disappointment. I decided to go unscented to try for the best clean. It certainly worked as shampoo, but I didn’t seem to be able to get as many days between showers before my hair felt grimy again. It may be a different one of their bar formulas would have worked better for my hair. I ought to have mentioned that I have really thick curly hair, so your results may vary. It also got used up faster than the previous bars I’d tried. That said, I admire their dedication to sustainability as a company. The Ethique bar shipped in a small recyclable paperboard box.

Dr. Bronner’s: I tried an All-One bar on an internet tip. It was locally available from our co-op for a really decent price, so I didn’t need to ship, which is a big pro. It is possible to use it as shampoo as well as soap, but it really dried out my hair. I also appreciated that it came in just a paper wrapper, though I was a little uncomfortable with the printed proselytization.

Earthling, Co.: My new favorite! I chose the Citrus Sun scent, which gives me a boost in the shower. It lathers nicely, and gives a good clean. I can get about 4 days between showers. It ships in a little more packaging than I’d like – a small cardboard box with paper filler – I’d like to see these bars in just a paper wrapper, but that’s a minor point. They are a little pricier, but right now the benefits feel worth it. Huge selling point? Their conditioner bars are also amazing. I got one in Wild Vanilla. It doesn’t fully smooth my frizzies, but bottled conditioners never did either, I use a curl cream for that – finding one with eco-friendly packaging will be my next beauty adventure!