How to use shampoo bars correctly so that they work for your hair | Zero waste tutorial

For almost three years, I washed my hair with nothing but Marseille soap bars. Whenever I told people, they’d usually reply that it would never work for their hair. Some said they’d tried zero waste shampoo bars or solid shampoo but had given up because it was drying out their hair.

Anyone who’s known me for more than two years will know that my mane used to be a tangled mess of frizzy, flyaway hair. I’d been reliant on conditioner since the age of 13, without which my high-porosity hair became virtually impossible to comb. Whenever I got caught in the rain, the moisture would remove the conditioner and my mane would become a matted horror.

I washed my hair with a shampoo bar for the first time in the summer of 2018. After that first wash, I discovered that I could comb my hair without conditioner for the first time since childhood. So, obviously, it worked for me. I’m hoping that with the right information, it will work for more people, too.

(Update: I recently started making my own solid shampoo, the recipe for which I’ll share when I have the time.)

To use shampoo bars successfully, you have to:

• Know what kind of shampoo bar you are using
• If the shampoo bar leaves residue on your roots, do an apple cider vinegar rinse after every use

How to choose the right shampoo bar for your hair

The vast majority of the solid shampoo or shampoo bars you will find fall into one of two categories:

1) Solid shampoo with surfectant – Like liquid shampoo, this type of dry bar shampoo contains surfectants like sodium coco sulphate, sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, sodium cocoyl isethionate and the infamous sodium laureth sulphate. Surfectants are basically cleaning agents. The famous Lush shampoo bars fall under this category.

Sulphates have a garnered bad reputation due to the fact that they can be quite harsh and drying on hair. Many shampoo bars, artisanal or otherwise, now use gentle, sulphate-free surfectants like sodium cocoyl isethionate, which I recommend if your hair dries out or tangles easily.

Sample ingredients of an actual Lush shampoo bar: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Agar Agar (Gelidium Cartilagineum), Water (Aqua), Argan Oil (Argania spinosa), Glycerine, Fragrance, Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena), Geranium Oil (Pelargonium graveolens), Rose Oil (Rosa damascena), Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Limonene, Coumarin, Citronellol, Geraniol, Red 33.

2) Hair soap – The second type of shampoo bar you’ll find is actually soap. That is, it is created through the saponification of fat or oil. Any shampoo bar that is marketed as being “cold process” is actually soap.

Sample hair soap ingredient list: Sodium Cocoate (Coconut Oil), Sodium Olivate (Olive Oil), Sodium Castorate (Castor Oil), Sodium Palmate (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil), Aqua, Glycerine, Sodium Rapeseedate (Rapeseed Oil), Sodium Arganate (Argan Oil), Sodium Almondate (Almond Oil), Oatmilk.

Which type of solid shampoo should you choose?

I have used both solid shampoos (with sodium cocoyl isethionate as a surfectant), hair soap and even regular old Marseille soap. My hair dries out very easily and cannot tolerate sulphates, whether in solid or liquid form.

One of the key differences between the two is that solid shampoos, especially artisanal ones with a short ingredient list, are less likely to leave residue on your hair than hair soaps. Cold-pressed hair soaps, in particular, tend to be more difficult to wash off, particularly if you’ve got hard water in your area. If you’re struggling with residue from cold-pressed hair soaps, I’ve found that an apple vider vinegar rinse after each wash works wonders.

The second difference is that hair soaps are alkaline, while solid shampoo surfectants like sodium cocoyl isethionate tend to be slightly acidic. Our skin’s natural pH is about 5.5. Washing with an alkaline cleaning agent can cause your scalp and hair to dry out. The solution is, once again, the good old apple cider vinegar rinse, which brings down the pH and also seals your hair cuticle to make it nice and soft.

Personally, I have used both, but now mainly wash my hair with homemade solid shampoo made with a surfectant of sodium cocoyl isethionate. The surfectant is extremely gentle and does not leave any residue on my roots, plus my hair is now a lot shorter than it used to be, so I no longer have to use a vinegar hair rinse.

How are shampoo bars good for the environment?

Liquid shampoo is typically packaged in plastic bottles that add to the already overwhelming volume of plastic waste on earth, or that get incinerated at the cost of air quality. Shampoo bars, on the other hand, can be bought with little or minimal packaging.

They also last a long longer than liquid shampoo. The first shampoo bar I bought was 120g, cost 8 euros and lasted 4 months. I used to spend a lot more on shampoo before.

If you opt for natural shampoo bars, you’re also avoiding the release of toxic chemicals into sewers and waterways.

How to choose a shampoo bar

If you are new to shampoo bars, I would recommend looking for those made by local artisans and soapmakers. These can usually be found at farmers’ and crafts markets, at your local zero waste store or on Etsy. The first shampoo bar I bought was from a small European online store that made all their own soaps by hand.

If you’ve run out of solid shampoo and want to live life on the wild side, you can try other types of natural soap bars not necessarily marketed as solid shampoo—for example, Marseille soap (olive oil soap) or Aleppo soap (laurel oil soap).

How to use hair soaps without drying out your hair

The key to having hair soaps work for your hair is to always do an apple cider vinegar rinse after every wash.

Otherwise, the soap tends to leave a build up on your scalp and roots, especially if you have hard water in your area. You might not notice this after the first or second wash, but eventually you’ll find your roots looking waxy and getting weighed down.

(If you have very short hair, you can probably dispense with the vinegar rinses, but for long hair they are essential.)

Here’s how to do a vinegar rinse.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 400-500ml of water

(For long to very long hair. If your hair is shoulder length or shorter, reduce to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.)

Step 1:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a non-breakable cup. (I used a glass jar in the picture to show you what the liquid looks like but please don’t use anything breakable in the shower!) For the essential oils, I personally use 4 drops of lavender. Another combination I like is 4 drops of lavender + 4 drops of rosemary essential oil.

Step 2:

When you’re in the shower, lather your scalp and hair with the shampoo bar either by rubbing wet hands over the soap and then over your scalp and hair, or rubbing your scalp with the shampoo bar. There won’t be as many suds are there are when you use regular shampoo.

Step 3:

Rinse your hair well under running water and massage your scalp to get rid of any soap residue.

Step 4:

Briefly pat your hair dry with a towel just like you would before using conditioner.

Step 5:

Slowly pour the vinegar rinse over your hair. Massage your scalp a little to ensure it’s covered in vinegar. If you have sensitive skin, avoid letting the vinegar touch your face. You can also use a spray bottle instead of a cup if you want to apply the mixture in a more targeted manner.

Step 6:

Leave it in your hair for 5 to 10 minutes and then wash off with water.

Tips:

1) Your hair will smell of vinegar while it’s wet, but I promise you that once it dries, the scent will completely dissipate.

2) Even if you use non-soap shampoo bars or liquid shampoo, you can still use this vinegar rinse as a conditioner or detangler. In that case, you don’t have to pour the vinegar over your head–concentrate on the length and the ends of your hair instead.